Any Mac experts out there???

[exrm193]

I have a desktop Mac with 1TB of space on the hard disk.....but it says I only have 148Gb left to use????
I've used 50Gb on music
137Gb on video clips
150Gb on movies I've downloaded....And a bit more on a few programmes I run like Basecamp..

My question is how can I find out whats taking up the space??

Cheers

[RavenstoneGSA]

Hi there,

Macs have a section called "other," you can find it by clicking on the Apple logo top left, about this Mac, more info on the box that pops up, and then "storage." This will show your music, videos, files etc. and the very mysterious "other."

I use a program called Disk Doctor which is really good for cleaning up your drive. It surprising how much junk can build up but this really helps. I've got 120GB of other at the moment which is anything that isn't movies, music, photos or apps. Its bit long winded but if you open Finder and click on "All My Files" you can manually remove anything that you don't need.

Cheers,

John.

[P4ulie]

As John says clicking the apple will tell you whats running behind the scenes & taking up space.

Mine is an old macbook with f all hard drive capacity. I keep all my movies/music on an external drive. The external is linked to itunes so I just plug it in when I feel the urge. That saves 50gb of disc space, movies I copy across as I want to watch, which again saves needing 150gb.

I'm usually lucky to have 10Gb of space (been down to 700mb) & computer still works, so I wouldn't worry too much. Theres a lot of useless gumph that you can happily remove from applications if needed

Paul

[TomBoyNI]

Download a program called Disk Inventory X it will show you in a very easy to understand visual representation of your hard drive what is using what.

I'd also be considering one of these :

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/3tb-seag ... ack-pc-mac

I have a couple of them and they are great drives for the money.

[Martinl69]

Depending how many base camp maps you've installed they can take up quite a bit of space, I've a few different maps on mine and between them they're around 30GB.

Try to keep as many files (especially large ones on an external drive), clear the cache files for deleted programmes from your library/cache folder.
Depending on the OS, leave your Mac switched on over night as the OS will auto delete temp files created by the system (these are usually small in size)
Keep your downloads folder clear
Check your iTunes and iPhoto library size (also empty the trash in iPhoto, lots of people forget this)
If using any video editing software, Final Cut or Premier, check where your scratch discs and media folders are set to

MainmenuPro CCcleaner or Clean my Mac are good apps for cleaning up apps and space

Lot of other smaller files which can be removed, foreign languages etc...

I've a 1TB drive in mine but also have over 4TB of files on external drive, it's easy to fill it, If all else fails, backup and reinstall your OS!

Hope this helps. By the way. I've worked for an Apple Solutions Reseller for the past 15 years!

[Martinl69]

Download a program called Disk Inventory X it will show you in a very easy to understand visual representation of your hard drive what is using what.

I'd also be considering one of these :

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/3tb-seag ... ack-pc-mac

I have a couple of them and they are great drives for the money.

+ 1 for Disk Inventory X

[DanielS]

Something like this should help figure out where the files are http://www.whatsizemac.com/index.php There's a handy youtube video too which will help you use it:

[Simon_100]

I use McAfee, good value for the initial cost, free updates for life, etc.

I'm not an Apple Solutions Reseller - nor anything else like that

Regs

Simon

[exrm193]

Cheers chaps.....

I now face a new dilemma.....If I use "About This Mac", it says I have 685.84GB worth of movies.


If I then interrogate the "movies" bit of my hard drive, it says I have 137GB on disk???


Where are all these other files that are taking up so much space??

Thanks

[DanielS]

Did you look at the software I suggested earlier? It'll tell you what and where they are