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Application for removing files from library

Hello All.

I am running on OS 10.9.5

I have a 1 terabyte harddrive. After using for about a year i noticed that the hard drive only had 5 gigs of free space and figured thats why my mac was running so slow.

started looking for files to move to externals and to delete and got to 140Gigs, but couldn't figure out where the rest was.

then found it in the library folder. its 782 gigs large.


I'm terrified of deleting something important by accident so i thought of getting one of those apps that find files that are associated to programs that don't exist and delete it. I figured this would be the best way.

then I kept seeing people saying that mac owners don't need such programs and that I'm wasting my time.

however I find myself in a position where I don't trust myself not to throw out something important and having a paperweight where my Mac once stood.


Can you guys recommend an app that will do the job safely?

or is there another resource for doing this?


Please be advised that i am not computer genius and I am not confident going into deep water folders and swim around. I need something that people trust to do the job.


Any ideas?

please help

iMac (27-inch, Late 2012), OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)

Posted on Mar 5, 2015 3:22 PM

Reply
10 replies

Mar 5, 2015 3:40 PM in response to Leviathan9821

If you are like most users what is taking up most of the space on your drive is large libraries such as your photos, movies & music. Apple explains how to move those (HIGHLY recommended to get and external HD for this) in:


iTunes for Windows: Moving your iTunes Media folder - Apple Support


iPhoto: How to move the Library folder to a new location - Apple Support

Mar 5, 2015 3:56 PM in response to Leviathan9821

We need more info to help you safely. There are multiple Library folders, one for the system, another for system wide 3rd party content and another within each home directory (which is hidden by default).


Apps also have their own 'libraries' which may cause additional confusion (like iPhoto & iTunes).


In general you want to avoid messing with all system content, the items within your home folder are yours to do with as you please, but you should consider that deleting or moving the wrong thing can break apps etc.


Whatever you do backup everything first!


Before you start deleting & moving items take a look with an app like Grand Perspective, Whatsize, or Omni disk sweeper…

http://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net

http://www.whatsizemac.com/index.php

https://www.omnigroup.com/more/


Post back with the info for the items that concern you, someone here may be able to suggest if they can be moved or deleted.


You may also find that performance doesn't increase too much, simply freeing disk space is not going to undo any issues from bad software that may be installed, but you really need a lot more than 5GB free to have a stable OS.

Mar 5, 2015 4:08 PM in response to Linc Davis

Yeah...there is no problem.

and there is no subfolder.

I'm looking to remove unnecessary files maybe belonging to programs no longer in use. The Library folder is contains 80 folders and these folders are over 700gigs in size. when you have only one terabyte a folder containing 700gigs is a big deal.


Are you trying to tell me there is no application that will help me find files that can be deleted?

I have to play russian roulette with this folder?

Mar 5, 2015 4:26 PM in response to Leviathan9821

Please see the apps I suggested. They will show the folders that are using the disk space.


It's possible that one folder has got out of control & is causing the whole library to appear oversized.


NOTE: Finder also has a 'Calculate all sizes' option when viewing in list view. 'View > Show View options' has a checkbox to enable it. Enable the 'Size' column by right clicking the column headers if size isn't shown as a column header.


Please post back with what you find, /Library is the place for 'third party system wide stuff' - not safe to hack away at.

Mar 5, 2015 5:52 PM in response to Leviathan9821

There is no application that can decide which files are safe to delete and which are not.

Empty the Trash if you haven't already done so. If you use iPhoto, empty its internal Trash first:

iPhoto ▹ Empty Trash

Do the same in other applications, such as Aperture, that have an internal Trash feature. Then restart the computer. That will temporarily free up some space.

According to Apple documentation, you need at least 9 GB of available space on the startup volume (as shown in the Finder Info window) for normal operation—not the mythical 10%, 15%, or any other percentage. You also need enough space left over to allow for growth of the data. There is little or no performance advantage to having more available space than the minimum Apple recommends. Available storage space that you'll never use is wasted space.

See this support article for some simple ways to free up storage space.

You can more effectively use a tool such as OmniDiskSweeper (ODS) or GrandPerspective (GP) to explore the volume and find out what's taking up the space. You can also delete files with it, but don't do that unless you're sure that you know what you're deleting and that all data is safely backed up. That means you have multiple backups, not just one. Note that ODS only works with OS X 10.8 or later. If you're running an older OS version, use GP.

Deleting files inside a photo or iTunes library will corrupt the library. Changes to such a library must be made from within the application that created it. The same goes for Mail files.

Proceed further only if the problem isn't solved by the above steps.

ODS or GP can't see the whole filesystem when you run it just by double-clicking; it only sees files that you have permission to read. To see everything, you have to run it as root.

Back up all data now.

Install the app in the Applications folder as usual. Quit it if it's running.

Triple-click anywhere in the corresponding line of text below on this page to select it, then copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.

For ODS:

security execute-with-privileges /A*/OmniDiskSweeper.app/*/M*/* 2>&-

For GP:

security execute-with-privileges /A*/GrandPerspective.app/*/M*/* 2>&-

Launch the built-in Terminal application in any of the following ways:

☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

☞ In the Finder, select Go Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

☞ Open LaunchPad and start typing the name.

Paste into the Terminal window by pressing command-V. You'll be prompted for your login password.

The application window will open behind other open windows. When you scan a volume, the window will eventually show all files in all folders, sorted by size. It may take a few minutes for the app to finish scanning.

I don't recommend that you make a habit of doing this. Don't delete anything as root. If something needs to be deleted, make sure you know what it is and how it got there, and then delete it by other, safer, means. When in doubt, leave it alone or ask for guidance.

When you're done with the app, quit it and also quit Terminal.

Mar 5, 2015 6:48 PM in response to Drew Reece

Thank you for this.

Unlike so many people who seem to be answering without actually bothering to read my post your post worked exactly as i needed it to. Using the app you suggested i was able to find that the majority of the 700 Gigs were 5 folders buried inside the Library folder. It seems that every time I use Premiere pro it makes a preview tumb of the movie, some of them were as large as 1 gig, and many of them were between 100mb-500mb.

After carefully using the app you suggested i was able to find the large files and was able to delete them with one click.


this was exactly what I was asking for and I really appreciate your help.


I was able to delete over 600 gigs of older files from movies that had been rendered years ago!

Mar 5, 2015 7:01 PM in response to Leviathan9821

You may want to check Premiere's settings, there should be a way to set the location for render or scratch files (it's been so long since I looked at Premiere I couldn't even guess 🙂).


If you store them in a more obvious location, like somewhere inside your home folder it may be easier to manage (& safer than touching anything in /Library).


Glad it helped & good luck with it.

Application for removing files from library

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