Hard disk space mysteriously used up!

[lady isobel]

SHortly after getting my mac notebook I allowed an offspring to use it, it "died" and I had to re-install the OS from disk. After this, I have hardly any of my 80GB left (about 2MB currently!). I have nothing else on (I have not put anything on other than the odd photo). Have I doubled up the OS? If so how do I remove the first one!

Also (you'd think I would learn) lent it to off spring to watch DVD whilst in France on holiday - battery now does not charge whatsosever! Has the voltage difference when using mains cable abroad just fried the battery?

thanks for your help, I am not very mac savvy!

 

[kainjow]

Try running a program like OmniDiskSweeper to see if there are any large files taking up the space.

 

[stridemat]

It sounds like you installed OSX onto another partition (somehow???). Do as Kainjow suggests but it might just be a problem with permissions, its worth a shot!

 

[lady isobel]

thanks...

Much obliged, I have run the utility that checks and repairs permissions and that has not freed anything up. I will try the suggestion of the program to check for large files...

 

[lady isobel]

progress...

..that suggestion was magic thank you - I have managed to remove 25GB of backups that I didn't want, but there is also something called Previous System that is taking up 9GB - is this related to the previous installation of OS and could I safely trash it?

 

[Gregg2]

It would help if you'd identify which OS you are using.

If it's a "modern" OS, I think the "Previous System" folder was created when you did an "Archive and Install" from your discs. It saves the old stuff in case you need any of it. If things are working well, and you don't know of anything in the old (previous) System Folder that you need, you can probably get rid of it. To be safe, move it to a flash drive if you want, and if you have one to use for that purpose.