shrinking storage OS 10.6.8

I have a MacBook Pro 2.26 running OS 10.6.8

I have 160 gig internal drive w/only about 1 gig of currently available.

About 3 months ago I had about 10 GB free. Since then seems like the more I use the computer the less space is available. I surf a lot and watch a lot of streaming video.

A friend told me I could probably clear a lot of space by eliminating internet temp files....
Is that true?
Please advise

I have already moved all docs, images, and movies to an external drive.

I plan to get a larger drive soon but in the mean time I need to clear some space on the drive.

Thank you for any advice you may have---
Reed

You're not going to accomplish much at all by removing internet temp files. The only solution is to buy a larger hard drive. As inexpensive as hard drives are and as easy as it is to swap one out in a MBP, there's really no excuse to be putting it off. If your current hard drive fills up, the machine will not boot.

The more important thing is...using this computer with only 1gig of free space is NOT a very good idea. For two reasons:

1. If you compltely fill up the HD...the computer will "lock-up" and be unusable. The you will have to boot the computer from an alternate source to free up space.
2. The Mac OS needs a decent amount of free space for the "swap file". 1gig free...just isn't enough.

I'm willing to bet that your HD has photos, videos, music, and infrequently used apps on it that could be moved somewhere else. You need to get some items moved off the internal HD to get things back in order.

- Nick

At least 15% of the drive's capacity should be free space. Some even say 20-25%!

Larger hard drive is the answer to your problems. Pop it in an external caddy and use cloning software to copy things over and pop the new drive in as external, format the old drive and use for your backups which I hope you maintain regularly. Be aware when changing the drive changing the SATA cable is a good plan as they become brittle withbheat and age and likely to crack.

shrinking storage OS 10.6.8

Thanks a lot for your suggestions.
I will follow them.