My recipe to maximize free SSD hard drive space

[DeBilbao]

We all like the speed of the SSD drives, but we all have been making a compromise between this speed and the available space. Higher capacity drives are much more expensive and many of you have chosen the 64 GB model, so I would like to share with you my personal recipe to maximize the free space.

To maximize the amount of free drive space, I have a 2 ingredients recipe:

Monolingual

With this program you can remove all the Snow Leopard languages you don't use. You can unselect them at installation time, but most people just use the provided operating system setup that includes lots of languages and that means lot of space wasted.

Be sure not to remove the English language files, even if you don't use it.

http://monolingual.sourceforge.net/

Xslimmer

XSlimmer will take out the PowerPC code from all the programs compiled in universal binary format. It's ok to have one program that will be able to run in the Intel an PowerPC platforms, but if your machine is Intel... you don't need it.

There are some blacklisted programs that doesn't accept the slimming process because they will think they've been modified and interprets it as a piracy issue, but XSlimmer handle it very well. There's a wizard that let you

http://www.xslimmer.com/

You must also apply some common sense: if you copy your entire music library or throw HD videos on it... you'll run out of space soon.

iOS Backup devices also are hungry of space, so if you sync your iPhone or iPad with your Air and you have also a desktop computer where you sync them too, you better change the backup policy in the iTunes preferences.

If you try this recipe, you can share your own results and tell how much disk space to saved.

 

[deedas]

So removing PPC architecture with monolingual doesn't remove the PPC code in apps?

 

[DeBilbao]

So removing PPC architecture with monolingual doesn't remove the PPC code in apps?

I prefer to use Monolingual only for slimming down the operating sytem removing the languages and XSLimmer to remove the PPC code, because it handles much better the exceptions controlling the blacklisted programs.

If you read the FAQ from Monolingual, there's a question talking about "My Adobe applications want to be reinstalled after running Monolingual.". This won't happen with XLSimmer.

 

[BobbyCarbn]

Cleanmymac will kill two birds with one stone and clean up caches and logs....

 

[halledise]

hmmmm, $15 to clear up >1 gb of space …
why bother?
and
don't install languages in the first place

appreciate your recipe, but sounds a tad obsessive to me

 

[Alfieg]

Is it just me or does this thread not actually tell us how much space we can free up with these methods?

 

[jdechko]

Printer drivers take up a ton of space, as do the garage band loops. Killing those would be additional good steps to take.

 

[Starlights]

Printer drivers take up a ton of space, as do the garage band loops. Killing those would be additional good steps to take.

Is there a tool to remove these? (sorry a mac noob)

 

[Doc750]

I ran monolingual and it frrees up 2 gb of space. Went from 46 to 48 gb. I then went through and deleted all of the applications I would never use on the MBA and that netted me another 2 gb.

So now I have 50 gb out of 60 gb available.

 

[GGJstudios]

Cleanmymac will kill two birds with one stone and clean up caches and logs....

One app that I would not recommend, based on the number of complaints that have been posted in this forum and elsewhere, is CleanMyMac. As an example: CleanMyMac cleaned too much

I've used only Monolingual to remove unwanted languages and architectures, with excellent results. I've never had a problem with Adobe apps or any others, as a result of using Monolingual, and have never found a need for Xslimmer.

Another space-saving issue is removing apps. Many simply drag an app to the trash, but that leaves many files behind. Some use app-removal utilities, but these, too, are ineffective.

AppZapper, AppCleaner, TrashMe, and similar apps do not do a thorough job of removing all files/folders related to deleted apps. I tested several of these, using Skype as the app to be removed. Of 17 items to be removed:

AppZapper missed 13 items
AppCleaner missed 11 items
AppDelete missed 8 items
Hazel missed 9 items​

I also tested AppTrap, CleanMyMac and a few others, but don't recall how many items they missed. All left files/folders behind. In most cases, they remove .plist files and a few others, but leave behind much larger files and folders. (you will find a discussion of these tests in the thread linked below)

The only effective method for complete app removal is manual deletion:

Best way to FULLY DELETE a program​

 

[jdechko]

Is there a tool to remove these? (sorry a mac noob)

No automatic tools, but here are a few good links.

