problem with space Macbook Air

[Kristina85]

Hi,
I am trying to fix a problem for a friend of mine and would like to get your help with this:
system: MacBook Air Late 201, HD 120GB flash drive, OS Yosemite 10.5.5.
I used these instructions>
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7194301?start=0&tstart=0
Installed Grand Perspective software, and when I do "SCAN" of the "Macintosh HD" volume, I get this info:

102GB in total:

1)
Windows XP.pvm(virtual machine) =30.7GB
Iphoto library =27.9GB
Photo Library = 3.46GB
-----in total: 62.06GB

2)
users/Petra/library/mail: 15,18GB
users/Petra/library/containers: 1,76GB
Music 1.04GB
applications: 7GB

private var/vm:1GB
-------
in total: 25GB

3)
Others (Library/fonts..Library/application support....Library/Speech..and many many small items): the rest of the stuff...
-----
in total: not sure..to many small files..but probably something like: (102 - 62.06 - 25 - 8= 6GB)

4)
free space: 8GB


Questions:
1. I cannot actually find a weird file that would take much space. Is here the solution to the "space problem" simply deleting some of her mail+photos? (she needs the virtual machine - Windows XP)

2. how much does the OS X usually take itself? I.e. why does Grandperspective count only from 102GB of total capacity instead of the size of the disk, which is 120GB. What's happened to the 18GB?

3. i've cleaned up trash (also in Mail, Iphotos, Photos..), used CCcleaner for other stuff etc. Is there anything else I am overlooking?

4. She migrated her stuff from Iphotos to Photos..now the issue is she doesn't like Photos..so currently she's having both on it. Can i delete Photos and have her go back to Iphotos only?

She's having trouble with the Mac as she's low on hard drive space (and her RAM is only 2GB). I was wondering if there was something else I could do?
Please help,
thank you
Kristina
[doublepost=1459988266][/doublepost]Guys, I have used a different software....omnidisksweeper..and this is what i got. these figures are different from the grand perspective software. confused about it...still if anyone has ideas?

 

[Shirasaki]

I have scanned my disk, and here is my summary result:
128GB SSD. 111GB volume size, single Mac volume.
Size of scanned files: 68.4GB.
Miscellaneous used space: 1.55GB
Initial free space: 41.8GB
If we do a simple math: 128*0.93=119.04. This is the size we might probably can use, as manufacturers uses 1000MB=1GB to calculate disk size, while system uses 1024MB=1GB to calculate disk size.
Despite that, your disk also have a recovery partition and it will take you about 650MB in total.
But it is strange to see grandperspective reports 102 GB of your disk while it should report 110GB or similar.

Talking about photos app, unfortunately you can keep both at most, and cannot remove photos app easily in OS X Yosemite 10.10.5. You can however, try to remove the library generated by photos app, and don't use it at all, to see if it is an option.

 

[Meister]

Get daisydisk. It will tell you exactly what takes up space.

 

[rigormortis]

i found a lot of space by erasing my old unwanted iPhone backups. and i also found that my iTunes logs from all my iPhone syncing was taking up room. the last program i used to find out whats taking up space was omni disk sweeper.

like iTunes takes your diagnostic and usage data and sends it to apple but i had like 7 years of reports on my hd

 

[craig1024]

Is there a small partition on the drive?

 

[Kristina85]

too more files:

I have scanned my disk, and here is my summary result:
128GB SSD. 111GB volume size, single Mac volume.
Size of scanned files: 68.4GB.
Miscellaneous used space: 1.55GB
Initial free space: 41.8GB
If we do a simple math: 128*0.93=119.04. This is the size we might probably can use, as manufacturers uses 1000MB=1GB to calculate disk size, while system uses 1024MB=1GB to calculate disk size.
Despite that, your disk also have a recovery partition and it will take you about 650MB in total.
But it is strange to see grandperspective reports 102 GB of your disk while it should report 110GB or similar.

Talking about photos app, unfortunately you can keep both at most, and cannot remove photos app easily in OS X Yosemite 10.10.5. You can however, try to remove the library generated by photos app, and don't use it at all, to see if it is an option.

Shirasaki..thanks for the details. that's truly helpful. I actually don't get it myself...
here is the strange thing:
Grandperspective reports about 32GB for photos...that is roughly the same amount that I get when I just use Finder on the Mac. But Omnisweepdisk says it's 45GB. That's a sizable difference.
Grandperspective reports 102GB, Sweepdisk starts with 120GB..in some ways Omnisweepdisk seems to be the more precise tool..but when it comes to photos..it tends to overestimate the amount of data.
I am really confused about this situation.
The person I am trying to service this Mac for..she's not using Itunes neither does she have an Iphone!


craig1024, to answer your question about the partition. I actually don't think there is one. And if there is, it must be hidden to all the normal software tools.

Please people, help, I can't make sense of these numbers.
[doublepost=1460028420][/doublepost]please see this thread..I've just started it..it is relevant to the whole debate here:
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...aries-duplicates-or-not-can-i-delete.1966354/

 

[craig1024]

You could see if there is an iPhoto and photos library in her pictures folder and if the pictures are in both delete the photos library

 

[Shirasaki]

Grandperspective reports about 32GB for photos...that is roughly the same amount that I get when I just use Finder on the Mac. But Omnisweepdisk says it's 45GB. That's a sizable difference.
Grandperspective reports 102GB, Sweepdisk starts with 120GB..in some ways Omnisweepdisk seems to be the more precise tool..but when it comes to photos..it tends to overestimate the amount of data.

