Need help cleaning out my Mac.

Joined
Oct 5, 2011
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Points
1
I am using a MacBook Pro 17" * 2.33 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo running Snow Lep 10.6.8 with 2 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM. My Startup Disk is 200GB.

I switched from windows and still a NEWBEE to Mac. I need help cleaning out some stuff on my HD. Opening a new finder window it states on the bottom that I have 1.33 GB available.

Lately I've been downloading movies from the pirate bay (17 GB worth of movies) and storing the stuff on my desktop. I've since copy and pasted everything to an external HD but I'm still left with 1.33 GB's left on my HD (?)

I'm thinking about wiping my HD clean and reloading Snow Lep from my external and pasting back from my external to the MacBook HD.

Will still solve my memory problem?
 
Joined
Dec 11, 2010
Messages
1,808
Reaction score
40
Points
48
Location
Chicago
Your Mac's Specs
late 2012 mini w/SSD
You must have more than just the 17 GB of movies? Maybe 50 GB or more of photos or music?
Backup everything that's important.
Delete files that you know aren't part of the system.
I don't recommend reinstalling OS X - that's a Windows method...
 
Joined
Dec 13, 2009
Messages
220
Reaction score
2
Points
18
Your Mac's Specs
MacBook Air mid-2013 4GB, and other machines
I am using a MacBook Pro 17" * 2.33 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo running Snow Lep 10.6.8 with 2 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM. My Startup Disk is 200GB.

I switched from windows and still a NEWBEE to Mac.
Welcome to the world of not wasting time goofing with Windows problems. But yes, things are different here.


I've been downloading movies from the pirate bay (17 GB worth of movies) and storing the stuff on my desktop. I've since copy and pasted everything to an external HD but I'm still left with 1.33 GB's left on my HD
That makes no sense. If you deleted 17GB of movies, then you should have >17GB of hard drive space.
Did you TRASH the movies? On a Mac, that means literally dragging them into the trash can in the Dock.
THEN, you must go to the Finder, and from the Finder menu item select Empty Trash. Until you Empty Trash, the space is still taken up on your hard drive!
WARNING: Once you Empty Trash, it is pretty much gone/dead/bye-bye and, unlike Windows, not easily recoverable even with shareware.

How much stuff do you have in iTunes? iPhoto? etc. (Go to the Finder, and your username is on the left pane of a Finder window. Click that, and you'll see Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Library, Movies, Music, Pictures...right click each one to Get Info. Probably you have some huge bunch of stuff in one of those folders).

I would NOT delete other stuff, especially if you are a newbie. Mac code is much more efficient than windows, and programs/applications don't take up nearly as much space. What clogs the machine are images, sound, and video.


By the way, go to RAM Memory Upgrade: Dell, Mac, Apple, HP, Compaq. USB drives, SSD at Crucial.com
and buy yourself some more RAM. Your machine will run a bit happier with more memory.
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top