Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT
I recently purchased a new iMac fitted with a 256Gb SSD. However this is almost full and I can't install any more software. I do have a 1Tb external hard disk installed and I would like to move as much as possible from the SSD to the Hard disk. I'd also like to understand how I can force and new software to install on the hard disk. Any help in how I go about doing this would be much appreciated.
Regards
Salicet.
padams35 wrote:
If that isn't the culprit you may need to go hunting. I like to use "du" in terminal but maybe someone can recommend something user friendly.
There's a program called DaisyDisk that can help you visualize what's taking space on your drives. I don't have it, but I've heard of it. I believe it's available from the developer's Web site and the App Store. The App Store shows it as having an "Editor's Choice" award and a lot of mostly 5-star ratings.
Even when using that application, I would recommend carefully thinking about its suggestions BEFORE hitting the "delete" button. Delete in haste, repent at leisure …
I would recommend avoiding various "cleaner" applications – many of which may cause more problems than they solve.
App's and other software are best kept on the internal startup drive with the macOS.
For starters have a long hard look at > Free up storage space - Apple Support
If you are not into the Cloud thing...?
Then the best bet, is to move your larger Photos, Music or Movie Libraries to an external drive.
Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support
Change where your music files are stored on Mac - Apple Support
Move your iMovie for Mac library - Apple Support
However to keep your Libraries safe, you should always use a second external drive to backup the Libraries.
This can be done by including that external drive in your Time Machine backups.
Or by keeping an up to date copy of the Libraries on a second external drive.
Salicet wrote:
Thank you very much for your reply. However I am no further forward as I have no idea how to carry out the suggestions you make. I checking the free space on the SSD I find I have only 3.36 Gb free. The biggest amour of space is taken up by System Data, and that occupies 165.73Gb of space. Is it possible to delete some space here .
Check for and Delete Time Machine local backups.
To do that see > View APFS snapshots in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support
I have two 1 Tb external hard disks on this machine. One is used by the Time Machine Backup System and the other one is almost empty and the place I would like to run all my applications from. I understand that things might run slower by using a hard disk, but speed is not really a concern for me.
You do not put app's or software on the external drive. You only move and store your Photos, Music or Movie Libraries to the extra external drive, then access them from that external drive.
Moving large libraries such as your Photos, Music, Movies to an External Hard Disk is dead simple. Apple explains how in Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac, the process is the same for Music & Movies.
If you run into trouble, then pick up the phone and call AppleCare and a technician can help you through the process. If you don't know the phone number for AppleCare click AppleCare Contact Info to begin finding it. We have no idea where you are physically located, if you happen to be in the USA the number is 800-275-2273.
Going forward, it is NEVER smart to buy a new machine with less capacity than your old machine for the reason you specify.
165GB is excessive: My systems use 20-30GB for System Data.
Try disabling Time Machine local snapshots. About Time Machine local snapshots - Apple Support
If that isn't the culprit you may need to go hunting. I like to use "du" in terminal but maybe someone can recommend something user friendly.
This is what I did with a small sized SSD:
1 - create folders on the external SSD with the following names:
Pictures2
Movies-2
Documents-2
Music-2
Sites-2
2 - copied the contents of the same named folders on the boot drive to the folders on the external SSD.
Pictures ➙ Pictures2
Movies ➙ Movies-2
Documents ➙ Documents-2
Music ➙ Music-2
Sites ➙ Sites-2
3 - verify the move to each folder was successful. This is important.
4 - open the external SSD and drag those folder into the Finder's sidebar below their counterpart:
5 - delete the contents of those folders on the internal SSD.
6 - go to the Finder's Settings/Sidebar pane and uncheck those original folders.
7 - make sure Time Machine is backing up the external SSD as well as the internal drive.
You'll have to point the Photos and Music apps to their respective libraries on the external SSD.
Thank you very much for your reply. However I am no further forward as I have no idea how to carry out the suggestions you make. I checking the free space on the SSD I find I have only 3.36 Gb free. The biggest amour of space is taken up by System Data, and that occupies 165.73Gb of space. Is it possible to delete some space here . I have two 1 Tb external hard disks on this machine. One is used by the Time Machine Backup System and the other one is almost empty and the place I would like to run all my applications from. I understand that things might run slower by using a hard disk, but speed is not really a concern for me.
Any more guidance would be much appreciated.
Thank you very much for your suggestion that I could try downloading an application called "DaisyDisk". I did as you suggested and on running this application it was very clear what was using all the room on my SSD. I was some screen recordings that I had done so time ago, and no longer needed. So I deleted the files in question and now have 149 Gb of free space on my SSD.
Thanks again for your help it's very much appreciated.
Salicet.
Moving everything other than the operating system from SSD to external Harddisk
