full hd advice

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Level 1

84 points

full hd advice

Hello all,

My wife's iBook HD is perpetually close to full. Currently it is 27.1 of 27.8 capacity.

Honestly, I'm having a tough time figuring where it all is, and what to delete. Is there any good advice on where I might start? Are there any good 'little' programs that make this a little easier (perhaps by listing everything and telling me how big its is, while protecting important things)?

We have 2 accounts on this machine, and certainly I know where some of the capacity went, but . . .

How much does the basic 10.3 plus iLife '05 use? This might give me a baseline of what to expect.

emac Mac OS X (10.3.9) Ext FWHD 160

Posted on Apr 11, 2006 10:20 AM

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Answer 1

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Red Dwarf

Level 6

14,920 points

Apr 11, 2006 10:31 AM in response to Bear23

Hi Bear23,

Only 0.7GB of free space on the hd?!?! WOW!!

You will most definately need to look at what to delete, transfer to external media etc. I don't think you'll even be able to burn any file to CD-R media either due to the amount of free space available.

You might want to look at a utility called WhatSize which should assist you in determining which files take up the most space:

http://www.id-design.com/software/whatsize/index.php

Perhaps you may also want to consider in investing in an external firewire hard disk also. They're quite cheap these days.

RD

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Answer 2

FatherTime

Level 4

1,509 points

Apr 11, 2006 10:33 AM in response to Bear23

Hey you can check out a little program called Tidy Up!

You can find it here .

This is a really great program to find any files that are duplicate. It saved me 18 GB on my HD in my desktop. Next I am going to try it on my iBook. There are numerous ways to search so if you don't have many duplicate files you can also find other files by size.

Hope that helps...good luck!!

Also, after you clean up the HD I am sure that your computer will run MUCH quicker.

FatherTime

DP 2.0 G5 1GB RAM, iBook Mac OS X (10.4.3)

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Answer 3

Bear23 Author

Level 1

84 points

Apr 11, 2006 11:06 AM in response to FatherTime

Thanks for the quick advice, both of you.

I will take a closer look at both of those programs, they sound like what the doctor ordered.

As far as an external HD, we have one for our desktop, and I'd perfer to keep the laptop, 'untied' to earthly things 🙂

But lastly, does anyone have any idea what 10.39 plus iLife 05 would cost in space?

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Answer 4

--JB--

Level 5

4,067 points

Apr 11, 2006 12:20 PM in response to Bear23

Hi Bear23,

I too suggest WhatSize, but...

If you are going to use WhatSize to delete any files/programs/applications, please be careful and make sure you know exactly what you are deleting and if there are any repercussions. WhatSize will show you files that you would not normally see; they are referred to as "invisible files". These invisible files are hidden from the users view because they would clutter the desktop and they hold vital information that if corrupted or deleted may cause problems. Please make sure you know what you are doing!

Have you deleted files that you don't use; like for my iBook, GarageBand. I use GarageBand on my iMac because it is much easier and faster, so I deleted it on my iBook. Have you tried the "erase install method"? The reason for doing this is because Mac OS X installs all the necessary fonts, languages, drivers, etc that people all over the world my need, by default. This tends to take up some room that you might want to get rid of (make sure first what you don't need and need). You erase and install your system software ( Knowledge Base Document 301270 About Install Options w/ Mac OS X 10.4), and when installing, do a custom install. This way you can install the languages, drivers, and applications you want. The same technique can be done with iLife.

I understand why you do not really want to get an external hard drive, but I just have a couple of things that may persuade you to think otherwise.

No matter who opens your iBook, you risk having future problems. The other reason is that its great for backing up your internal hard drive. One should always backup their hard drive just incase anything happens to your computer. One can't predict the day when a friend trips over their own feet; knocking your iBook on the floor with a huge crash. The most annoying thing to carry around when traveling is the Mac OS X install discs. I hate bringing them with me because I am in constant fear that I will loose them. The reason I bring them with me is because if something happens while I am away, I can troubleshoot my problem. I can startup from the install disc and then run Disk Utility, Archive and Install, Erase, and partition my hard drive. Once someone has a problem on the road; they will never leave their house without the discs. Instead of carrying around those discs, I partitioned one of my external hard drives into three sections, one for backup (140Gb), one for Mac OS X Tiger (10Gb), and the last one is for Panther (10Gb. I gave my girlfriend an iBook and she has Panther on it). This means I am equipped to startup my computer without using my internal drive.

Have you ever lost your iTunes library or your TurboTax data? Well, by backing up your hard drive (internal to external), you can save all your vital data incase something happens. You will find it a life saver if anything ever happens.

If you are looking into external hard drives, I suggest anything from LaCie, SmartDisk, or Western Digital

I recommend the LaCie D2 Hard Drive Extreme w/ Triple Interface, SmartDisk CrossFire, or the WD Dual Option.

I use a SmartDisk CrossFire for both my iTunes library as well as my iPhoto library. If you need help moving your iTunes library you might want to look at Knowledge Base Document #301748 explains How to Move Your iTunes Library.

