Free up hard drive space

Hi everyone/anyone.

My problem is creating available hard drive space. My sister game me her mid-2010 macbook pro. I am using Lion OS x (version 10.8.2).

She was using 375 GB on the 500 GB hard-drive (so 125 GB free). I needed more hard disk space so my idea was to delete her user account.

So I created a new user account, deleted her user account, but now I still have only approx 125 GB free on my hard drive (most of this, approx 305 GB is yellow and labeled “other” - There's no way I have 305 GB of other on my user account). I don’t know why so much memory is being used. Once I deleted her account, shouldn’t I almost be at 500 GB?

I am wondering if I deleted her account incorrectly. For example, iTunes auto-updates says I need to log-in to my sisters account in order to update programs for that account (actually just 1 program called “Evernote” – I don’t know what that is). This is not possible though since I deleted her user account.

When I go to Systems > Users, I am the only user (other than the “Guest” account). I still also have Microsoft office 2008, which is good, but it was installed by her under her account. Don’t know if that is helpful or not. I just have a feeling I didn't delete much of her info, or maybe some of her programs are taking up alot of space.

Any input much appreciated. I have a Time Capsule and I want to transfer/migration assistant over information from my previous mac, but I don’t have enough free space on this macbook pro. If this doesn't work I'm wondering if I should learn how to restore the mac to essentially factory settings, then I would have the free space I need (except I would lose microsoft office, but can live w/ that)

Thanks again,

Henry

Personally, I recommend a clean install of the OS on any computer being transferred to a new user.

What you have done would only delete what she had in her user account. Most apps in OS X are not installed under an individual user account, but in the root Applications folder which allows their use by any user account on the machine.

If you prefer to find and delete stuff you don't need than by doing a clean install, you will need something like 'WhatSize' - my favorite app for this or the free DiskInvenotryX.

In the latter scenario, you will be hounded by any applications she has installed from the Mac App store for her Apple ID and password for any updates to those apps.

Bobtomay -

Thank you for your reply.

I think you're right I need to do a clean install. I just didn't know how to do this. Prior to this macbook pro, I had an iMac with everything backed up via my Time Capsule (& Time Machine) - so this will likely be my best option.

2) questions:
1) Her macbook pro came with Snow Leopard. I bought Mountain Lion and installed on the computer. Will I need to buy this again? Or will it show my purchase history in iTunes (I have the receipt)

2) Can you recommend a good website/resource that will tell me the step by step directions for how I can perform a clean install?

Thanks again,

Henry

If you purchased ML under your Apple ID - I'd suggest re-downloading ML and burn a copy to a flash drive - you can then do a clean install from that flash drive.

Have to head to work - but you can google "burn mountain lion to flash" and come up with quite a few tutorials. Read through 3 or 4 of them and print out the one that is easiest for you.