Do large software updates eat up hard drive?

[Gray]

I have my Intel iMac (17"/2CD/10.4.11) set to automatically look for software updates once a week. I seem to get a dirtbagful of these on a regular basis — for iLife apps. as well as QuickTime, and OS X Security updates. Today, I got a Security update prompt for 2008-006 1.0 at 159 MB !! Not long ago I updated to 2008-004. But they seem to be getting bigger and bigger, as far as MBs go. I just wonder if these updates actually subtract from available hard drive memory, or if they work some other way. No clue. Also, the update info usually says something like 'previous security updates have been incorporated into this security update.' Does that mean I can skip the odd update and catch up down the road? TIA for any insights on this.

 

[hughvane]

You probably need to do a comparative check ie. note the disk space left before the update and installation takes place with what's left afterwards. A casual check in my own case suggests that updates do not consume a lot of extra disk space because a lot of redundant OS files are deleted. I suggest too that you do your updates manually, and simply make a note somewhere to check weekly.

That Security Update seems unusually large. I too run 10.4.11 and the 006 update is 69.4 Mb. FWIW, I don't bother with all the latest updates, as I'm quite satisfied with iTunes 7 thanks very much, and I don't have an iPhone. I get the impression that quite a number of updates are cosmetic, superficial and unnecessary.

Update: 12.06 Gb available pre 006 installation, same post-installation. However, that Gb figure is indicative.

 

[Gray]

You probably need to do a comparative check ie. note the disk space left before the update and installation takes place with what's left afterwards. A casual check in my own case suggests that updates do not consume a lot of extra disk space because a lot of redundant OS files are deleted. I suggest too that you do your updates manually, and simply make a note somewhere to check weekly.

That Security Update seems unusually large. I too run 10.4.11 and the 006 update is 69.4 Mb. FWIW, I don't bother with all the latest updates, as I'm quite satisfied with iTunes 7 thanks very much, and I don't have an iPhone. I get the impression that quite a number of updates are cosmetic, superficial and unnecessary.

Update: 12.06 Gb available pre 006 installation, same post-installation. However, that Gb figure is indicative.

Thanks. But I wonder why your 006 update is so much smaller than mine?? Perhaps because your Mac is a different model. It just proves that with high-tech computer issues one question simply leads to another!

 

[harryb2448]

Different models have different needs from the same software update. EG my FW800 G4 last update to X.5.5 was 169MB - Intel machines report up to 300MB for the same update so they have more changes than the old simple G4's hughvane and I run.

With computers for newer read bigger, hungrier and faster on EVERYTHING!