where are my gigs going??!

lexx · Apr 23, 2011

Hi all!

i recently bought a mbp and just gotta say i absolutely love it. being a windows user prior, i never understood what those mac users were talking about until now!

anyways, here's my problem. i bought the macbook used. the guy kept his stuff on his own user account because he had movies and such that he said i could keep if i want. i created another admin account and read that if you delete an account it'll delete all the files with it. but i deleted his account and now out of the 320gb i'm suppose to have, i still only have 149gb. i haven't put anything on this mac yet! is there a way i can see where all my gigs are going?

thanks in advance and sorry if this post has been in the forum before but i couldn't find it :Angry:

bobtomay · Apr 23, 2011

The free ones are:

GrandPerspective
Disk Inventory X

Although, I found the following to be worth the price of admission:

What Size

lakewoodlady · Apr 23, 2011

Do you have any system disks that came with the MBP? If so, you could try a re-format to get all the HDD space back.

LL

chscag · Apr 23, 2011

Although, I found the following to be worth the price of admission:

What Size

I agree, it's a great little app. Just a bit of caution when using it.... don't select the option to remove unwanted languages if you have Office 2008 or 2011 installed. That will prevent Office from updating and will require a reinstall of Office to get it working again.

roflitskyle · Apr 23, 2011

Be careful not to delete any System Files. This may lead to more problems with your computer. Just before you delete something, check and make sure what it that you are deleting. Also if you can back up your computer, I suggest doing that.

- Kyle

chas_m · Apr 24, 2011

I strongly second lakewoodlady's suggestion. Wipe the hard drive, reinstall the system and apps. Make that computer YOUR computer instead of "some guy's computer that I'm using."

lexx · Apr 24, 2011

roflitskyle said:
Be careful not to delete any System Files. This may lead to more problems with your computer. Just before you delete something, check and make sure what it that you are deleting. Also if you can back up your computer, I suggest doing that.

- Kyle

Thanks for the feedback everyone!
unfortunately i didn't get any discs with it=( and i'd much rather not spend 50 bucks asking apple for it!

how do i know which one are system files and which ones aren't?
i see that the previous own did some partitioning of the drive and i don't know which ones contain what is important for the mac to run properly and which ones are just his crap i can delete. is there a way to approach this?

TattooedMac · Apr 24, 2011

lexx said:
Thanks for the feedback everyone!
unfortunately i didn't get any discs with it=( and i'd much rather not spend 50 bucks asking apple for it!

Why pay $50 when you can pick SnowLeopard up for $29 from .

Small price to pay for piece of mind of having your own Mac . . . .

Cheers

lexx · Apr 24, 2011

TattooedMac said:
Why pay $50 when you can pick SnowLeopard up for $29 from .

Small price to pay for piece of mind of having your own Mac . . . .

Cheers

okay this might be a stupid question but... whats snow leopard?

McBie · Apr 24, 2011

Lexx,
Follow the advice first given by LakeWoodLady .... reformat the whole lot.
Get yourself the correct disks for the machine you have and start from scratch.

This is actually a no brainer.

Snow Leopard is the latest version of OS X.

Cheers ... McBie

lexx · Apr 24, 2011

McBie said:
Lexx,
Follow the advice first given by LakeWoodLady .... reformat the whole lot.
Get yourself the correct disks for the machine you have and start from scratch.

This is actually a no brainer.

Snow Leopard is the latest version of OS X.

Cheers ... McBie

the last guy set up a few device that i can see on the top of the left side column in the finder box. even though most of it is just video files and photos, i dont' know how to delete it. and also when i right click on the device, it says i can "eject". what does that mean?

sorry for being such a newb!

thanks
lexx

harryb2448 · Apr 24, 2011

Go and purchase Snow Leopard OS X.6 from Apple, format and do a clean install. On any pre-loved machine, set it up the way you want it from scratch.

TattooedMac · Apr 24, 2011

lexx said:
okay this might be a stupid question but... whats snow leopard?

If you clicked on the link in my post it will tell you exactly what it is.

BUY IT !!!!! and then do what the majority of members are pointing you towards and that is to do a clean install of the OS.

Now bc you are a noob ill spell this out for you to install it

1 insert the DVD
2 Restart the Mac and when you do hold down the 'c' key.
3 Choose english as the Language
4 In the top menubar click Disk Utility
5 When DU opens click the HD in the left column then the erase tab middle top.
6 Then where it says format make sure it reads Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and rename it as well while you are there. This is where you name the HD.
7 Click the 'erase free space' tab.
8 Once it has done its thing quit DU completely.
9 it will now go back to the installer window and this is where you follow the prompts to install the new OS. It should only take 40mins or so.

Hope it helps you some, but you do need to buy SL and install it. Its the only way around your predicament.

And dont fret installing a new OS, as  have made it a easy thing to do. Even for noObs

Cheers

lexx · Apr 25, 2011

TattooedMac said:
If you clicked on the link in my post it will tell you exactly what it is.

