What not to delete!?

[johnnieblue]

So i'm cleaning my HardDrive and I was wondering if anyone out there has any tips on what to look for when deleting old files or what to avoid deleting. Are there any specific file types that i should just leave alone in general? I know i can do some serious damage if i accidentally delete the wrong file so I thought I'd ask. Also, I'm using ODS incase that means anything.

 

[0007776]

My advice would be to not delete anything that you don't know what it does, that way you can avoid deleting important files.

 

[old-wiz]

If you do not have a good knowledge of Unix, do not touch anything below your Home Directory. Stay away from the root directory.

It is way way easy for a novice to delete a single file and wind up with a system that will not boot and requires a re-install of OSx.

In a similar vein, do not go monkeying around with permissions if you do not understand Unix permissions - this can also result in an unbootable system. When I was working, I can remember new employees with CS degrees who got excited about permissions and wrecked the systems they were working on.

 

[Young Spade]

^What these guys said. However, when going through and deleting old things of mine, I went into "Library" and mucked around in there, deleting things for 'KNOWN" programs that I knew I uninstalled.

By known I mean, it blatantly has a name of (FireFox, Safari,) or something like that. I never went past the library folder and definitely didn't mess with permission files.

If you want to get a couple of programs that help show the load on your hard drive, Disk Inventory X is a free one that I use... DaisyDisk is a better looking but pricy option... I think it's 10 bucks on the App store right now (sale or something). \

Oh and get a program that deletes the system preferences of a program when you delete the application; I use AppCleaner. It's free and it gets the job done.

 

[GGJstudios]

Oh and get a program that deletes the system preferences of a program when you delete the application; I use AppCleaner. It's free and it gets the job done.

Actually, it doesn't get the job done. It deletes .plist files, which are very small files, but leaves behind much larger files. App removal software doesn't do a thorough job of deleting files/folders related to deleted apps. For more information, read this.

 

[johnnieblue]

Yeah I used AppCleaner but still found I had to look around to find and delete certain files that it missed... The problem I have is mostly with support files because i used to have a Bunch of Adobe apps (dreamweaver, flash, fireworks, etc) but when i got rid of those apps they left behind all sorts of garbage. Now i don't want to delete any Adobe files that i still need for Photoshop and FME.

Maybe Onyx would weed them out?

 

[GGJstudios]

Maybe Onyx would weed them out?

Read the link I posted.

 

[luisfelipetrigo]

Recover system files

If you do not have a good knowledge of Unix, do not touch anything below your Home Directory. Stay away from the root directory.

It is way way easy for a novice to delete a single file and wind up with a system that will not boot and requires a re-install of OSx.

In a similar vein, do not go monkeying around with permissions if you do not understand Unix permissions - this can also result in an unbootable system. When I was working, I can remember new employees with CS degrees who got excited about permissions and wrecked the systems they were working on.

Well, I did not read this advice in time.

I ran a process to delete duplicate files in my system (iMac and two 1TB external drives). Mostly focusing on eliminating duplicated RAW photos.
But I got happy and deleted 'other' duplicates and now my MAC will not start.
I get the bong, the gray apple and the spinning gear and it sits there for as long as I let it stay there.

What should I do?

Your help will be greatly appreciated.

Luis Felipe

 

[Gregg2]

my MAC will not start.
I get the bong, the gray apple and the spinning gear and it sits there for as long as I let it stay there.

What should I do?

Do you have an OS install disc?

 

[Young Spade]

Well, I did not read this advice in time.

I ran a process to delete duplicate files in my system (iMac and two 1TB external drives). Mostly focusing on eliminating duplicated RAW photos.
But I got happy and deleted 'other' duplicates and now my MAC will not start.
I get the bong, the gray apple and the spinning gear and it sits there for as long as I let it stay there.

What should I do?

Your help will be greatly appreciated.

Luis Felipe

Do you have an OS install disc?

OSX install disk solves all problems. Pop it in, boot to disk, and start over. Hopefully you have a time machine backup somewhere nearby. I don't know if it gives you the option to not wipe the disk though, and instead like, consolidate ALL of the previous info into a folder or something.

Hopefully it has that. If you don't have a backup that is.

 

[hottot11]

I have a simular question.. I have a bunch of these "Version-1.apversion and Master.apmaster" File's. Can or should I delete these? Everytime I open them or "quicklook" them it's nothing but a blank page..

 

[GGJstudios]

I have a simular question.. I have a bunch of these "Version-1.apversion and Master.apmaster" File's. Can or should I delete these? Everytime I open them or "quicklook" them it's nothing but a blank page..

If you don't know what a file is or what it's used for, you shouldn't delete it, as it may be needed by some app or Mac OS X itself. Those particular files may be related to the Aperture app.

 

[hottot11]

If you don't know what a file is or what it's used for, you shouldn't delete it, as it may be needed by some app or Mac OS X itself. Those particular files may be related to the Aperture app.

Ok that make's sense. But to further my question, They are all under the Finder "search for" and i looked under "today" and a bunch of those are coming up. I downloaded a few diff apps but deleted them through trash and these are what's left..Are they part of the Application's I deleted? And one other question, How do I stop my system from constantly duplicating EVERY file? Like photo's,web images,my document's etc.

