i have 100Gb hard drive on my macbook pro and it's almost gone. i have an external but i was wondering if there is a way to check all the programs installed on my mac sort of like the Add/Remove programs folder in Windows. it would be a lot easier if i could just see the size of every program arranged in order instead of going through and dragging each one to the trash. any suggestions? thanks
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Running out of hard drive space. Help!
- Thread starter roderick5
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There are numerous programs out there that can show you what your largest files and folders are. WhatSize, OmniDiskSweeper, and Disk Inventory X are all good ones. (Alternatively, you can use Finder's "Find" function to look for large things, but these other apps are nice IMO.)
Things that take up a lot of space are GarageBand loops, iDVD themes, printer drivers, etc.
Things that take up a lot of space are GarageBand loops, iDVD themes, printer drivers, etc.
Media files, temp files, and back-ups.
Sometimes the obvious is overlooked. I edit media files, and in no time I fill my hard drives. Old projects, unused clips/samples/ source materials can fill a hd. What's going on with your iTunes/iPhoto/media library? Do you need 2 gabillion hours of material in your library at any one time? When I work with audio files I sometimes forget and import the clips into iTunes. That's a real space zapper.
I find that programs that remove unused lingual localizations (i.e. not English) and unused portions of UBs (Universal Binaries) recover at most 3 or 4 Gbs.
Sometimes the obvious is overlooked. I edit media files, and in no time I fill my hard drives. Old projects, unused clips/samples/ source materials can fill a hd. What's going on with your iTunes/iPhoto/media library? Do you need 2 gabillion hours of material in your library at any one time? When I work with audio files I sometimes forget and import the clips into iTunes. That's a real space zapper.
I find that programs that remove unused lingual localizations (i.e. not English) and unused portions of UBs (Universal Binaries) recover at most 3 or 4 Gbs.
Also try to delete some applications in Applications Folder like Chess, GarageBand (loops too) and iDVD (if you are not using it).
on the audio thing, also make sure you are either using an iTunes folder, OR refrancing files in your own folders, NOT both. I found out the hard way that when you import music into iTunes, it COPIES the songs into an iTunes folder unless you disable that option. You then are taking up twice as much space as needed with just music!
The last two will save a lot of space.
You'd need to delete three hundred apps (well, technically, just over 299 of them) the size of Chess just to save a gig, though.
Also if you have a large iTunes library, you can move that to the external hard drive. I had a ~32Gig library when I moved it to my external hard drive and now I have a bunch of space. Here's how to move your iTunes library to an external hard drive.
First, copy your iTunes folder, (in the Music folder if I remember correctly) to the external hard drive in a place where you want it. Then delete the one on the internal hard drive, go to iTunes>Preferences and click on advanced. Then it should show "iTunes Music folder location", change that to where you put the iTunes folder on the external hard drive.
I have an iPod, so I don't need my iTunes library on my MacBook pro's internal hard drive because when I'm not at home, I have my iPod which has all my songs and movies on it.
First, copy your iTunes folder, (in the Music folder if I remember correctly) to the external hard drive in a place where you want it. Then delete the one on the internal hard drive, go to iTunes>Preferences and click on advanced. Then it should show "iTunes Music folder location", change that to where you put the iTunes folder on the external hard drive.
I have an iPod, so I don't need my iTunes library on my MacBook pro's internal hard drive because when I'm not at home, I have my iPod which has all my songs and movies on it.