Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Just bought a macbook...

esadb

esadb

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Nov 29, 2008
1,184
0
well i just got myself a black macbook, and the thing has a 60gb hdd, anyways as i looked through it i saw 6.83gb is available. it has a fresh install of leopard so my question is where is the othe 40 some gigs.. ive never used a mac before so i dont see other partitions or anything

pleaes help
 
What directories are on your HDD? And you can find your partitions using the Disk Utility (/Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility.app).
 
So you bought that MB off kijiji? Congrats!

As to your question, it's hard to answer because so many thing can cause it (lost of HDD space).

My first question is, did you do the fresh install yourself. If not, you can get yourself a copy of leopard and re-do the installation. Given the smaller HDD that you have, I would recommend deselecting all the printer drivers and language pack, etc, to minimize the size.

http://guides.macrumors.com/Complete_Steps_to_Perform_a_Clean_OS_X_Reinstall_on_Your_MacBook_Air
(written for MBA because of its small HDD, but applies to MB as well)
 
yes i did silverback, the thing is in perfect condition.

back on topic. under the disk utility all i see for partitions is macintosh HD which reads 58gb but but 49gb is used lol... But i myself did not do a fresh install.. But by the looks of it im going to do that as this thing has 48gb of stuff on it of stuff i dont even know..

this "retail disc" can be obtained online? if these kinds of questions are not allowed just let me know.

thanks
 
Good for you!

Yes, your best bet is to do another clean install yourself, following the instruction page above (it's written for a MBA with 60GB HDD).

No, you cannot download a legit copy of Leopard DVD online from Apple, and we are not supposed to discuss the downloading of illegal copies from torrent. Even though OS X never had any of that registration key/activation crap like windows, we are not supposed to use OS X without owing a copy ;)

The retail box copy of leopard that you can buy in stores now is what you are looking for.
 
sounds good, thanks for the info.

Still looking for a control panel to see whats installed lol and what not.. i cant believe a fresh install of a OS is apparantly 48gigs big..
 
As far as I know, it should be ~ 30-ish GB (or less) if you do it properly.
There is no control panel. Look for the Applications folder. This is where all the apps go.
Go to the Apple website, this would be a good start to learn about Mac.
http://www.apple.com/support/mac101/
 
LOL 30GB?? WHAT LOL!

i want leopard so im gonna try and get my hands on a retail disc..

but seriously 30gb?? lol this is brutal
 
Are you guys trying to frighten the guy/girl (pardon me)? A full installation of Leopard Retail is about 11GB if you install everything, i.e. language translations (you don't need this to have the OS display another language) Printer Drivers (again, just install the one that comes with your printer or look online for updated drives). I installed Leopard just the other day due to Fusion effing up my entire HD and I trimmed it down to about ~7GB.

To OP: Did the MacBook come with two grey discs with a white border around the outer circumference of the disc (just to help you identify it)? Turn the Mac on, and pop in those discs. A window should pop up. Click the black disc with an X on it. Restart the computer and wait for the computer to boot from the CD. The rest is self explanatory. You can look around the top menu once you select the language, and find Disk Utility. Use that to reformat and then erase the entire HD. Then go back to the installer and install. You can customize the install but clicking customize option after you select the HD and one step after that I think..

EDIT: to save you grief over reading all of that and possibly not having the disc I mentioned, this works with the retail discs as well (the ones I mention are not retail versions), just pop in the disc during boot and hold the trackpad button.
 
Its guy for the information ;)

yah i didnt get any discs with it, i only got the power adapter thats probably why the price was so low.

Well im gonna have to get my hands on one of these discs.

Question:

Is this like windows? Where you pop the CD in and then reformat.. and install? It seems like this mac operating system seems to run on images. Under disk utilit i did see this thing called " Erase Free Space" Which im not quite sure so i didnt want to hit anything and wipe out my hdd.
 
esadb said:
Question:

Is this like windows? Where you pop the CD in and then reformat.. and install? It seems like this mac operating system seems to run on images. Under disk utilit i did see this thing called " Erase Free Space" Which im not quite sure so i didnt want to hit anything and wipe out my hdd.
Click to expand...

Yes.
But you can't erase your disk unless boot off the DVD.
Read here - for details on how to do the install
 
thanks for the help guys.

I just talkd to a buddy of mine actually whose had mac for a while and hes gonna lend me the retail leopard disc tmr
 
well ive been playing around with the mac a bit and under when i go to the HDD to get more info, i see

Format: MAC OS Extended (Journaled)
Capacity: 55gb
Free: 7gb
Used: 48gb

I just dont understand where the space is gone too.. anyone have any ideas?


UPDATE/EDIT: Well i figured it out.. i ran omnidisksweeper.. i guess there is a "previous system" folder that contains all these pics/videos and what not from the previous owners.. thats about 35gigs.. and then there is those idvd and other apps that are taking about a dozen more gigs, and the printer stuff another 4 gigs almost.. so tmr thats all gonna get whipped :D
 
esadb said:
UPDATE/EDIT: Well i figured it out.. i ran omnidisksweeper.. i guess there is a "previous system" folder that contains all these pics/videos and what not from the previous owners..
Click to expand...

Now you can go through his pics/videos to see if he was the actual owner or not :p

Seriously, it's likely that he did an "Archive and Install" rather than a fresh installation.
 
yah by the looks of it no he was not lol, unless thats was his other family i dont know.

How long does a fresh install of leopard take? Getting my hands on the dvd tonight from a friend
 
Something like 15-30 minutes. I don't remember exactly how long, but make sure you skip the dvd verification step which itself takes quite a while (not needed when you have an original DVD).

By the way, I wouldn't register the MB with Apple if I were you...

Afterward, this may be useful to you.
 
Register with apple as in you mean get apple care or something?

Cause i really dont have the kind of cash to shed out at the moment for more fees, ive been spending way too much lately lol.
 
esadb said:
Register with apple as in you mean get apple care or something?
Click to expand...

No. At the end of the Leopard installation, you need to set up a new account, provide your name and address. It'll then ask for your permission to send the information to Apple over the internet.
 
Just an update.

Last night i got that Leopard Disc from a friend installed it without any problems, did a complete whipe of the HDD and then fresh install trimmed it down to about 8gb, worked flawlessly then i also followed silverblack's advice and registered the product. Also got the latest updates for the OS.

Installed office 08 on it without any problems and i put some of my songs/pictures on there from previous laptop and have ~45gb left. :)

Overall im happy, and im getting used to the way applications are installed, and the way the os interface works.

Few more questions..

1) Whats the best precautions to take with the battery? Use it let it run down to 0, then fully charge again and then run on battery power? Or just whenever im home keep it plugged in and run from the power adapater?

2) Installed Msn live 7.01, had some trouble with the display pics, but finally got mine showing after clearing out the history and signing in again, but i cant seem to see other peoples display pictures.. i only see some of them. Adium.. i dont like.

3) The msn live does not have webcam support?

Thats it for now, if i have more along the way im sure to post.

Thanks for all your guyses help so far!
 
With Li ion batteries, just use it anyway you want.
I use Yahoo, so can't comment on MSN.

You didn't mention is in your post. If you haven't already, track down a copy of iLife'08. Well worth it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back