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crazylegs5150 · Dec 25, 2006, 11:44 AM

So I think I saw a post on this awhile back but could not find it so...I ask it again. I just bought the 80 gb MB and have installed nothing and yet, only have HALF of my total memory allotment. Does the OS X take up roughly 35-40 gb of space?That just seems insane really if so. Also, I am ALREADY thinking of upgrading my memory to 100 GB or more. Anyone know how much each upgrade costs roughly??

gooser · Dec 26, 2006, 12:37 AM

well, your hard drive will lose about 5 gb due to the way it's formatted. you'll never get that back. besides osx you have the size of applications. some will say to re-install osx and leave out unneccesary printer drivers and foreign languages and garage band loops. but my question for you is this-----where did you come up with your username?

ghporter · Dec 26, 2006, 08:06 AM

Please... a hard drive is STORAGE. RAM is "memory." This is not a trivial distinction.

My MacBook Pro came with a 100GB drive and only about 20GB is actually used-even with a bunch of stuff installed. I agree with gooser that you should reinstall the OS and unselect unneeded printers and stuff like that. You can of course completely ignore the Microsoft Office "test drive" or whatever they call it-this thing is not worth your time; you'll either want to get the full version immediately or not use Office at all so dump the test drive.

webb3201 · Dec 26, 2006, 08:43 AM

Originally Posted by crazylegs5150

So I think I saw a post on this awhile back but could not find it so...I ask it again. I just bought the 80 gb MB and have installed nothing and yet, only have HALF of my total memory allotment. Does the OS X take up roughly 35-40 gb of space?That just seems insane really if so. Also, I am ALREADY thinking of upgrading my memory to 100 GB or more. Anyone know how much each upgrade costs roughly??

well....a lot more than nothing comes pre installed. You have Garage band with over 3gbs of stuff, the base install is between 3-8 gbs with languages from other countries installed, you have demo applications, Apple applications etc. Remember iTunes, Safari, iPhoto, IDVD, IMovie are all significant applications.

The first thing I always do is reinstall the operating sytems without the bundled applications I dont want and without foreign languages and printer drivers. I can get the OS down to the sub 3gb range normally.

Sherman Homan · Dec 26, 2006, 08:57 AM

Couple of points, OSX is designed to work for the majority of users, so it is chock full of all kinds of stuff that you may not need. As has been mentioned, you can delete printer drivers, languages and applications that you don't want. It really isn't "insane" if you think in terms of what beginners would have to do to get basic stuff to work. OS X just works, right out of the box. You can choose to delete
things you don't want. monolingual is great for deleting that stuff, but be careful, it will delete anything you tell it to, including necessary files!
Check out Disk Inventory X to get a good idea of what is eating up your drive.
Also, I can't think of any reason to go to the trouble of upgrading from an 80 gig drive to 100 gigs. Your MB can take larger drives, but the expense and hassle would suggest getting the biggest one you can!

webb3201 · Dec 26, 2006, 10:15 AM

One note to illustrate Sherman's note on Monolingual....be careful and dont erase anything unless you are sure its not needed. I deleted the piece needed to run application in Rosetta by mistake. I just reinstalled to get around the problem. I really like just starting but either works.

crazylegs5150 · Jan 7, 2007, 04:31 PM

Thanks for the insight everyone. Sorry for the improper useage of RAM vs. GB. I was referring to the storage space on the HD. The name comes from my love of being an avid Van Halen fan hence the "5150" and the other is just an old nickname. No, I am not criminally insane in case anyone was wondering. Just a name.
I am a little sketchy on getting rid of things I "do not need" as I am pretty green behind the ears in terms of my computer literacy. I look to these boards and others to extend my knowledge base and learn more about a totally new computer experience for myself.
My feeling is that it seems like i should have more room on the HD. I knew there was some space tken up initially and tht i wasn't getting 80GB truly. I also figured that ilife '06 takes up some space with all the apps that come with it. However, I was just shocked to see my macbook tell me that I have used 30 GB already without hardly anything being put on and have 43 GB left.
Thanks for the help everyone. I appreciate it.