I've heard that you should always format your hard drive when you get a new mac. Would you guys reccomend it?
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formatting when you get a new mac.
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If you have a big hard drive, I don't think you need to. But if you have a small hard drive then I would recommend it.
iBookG4user said:
That makes no sense.
Anywho.... most people don't bother (and you really don't need to) but I usually do it simply to make sure the restore/system disks work... this way if my computer does go kaput I know my media is good.
But yeah... really no need to.
What I meant was if you have a smaller hard drive like 60GB or so you should do it because it will get you some space back and if you have a bigger hard drive like 160GB or so you really would fill that up very soon (that is if your not doing video editing ect.) so you wouldn't see such an imediate benefit from getting the space back.SilentPanda said:
Most of the time its really not necessary. The only time you may want to do it is if you think the Mac isn't running like it should. Sometimes Macs come with bad installations of OS X right out of the box. I've setup a couple of Macs that were like that. Wasn't really any biggie to me as OS X only takes a few minutes to install, even with the built in apps.
The only thing you really want to do is make sure you run Software Update as they usually don't come with the latest updates for OS X or the built in apps such as iLife. Your Mac could be made a couple of months ago and was just sitting in a warehouse so its probably missing some recent updates.
BTW iBookG4User, you need to change you signature to 10.4.7!
The only thing you really want to do is make sure you run Software Update as they usually don't come with the latest updates for OS X or the built in apps such as iLife. Your Mac could be made a couple of months ago and was just sitting in a warehouse so its probably missing some recent updates.
BTW iBookG4User, you need to change you signature to 10.4.7!
iBookG4user said:
How do you get space back?
Unless you mean by leaving off some options during the OS reinstall...dejo said:How do you get space back?
Thats exactly what he meant. For example, if you have an HP printer, there's no sense in installing the EPSON, Xerox, Lexmark, etc printers. That alone will save you nearly a gig of HD space. If you don't need some of the built in apps that come with that particular Mac you can choose to not install them as well which will free up more space. For a typical user, HD space isn't to much of a big deal. Most people have more HD space than they'll ever use unless they get into video editing or fill it up with stolen music and digital photos.
I did a clean install when I got my notebook.
OS X and all the iLife suite came at a total of 20 GB of HDD space used on first boot. Which is ridiculous to me since I don't need most of the preinstalled applications.
Doing a custom installation and removing, if my memory serves me correctly, iDVD, iMovie HD, iWork, Quicken and some random stuff they put on cleared a heck of a lot of HDD space.
The install was reduced to 8 GB. ;-)
I could've gotten it even lower, probably down to 5 GB, by removing some languages and printer drivers. But I kept those just in case.
OS X and all the iLife suite came at a total of 20 GB of HDD space used on first boot. Which is ridiculous to me since I don't need most of the preinstalled applications.
Doing a custom installation and removing, if my memory serves me correctly, iDVD, iMovie HD, iWork, Quicken and some random stuff they put on cleared a heck of a lot of HDD space.
The install was reduced to 8 GB. ;-)
I could've gotten it even lower, probably down to 5 GB, by removing some languages and printer drivers. But I kept those just in case.
how did you do it??
I´m planning on doing it but am new to mac and don´t know how to do it
I´m planning on doing it but am new to mac and don´t know how to do it
TWLreal said:
Here is how to do it: (These directions are from doing it from my 2.3 GHz Dual Core PowerMac G5 which is Apple's latest and greatest PowerMac so it should be the same on any new Mac sold today. If not then this will give you the basic idea).
1. Put the first Restore DVD in (Its usually gray and should say disc 1) your disc drive
2. Restart your Mac and then HOLD down the c key immediately after hearing the mac chime. (this will tell the Mac to boot from the DVD instead of the Hard Drive)
-Note it will take a little longer to boot from the DVD because its booting OS X from the DVD which is much slower than the hard drive.
3. When it finishes loading you'll see a languages screen. Choose the appropriate language for you and then press the --> button to proceed.
4. Click continue
5. Click continue and agree to the license agreement
6. Select the destination which is probably called Macintosh HD and then click Options
7. Select Erase and Install and keep the formatting at the default of Mac OS Extended (journaled).
-Selecting Erase and Install will delete EVERYTHING! So if you’ve done anything with your Mac that you want to keep BACKUP FIRST! You have been warned!
8. Click continue when you’re finished selecting the destination and installation type.
9. Click on the customize button in the lower left and here you can select what you want installed. You will see a bunch of checkboxes. Anything checked will be installed and anything not checked won’t be installed.
