How to save SSD space

[eliteeli]

Hi guys,

So I'm new to Mac, and I have the tiny SSD drive (128) on my rMBP. What are some good tips for saving space?

Also, I recently used iPhoto for some editing and iMovie to make a short video. I deleted all of the pictures I used, but I hear that iPhoto stores copies, and I still see iPhoto library in my pictures tab. How can I delete ALL data associated with both iPhoto and iMovie? I'm really unfamiliar with how OS X manages data. Where are all the copies and caches stored and how do I get rid of them?

Thanks

 

[simon48]

The iPhoto data is stored in [your users folder]/Pictures/iPhoto Library.

I haven't used iMovie in a long time, but the data should be somewhere in [your users folder]/Movies.

I would recommend keeping all your photos in iPhoto and deleting any duplicates outside of iPhoto as iPhoto is a great for organizing and keeping track of all your photos.

As for saving space, the best tip I have is to run DaisyDisk (the free version will work fine) to see where your space is being used up.

 

[maflynn]

Get an external drive and move some of the larger media files over to that. iPhoto, iMovie as you mentioned but also check out your iTunes library

Download and use OmniDiskSweeper. It will provide a sorted list of what's consuming your space and is handy to identify what can be moved and/or deleted to save space.

One caveat, don't go after anything in the root directory, i.e., /Library or /System - that would be bad

 

[Macman45]

I'd second what Maflynn says above. I have a 500GB SSD in my rMBP, but I coupled it from day one with a WD 2TB USB3 external. In your case space is even more important.

Your iTunes and photo libraries can be exported and stored on an external drive, leaving the 128GB free for documents and daily tasking.

I must admit...It's a tough call with 128GB...The smallest I've ever had currently is the 256GB in a MBA ( since sold) and that was tough to manage even with an external.

A good plan is to decide what is essential for your Mac's internal storage.

Documents
Games

Daily work.

Then develop your own workflow around the external drive so that you retain the most space possible on your Mac's SSD.

 

[pacmania1982]

If you have an SD card slot - what about getting a 32GB SD card and putting files on there that you don't use that often but still want? Or say move iTunes library/iPhoto library to it?

pac

 

[themumu]

Depending on how you listen to your music, moving to a cloud based service such as iTunes Match, will both free up space on your internal disk and add the convenience of accessing the tunes seamlessly on your phone and other devices.

 

[eliteeli]

thanks guys!

So all of my music is in the cloud already, I use Google Music so all my music is up there already and on my external. My photos are all on the external too, I just needed to some some to make a slide show, thats why I moved them onto the SSD and now want to delete them all.

So I don't plan on storing any music or photos or movies on the SSD, that's all on my external. I don't play games either. It's all for documents and everyday tasks so hopefully it will suffice.

So I just need to delete the libraries from my user folder and that's all the data? No more data hidden elsewhere on the drive?

 

[simon48]

thanks guys!

So all of my music is in the cloud already, I use Google Music so all my music is up there already and on my external. My photos are all on the external too, I just needed to some some to make a slide show, thats why I moved them onto the SSD and now want to delete them all.

So I don't plan on storing any music or photos or movies on the SSD, that's all on my external. I don't play games either. It's all for documents and everyday tasks so hopefully it will suffice.

So I just need to delete the libraries from my user folder and that's all the data? No more data hidden elsewhere on the drive?

Do not delete any data in your user library if you don't know what it is. Among many other important things, apps save preferences/settings, data, licenses etc. in there.

Look at your library (looking at your whole disk is actually a really good idea) with DaisyDisk or OmniDiskSweeper to see if there's anything using a lot of space up. If it's big and you can't ID it post a picture here and I'm sure we can find out what it is.

 

[themumu]

Yes, only stuff in ~/Pictures and ~/Movies.

 

[thundersteele]

thanks guys!

So all of my music is in the cloud already, I use Google Music so all my music is up there already and on my external. My photos are all on the external too, I just needed to some some to make a slide show, thats why I moved them onto the SSD and now want to delete them all.

So I don't plan on storing any music or photos or movies on the SSD, that's all on my external. I don't play games either. It's all for documents and everyday tasks so hopefully it will suffice.

You are already doing all the right things. Two extra tips that will free up some space:

1. Delete the sleepimage and disable the hibernate mode that writes it (google...). This will free up 4-16 GB depending on your ram size.

2. Disable local time machine snapshots. Also google for how to do this. Not really necessary since this space is freed up over time, an option.