I hope that helps,
Jon

PS There are tons of small, thin, portable hard drives that will keep your iBook portable (the ones I listed are more towards desktops). If anything, you should at least have someplace to backup your files incase something happens.

Mac Mini 1.42Ghz, iPod (All) , Airport (Graphite & Express), G4 1.33Ghz iBook , G4 iMac 1Ghz, G3 500Mhz, iBook iMac 233Mhz, eMate, Power Mac 5400 LC, PowerBook 540c, Macintosh 128K, Apple //e, Apple //, and some more... Mac OS X (10.4.5) Moto Razr, iLife '06, SmartDisk 160Gb, Apple BT Mouse, Sight..

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Answer 5

Bear23 Author

Level 1

84 points

Apr 11, 2006 7:10 PM in response to --JB--

JB, thanks for you thorough and insightful reply. I fully agree with you concerning external HD's as back up ect, only not for this laptop.

I have a regimine of back up procedures among which include the cloning of my internal HD on my emac, to an identical external.

But as for the ibook we truly only use it for 'fluff'. Email on the go, surfing, and occasionally I play a game or two when my wife is on my desktop. Everything of value is on my desktop. In fact I avoid putting anything important on the ibook for fear of theft.

Having said all this, I'm kind of scratching my head as to how it go so full though. I don't have many songs or photos on it either. Usually I am within reach of our wifi and can then access the desktops library's.

I will next try 'what size'. Earlier today I tried the other program, 'tidy up' and was a little shocked by all of the duplicates it found. And I was not sure what was safe to delete. I believe it said if found some 10,000 files. Pretty hard to inspect each file before deleting it with numbers like that.

I have switched from windows some years ago, but I still find it hard to delete things indisciminately. With windows, that was a serious faux pax. Always 'uninstall' programs. And as far as files, you better be really sure that you placed that file there, because if some program put there, and later that program went to retrieve that file, it's pretty likely that a crash would be the final result.

Are there things to be on the watch for when I am happily clear cutting the HD? For instance directories, or locations that are a BIG NO.

And finally JB, what software do you use for your back up? Do you use the software that came with your external drive? I have a Seagate 160 external, and I was not impressed with it's included software. So I use Carbon Copy Cloner, which seems to do the trick.

Thanks,
Bear

emac Mac OS X (10.3.9) Ext FWHD 160

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Answer 6

--JB--

Level 5

4,067 points

Apr 11, 2006 7:30 PM in response to Bear23

Bear23,

Well, in the past I have used Backup (up to 3), which comes with a .Mac subscription. Right now I have a series of backup software including CCC (Carbon Copy Cloner), Prosoft's Data Backup, and Super Duper. There are tons of ways of backup your hard drive. You may want to look at Knowledge Base Document #106941 which has examples on How to back up and restore your files.

Jon

PS Is your external have FireWire? What format is your hard drive?

Mac Mini 1.42Ghz, iPod (All) , Airport (Graphite & Express), G4 1.33Ghz iBook , G4 iMac 1Ghz, G3 500Mhz, iBook iMac 233Mhz, eMate, Power Mac 5400 LC, PowerBook 540c, Macintosh 128K, Apple //e, Apple //, and some more... Mac OS X (10.4.5) Moto Razr, iLife '06, SmartDisk 160Gb, Apple BT Mouse, Sight..

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Answer 7

Bear23 Author

Level 1

84 points

Apr 11, 2006 8:03 PM in response to --JB--

Jon,

Yes, my external is FW 400. I use Carbon Copy Cloner, because my goal is a complete copy of my drive, so that I can boot from the external 'without missing a beat' in the even of an internal failure.

I do have .mac, and I am not sure if backup 3 will do that. I am fairly sure that the previous version would not.

And I think that I could do this using the disk utility program to simply copy the internal, but I don't trust that it can do this. My fear (unfounded perhaps) is that disk utitlity will not copy the entire startup disk. Basically, that it will no know what to do with programs ect that are currently in use.

Bear

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Answer 8

--JB--

Level 5

4,067 points

Apr 28, 2006 3:41 PM in response to Bear23

Hi Bear,

Sorry it took me so long to respond back.

With Carbon Copy Cloner, you can make a bootable clone. Connect your external hard drive > Open Carbon Copy Cloner > Select your Source Disk as your internal hard drive > Target Disk as your external hard drive > Preferences > (I always do the repair permissions before cloning) Check Make Bootable and then your done; you can now make a bootable clone.

What I do is I make two partitions on my external hard drive using Disk Utility. I make one 10Gb for installing Mac OS X. That way, I can just startup from my external hard drive right into Mac OS X as if I was starting from my internal. It is great for troubleshooting and it would make backing up in case of a hard drive failure easier. Let us know if you would like to know more about doing this.

Jon

Mac Mini 1.42Ghz, iPod (All) , Airport (Graphite & Express), G4 1.33Ghz iBook , G4 iMac 1Ghz, G3 500Mhz, iBook iMac 233Mhz, eMate, Power Mac 5400 LC, PowerBook 540c, Macintosh 128K, Apple //e, Apple //, and some more... Mac OS X (10.4.5) Moto Razr, iLife '06, SmartDisk 160Gb, Apple BT Mouse, Sight..

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