What Files are Safe to Delete?

Every so often my start up reports that it's full after my laptop has been on for a couple of hours. I restart it in then I get 10gb back. I've tried to find out what causes my computer to fill up so fast to no avail. Now I just want to free up more space in the case that this problem persists.

Using OmnidiskSweeper I've singled out folders that are taking up more space than others, but they all seem to be system folders, so I want to know what is safe to delete in the folders.

~usr/share
~bin
~Library/Updates
~Library/Application Support
~Library/Logs

Lastly is there anything I can delete in "private"?

KaysoKray said:

Every so often my start up reports that it's full after my laptop has been on for a couple of hours. I restart it in then I get 10gb back.

Click to expand...

This is probably the swap file. When OS X doesn't have enough ram to fully store everything it needs...it "shuttles" some "stuff" to the hard drive...which of course takes up some space.

What are safe things to delete. Your:

- video/movie files
- photos
- documents you created
- music
- applications you installed

Of course don't delete something that isn't backed up...and you want to keep.

When it comes to OS X...I say nothing is safe to delete (unless you REALLY know what you're doing). And at the end of the day...the OS X stuff that is safe to delete...isn't really going to save much space.

- Nick

First and foremost, none of those directories should be messed with. Doing so, might lead to a failed system.

Now the facts, what Mac do you have? How much total disk space do you have? You need to ensure that 20% of the total disk space is free. If you are getting the full message, you need to start clearing things out quick.

When clearing out stuff, ALWAYS start with your home folder. Employ a USB flash drive or external hard drive and move stuff to it..