 

[themumu]

How to save SSD space

You are already doing all the right things. Two extra tips that will free up some space:



1. Delete the sleepimage and disable the hibernate mode that writes it (google...). This will free up 4-16 GB depending on your ram size.



2. Disable local time machine snapshots. Also google for how to do this. Not really necessary since this space is freed up over time, an option.

I suggest that anyone who considers following this advice research its meaning. The suggestions are to disable rather useful features of the Mac OS. In particular, I'd be very cautious about #1 - there is a good chance it will come and bite you one day when run out of battery and expect your computer to save all your work progress, as it normally does.

 

[TheEnthusiast]

You are already doing all the right things. Two extra tips that will free up some space:

1. Delete the sleepimage and disable the hibernate mode that writes it (google...). This will free up 4-16 GB depending on your ram size.

2. Disable local time machine snapshots. Also google for how to do this. Not really necessary since this space is freed up over time, an option.

Modifying the sleep image is bad for newer Macs. It will cause a rapid battery drain during sleep.

 

[thundersteele]

I suggest that anyone who considers following this advice research its meaning. The suggestions are to disable rather useful features of the Mac OS. In particular, I'd be very cautious about #1 - there is a good chance it will come and bite you one day when run out of battery and expect your computer to save all your work progress, as it normally does.

You are right, I should have added this. Thanks.

Modifying the sleep image is bad for newer Macs. It will cause a rapid battery drain during sleep.

Hmm, I was not aware of this. When you say "rapid", are we talking about more than a few percent over night?

Older MBPs used to draw a few percent per night, I guess they removed that since they now claim 30 days standby? And for this I need the sleepimage? Just would like to know.

 

[Weaselboy]

Older MBPs used to draw a few percent per night, I guess they removed that since they now claim 30 days standby? And for this I need the sleepimage? Just would like to know.

Yes... you can see a list of machines that support this new "standby" mode here. Depending on the model, they go to regular sleep for either one or three hours then go into standby mode by writing the system state to disk. If that is disabled it won't go into standby.

 

[PicnicTutorials]

cleanmymac will lay out all the ways. Works well for me.

 

[simon48]

Also in Mavericks the sleep image is now the size of your RAM usage not the total installed RAM (no matter how much you're using). So the size on the SSD is even smaller then it was in earlier OSs.

 

[TheEnthusiast]

Hmm, I was not aware of this. When you say "rapid", are we talking about more than a few percent over night?

Older MBPs used to draw a few percent per night, I guess they removed that since they now claim 30 days standby? And for this I need the sleepimage? Just would like to know.

The first time I did it, the battery went from 100% to 56% in just one night. Normally, it should only lose 1-2% overnight, maybe even less with the power-efficient Haswell CPU. Apple didn't change anything; batteries still only lose a small amount overnight. It's just that the sleep image should not be modified when using a new Macbook since it seems to prevent "deep CPU sleep" and that causes more power to be drawn since there's probably a loop of power assertions, at least that's my theory. It should make sense because of the concept of "power nap," which is only available on new Macs. Also, the sleep image is just a file that saves the RAM contents to the SSD/HDD in the event of a loss of power during sleep.

 

[OldMacUser]

Move iTunes backup to external drive

I posted this back in some other forums back when I had a 128GB SSD. I now have 512GB SSD but I still maintain my iTunes backups externally.

-- copied from my old posting --

Hi all,

*Apologies if this has been posted before - I did a cursory search and didn't find anything here*

This tip will come in useful for those that have switched to using an SSD (and didn't install a bigger HDD ala Optibay), particularly if you only have a 120GB SSD like me.

Firstly, the iTunes backup location is here:-
/Users/<YourNameHere>/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/

1. Move the ENTIRE Backup folder to your location of choice (external HDD etc).
2. The MobileSync folder should now be empty.
3. Open up Terminal and type in the following command:

ln -s /Volumes/<HDD>/MobileSync/Backup/ ~/Library/Application\ Support/MobileSync/Backup

4. You should now see an icon called Backup with an arrow in the MobileSync folder which indicates that the ln command has worked.

Note: <HDD> indicates the Volume Name of your desired HD where you moved the Backups folder; and for simplicity's sake, I created the MobileSync/Backup folder(s) on the external HD - you can use whatever name you want.

Hope that helps - I managed to save approximately 20GB+ of space by doing this, and now have about slightly more than 50% of my SSD free.

-- end --