hasburyhughesy
Level 1 (15 points)
Notebooks

Q: Stat up disc full

Hi everyone,

 

I only have 817MB of available storage on my Macbook Pro.

Screen Shot 2016-08-05 at 20.16.29.png

As you can see from the above screen shot, most of the space on my HDD is categorised as 'Other'? I have gotten rid of lots of unwanted photos and video files, emptied the trash, emptied my downloads folder, uninstalled unwanted programs (of which there was only a couple) but I still have over 165GB taken up by I don't know what?

 

I do a lot of work in iMovie. Are iMovie events or project folders categorised as 'Other'?

 

Can someone please offer any advice?

 

Thanks,

Ben.

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5)

Posted on Aug 5, 2016 12:26 PM

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hasburyhughesy

Q: Stat up disc full

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  • Helpful answers

  • by OGELTHORPE,

    OGELTHORPE OGELTHORPE Aug 5, 2016 12:55 PM in response to hasburyhughesy
    Level 9 (52,318 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 5, 2016 12:55 PM in response to hasburyhughesy

    First understand what OTHER actually is:

     

    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202867

     

    You will not want to try and delete all or even most of it.

     

    Download from the Internet OmniDiskSweeper and Grand Perspective (both free) and open them. They will show all of your files and the respective sizes. Transfer to an external HDD or delete files you no longer want on your MBP.

     

    Do not forget to empty trash. Only then is space allocated for new data.

     

    https://www.omnigroup.com/more

     

    http://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net/

     

    Let me mention that often that display is incorrect and should not be relied upon.  Usually, but nit always, a reindex of Spotlight will correct it:

     

    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201716

     

    Ciao.

  • by hasburyhughesy,

    hasburyhughesy hasburyhughesy Aug 5, 2016 1:32 PM in response to OGELTHORPE
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Notebooks
    Aug 5, 2016 1:32 PM in response to OGELTHORPE

    OGELTHORPE wrote:

     

    First understand what OTHER actually is:

     

    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202867

     

    You will not want to try and delete all or even most of it.

     

    Download from the Internet OmniDiskSweeper and Grand Perspective (both free) and open them. They will show all of your files and the respective sizes. Transfer to an external HDD or delete files you no longer want on your MBP.

     

    Do not forget to empty trash. Only then is space allocated for new data.

     

    https://www.omnigroup.com/more

     

    http://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net/

     

    Let me mention that often that display is incorrect and should not be relied upon.  Usually, but nit always, a reindex of Spotlight will correct it:

     

    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201716

     

    Ciao.

    Hi OGELTHORPE,

     

    I had already read that article before posting here. Upon reading it again, I have lifted the below:

     

    Sometimes the "Other" category in the About This Mac window may seem large. About This Mac uses this category to count any files that aren't recognized as one of the other listed file types (audio, movie, photos, apps, backups). Examples of files that may be calculated as "other" include:

    • Items in the OS X folders such as the System folder and caches
    • Personal information such as documents, contacts, calendar data
    • App Plugins or extensions
    • Media files that cannot be classified by Spotlight as a media file because they are located inside of a package

     

    Could this be referring to iMovie events and project files?

  • by hasburyhughesy,

    hasburyhughesy hasburyhughesy Aug 6, 2016 12:55 AM in response to OGELTHORPE
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Notebooks
    Aug 6, 2016 12:55 AM in response to OGELTHORPE

    Hi,

     

    I have downloaded OmniDiskSweeper and analysed the HDD. Below are the findings:

     

    Screen Shot 2016-08-06 at 08.48.28.png

    Between iPhoto & Photos, I have over 100GB of space I could free up.

     

    As far as I can tell, the new Photos app seems to be just a duplicate of all my pictures in iPhoto..? Can anyone confirm whether I need both apps installed, or whether I can safely uninstall one of them once I have put all my images onto an external drive.

     

    Thanks,

    Ben.

  • by OGELTHORPE,

    OGELTHORPE OGELTHORPE Aug 6, 2016 3:35 AM in response to hasburyhughesy
    Level 9 (52,318 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 6, 2016 3:35 AM in response to hasburyhughesy

    hasburyhughesy wrote

     


    • Media files that cannot be classified by Spotlight as a media file because they are located inside of a package

     

    Could this be referring to iMovie events and project files?

    It is very possible.  It depends on how you have that data organized.

     

    Ciao.

  • by OGELTHORPE,

    OGELTHORPE OGELTHORPE Aug 6, 2016 3:37 AM in response to hasburyhughesy
    Level 9 (52,318 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 6, 2016 3:37 AM in response to hasburyhughesy

    hasburyhughesy wrote:

     

     

    As far as I can tell, the new Photos app seems to be just a duplicate of all my pictures in iPhoto..? Can anyone confirm whether I need both apps installed, or whether I can safely uninstall one of them once I have put all my images onto an external drive.

     

    Post that question on the Photos forum for a definitive answer (I still use Aperture for my photo processing).

     

    Ciao.

  • by Oliver.James,

    Oliver.James Oliver.James Aug 6, 2016 3:40 AM in response to hasburyhughesy
    Level 1 (127 points)
    Aug 6, 2016 3:40 AM in response to hasburyhughesy

    Hello,

     

    In addition to what everyone else has suggested. I use a program called Clean My Mac by MacPaw. Its a brilliant app for clearing out a lot of unused files.

     

    Good Luck!

  • by OGELTHORPE,

    OGELTHORPE OGELTHORPE Aug 6, 2016 3:48 AM in response to Oliver.James
    Level 9 (52,318 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 6, 2016 3:48 AM in response to Oliver.James

    I would discourage using any such so called 'cleaning' applications.  Their ability to corrupt a MBP far outweighs any benefits that it may offer, real or imagined.

     

    Ciao.

  • by hasburyhughesy,

    hasburyhughesy hasburyhughesy Aug 6, 2016 4:30 AM in response to OGELTHORPE
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Notebooks
    Aug 6, 2016 4:30 AM in response to OGELTHORPE

    I have downloaded Gemini2 to remove some duplicate files I have found.

     

    This seems to be a popular program, although I've no experience of using it muself.

  • by OGELTHORPE,

    OGELTHORPE OGELTHORPE Aug 6, 2016 8:11 AM in response to hasburyhughesy
    Level 9 (52,318 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 6, 2016 8:11 AM in response to hasburyhughesy

    Applications that search for duplicates are very different.  They do not (or should not) delete any files but rather identify candidates for removal.  The user makes the final decision, not the application so I have no objection using that type of application.

     

    Ciao.