iMac with 250gig drive

[Eric Lewis]

Can someone do a quick check for me..or let me know

With a 250gig drive, after mac os x is installed, with ilife 08 etc how much is actually left? how much do you loose?

(i am planning out...how much to give my windows partion)

 

[~Shard~]

I don't know exactly how much space is taken up, but I'd say perhaps around 10-15 Gb or so? Someone will correct me on that I'm sure, I could be way off.

What I can provide you though are some tips on how to free up some HDD space after everything is installed:

- use OmniDiskSweeper (not free) or my personal favorite WhatSize (free) to determine what all is taking up room on your HDD and where it is
- I also recommend Disk Inventory X to view HDD usage - it graphically shows you what is taking up space with a decent presentation and UI
- remove GarageBand and iDVD if you do not need them - that should free up around 6 GB right there
- check out /Library/Printers/ - 2 GB of printer drivers that you may or may not need
- use Monolingual to remove the unnecessary language resources from your Mac*. Another option is to use Delocalizer
- lastly, you could always use AppZapper (not free) or uApp (free) to ensure that when you uninstall any programs that all those pesky sub-folders, etc. are deleted

That should just about do it.

* a note about Monolingual. If you are not careful this can seriously screw up your Mac if it is Intel-based. Basically, leave the Architectures settings alone. If you delete G3, G4, G5 then anything which is PPC-based which will try to run under Rosetta, won't. Otherwise, Monolingual is great.

 

[Eric Lewis]

I don't know exactly how much space is taken up, but I'd say perhaps around 10-15 Gb or so? Someone will correct me on that I'm sure, I could be way off.

What I can provide you though are some tips on how to free up some HDD space after everything is installed:

- use OmniDiskSweeper (not free) or my personal favorite WhatSize (free) to determine what all is taking up room on your HDD and where it is
- I also recommend Disk Inventory X to view HDD usage - it graphically shows you what is taking up space with a decent presentation and UI
- remove GarageBand and iDVD if you do not need them - that should free up around 6 GB right there
- check out /Library/Printers/ - 2 GB of printer drivers that you may or may not need
- use Monolingual to remove the unnecessary language resources from your Mac*. Another option is to use Delocalizer
- lastly, you could always use AppZapper (not free) or uApp (free) to ensure that when you uninstall any programs that all those pesky sub-folders, etc. are deleted

That should just about do it.

* a note about Monolingual. If you are not careful this can seriously screw up your Mac if it is Intel-based. Basically, leave the Architectures settings alone. If you delete G3, G4, G5 then anything which is PPC-based which will try to run under Rosetta, won't. Otherwise, Monolingual is great.

ok for the printers.....i plan to hook my 2 printers to a windows computer and just share them over the network...(cause my iMac is going upstairs in my kitchen with wireless internet!) then have my mac use the printers on the windows pc...is this possible? and would i still need the printer files?

i need iDVD...not so much garage band!

and plus dont u also loose like 20gig cause the drive is actually formatted less?

 

[~Shard~]

ok for the printers.....i plan to hook my 2 printers to a windows computer and just share them over the network...(cause my iMac is going upstairs in my kitchen with wireless internet!) then have my mac use the printers on the windows pc...is this possible? and would i still need the printer files?

Printer sharing shouldn't be a problem. In this case, if it is the Windows machines doing the actual printing, I don't think you would require the drivers on the Mac, just the PC, but don't quote me on that. Perhaps someone else will know for sure or not, as I have no experience with networking printers between Macs and PCs.

 

[~Shard~]

and plus dont u also loose like 20gig cause the drive is actually formatted less?

Yep - you have to factor in the GB->Gb 8:1 factor which many people don't understand, plus the fact that there is overhead/formatting involved, which as you say bumps down your useable space as well.

 

[Eric Lewis]

Yep - you have to factor in the GB->Gb 8:1 factor which many people don't understand, plus the fact that there is overhead/formatting involved, which as you say bumps down your useable space as well.

so on a 250gig drive? i would loose like 24gigs?

 

[~Shard~]

so on a 250gig drive? i would loose like 24gigs?

Well it depends if it is a 250GB drive or a 250Gb drive as that will affect your frame of reference and expectations but yes, potentially there might be that much space taken up when all is said and done - you might only have 220-230 gigs free. Again though, I am only estimating, I could be way off, but this seems in the ballpark to me at least...

Oh, and it's "lose" not "loose" - sorry to be critical, but misspelling simple words is a pet peeve of mine...

 

[Eric Lewis]

Well it depends if it is a 250GB drive or a 250Gb drive as that will affect your frame of reference and expectations but yes, potentially there might be that much space taken up when all is said and done - you might only have 220-230 gigs free. Again though, I am only estimating, I could be way off, but this seems in the ballpark to me at least...

Oh, and it's "lose" not "loose" - sorry to be critical, but misspelling simple words is a pet peeve of mine...

so with macos and iLife and this loosing capacity...i should end up with a good solid 200gig of room.. is that about right..(better then my old 120gig drive on windows)

 

[~Shard~]

so with macos and iLife and this loosing capacity...i should end up with a good solid 200gig of room.. is that about right..(better then my old 120gig drive on windows)

Absolutely - I'd say definitely more than 200 gigs.

 

[prs986]

Thats about right. My iMac came with the 320GB HDD but it only had 280GB free when I got it. But thats with everything installed, iLife takes up quite a bit of space.

 

[Tommy Tallarico]

how much do you loose?

I'm not sure, but you could probably tighten it.

 

[bc008]

i have the 250 gig imac, and when it came it had about 230.

 

[Eric Lewis]

i have the 250 gig imac, and when it came it had about 230.

is that with mac osx and ilife?

 

[rainydays]

The actual capacity of the 250GB drive would be about 233GB.

250 * (10^9 / 2^30) = 232.830643655

 

[~Shard~]

The actual capacity of the 250GB drive would be about 233GB.

250 * (10^9 / 2^30) = 232.830643655

Correct, this would be the actual formatted capacity.

 

[kheller2]

Correct, this would be the actual formatted capacity.

Yes, but lets explain it correctly so we never have to discuss this again. Yes you do use space (not lose) when you format the drive and put down a file system and also then install an OS. However, that isn't why a 250GB(base10) drive is 232GB(base2) when used.

Drive manufacturers use base 10 decimal math when "marketing" the capacity of a drive. Computers however, calculate using binary base 2. 250GB(10) is exactly 232GB(2). You didn't lose anything at all.

Which number is bigger: 110(2) or 6(10) ? They are the same number, in this case binary looks bigger.

To calculate what a computer interprets drive capacity as use this formula:

Size on box * 1000 ^ 3 / 1024 ^3.

 

[~Shard~]

Excellent explanation, thanks for posting that for anyone who might be confused with how these things work.