Maybe you didn't let it finish? I think erase free space creates a temporary file that takes up all the free space on the disk (so nothing uses the space it is trying to erase).
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
What can I delete on my MacBook to free space?
- Thread starter Elle H
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Maybe you didn't let it finish? I think erase free space creates a temporary file that takes up all the free space on the disk (so nothing uses the space it is trying to erase).
Hey! I just tried this because I have a similar problem, although I think mine is much worse. It´s been going on for about a week and I´m desperate. I´ve erased everything on my computer and backed it up on my hard drive, nevertheless, there is still the legendary: AVALIABLE: ZERO KB legend on my disk information. I´ve gone mad trying to figure out what the hell it is that is taking up all my little 60Gbs... I´ve even resorted to drastic measures and erased programs such as Skype, Firefox and all the widgets on my dashboard. There is still not one kb of space left to even save a Pages document. I´ve deleted all my music, all my movies, series and videos, cleared all the cookies on Safari, emptied the trash a bunch of times and nothing! Just now I managed to make some space (50 mbs) so that the disk utility would be able to create a temporary file (it requires it), the app ran and NOTHING! it gave me only 12 mbs.
Please somebody help! I have no money to send my MacBook to service, nor do I have it to buy a new internal drive... and much less changing it. Could somebody please just tell me what to do?
Thanks!!
Zeroing out does absolutely nothing to free up space. Ignore this post.
Hey! I just tried this because I have a similar problem, although I think mine is much worse. It´s been going on for about a week and I´m desperate. I´ve erased everything on my computer and backed it up on my hard drive, nevertheless, there is still the legendary: AVALIABLE: ZERO KB legend on my disk information. I´ve gone mad trying to figure out what the hell it is that is taking up all my little 60Gbs... I´ve even resorted to drastic measures and erased programs such as Skype, Firefox and all the widgets on my dashboard. There is still not one kb of space left to even save a Pages document. I´ve deleted all my music, all my movies, series and videos, cleared all the cookies on Safari, emptied the trash a bunch of times and nothing! Just now I managed to make some space (50 mbs) so that the disk utility would be able to create a temporary file (it requires it), the app ran and NOTHING! it gave me only 12 mbs.
Please somebody help! I have no money to send my MacBook to service, nor do I have it to buy a new internal drive... and much less changing it. Could somebody please just tell me what to do?
Thanks!!
Erase the HD and reinstall the OS.
1. Xslimmer (removes localizations and Universal Binary Files. Cuts your Apps folder by 50%)
2. Onyx (Run it once a month to remove old mail files, logs, caches and hidden data stores)
3. Relocate iTunes and iPhoto libraries to an external drive (but back it up to a 2nd external drive once a month if that one fails)
4. iPhoto Diet (I think that's the name that will look at your iPhoto library and discard duplicates of the same photos and empty your iPhoto trash)
5. AppFresh (great app. keeps all of your applications up to date. doesnt save space but very useful and free)
6. /Library/Receipts OR /System/Library/Receipts. Not really the best idea to remove but it does free up some space.
7. AppZapper. (costs money but when you are going to uninstall an app, this will completely remove it, the prefs, logs and even application components that are installed in the Application support folders. Adobe and most Apple apps have gigs and gigs of data in /Application Support
8. Reinstall Leopard using the Archive & Restore option. Will free up over 10 gbs of space that apps and logs accumulate over the years. Then you can migrate what you need from the old install to the new one and then delete that original install. I would only recommend this for power users.
9. Clean out your downloads folder
10. Clean up the Microsoft User Data Folder that's in your Home/Documents folder. This can get huge!
11. Run Disk Inventory X. It's free and shows a graphical view of your entire Mac and what's taking up space.
2. Onyx (Run it once a month to remove old mail files, logs, caches and hidden data stores)
3. Relocate iTunes and iPhoto libraries to an external drive (but back it up to a 2nd external drive once a month if that one fails)
4. iPhoto Diet (I think that's the name that will look at your iPhoto library and discard duplicates of the same photos and empty your iPhoto trash)
5. AppFresh (great app. keeps all of your applications up to date. doesnt save space but very useful and free)
6. /Library/Receipts OR /System/Library/Receipts. Not really the best idea to remove but it does free up some space.
7. AppZapper. (costs money but when you are going to uninstall an app, this will completely remove it, the prefs, logs and even application components that are installed in the Application support folders. Adobe and most Apple apps have gigs and gigs of data in /Application Support
8. Reinstall Leopard using the Archive & Restore option. Will free up over 10 gbs of space that apps and logs accumulate over the years. Then you can migrate what you need from the old install to the new one and then delete that original install. I would only recommend this for power users.
9. Clean out your downloads folder
10. Clean up the Microsoft User Data Folder that's in your Home/Documents folder. This can get huge!
11. Run Disk Inventory X. It's free and shows a graphical view of your entire Mac and what's taking up space.
Even though this thread is really old, im writting this because im happeh!
Hey so i needed to free space on my macbook too and i red this forum.
