imac g4 need to free up hard drive space

hoss581 · Sep 23, 2012

could one of the forum members tell the best way to free up space on my hard drive ?

imac g4 power pac. I don't have a start up disc.

pigoo3 · Sep 23, 2012

hoss581 said:
could one of the forum members tell the best way to free up space on my hard drive ?

Ways to free up space on an HD:

- delete the "junk" (old stuff you never use & don't need)
- move some stuff from the iMac's HD to an external HD (then delete those items for the iMac's internal HD).
- "burn" stuff you want to save to a CD or DVD…then delete them from the iMac's HD
- move items from the iMac's HD to a USB drive/stick (then delete those items from the iMac's HD).

Any one or a combination of these suggestions will get the job done.

- Nick

louishen · Sep 23, 2012

Disk inventory X will help you identify what is using up all that space.

Do you use iPhoto by the way

hoss581 · Sep 23, 2012

louishen said:
Disk inventory X will help you identify what is using up all that space.

Do you use iPhoto by the way

Yes I use I photo. How do I get to disc inventory x? what key strokes do I need to do ?

pigoo3 · Sep 23, 2012

hoss581 said:
How do I get to disc inventory x?

You do a Google search to find out what website it's available from...and to learn more about the program.

Or some nice, intelligent, helpful, good-looking, studly, "modest" person does that for you!

Disk Inventory X

- Nick

harryb2448 · Sep 23, 2012

Or some nice, intelligent, helpful, good-looking, studly, "modest" person does that for you!

Hard to find them little devils!

pigoo3 · Sep 23, 2012

harryb2448 said:
Hard to find them little devils!

hoss581 · Sep 24, 2012

Okay what do I do after I use disc inventory x and free up some space , do I delete it or keep it installed ?

Sorry I am not that computer savy .

pigoo3 · Sep 25, 2012

hoss581 said:
Okay what do I do after I use disc inventory x and free up some space , do I delete it or keep it installed ?

Sorry I am not that computer savy .

This is entirely your decision…it's your computer.

- Nick

hoss581 · Sep 25, 2012

Well what I mean is doesn't disc inventory x take up space?

pigoo3 · Sep 25, 2012

hoss581 said:
Well what I mean is doesn't disc inventory x take up space?

Ahh…that's does clarify what you asked earlier (I thought that you were asking some thing else)!

But again it's kind of the same answer…it's up to you. Is the amount of space Disk Inventory X takes up significant? Do you feel like you will never need it again?

If the answer is "Yes & Yes"…delete it!

- Nick

p.s. Of course if you delete Disk Inventory X…and you need it again…you could always redownload it (assuming it remains a free product).

hoss581 · Sep 27, 2012

wow that is very true pigoo, it is free now but may not stay that way. Anyway, I like having it, it is cool to have and see all the stuff in colors and in proportion, I am not completely sure how to use it tho I did free up some space. I was hoping it would then make my unit faster , it is slightly faster but I was hoping for more speed. I am learning computers as I go so my learning curve is big. one thing I am having trouble with is not being able(permission) to empty the trash after getting rid of files .I get a prompt that says I can't throw this away because it is in use ? I still get a lot of beachball
which drives me insane . I have to do restarts to get rid of it . I empty the cache and delete cookies and clear the history all the time just to do normal web surfing .

pigoo3 · Sep 28, 2012

hoss581 said:
wow that is very true pigoo, it is free now but may not stay that way. Anyway, I like having it, it is cool to have and see all the stuff in colors and in proportion, I am not completely sure how to use it tho I did free up some space. I was hoping it would then make my unit faster , it is slightly faster but I was hoping for more speed.

You have to keep in mind…this iMac G4 is 8-10 years old. This is like a "Ford Model T" in the computer world…so you have to expect some performance/speed issues.

- Nick

hoss581 · Sep 28, 2012

pigoo3 said:
You have to keep in mind…this iMac G4 is 8-10 years old. This is like a "Ford Model T" in the computer world…so you have to expect some performance/speed issues.