-Note: You will see some sideways triangles (arrows with no heads). If you click on those you’ll get more choices. Also note that some are grayed out and cannot be deselected because they’re essential to run the OS. I wouldn’t uncheck the 2nd box down either even though it can be unchecked. This has other parts of the OS which you’ll need.
I would only worry about things like the printer drivers, applications, languages, fonts, etc and leave the OS portion alone.
If you only have an HP Printer, its not necessary to install the other printer drivers. That will save you a lot of space and you can always go back and install the printer drivers separately by each manufacturer.
10. Click Install when you’re doing selecting what you want installed.
11. Click Skip when checking the Installation DVD. Its not necessary to let it do so.
Installation time depends on what you’ve selected to install. On my 2.3 GHz Dual Core PowerMac G5 with only some of the apps and no printer drivers installed I can install OS X in about 15 minutes. My installation space is about 2 GB.
I find it very hard to believe Apple put 20 GB worth of stuff on the computer. Even if I check everything to install in my selections it only comes out to about 8 GB total. I think were exaggerating a little there….
Its fairly simple and if you do it before you do anything on your Mac you don’t have to worry about losing any data and if you screw something up, no biggie, just restart with the Installation DVD in, press and hold the c key again and start over.
Make sure you ONLY use the installation media that came with your Mac. Anything else that has a lesser OS on it than what came with your Mac will crash almost immediately in most cases. The only exception is when Apple releases a totally brand new OS such as the case of when Mac OS X.5 Leopard is released. Also note that in most cases an iMac Restore DVD will NOT work in say a MacBook or visa versa. An iMac Restore DVD will ONLY work in an iMac, same goes for the other models.
I hope this helps!
1. Put the first Restore DVD in (Its usually gray and should say disc 1) your disc drive
2. Restart your Mac and then HOLD down the c key immediately after hearing the mac chime. (this will tell the Mac to boot from the DVD instead of the Hard Drive)
-Note it will take a little longer to boot from the DVD because its booting OS X from the DVD which is much slower than the hard drive.
3. When it finishes loading you'll see a languages screen. Choose the appropriate language for you and then press the --> button to proceed.
4. Click continue
5. Click continue and agree to the license agreement
6. Select the destination which is probably called Macintosh HD and then click Options
7. Select Erase and Install and keep the formatting at the default of Mac OS Extended (journaled).
-Selecting Erase and Install will delete EVERYTHING! So if you’ve done anything with your Mac that you want to keep BACKUP FIRST! You have been warned!
8. Click continue when you’re finished selecting the destination and installation type.
9. Click on the customize button in the lower left and here you can select what you want installed. You will see a bunch of checkboxes. Anything checked will be installed and anything not checked won’t be installed.
-Note: You will see some sideways triangles (arrows with no heads). If you click on those you’ll get more choices. Also note that some are grayed out and cannot be deselected because they’re essential to run the OS. I wouldn’t uncheck the 2nd box down either even though it can be unchecked. This has other parts of the OS which you’ll need.
I would only worry about things like the printer drivers, applications, languages, fonts, etc and leave the OS portion alone.
If you only have an HP Printer, its not necessary to install the other printer drivers. That will save you a lot of space and you can always go back and install the printer drivers separately by each manufacturer.
10. Click Install when you’re doing selecting what you want installed.
11. Click Skip when checking the Installation DVD. Its not necessary to let it do so.
Installation time depends on what you’ve selected to install. On my 2.3 GHz Dual Core PowerMac G5 with only some of the apps and no printer drivers installed I can install OS X in about 15 minutes. My installation space is about 2 GB.
I find it very hard to believe Apple put 20 GB worth of stuff on the computer. Even if I check everything to install in my selections it only comes out to about 8 GB total. I think were exaggerating a little there….
Its fairly simple and if you do it before you do anything on your Mac you don’t have to worry about losing any data and if you screw something up, no biggie, just restart with the Installation DVD in, press and hold the c key again and start over.
Make sure you ONLY use the installation media that came with your Mac. Anything else that has a lesser OS on it than what came with your Mac will crash almost immediately in most cases. The only exception is when Apple releases a totally brand new OS such as the case of when Mac OS X.5 Leopard is released. Also note that in most cases an iMac Restore DVD will NOT work in say a MacBook or visa versa. An iMac Restore DVD will ONLY work in an iMac, same goes for the other models.
I hope this helps!