I did that Free space thing and i started with 13gb =(
And then all of a sudden it started dropping to 6gb and then 160 kb! so i was freaking out. So i waited the hour and 17min and when i got back home my available space was 35gb!! woo hoo! seriously! And then i deleted all the files in my "downloads" folder and now im on 43gbs! yay!
This thread helped alot and i ended up registering just to say that this did work.
thanks!
Oh one more thing, i was wondering. My mac is still kind of slow, but only on safari. For example, loading pages and showing banners and such is really slow or wont happen at all.
Any suggestions on how i can make this a bit faster?
Hey so i needed to free space on my macbook too and i red this forum.
I did that Free space thing and i started with 13gb =(
And then all of a sudden it started dropping to 6gb and then 160 kb! so i was freaking out. So i waited the hour and 17min and when i got back home my available space was 35gb!! woo hoo! seriously! And then i deleted all the files in my "downloads" folder and now im on 43gbs! yay!
This thread helped alot and i ended up registering just to say that this did work.
thanks!
Oh one more thing, i was wondering. My mac is still kind of slow, but only on safari. For example, loading pages and showing banners and such is really slow or wont happen at all.
Any suggestions on how i can make this a bit faster?
+1 for this one.
Also, if you have an iPhone, you can remove some of the unecessary older backups. You really should only need the last one.
Hi
Wondering if anyone can help me. The whole reason I bought a Mac was because when I used to only use a PC, I always got viruses and my computer so ALWAYS so slow! I'm quite computer illiterate! My Intel MacBook, I bought last year (2006) when it pretty much JUST came out.. it's got a 100GB hard drive and all but I've run out of space! I bought an external hard drive to move my music files, movie files, things like that over to. I still have practically NO space on my MacBook and I would get a message that says my startup disk is full, and then my Entourage would need to quit (I suppose my email application takes up a lot of space? is that why?) I don't know what I can delete and what I cannot delete on my Mac. I saw that the "Library" on my MacBook takes up about 9GB. Can I delete anything in this folder?
Can anybody help me out? Please and thankyou!
Put a new hard drive into your Mac. For example, a 500 GB 7200rpm drive can be bought for about £45, anything smaller is not worth buying. The early MacBooks are actually the machines where the hard drive is most easy to replace. Note: If you actually have a 2006 or 2007 MacBook Pro then don't do this. The steps are:
1. Make sure you have a Time Machine backup of your hard drive, and that you have your MacOS X Install DVD ready.
2. Buy a 500 GB internal 2.5" hard drive, and buy the tiny screwdriver that is needed to open the MacBook.
3. Find the instructions on MacRumors, but basically you open the MacBook with a coin, pull out remove the battery, unscrew the L-shaped metal bit that covers RAM and hard drive, then on the left you see a white bit of plastic which you pull to get the hard drive out. Take note very very carefully which way it was inside the MacBook.
The hard drive is on a little metal carrier. Unscrew it from the carrier; if you don't have the right screw driver then some pliers will do. Put the new drive onto the carrier, put the screws back in. Push the hard drive into the MacBook, some way round as the original. Put the L-shaped metal bit back in, screw it in, battery back, close the MacBook.
4. Boot from your installler DVD. Go into "Disk Utilities", format the drive as "MacOS X Journaled". Then install the OS and restore the Time Machine backup.
If you are very very slow and very carefully then swapping the drive is twenty minutes work, and your MacBook will be good as new. And most likely you can get rid of the external drive.
What are those free apps and how do I get them?
Please tell me how to get those free apps.
I bought an external drive and have put my pictures and videos in there, plus other things, and I am STILL getting the message. Sometimes it says that it is FULL and other times ahtat it is almost full.
It's been three das now that I am trying to free up space and I have been unsuccessful. HELP!!!
Please tell me how to get those free apps.
I bought an external drive and have put my pictures and videos in there, plus other things, and I am STILL getting the message. Sometimes it says that it is FULL and other times ahtat it is almost full.
It's been three das now that I am trying to free up space and I have been unsuccessful. HELP!!!
Use Disk Inventory X or Grand Perspective to see how space is being used on your drive.
Many have successfully used Monolingual to remove unwanted languages and architectures to free up drive space, but even that will not make your Mac run faster. Deleting these things will only save you around 1-2GB.
Be aware that extreme caution should be exercised when using such apps, as deleting certain languages or architectures can create significant problems. At best, deleting these things may buy you 1-2GB of drive space, but will not improve your system's performance. If you're not certain about what you're doing, don't delete anything. The small drive space savings are not worth the risk of potential problems.
iTunes
If you're really really into music, you must be using up a ton of space. buy an external hard drive, 500 GB or a Terabyte at best buy or similar stores won't set you back too much. Move your whole iTunes folder over to the external hard drive, it saved me 50 GB on my MacBook.
If you're really really into music, you must be using up a ton of space. buy an external hard drive, 500 GB or a Terabyte at best buy or similar stores won't set you back too much. Move your whole iTunes folder over to the external hard drive, it saved me 50 GB on my MacBook.