- Nick

yeah LOL("Model T") I just want the beachballs and the browser quitting to stop . I have to restart to get back online . maddening , didn't use to do this .

pigoo3 · Sep 28, 2012

hoss581 said:
yeah LOL("Model T") I just want the beachballs and the browser quitting to stop . I have to restart to get back online . maddening , didn't use to do this .

The "computing world" gets more & more complex as the years go on…while the performance abilities of an 8-10 year-old computer have remained the same.

So for every year that goes by…what the computer his being asked to do gets harder & harder. Multiply this by 8-10 years…and we have a slow/very slow computer!

It's really not that the computer has gotten slower…as much as what it's being asked to do has gotten harder!

- Nick

hoss581 · Sep 28, 2012

pigoo3 said:
The "computing world" gets more & more complex as the years go on…while the performance abilities of an 8-10 year-old computer have remained the same.

So for every year that goes by…what the computer his being asked to do gets harder & harder. Multiply this by 8-10 years…and we have a slow/very slow computer!

It's really not that the computer has gotten slower…as much as what it's being asked to do has gotten harder!

- Nick

I get it, kinda what I thought . I have freed up a lot of space on the disc, been putzing around all night with it it seems a little better . at least I know that I have done something instead of just getting frustrated.

pigoo3 · Sep 28, 2012

hoss581 said:
I get it, kinda what I thought . I have freed up a lot of space on the disc, been putzing around all night with it it seems a little better . at least I know that I have done something instead of just getting frustrated.

Looking at one of your earlier posts (below):

hoss581 said:
one thing I am having trouble with is not being able(permission) to empty the trash after getting rid of files .I get a prompt that says I can't throw this away because it is in use ?

If you're getting the message that you cannot empty the trash because it says that "it is in use"…then you need to quit all applications…then empty the trash. If at this point you still get the message…then you may be trying to delete something that you shouldn't…because it may be OS related. If you accidentally delete OS related stuff…you can be in for a lot of problems!

hoss581 said:
I still get a lot of beach ball which drives me insane . I have to do restarts to get rid of it . I empty the cache and delete cookies and clear the history all the time just to do normal web surfing .

It sounds like you've done about as much as you can do. More ram may help things out…but if your iMac G4's ram is already maxed out…then there's not a whole lot more you can do (old computer).

- Nick

hoss581 · Oct 1, 2012

Hey pigoo3 , I am getting the hang of disc inv. x!! I have a mostly empty disc now!!My memory gets used up by swap files, but I took your advice on how to empty the trash and I can dump them easy now .

See this computer used to be in a library at a college , I got it after they upgraded so it is full of folders pertaining to the library. I am slowly going through them and getting rid of things like stuff in other languages etc.

thanks Nick

pigoo3 · Oct 1, 2012

hoss581 said:
Hey pigoo3 , I am getting the hang of disc inv. x!! I have a mostly empty disc now!!My memory gets used up by swap files, but I took your advice on how to empty the trash and I can dump them easy now .

See this computer used to be in a library at a college , I got it after they upgraded so it is full of folders pertaining to the library. I am slowly going through them and getting rid of things like stuff in other languages etc.

I'm probably a bit rusty as to all the issues with this computer (without rereading the whole thread). But it sounds to me that the best thing would be to completely erase & reformat this HD...and then do a clean install of the OS.

Of course this means you need the proper OS install disks (depending on what OS this computer can run & what OS you want to install). And those old OS install disks can be expensive.

The hassles of working with old equipment!

- Nick

hoss581 · Oct 1, 2012

No that's not an option Nick. I don't have the original start up disc. It works good enough now for a novice like me . I have no funding for buying anything, I got this computer for free so I have to just make due !!

I don't know if I mentioned but I get my service from Verizon via phone line and an external modem from them, so spending any money would be like putting lipstick on a pig !!

imac g4 need to free up hard drive space

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