Remove Garage band loops:
http://macosx.com/forums/1205531-post4.html

MRoogle Remove Printer Drivers

 

[GGJstudios]

MRoogle Remove Printer Drivers

I have a suggestion: When you search with MRoogle, you can filter your search to results within the past year.

​

That way, you're not looking at threads from 4-7 years ago. Sometimes it doesn't matter, but sometimes it does.

​

 

[Gen]

Eh, $15 for Xslimmer?
I'll resort to a free trial first and see if it's worth paying for ...

 

[zinka]

Wow, I just saved about 1.5GB by deleting the GarageBand loops. Thanks everyone!

 

[halledise]

I ran monolingual and it frrees up 2 gb of space. Went from 46 to 48 gb. I then went through and deleted all of the applications I would never use on the MBA and that netted me another 2 gb.

So now I have 50 gb out of 60 gb available.

the only problem is that this app removes language support for iPhoto, Keynote etc and other files in what Apple call 'Essential System Software'

the cautionary note that Monolingual puts up before proceeding says something like the need to reinstall the Mac OS if you wish to replace those files preceded by 'WARNING:'

This would suggest to me that issues will arise when running software update at the next system update to the point where a reinstall of the OSX would be necessary before proceeding.
same would apply to Keynote and iPhoto.

don't mess with system files, I say - especially if you run the 'input menu' and 'architectures' elements of monolingual.

is an additional 2gb of space really worth that much?
and who knows, you may end up with an Azerbaijani or Inuktitut pen-pal one day

 

[GGJstudios]

the only problem is that this app removes language support for iPhoto, Keynote etc and other files in what Apple call 'Essential System Software'

the cautionary note that Monolingual puts up before proceeding says something like the need to reinstall the Mac OS if you wish to replace those files preceded by WARNING: !

This would suggest to me that issues will arise when running software update at the next system update to the point where a reinstall of the OSX would be necessary before proceeding.

No, Monolingual doesn't create any problems with Software Update or with running Mac OS X or applications. However, if you run an update to iPhoto, for example, the update may reinstall all the languages that you removed with Monolingual, making it necessary to run Monolingual again to remove those languages.

don't mess with system files, I say - especially if you run the 'input menu' and 'architectures' elements of monolingual.

Removing architectures such as PPC has no effect on apps that run on Intel architecture. The only way this could create a problem is if you have a specific app that only runs on PPC architecture. Also, removing Chinese input methods will not create problems of any nature, unless you use Chinese.

 

[shamash]

I tried searching mRoogle for information on removing unneeded printer drivers and removing Garage Band loops and stuff like that and can't find anything...

 

[GGJstudios]

I tried searching mRoogle for information on removing unneeded printer drivers and removing Garage Band loops and stuff like that and can't find anything...

You can find GarageBand loops here:
/Library/Audio/Apple Loops/Apple/Apple Loops for GarageBand/

 

[potentpotable]

To clarify: is Xslimmer the same as CleanMyMac? I have the latter, as well as Monolingual. Both are excellent apps.

 

[shamash]

You can find GarageBand loops here:
/Library/Audio/Apple Loops/Apple/Apple Loops for GarageBand/

I just deleted that directory, it was only like 100 MB

 

[shamash]

Also, what applications are safe to delete? I'm looking at:

Automator, DVD Player, Front Row, iDVD, iMovie, iSync, iWeb, Mail, and maybe Time Machine. I've never really used any of these applications and I don't even think some of them belong on a MBA. Are they all safe to get rid of?

 

[GGJstudios]

To clarify: is Xslimmer the same as CleanMyMac? I have the latter

Read post #10 in this thread.

 

[zinka]

You can find GarageBand loops here:
/Library/Audio/Apple Loops/Apple/Apple Loops for GarageBand/

I had 1.5GB savings from deleting stuff under /Library/Application Support/GarageBand -- maybe not strictly loops, but audio for sure.