[aehaas]

There are old packages like Office 12.0.1 and new versions as 12.1 and old Apertures as 2.0.1 and the new one 2.1, do all these need to be kept? Do the new ones have to be kept? They take up HD space critical in the portable computers.

aehaas

[JKT]

The receipts are used when repairing disk permissions and deleting them will prevent you from being able to do so (however, I'm not sure if third party apps are included in the repair process so it might not matter for their receipts). Whether or not that actually matters very much is debatable.

[turtle777]

If you need space, I'd start with deleting unused languages.

Use an app called DeLocalizer.

-t

[ginoledesma]

You'll want to keep receipts in place. I made the mistake of deleting them before thinking that they were cached copies of the software updated packages. What happened was that Software Update wasn't working properly, and in the end I had to reinstall a number of applications to get it back working. As mentioned by JKT earlier, Disk Utility consults the bill of materials (bom) from the packages in the receipts folder, so if you delete those packages, Disk Utility will be unable to repair permissions.

I'd recommend downloading WhatSize or a similar app to see the biggest files/folders on your volume. The current version of WhatSize limits the scan to the first few GB, so you might want to hunt down for an older version if you can find one.

In my case, the biggest files/folders were in Library/Application Support, namely the iDVD Themes (dating back to iLife 2004), GarageBand Loops, Keynote themes -- most of which I no longer use.

[JKT]

OmniDiskSweeper will scan the whole drive for you, but you won't be able to use it to delete anything unless you pay the shareware fee (or do it manually).

[angelmb]

I second the recommendation for WhatSize, [and that is all]

[Drakino]

Originally Posted by angelmb 

I second the recommendation for WhatSize, you could also use Xslimmer to clean the PowerPC code inside your Universal apps, that could also free some good space… Please note than if you still run any PowerPC only app you have to keep them as is.

Do not do this if you want future Apple updates to be applied without issues. Also, do not do this to programs that check their own integrity (World of Warcraft for example), as this will cause them to fail.

Stripping PowerPC code out of the binaries isn't going to save a ton of space anyhow vs just finding some normal data files to delete.

[CharlesS]

Originally Posted by angelmb 

I second the recommendation for WhatSize, you could also use Xslimmer to clean the PowerPC code inside your Universal apps, that could also free some good space… Please note than if you still run any PowerPC only app you have to keep them as is.

Do not do this. You will completely break Rosetta and will need to archive and install the OS to ever be able to use it again.

The amount of disk space you will save is tiny compared to the hassles it will cause.

[angelmb]

Ouch, so sorry, I totally forget about Rosetta… I still live on a PowerPC Mac so I guess that makes a poor… excuse.

Sorry about the confusion. Ignore my post above.