 

[GGJstudios]

Ok that make's sense. But to further my question, They are all under the Finder "search for" and i looked under "today" and a bunch of those are coming up. I downloaded a few diff apps but deleted them through trash and these are what's left..Are they part of the Application's I deleted?

In most (not all) cases, files related to an app have that app's name as part of the file name. If you're not certain that a file is related to a deleted app, it's safer to leave it on your system.

And one other question, How do I stop my system from constantly duplicating EVERY file? Like photo's,web images,my document's etc.

Duplicating, how? What exactly are you doing that results in duplication, or how are you determining that files are duplicated?

 

[hottot11]

In most (not all) cases, files related to an app have that app's name as part of the file name. If you're not certain that a file is related to a deleted app, it's safer to leave it on your system.

Duplicating, how? What exactly are you doing that results in duplication, or how are you determining that files are duplicated?

I have NO idea how or what I did for these files to duplicate themselves...It's mostly photo's and document's..They have the same name,and with the photo's i realized there's duplicate files under the same name and "face's". For example, I have a group picture with 5 ppl in it, there are now 6 files(photos) of the same picture just only faces.

 

[GGJstudios]

I have NO idea how or what I did for these files to duplicate themselves...It's mostly photo's and document's..They have the same name,and with the photo's i realized there's duplicate files under the same name and "face's". For example, I have a group picture with 5 ppl in it, there are now 6 files(photos) of the same picture just only faces.

Look to see where the dupes are located on your drive. What file path? That could give you a hint.

 

[hottot11]

Look to see where the dupes are located on your drive. What file path? That could give you a hint.

This is going to sound bad but i need like step by step direction's if you have the time...I am a blond and this is my first mac..

 

[GGJstudios]

This is going to sound bad but i need like step by step direction's if you have the time...I am a blond and this is my first mac..

In Finder, click View > Show Path Bar. That puts a bar at the bottom of the Finder window that shows you the path of any file you click on.

 

[hottot11]

In Finder, click View > Show Path Bar. That puts a bar at the bottom of the Finder window that shows you the path of any file you click on.

There were a few that came up..Document's,Picture's,iPhoto etc...

 

[luisfelipetrigo]

Do you have an OS install disc?

Yes, I do have the install disk that came with the computer.
But it happens to be two releases old and my upgrade to Snow Leopard was done via internet.
It seems that I will have to 'rebuild' some more because of this.

----------

OSX install disk solves all problems. Pop it in, boot to disk, and start over. Hopefully you have a time machine backup somewhere nearby. I don't know if it gives you the option to not wipe the disk though, and instead like, consolidate ALL of the previous info into a folder or something.

Hopefully it has that. If you don't have a backup that is.

Well, I do have backup... but then I do not.
I do not use time machine.
What I do is to bakcup my 'data files' (photos, docs, spreadsheets, mind maps, etc.) but not the applications.
It seems I will have to re-install all my apps from the disks I have and the move up through the upgrades in case there has been any.

 

[Gregg2]

my upgrade to Snow Leopard was done via internet.

???? A SL upgrade was not available from Apple via the internet.

 

[Young Spade]

Yes, I do have the install disk that came with the computer.
But it happens to be two releases old and my upgrade to Snow Leopard was done via internet.
It seems that I will have to 'rebuild' some more because of this.

----------



Well, I do have backup... but then I do not.
I do not use time machine.
What I do is to bakcup my 'data files' (photos, docs, spreadsheets, mind maps, etc.) but not the applications.
It seems I will have to re-install all my apps from the disks I have and the move up through the upgrades in case there has been any.

So.... either you're lying and you don't want to tell us really what's going on or you have no idea and you're making stuff up. Or you just don't know.

1) If you're using a time machine, backup everything. It doesn't make sense to just backup "media" when you can backup the entire drive. You wouldn't have this problem of lost applications.

2) You can't install SL through the internet; now if you downloaded an illegal copy and updated that way, then I don't see how you're going to be able to start over if you can't create a boot disk or whatever.

 

[luisfelipetrigo]

???? A SL upgrade was not available from Apple via the internet.

Uppps.
I can see from this note and one that follows that I have presented myself as a lair.
Which is too bad because I am not lying. Confuser, yes (not the first time) and maybe out of frustration for not having an operational iMac.

----------

So.... either you're lying and you don't want to tell us really what's going on or you have no idea and you're making stuff up. Or you just don't know.

1) If you're using a time machine, backup everything. It doesn't make sense to just backup "media" when you can backup the entire drive. You wouldn't have this problem of lost applications.

2) You can't install SL through the internet; now if you downloaded an illegal copy and updated that way, then I don't see how you're going to be able to start over if you can't create a boot disk or whatever.

I know I brought this into myself.
I am not lying. And I think I have enough of an idea. I am not making stuff up.
1)I do not use time machine. Now I see it makes no sense not to use it, but that is my situation.
2)I do not have illegal SW in my iMac. OS or applications.

Accepting my fault and acknowledging I deserve what I got...
I just think that we jump too soon (and too hard) to conclusions.