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Need More Space, What's Safe to Trash?

GITANAJAVA

GITANAJAVA

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 3, 2006
241
0
Have ibrik, will travel.
I have iBook G4, ver. 10.3.9. I want to purge any unused and unnecessary files to clear space (I've only 5.53 GB remaining after a recent "Archive and Install") and to speed up my system, but I'm not familiar enough with some filenames or their purpose to conduct a wholesale slaughter. Specifically:

Can I delete "Previous Systems" folders? I have two in addition to the one just created from the Archive and Install.

Can I delete the ".dmg" files? Why or why not?

Can I delete the Classic/9 files -- I've never operated in anything but Mac OS X and have no expected need for Classic/9. If so, where can I find a reference list of the Classic/9 files? Some I can discern, others are less obvious.

Anything else I should look for in the directory as extraneous?

Thank you :)
 
If anything runs fine, and you don't miss any fonts, sounds, settings, etc. it's safe to delete the Previous Folders. That should give you several GB.

What .dmg files are we talking about?

Classic can also be deleted, if you're sure you'll never use it, but remember the rule of thumb: Never delete something you don't know what is. ;)

Also, download and run Delocalizer or Monolingual (spelling?), and see if there are any brands of printers in /Library/Printers/ that you don't use (but again stay off those folders you're not sure of, but if you never use i.e. Lexmark or Canon printers, those drivers are more or less safe to get rid of).
 
GITANAJAVA said:
Can I delete "Previous Systems" folders? I have two in addition to the one just created from the Archive and Install.
Click to expand...


Yeah, if you've got all the information you need from them then delete them by all means. That should save you quite a bit of space.


GITANAJAVA said:
Can I delete the ".dmg" files? Why or why not?
Click to expand...


More specifically, which DMGs?


GITANAJAVA said:
Can I delete the Classic/9 files -- I've never operated in anything but Mac OS X and have no expected need for Classic/9. If so, where can I find a reference list of the Classic/9 files? Some I can discern, others are less obvious.
Click to expand...


Do it. Follow this guide to get it done cleanly though.


GITANAJAVA said:
Anything else I should look for in the directory as extraneous?
Click to expand...


Well, things like Garageband loops (where applicable) and foreign languages can take up a lot of space. For the languages, look into Monolingual. :)
 
Default Mac OS X 10.4 installation installs many features you don't need, such as printer drivers for Canon, Epson, and HP (you probably need only 1 and you can always install the rest later) and language translations (you probably need only US English). You can easily save hundred of megabytes this way. In addition, if possible, use external hard disk to backup your Users directory and do clean install. Then manually restore files from the backup as needed. If you don't have external hard disk, it's time to invest in one now (30 and 60 GB iPod models also work okay for smaller backup needs).
 
re: What's Safe to Trash?

Dear MJ and Mitt,

Thank you for the speedy feedback and advice -- extremely helpful, very timely! I know how to use the apps, utils, and files pertinent to my work/life, but anything beyond that is a mystery.

As for your mention of Monolingual, I'm not entirely sure I understand. I am multilingual and have quite a few fonts, e-mail, text, and art docs dependent on the ability to change languages and keyboard configs. If I "Monolingual", what happens?

:-I
 
GITANAJAVA said:
Dear MJ and Mitt,

Thank you for the speedy feedback and advice -- extremely helpful, very timely! I know how to use the apps, utils, and files pertinent to my work/life, but anything beyond that is a mystery.

As for your mention of Monolingual, I'm not entirely sure I understand. I am multilingual and have quite a few fonts, e-mail, text, and art docs dependent on the ability to change languages and keyboard configs. If I "Monolingual", what happens?

:-I
Click to expand...

You can choose what languages to delete :)
 
Re: What's Safe To Trash?

