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HDD Space Issue

C

clownbaby

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 16, 2009
37
0
Would it be possible to back up all my music, pictures, etc. on my external, wipe my hard drive, and then put it all back on, without an issue?

I ask because I feel like there's hidden things taking up space that I want to get rid of.

I think when I set up my mac about two years ago I messed something up when generating a use profile, and copied my iTunes music TWICE, and now that is still hidden somewhere and I can't find it, upwards of like 20 gigs just eating space.

Thanks.
 
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Copy the libraries over to the external drive and you should be fine.
 
Save yourself the headache and try to find it first. Turn on hidden files and folders, just to be safe, and use Spotlight to try and find the Library. If the search comes back with, say, two Folders for a particular artist, and they are in separate locations, then, voila, you have your "hidden" 20 GB.

If that fails, then yes, a clean install might help. But only if you are only saving your pictures, music, etc. A time machine backup would restore your "hidden" files back to exactly where they were.

P.S. If you need help activating hidden files, here is a small .app that I wrote to make the process pretty painless. Shameless self-promotion aside, it is kind of nice :)
 

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Thanks for the replies.

If I end up doing a wipe, do I need the leopard disk or will it do a wipe of everything I have and leave the OS?
 
clownbaby said:
Thanks for the replies.

If I end up doing a wipe, do I need the leopard disk or will it do a wipe of everything I have and leave the OS?
Click to expand...

If you do a wipe you will need the install disk, as you cannot wipe the HDD you are using (obviously). You would need either the install disk, or to connect the HDD to another computer either through target disk mode, network install, or via a SATA->USB adapter.

I think the only way to wipe "everything" and leave the OS may be to create a new user account and delete the old one. This may retain some of the bloat associated with keep the same OS running though. A clean wipe is ultimately better if you are going to take the time to do this anyway...
 
Yeah. I just feel like something is hogging space. According the "info" pane, the little house icon that is my account is 39 gigs or so out of 74. But, it tells me I only have 6 gigs free. I have this feeling that something is hogging space, I only have about 37 gigs in my iTunes, all told. GrandPerspective didn't help, partially because I'm not totally sure how to read it.

Any other suggestions?
 
clownbaby said:
Yeah. I just feel like something is hogging space. According the "info" pane, the little house icon that is my account is 39 gigs or so out of 74. But, it tells me I only have 6 gigs free. I have this feeling that something is hogging space, I only have about 37 gigs in my iTunes, all told. GrandPerspective didn't help, partially because I'm not totally sure how to read it.

Any other suggestions?
Click to expand...

Hmmm.... Perhaps you have an extra user that was not deleted? I have no experience with Grand Perspective, so I am no help there.

Once again, just make it better for yourself and get a newer, bigger, faster HDD. That will solve your lack of space problem, not to mention it will likely give your system a little more "snappiness".

Just do a clean install, backing up your actual files, when you install the new drive. You will have much much much more room to breath.
 
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