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Out of hard disk space - what to do?

S

SHNXX

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Oct 2, 2013
1,901
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I have a MacBook Pro which is constantly running out of hard disk space due to some large applications which I can't go without and a growing media library (Photos and iTunes).

Is it possible to move these photos onto an external without running into issues?

I have a Time Machine from Airport Extreme, which has a lot more space than my laptop.
 
Your Time Machine is going to have a lot of storage as it is going to be making many backups of your internal HDD/SSD consistently when connected. As well as making local backups on the laptop until connection which will also take space.

Photos can easily be moved to an external drive. And as for my iMac my music is on an external drive as well.
 
What happens to your Photos when you launch when your computer doesn't have access to the library?
 
Well the library wouldn't be there as the volume isn't mounted. My guess is that the photos thumbnails probably will still be displayed though if opened while disconnected. That is about all that I can foresee happening here. But, by no means am I a new Photos app expert.
 
SHNXX said:
What happens to your Photos when you launch when your computer doesn't have access to the library?
Click to expand...

You can't access them.

You may also want to consider a network attached storage solution then you can access them wherever you have wifi.

Or you can get wifi enabled portable hard drives.

Also a nifty mini drive or similar will add plenty of storage for a photo or music library to your SD card slot.

or even a USB stick some are very small and could be left in permanently.
 
I think that could be solved with help of backup.
Thry to make online and offline backup for your photos and then you will get some free space on your macbook.
 
What type of MacBook Pro do you have? Assuming you have a non-retina MBP, it is very easy to replace the internal hard drive with a higher capacity drive and migrate the data over. If you are not comfortable doing this, many third party Apple Authorized a Repair centers will do this for around $150-250.
 
My MBP only had 256GB of storage, yet my data needs were in excess of 500GB. I used an external drive and moved my music and photo library to an external drive without any issues. I don't use photos, but it should behave like its older (and discontinued) cousin Aperture. I was able to move my Aperture library to an external drive. The easiest way to associate it, is move to your new drive and then double click the library. It should open up and work off the external drive.

Moving your music library may involve a few mores steps, I don't recall what they are exactly since I'm now on an iMac that has sufficient storage.
 
Another step is to use a program like Grand Perspective to get a visual view of your files. This helps you to see how you are using your space. In all likelihood there are a lot of files that could be deleted to free up space. For example, I have a 2008 iMac that has a small 160GB SSD that was nearly full earlier this year. Using Grand Perspective I realized that the vast majority of the space was consumed by old iOS device backups - most of them for devices I no longer even owned.
 
zhenya said:
nother step is to use a program like Grand Perspective to get a visual view of your files.
Click to expand...

I never liked that program but instead I prefer and use OmniDiskSweeper. It will provide a sorted list of what's consuming your space.

Another option is to use this terminal command
sudo du -d 1 -x -c -g /

I prefer to redirect it to a text file (this puts it in your Documents folder
sudo du -d 1 -x -c -g / > ~/Documents/du.txt
 
SHNXX, how big is your current hard drive? What are the sizes of your photos and music?

There are some good ideas posted here but I think more info is needed to assess the situation.
 
Just remember that if you put your stuff on the Time Capsule (I assume, even though you write Time Machine), then you don't have a backup of it.
 
What MacBook do you have? How much space do you have and how much more would be good?
 
BrianBaughn said:
SHNXX, how big is your current hard drive? What are the sizes of your photos and music?

There are some good ideas posted here but I think more info is needed to assess the situation.
Click to expand...

I have a Retina MacBook Pro Mid 2012 with 250 GB space.
Currently I have 13 GB of free space.
Photo library (for the Photos application): 55GB
iTunes library 40GB

I have access to several Airport Extreme Time Capsules (the one at my current stay has 2TB) and a desktop lacie d2 quadra usb3.0 with 2TB.

Opening up my macbook pro is not something i'm willing to do myself, although i suppose i could take it to some computer repair store and have it done for cheap (i'm not in the US right now)
 
Last edited:
SHNXX said:
I have a Retina MacBook Pro Mid 2012 with 250 GB space.
Currently I have 13 GB of free space.
Photo library (for the Photos application): 55GB
iTunes library 40GB

I have access to several Airport Extreme Time Capsules (the one at my current stay has 2TB) and a desktop lacie d2 quadra usb3.0 with 2TB.

Opening up my macbook pro is not something i'm willing to do myself, although i suppose i could take it to some computer repair store and have it done for cheap (i'm not in the US right now)
Click to expand...
Do you truly need to access ALL your photos at all times? My guess is that you don't.

I'd move them to an external drive.

As far as upgrading the SSD in your 2012, if you know which end of a screwdriver goes where, you have all the necessary skill to replace your SSD, it isn't rocket science.
 
SHNXX said:
I have a Retina MacBook Pro Mid 2012 with 250 GB space.
Currently I have 13 GB of free space.
Photo library (for the Photos application): 55GB
iTunes library 40GB

I have access to several Airport Extreme Time Capsules (the one at my current stay has 2TB) and a desktop lacie d2 quadra usb3.0 with 2TB.

Opening up my macbook pro is not something i'm willing to do myself, although i suppose i could take it to some computer repair store and have it done for cheap (i'm not in the US right now)
Click to expand...

Replacing your ssd in that machine is easily possible with the correct screwdriver, OWC make a range of bigger SSD's for that mac and a technician will probably charge you very little to do the job, it's not exactly difficult and takes a few minutes, there are guides on you tube and iFixit take a look.

Here are some OWC and transcend upgrade kits to consider

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...ywords=OWC+SSD+upgrade+for+retina+macbook+pro
 
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SD card slot is reknown for "being slow".

However, you might try a card of sufficient capacity and see if it works.
HOWEVER -- I WOULD NOT trust my data to the SD card alone.
They can sometimes become flaky and unstable without warning.

Use either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to back the contents of the SD card up to either an external drive or even a USB flashdrive.
 
Fishrrman said:
SD card slot is reknown for "being slow".

However, you might try a card of sufficient capacity and see if it works.
HOWEVER -- I WOULD NOT trust my data to the SD card alone.
They can sometimes become flaky and unstable without warning.

Use either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to back the contents of the SD card up to either an external drive or even a USB flashdrive.
Click to expand...

i stream movies over plex to my tv...from the micro SD card. and i back it up (with CCC, altho time machine can do this as well).

i wouldn't record music or do film editing with the card, but for storage, or for what i use it for, it's great, uses an otherwise useless slot on my macbook, and, with that adapter flush with the side...it's essentially invisible. and 128 GB is, if not astonishing, not terrible either. :D
 
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