duane185

Q: What is the best method to clean the hard drive on a macbook?

My wife's macbook is running slowly and I believe the hard drive is cluttered with duplicate data and junk.  What is the best way to clean this up similar to the disc utility used in PC's?

MacBook, OS X Yosemite (10.10.2)

Posted on Apr 20, 2015 5:04 PM

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Q: What is the best method to clean the hard drive on a macbook?

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  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Apr 20, 2015 5:08 PM in response to duane185
    Level 9 (50,876 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 20, 2015 5:08 PM in response to duane185

    There are no utilities that know how to clean up a disk, they do not know what you need to keep, some of them don't even know what OS X needs to keep, often with dire consequences.

     

    This is not Windows, leave those habits behind.

     

    How large is the drive and how much free space is left.

  • by Spazticus,

    Spazticus Spazticus May 12, 2015 11:17 AM in response to duane185
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 12, 2015 11:17 AM in response to duane185

    I'm always hesitant to use a third party app to perform maintenance, but I've had good results with CleanMyMac 2 for clearing out temp files and helping identify old large files.  They also make something called Gemini that I will run to identify duplicates, but it takes a while to sort through what's worth keeping and getting rid of. 

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 May 12, 2015 12:26 PM in response to Csound1
    Level 9 (50,876 points)
    Desktops
    May 12, 2015 12:26 PM in response to Csound1

    And I strongly suggest avoiding CleanMyMac, any version of CleanMyMac.

  • by Spazticus,

    Spazticus Spazticus May 12, 2015 3:24 PM in response to Csound1
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 12, 2015 3:24 PM in response to Csound1

    Why do you suggest avoiding CleanMyMac?  I'd appreciate if you can highlight the risks; so far I've had some benefit but haven't encountered any problems.

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 May 12, 2015 3:27 PM in response to Spazticus
    Level 9 (50,876 points)
    Desktops
    May 12, 2015 3:27 PM in response to Spazticus

    There are plenty of tales of woe about it on this very site.

     

    Research is free.

  • by Spazticus,

    Spazticus Spazticus May 12, 2015 3:48 PM in response to Csound1
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 12, 2015 3:48 PM in response to Csound1

    Oh I'm sorry, I expected you had some actual experience with what you're talking about.  Silly me.

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 May 12, 2015 3:50 PM in response to Spazticus
    Level 9 (50,876 points)
    Desktops
    May 12, 2015 3:50 PM in response to Spazticus

    So you can't be bothered to do little research for yourself, why am I not surprised?

  • by Spazticus,

    Spazticus Spazticus May 12, 2015 4:18 PM in response to Csound1
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 12, 2015 4:18 PM in response to Csound1

    Despite your assumption, I have sifted through scores of nonspecific symptoms and long out-of-date discussions.  I thought just maybe you could do more than make yet another vague and unhelpful complaint.  After all, for the rest of us, community forums like this are generally used to share information and attempt to help each other.

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 May 12, 2015 4:21 PM in response to Spazticus
    Level 9 (50,876 points)
    Desktops
    May 12, 2015 4:21 PM in response to Spazticus

    Don't tell me what I could or should do, look after your own business. Which includes doing your own research, unless you are offering me a job, then we'll discuss remuneration and I will give you the price.

  • by Spazticus,

    Spazticus Spazticus May 12, 2015 5:05 PM in response to Csound1
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 12, 2015 5:05 PM in response to Csound1

    Interestingly, nobody here has told you what you could or should do; I only hoped that something useful could result from a vague comment.  Yet I do apologize for bothering you by respectfully asking you to elaborate on your stated opinion.  It was wrong of me to assume you have some experience with what you're talking about.  I'll just leave you to that high horse.  Good luck in your job search. 

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 May 12, 2015 5:09 PM in response to Spazticus
    Level 9 (50,876 points)
    Desktops
    May 12, 2015 5:09 PM in response to Spazticus

    Spazticus wrote:

     

    Interestingly, nobody here has told you what you could or should do;

     

    Spazticus wrote:

     

    I thought just maybe you could do more than make yet another vague and unhelpful complaint.

    No-one but you.