BUY IT !!!!! and then do what the majority of members are pointing you towards and that is to do a clean install of the OS.

Now bc you are a noob ill spell this out for you to install it

1 insert the DVD
2 Restart the Mac and when you do hold down the 'c' key.
3 Choose english as the Language
4 In the top menubar click Disk Utility
5 When DU opens click the HD in the left column then the erase tab middle top.
6 Then where it says format make sure it reads Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and rename it as well while you are there. This is where you name the HD.
7 Click the 'erase free space' tab.
8 Once it has done its thing quit DU completely.
9 it will now go back to the installer window and this is where you follow the prompts to install the new OS. It should only take 40mins or so.

Hope it helps you some, but you do need to buy SL and install it. Its the only way around your predicament.

And dont fret installing a new OS, as  have made it a easy thing to do. Even for noObs

Cheers

awesome thanks a lot! but how do i know that snow leopard isn't already on there? i went to the apple sign -> about this mac. and it says i'm on mac os x 10.6.7. does that mean i have the newest update already? if not, what advantages does snow leopard have?

also, i figured that the memory is being taken up by a few partitions. Bootcamp and a two other partitions. i know there use to be windows 7 on the macbook before but the previous owner said he took it off. so how do i get rid of this partition along with everythign else in it?

Thanks in advance!
lexx

TattooedMac · Apr 25, 2011

lexx said:
awesome thanks a lot! but how do i know that snow leopard isn't already on there? i went to the apple sign -> about this mac. and it says i'm on mac os x 10.6.7. does that mean i have the newest update already? if not, what advantages does snow leopard have?

10.6.7 is SnowLeopard with the latest update. Once you install the new OS depending what .v they are shipping now, but dl the 10.6.7 combo update from HERE. Install that then restart your Mac and now it will be as up to date as you can get it.

lexx said:
also, i figured that the memory is being taken up by a few partitions. Bootcamp and a two other partitions. i know there use to be windows 7 on the macbook before but the previous owner said he took it off. so how do i get rid of this partition along with everythign else in it?

Thanks in advance!
lexx

That will be all be able to be done via Disk Utility once you have booted from the SL install DVD

lexx · Apr 25, 2011

TattooedMac said:
10.6.7 is SnowLeopard with the latest update. Once you install the new OS depending what .v they are shipping now, but dl the 10.6.7 combo update from HERE. Install that then restart your Mac and now it will be as up to date as you can get it.

That will be all be able to be done via Disk Utility once you have booted from the SL install DVD

so does this mean that i'm all up to date? because i have mac os x 10.6.7. doens't say anythign to do with snow leopard or anything.

also, i tried to go to disk utilities and remove those partitions. there are 3 partitions and my mac HD which makes 4. i tried to erase one of them when i was in disk utilities, and selected "mac os extended (journaled)" and it ended saying the erasing failed. but the partition was gone and the memory was nowhere to be found. frustrated at where it went, i shut it down and booted it again. now the other two partitions are gone! i only have the mac HD left! the other 3 are gone! what do i do?!?! :Angry:

McBie · Apr 25, 2011

Mate,
You are making your life complicated for absolutely no reason.
Get a set of OS X disks, erase the hard disk and do a clean install.
If you continue this experimental behaviour you will need those disks sooner than you think.
Also, have a look at the " missing manual for OS X " from David Pogue.
It will get you up to speed with OS X in no time.

I rest my case.

Cheers ... McBie

TattooedMac · Apr 25, 2011

I Agree with the above from Marc. A clean reinstall is the way for you. And here are a few pages as a noob you might find interesting . . . .

Mac Switching 101
Mac 101
MacTricksAndTips ~ 100 Essential Mac Apps
Mac OS Keyboard Shortcuts
Mac OS Menu Bar Items
Mac downloads ~ Apple

Cheers

lexx · Apr 25, 2011

TattooedMac said:
I Agree with the above from Marc. A clean reinstall is the way for you. And here are a few pages as a noob you might find interesting . . . .

Mac Switching 101
Mac 101
MacTricksAndTips ~ 100 Essential Mac Apps
Mac OS Keyboard Shortcuts
Mac OS Menu Bar Items
Mac downloads ~ Apple

Cheers

thanks a lot for all the help!
now my problem is obtaining these disks. is there anywhere i can down load them from?

robduckyworth · Apr 25, 2011

lexx said:
thanks a lot for all the help!
now my problem is obtaining these disks. is there anywhere i can down load them from?

you cant, you need to buy the retail version of Snow Leopard.

where are my gigs going??!

lexx

bobtomay

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lakewoodlady

chscag

Well-known member

roflitskyle

chas_m

Guest

lexx

TattooedMac

lexx

McBie

lexx

harryb2448

TattooedMac

lexx

TattooedMac

lexx

McBie

TattooedMac

lexx

robduckyworth

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