Monlingual and Trimthefat

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Have had my macbookpro for about 6 months and have already filled up my hard drive, How safe is it to use these apps to delete PPC,ARM architecture and universal binaries.... Im a noob in every sense of the word so any advice on whats safe to delete or what apps to use would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.
 
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chas_m

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If you're a noob as you describe, these programs will not fix the problem.

Yeah, you might get a GB or 3 back (or you MIGHT hideously screw up the entire system -- both programs have the ability to do that!), but that's not the real problem.

The only thing that's actually going to fix this problem is a combination of a larger hard drive and smarter disk management.

In short, you need to either stick a new, larger hard drive in there (and a new larger backup as well of course), and/or you need to make some decisions about what does and does not need to be on your boot drive all the time.

My advice would be to look at your videos, photos, music and "misc" (ahem) collections to see what can be offloaded. iTunes and iPhoto both allow multiple libraries, meaning you could have smaller "portable" libraries and larger "permanent" collections left on the big hard drive at home. Archive your old iMovie/iDVD projects, and try to whatever extent possible to keep sensitive/personal info off your boot drive (in case your machine is ever stolen, saints forbid).

But yes, used WITH CAUTION and BACKUPS, you could save some space by using programs like Monolingual.

As a rule of thumb, you need to keep at *least* 10GB free on today's computers for temp files, virtual ram and misc "overhead." Any less than that and you're askin' for trouble IMHO.
 

bobtomay

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Very good advice above. The only thing I would add, I have found anything under 15% free space on your system partition (don't care which OS you're running) will lead to sometimes quite drastic system slow downs and other issues. This is still holding true on up to 500 GB system partitions in my experience. Have not filled a 1TB or larger system partition to that extent to test it out.

I used those apps early on with my first Mac. I am now in the group that does not recommend their use. The gaining of 3GB of space with the size of drives today is not going to solve the issue and can cause some of your apps to cease functioning.
 
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If you're a noob as you describe, these programs will not fix the problem.

Yeah, you might get a GB or 3 back (or you MIGHT hideously screw up the entire system -- both programs have the ability to do that!), but that's not the real problem.

The only thing that's actually going to fix this problem is a combination of a larger hard drive and smarter disk management.

In short, you need to either stick a new, larger hard drive in there (and a new larger backup as well of course), and/or you need to make some decisions about what does and does not need to be on your boot drive all the time.

My advice would be to look at your videos, photos, music and "misc" (ahem) collections to see what can be offloaded. iTunes and iPhoto both allow multiple libraries, meaning you could have smaller "portable" libraries and larger "permanent" collections left on the big hard drive at home. Archive your old iMovie/iDVD projects, and try to whatever extent possible to keep sensitive/personal info off your boot drive (in case your machine is ever stolen, saints forbid).

But yes, used WITH CAUTION and BACKUPS, you could save some space by using programs like Monolingual.

As a rule of thumb, you need to keep at *least* 10GB free on today's computers for temp files, virtual ram and misc "overhead." Any less than that and you're askin' for trouble IMHO.

Chas, it wouldn't let me give you more rep, but you're all over it today. Agree with Bob though, 15% or more free at all times... I honestly freak out if I start getting down around 25%. I use pretty good disk management skills, though, so I am torn as to whether or not I should go through the hassel of installing a 320GB 7200rpm drive in this guy... I think what I might do instead is get a router with a USB port or two and have some NAS going, and then run the multiple libraries as suggested. :)
 

chscag

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Ben 10666:

A bit of caution about using Monolingual or Trimthefat: While both programs may save you some space by removing languages that aren't used or PPC ARM architecure, they can also stop some programs from working. One such example is MS Office 2008 which will not work right or update if you remove languages by using Monolingual.

I would leave well enough alone. If you're worried about disk space, buy a larger hard drive. Goodness knows, they're inexpenive and easy enough to swap out.

Regards.
 

vansmith

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One such example is MS Office 2008 which will not work right or update if you remove languages by using Monolingual.
I was going to mention this and can verify it. I tried to install an update after using Monolingual a while back and was prevented from doing so. This was right after using Monolingual which led me to believe that it somehow prevented me from completing the update. In fact, after doing a quick search, this is verified by the Monolingual FAQ. It also affects newer Adobe products as well.
 

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