Received a message that "startup disc is nearly full". I went to see how full it was, but it doesn't appear in my finder sidebar (yes, my list of devices is "shown", but my computer is not listed there). How can I get it to appear?
MacBook Air, Mac OS X (10.4)
I cannot figure out what the extraneous data is or where it is located. Any advice as to where I can locate this data, and what I should avoid deleting so that I don't screw up the system?
HD Space Checkers:
Disk Inventory X(FREE)
WhatSize(SHAREWARE)
OmniDiskSweeper(FREE)
GrandPerspective(FREE - donation)
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH19068OS X Yosemite: Increase disk space
Rule of thumb: You should never let your hard drive get to where you have only 10-15% of space left.
The rest of the drive is filled with "Other", filling the drive up to 49GB.
Read the following article: The Storage Display
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Empty the trash in the Dock as well as iPhoto & Photo's trash!
Open up your application folder & go through all your apps. Trash all the apps you no longer want and/or use.
An easier way to do this is to open the Application folder in list view & press the Command+j keys.
In the the dialog that appears, click the "This Window Only" button & the "Calculate All Sizes" check box.
Wait a bit until your file & folder sizes have all been calculated, then click the "Size" column to sort your apps from the fattest to the most anorexic.
Get rid of all your photo files you don't want and/or need. Same goes for those pics off the websites you downloaded (gifs, jpegs, etc.). Or transfer/move them all to a photo/movie storage site like ImageShack and Photobucket, 2 of the most popular FREE storage sites.
Get rid of all your video & music files you no longer view and/or listen too. Especially, if you already have the actual CD/DVDs or you can later redownload from a website. Or transfer them all to a FREE video/movies and/or music storage site.
Use Spotlight to make sure you got rid of everything. You can even trash directly from Spotlight! Better yet, download this FREE software called Find File. This app puts Spotlight to shame (works w/Mountain Lion).
Drag what you don't want and/or need to the trash. Better yet, download this neat little shareware app *demo* called AppZapper. It basically does all the work for you by not only trashing the apps but the apps preference files, caches & all its associated files.
Another software that does the above is AppDelete. Best of all this software is free!
Burn what you want and/or need onto CDs or DVDs. Not everyone has the luxury of purchasing an external HD and/or the system requirements for iCloud to store their "stuff.”
Dropbox is a free storage utility to check out.
You can check with your ISP to see if they offer *free* storage space. Most if not all do now-a-days. There are thousands if not millions of *free* storage facilities on the web also. Use your favorite search engine to search them out as they come in different storage sizes to fit your needs & wants.
Check for duplicate fonts.
Applications>Font Book
Select “All Fonts”
If you see any “black dots” next to any fonts this mean you have duplicates and/or multiple versions of these fonts.
To clean this up, select a “black dotted” font or the Apple + *click* to select multiple dotted fonts;
Edit>Resolve>Duplicates.
What the above does is turns off the duplicates & multiple version fonts. Not delete them.
More than likely the “extras” were installed by other programs and/or other users.
Clear out font caches
Use FontNuke. It does all the work for you. And, best of all it’s *FREE*.
Printer Drivers
Get rid of all the printer drivers you don’t need & use except the ones for your *current* printer(s)/scanner(s).
HD>Library>Printers Folder
If you accidentally threw something out that you needed for your printer/scanner it can be easily obtained from the manufacturer’s website and/or from the CD that came w/the printer/scanner.
Garage Band
Has about 1GB of loops stored. Get rid of some some them. You surely don’t use, like and/or need them all.
HD>Library>Audio/Apple Loops>Apple>Apple Loops For GarageBand
Or just get rid of the Garage Band app altogether if you don’t use it.
Get rid of extra languages
Strip your computer down to your “native” tongue.
You can do this with a *FREE* utility called Monolingual. Another app that apparently does all the work for you. I’ve never used it. However, a lot of users here swear by & recommend it highly.
However, there is a warning for *native English speakers*. Make sure you keep BOTH English and English (United States).
"my computer" is a global container for Windows OS, not mac.
Are you saying your Hard Drive is not appearing and your preferences are set to show all the devices?
if so toggle the checkbox in Finder>Preferences>General for your "Hard Disks" to off (unchecked), then close, then go back to that dialog box and turn it on (checked)
if it's not appearing on the side bar make sure you've extend the details tab and it's not closed.
Thanks guys. I've located "my computer" and added it to the sidebar. It is a 175GB partition, and 173.5 is "in use".
Checking the size of the various folders, my "home" folder registers 63GB,with approximately 50GB of media. The various root folders contain around 35GB (System/Apps, etc). Trash is empty. That accounts for around 100GB.
Checking "About This Mac">More info>Storage", the HDD shows 93GB of the partition is used by "other", but I cannot figure out what the extraneous data is or where it is located. Any advice as to where I can locate this data, and what I should avoid deleting so that I don't screw up the system?
The same thing is happening on my "Media" partition. Of the 50GB, only half are pictures and music. The rest of the drive is filled with "Other", filling the drive up to 49GB.
Finder Go menu > Computer. Try that.
Then, make some room for your computer to work.
Then, check Finder's Preferences > Sidebar, and select your Mac, its hard disk, or both, under "Devices".
You can also show how much space you have left at the bottom of the Finder window by:
Open Finder window>Finder>View>Show Status Bar
"my computer" not visible in finder
