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ashrjordan · May 7, 2007, 03:34 PM

I've just got a new 60gb macbook, got it home and found i only have 37bg available. : /
Im unsure why, i have osx 10.4.9, ilife and the other pre-installed applications. Should those take up almost half of the hard drive?

Tomchu · May 7, 2007, 04:05 PM

I find new Mac users often bringing up this issue.

First of all, 60 GB according to the hard drive manufacturers is 60,000,000,000 bytes. Since one kilobyte is actually 1024 bytes, and 1 MB is 1,048,576 bytes (1024 x 1024), and so forth, your hard drive in reality is only about 55.8 real GB in size.

A bare OS X installation without printer drivers and all that other junk is something like 3-5 GB (/System, /Library, /Applications, /usr). Printer drivers and multiple languages will take up another 1-2 GB. The rest of the space is taken by iLife and other pre-installed applications. GarageBand is gigantic.

Whenever I buy a new Mac from Apple, I format the drive and re-install OS X with only the things I want before I do anything else. Then I run Monolingual. ;-)

Mac User #001 · May 7, 2007, 04:42 PM

Just a quick question, is Monolingual safe to use? I mean, those languages aren't needed for anything right? Because I'd certainly like to free up a lot of space on my Mac...

Mac User #001 · May 7, 2007, 04:46 PM

Also, what is safe to remove in the Input Menu and Architecture sections?

Tomchu · May 7, 2007, 05:16 PM

You can remove everything from Input (I always do). Don't bother touching architectures -- if you're not careful, you can accidently remove Rosetta libraries, rendering your Intel mac incapable of running PowerPC applications. :-P

Mac User #001 · May 7, 2007, 05:31 PM

Thanks a bunch. But, what if I don't have an Intel Mac? Still, just don't touch that area?

ghporter · May 7, 2007, 05:36 PM

Originally Posted by Mac User #001

Thanks a bunch. But, what if I don't have an Intel Mac? Still, just don't touch that area?

By definition, MacBooks are ALL Intel Macs. If you're talking about another Mac, please say so; you've given me a headache just now!

Mac User #001 · May 7, 2007, 05:39 PM

I don't have a MacBook, and I never said I did. I have an iBook G4.

Tomchu · May 7, 2007, 05:57 PM

Edit: Nevermind.

Confused users. :-D

Mac User #001 · May 7, 2007, 06:07 PM

Originally Posted by Tomchu

Edit: Nevermind.

Confused users. :-D

Tomchu, if I don't have an Intel Mac, is there anything I can and might want to delete from the Architecture section?

Tomchu · May 7, 2007, 06:15 PM

You can check off everything Intel-related. If you're on a G4, you can also check off the G5 stuff.

Mac User #001 · May 7, 2007, 06:20 PM

Thanks. I've saved about 1.1 GB so far, its amazing!

Tomchu · May 7, 2007, 06:52 PM

What I usually do is go into Preferences, and remove everything from the directories list, and simply add my whole hard drive ("/") to it. You can then proceed to strip languages and Intel/G5 stuff.

If it breaks, don't hold me responsible. I'm just saying ... did it on my Mac Mini G4 and iBook G4 back in the day. :-P

ghporter · May 7, 2007, 06:59 PM

Originally Posted by Mac User #001

I don't have a MacBook, and I never said I did. I have an iBook G4.

Sorry, I confused you with the original poster. In your case, you don't need to worry about Rosetta, but there may be other libraries to worry about. Tread lightly.

ashrjordan · May 8, 2007, 06:55 AM

Thanks alot for the help, I'm pretty new to the back end of things for macs. How would I free up some space and get rid of unwanted apps and un neccasary features?

tavin64 · May 9, 2007, 04:50 PM

A full OSX install with ilife will be about 20gb. Macs when bought come with every single thing installed other than xcode. The easiest way for you to save a ton of space is to just reformat the hard drive and reinstall OSX with just the stuff you want. Dont install all the printer drivers because its close to 1gb. What i like to do is just install the base system with no extra printer drivers or documentation. You can always just download the specific drivers for your printer later and save a ton of space. Macs come with 2 dvds, the first one is just the base system while the second is for ilife and other stuff. A minimal install will only require the first disc.

But even after doing this 60gb is still kind of small so I just ended up buying a 120gb toshiba perpendicular recording laptop hard drive for around 70 bucks online so that is always an option. When it comes to replacing the hard drive in macbooks, it is the simplest thing.