Grandperspective might have a more realistic report, while omnisweepdisk may report a bigger size somehow.
You say this mac has 120GB disk right? Then there should only be 111GB available for OS X and everything else you put on disk. Because of this, I think Grandperspective is better.
And despite that, could you also show what it is inside "Pictures" folder? Since this is by far the largest folder in OS.

 

[Kristina85]

Shirasaki and Craig, here are some snapshots of the pictures' folder. Obrazky..means Pictures/Photos.

[doublepost=1460039785][/doublepost]IT SEEMS TO ME THAT THE SOLUTION TO THIS WILL BE:
0. Make a back-up of all the pictures in iPhoto and Photo library...do I need to use the export function or is it possible to just copy the files onto an external hard drive? I suspect the latter is not possible.
1. make her chose to either use iPhotos or Photos..just one of them...(she wanted me to put back iPhotos as she dislikes Photos...well I did that by looking for 9.6.1 version of iPhotos..now she's got it). She will compare the two and their content and then she will decide.
2. One she picks iPhoto or Photo..then I'll delete the other folder in the hope that this will significantly reduce the problem of size on the computer. again, do I need to delete the photos from within the software, right?
3. Is there any other way how to get some extra additional space..such as getting rid of some of the other in libraries..such as dictionaries that she will not use? etc.

 

[craig1024]

You can just copy the library out of the pictures folder and delete it if she wants it back you can copy the library back and choose it as the library in photos
[doublepost=1460041505][/doublepost]You could set her email to IMAP instead of POP3 to save space

 

[Weaselboy]

2. One she picks iPhoto or Photo..then I'll delete the other folder in the hope that this will significantly reduce the problem of size on the computer. again, do I need to delete the photos from within the software, right?

It won't. Read this article and my reply in your other thread.

 

[Kristina85]

It won't. Read this article and my reply in your other thread.

I have tried to open it but it didn't work/

 

[Hermes Monster]

I would definitely try Daisy Disk as mentioned above, it found lots of files for me that I was able to delete, and cleared up a lot of space.

As Weaselboy was saying, deleting the photo library's won't clear up as much space as you think. I had a similar issue where I'd ended up with three photo libraries (iPhoto, PhotoLibrary and PhotoLibrary (default) or whatever the wording is) which were 20GB, 30GB and 20GB respectively. Great I thought, I'll delete two of them and free up 40GBs - nope. They all share the same actual photo files, but use hardlinks to link them all together between the libraries (or something ). So when I deleted two, I actually cleared up about 10GB. I assume most of the was journals and such that I'd made in iPhoto.

 

[Weaselboy]

I have tried to open it but it didn't work/

Then you are in a pickle. Ordinarily the first time you open the new Photos app it will make a new library and import everything from iPhoto, resulting in two libraries of roughly the same size. The fact your iPhoto library is almost double the size is worrisome. Could see have continued using iPhoto to import more photos after the import to Photos was done?

 

[Meister]

too more files:


Shirasaki..thanks for the details. that's truly helpful. I actually don't get it myself...
here is the strange thing:
Grandperspective reports about 32GB for photos...that is roughly the same amount that I get when I just use Finder on the Mac. But Omnisweepdisk says it's 45GB. That's a sizable difference.
Grandperspective reports 102GB, Sweepdisk starts with 120GB..in some ways Omnisweepdisk seems to be the more precise tool..but when it comes to photos..it tends to overestimate the amount of data.
I am really confused about this situation.
The person I am trying to service this Mac for..she's not using Itunes neither does she have an Iphone!


craig1024, to answer your question about the partition. I actually don't think there is one. And if there is, it must be hidden to all the normal software tools.

Please people, help, I can't make sense of these numbers.
[doublepost=1460028420][/doublepost]please see this thread..I've just started it..it is relevant to the whole debate here:
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...aries-duplicates-or-not-can-i-delete.1966354/

I already told you to use daisydisk.
It costs, but it will show you precisely and accurately what is taking up the space.

 

[Hermes Monster]

I

I already told you to use daisydisk.
It costs, but it will show you precisely and accurately what is taking up the space.

I've only ever used the free trial...six months later it seems to still be working

 

[Kristina85]

Then you are in a pickle. Ordinarily the first time you open the new Photos app it will make a new library and import everything from iPhoto, resulting in two libraries of roughly the same size. The fact your iPhoto library is almost double the size is worrisome. Could see have continued using iPhoto to import more photos after the import to Photos was done?

Well, I just talk to my friend. It seems the solution will be the following: we'll just delete both the libraries....to free up space, with the caveat that I'll make a back-up of all the photos and her husband will organize them one day properly. I am happy about this solution. Now she's got an external drive and that's where the back-up will be saved to. Weaselboy, what is the best of going about the library back-up? I've simply tried to drag the library file onto the external harddrive, but for some reason it didn't really copy it. Do I have to use the export function in iPhotos and Photos?

 

[Weaselboy]

Weaselboy, what is the best of going about the library back-up? I've simply tried to drag the library file onto the external harddrive, but for some reason it didn't really copy it. Do I have to use the export function in iPhotos and Photos?

You should be able to just drag and drop to an external to copy each library. Is the external formatted in Mac OS Extended format?

To be safe and have the photos in a plain format, what I would do is copy the libraries then also export all the photos from Photos and iPhoto. That way you have the raw files that are not reliant on any kind of app to view and they can be imported to any app you like later.

 

[Jana Lukas]

Have you tried to erase the HD free space?
I had a similar problem and After delete several files realized the info on About this Mac and Finder differ. I got in touch with Apple and they advice me to Erase the free space on Disk Utility. Don't worry, when you do this action it erase already deleted files from her Trash can which is saved in background in case you need to restore a file been deleted previously.