Dear MJ,

You asked about the specific .dmg files. There are six, all but the third with dates of 2004 or 2005:

BACKUP_2.0.2.DMG PARENT: APPLICATIONS
BACKUP_2.0.2.DMG PARENT: DOCUMENTS
gitanajava.dmg PARENT: 000d93728ff6 (dated 2006, same as most recent Archive & Install)
MACOSXUPDATECOMBO10-1.3.7.DMG PARENT: DOCUMENTS
QKN_2005_R3_UPDATER.DMG PARENT: APPLICATIONS
QKN_2005_R3_UPDATER.DMG.SIT PARENT: APPLICATIONS

More breadcrumbs along the trail of discovery, I hope? BTW, thanks for the link to safe method for trashing Classic; I've bookmarked it!
 
The DMGs in your Documents and Applications folders are probably safe to delete (assuming you have already run the updaters and installers within them) however I'm not sure about gitanajava.dmg. If it's small, I'd just leave it. :)
 
Re: What's Safe To Trash?

With deep bows to MJ, Glenn, and Mitt__

I'd searched two days at Apple.com and other sites for pertinent, sound feedback or advice -- your responses to my "911" have been on the mark.

Thank you, I will explore all your ideas *first* priority tomorrow and report back here with the results.
 
GITANAJAVA said:
With deep bows to MJ, Glenn, and Mitt__

I'd searched two days at Apple.com and other sites for pertinent, sound feedback or advice -- your responses to my "911" have been on the mark.

Thank you, I will explore all your ideas *first* priority tomorrow and report back here with the results.
Click to expand...

Awesome, hope you can free up some space and get that iBook nice and clean, let us know how it goes! :)
 
I would save everything critical to CD or another drive, then run a complete
custom clean erase install.

As you install OS X you'll see a " custom " option button a few pages into the installer on the lower left.

This is the safest correct way to set up a lean machine.

Once you're in the custom install window, you'll see that you can
de-select the check boxes for the following space wasting files.


X-11 (developer tools)
Language translators.
Printer Drivers
Optional demo Installers for iWork and MS Office
GarageBand Demo Songs
Games
iDVD themes

I'm more familiar with the Tiger install, but this cuts down the default
12.5 GB Tiger install freeing up about 5 GB's of wasted space.

You probably have a huge selection of installer .dmgs and update packages
on your hard drive.

To help keep my machine lean, I create a desktop STORAGE folder for anything I download.
Once a month, or once the STORAGE folder gets to about 600 MB's
I decide what I'm keeping and burn everything I want to save to CD.

I use Toast storing all my installer .dmg files and the matching authoriztion
information on a text edit file.

I also go to my "packages" folder and burn all the .pkg updates and other installer .pkg's to CD.

You may also want to search your " downloads" folder to see if you've got things there you forgot about.

By all means make sure you save and preferably print your e-mail Address Book and Preferences .plists and any other preferences that are critical.

Saving installers to CD keeps you ready in the event you need to reformat your entire system.

As long as you are very careful to back up all your important files, I think
you'll be much happier with a custom lean install and then making a good practice of keeping backups for everything you don't need directly on your system.
 
Re: What's Safe To Trash?

MJ, Glenn, & Mitt__

Fabuloso! Have accomplished roughly 1/3 of the lighter Mac-cleaning you chaps suggested and gained 1/2 a GB and better speed. Tomorrow, the BIG guns....

FFTT, no doubt your advice is excellent, however, perhaps it might be more accessible if expressed in a slightly more user-friendly, less technical manner? Were I an enlightened user, I would have no need to ask questions or for guidance on such a basic issue. Also, I am Pantherised, not Tiggered ;-)

I'll weigh in Monday or Tuesday with the final outcome. C U on the flipside.
 
Re: What's Safe To Trash?

Excellent news on my final outcome: now have 12 GB rather than the puny 5.6 of a few days ago. No crash and burn anywhere, although I still have the pre-existing problems of slow-as-treacle Safari and missing-in-action EnergySaver -- challenges for another day.

'Ta, ev1! C U @ the flipside,
 
Re: What's Safe To Trash?

O most excellent MJ,

Bookmarked your guide link for another day, it will definitely be used. Once the favicons are deleted, I assume my bookmarks will be text only? Alas, I shall miss the tiny entertainment....
 
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