MacBook hard drive question

Is there an easy way to see where most of my memory space is being used on my macbook?
I'm trying to manage my files onto an external hard drive. I've got movie files etc.. would like to see where most of the memory is being used to free up the hard drive space...

6string said:

Disk Inventory X

Click to expand...

surely this is a joke? the link provided is an advertisement?
I'm just looking for some advice on a mac system. Is this the norm for this Blog?

It's also a link for a free application that many Mac users use for what you are asking....
So, no it's not a joke, and it's a pleasure!

6string said:

It's also a link for a free application that many Mac users use for what you are asking....
So, no it's not a joke, and it's a pleasure!

Click to expand...

then there must be something to this... I'm on my macbook and your link took me to another advertisement. Kinda strange.
I'm just looking for a way to view/navigate files that are taking up the most space on my hard drive. I've removed the files that I see but that wasn't enough. So -without advertisements... can someone type a fix?

works fine for me.

Disk Inventory X

ElkDung said:

then there must be something to this... I'm on my macbook and your link took me to another advertisement. Kinda strange.
I'm just looking for a way to view/navigate files that are taking up the most space on my hard drive. I've removed the files that I see but that wasn't enough. So -without advertisements... can someone type a fix?

Click to expand...

Can you post a screenshot (shift+command+3) of the page that you are getting when you go to that link?

smithk2719 said:

works fine for me.

Disk Inventory X

Click to expand...

I appreciate the link.. looks like it's the answer to what I'm looking for, but there are so many other links to click... I'm not foreign to navigating the internet. but is there ONE link for this cure?

Disk Inventory X - Downloads and click on the blue Disk Inventory X 1.0 at the top of the page.

You could also try the free Grand Perspective (no ads, promise!).

chas_m said:

You could also try the free Grand Perspective (no ads, promise!).

Click to expand...

Cool, this one worked for me. Thanks!
The graphic squares are nice. I guess I'm looking for something that would appear like the "explore" on the PC side. Being able to sort the files by size and file name and drag and drop into an ext hard drive.

Finder can do that easily....

Yeah, I'm a little unclear as to what you're looking for. Finder can sort by size and file name. Simply click "Size" or "Name" in Finder to sort by either file size or file name.

I just had a horrible thought that the OP might start deleting things in the system folder and Library folder willie nilly.
So Elkung, don't touch anything in the system folder, and anything that you choose to delete, be sure that you know what it is and what it does before you do.
The items that are going to take up significant space on your HD that are safe to remove are going to be movies, music, and perhaps pictures if you have tens of thousands of them.

6string said:

I just had a horrible thought that the OP might start deleting things in the system folder and Library folder willie nilly.
So Elkung, don't touch anything in the system folder, and anything that you choose to delete, be sure that you know what it is and what it does before you do.
The items that are going to take up significant space on your HD that are safe to remove are going to be movies, music, and perhaps pictures if you have tens of thousands of them.

Click to expand...

yeah... thats why I wanted to view the files like a pc would. The graphs are all ok, nice squares and all... just would like to have a grasp on what the files are actually names. I have not deleted anything yet. I've already removed my Imovie files onto my ext hard drive. As well as the photographs and songs...
Thanks for your concern!!

It's not a PC, so don't get trapped in that thought process.
Any files as mentioned above, that are going to be significant in size other than items that you shoud not touch are movies, music, and perhaps pictures if you have tens of thousands of them.
The quick and only way you need to sort through size is by going to finder window,
and clicking on home folder, and then right clicking (or control clicking) on each folder and then get info.
With the Movies Folder, just go to the sub menu (next level) and scroll through to identify which are the large movies as the info with size will show up in the next column.

You will find that the Library folder is rather large, but you definitely should not touch anything in there if you don't know what you are doing

If you've moved your videos, photos and songs off, you've already solved the problem. These are the things that take up the most room on EVERYBODY'S computers.

Unless you didn't count your porn collection.