Run out of SSD space: Can I move Applications to external drive?

[NJRonbo]

I bought a 2016 MacBook on the cheap.

Just needed something light for travel in addition to my MBP.

I just realized the biggest mistake I made....

....buying a 250GB SSD drive. Should have gone 512.

I say that because my MacBook is already up to capacity. Only 16GB left and already the OS is being affected.

Can I simply drag my applications folder to an external 256 SSD drive to free up space?

Will all my programs run?

Will they automatically be redirected from my dock icons?

Thanks in advance

 

[Floris]

Do the applications cause using 200gb
or do you have 200gb worth of applications without their data?

If it's the first, maybe check per app where you can store the library.
Chrome, you can set it to store the download/ folder on external drive
same with dropbox, itunes, and a bunch of others.

 

[NJRonbo]

All the installed apps are responsible for nearly 250GB being used.

Without going to all the trouble of relocating libraries, I still need to know if I can simply drag the applications folder to an external drive.

Thanks for your help, Floris.

 

[mfram]

I would doubt it because at least some of those apps are system apps which likely can't be changed or moved. But I've never tried it. You could probably move non System apps.

 

[loekf]

All the installed apps are responsible for nearly 250GB being used.

Without going to all the trouble of relocating libraries, I still need to know if I can simply drag the applications folder to an external drive.

Thanks for your help, Floris.

Applications without an installer, so those you drag to the Applications folder can be moved. Other apps, e.g. MS Office or (guess) Apple's own apps and built-in ones can not. Only it means you have to carry around an external drive with you all the time.

How did you end up with 200+ GB in apps ?

I have:

Office 2016
LibreOffice
Photoshop and Lightroom
Apple "iLife" junk (Pages, IMovie etc)
Affinity
Pixelator
some other small stuff

and my 1TB fusion drive is approx. 100GB incl. macOS

 

[NJRonbo]

You know, I can't positively say it's all Apps.

Is there a way via OS X or an external software to see exactly what is taking up the most data?

It could be mail for all I know.

 

[Borin]

There are other, newer apps for it out there, but you can try Disk Inventory X: http://www.derlien.com/ It's old but gold.

 

[NJRonbo]

First, Borin, thank you for the software. It is GOLD!

I found the major problem. 140GB+ is devoted to iCloud Drive

Now, I don't have that enabled under ICLOUD in Settings. I did not designate this MacBook to share iCloud data except for a few pieces of data from small applications (such as CLEAR, DELIVERIES, NOTABILITY).

However, it has downloaded everything from iCloud to my drive and recording a huge amount of used space in the process.

Don't know why it is doing this when I have unchecked iCloud sharing on this device (though it is active on my other Mac devices).
[doublepost=1477756052][/doublepost]Borin,

Again, you saved my neck here. That program identified the problem and it wasn't apps (that only take up 8GB), but actually iCloud content that somehow downloaded to my computer. I deleted that iCloud content and recovered almost 150GB of free space.

Just hoping the iCloud content doesn't download again.

 

[Fishrrman]

You DO NOT want to move applications to another drive.
Nor do you want to move your home folder(s).

You DO want to "off-load" large libraries of stuff (such as pictures, movies, and music).

Movies tend to be the biggest offenders. They are seldom-watched yet still consume HUGE amounts of drive space.

Some folks have large photo libraries. These can be off-loaded if you're not viewing them all the time.

With music, one has to be "choosy". Keep around that which you like the best, and offload the rest.

You can use either an SSD or HDD to serve as your external storage.
SSD will be faster, but the speed generally won't matter with things like movies, music, or pics.

I'm wondering how much longer until SSD manufacturers start offering drives like this:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00ZTRY532?tag=delt-20
....EXCEPT with a USB-c connector instead of the traditional "A-type" connector.

With a 250gb SSD, I'd try to keep around 30gb "free" for disk swapping, temp files, etc.

 

[NJRonbo]

Fish,

Thank you. Most of all of what you told me, I know.

The problem was iCloud downloading material from my other desktop/laptop to my hard drive.

I just turned off sharing iCloud documents/desktop and it STILL continues to download 140GB of files.

I just had to to turn off iCloud entirely on this device because it was the only way to stop the auto downloading. Of course, that affects some small apps that share data across devices.

 

[flowrider]

The answer to your original question is yes.

Lou

 

[Floris]

Well, this is odd. I right click on the applications folder, and clicked on get info.
And it has been 'Calculating size' for the last 7 minutes.

It's still going, and I had enough time to open the browser again and find this thread, take a screenshot of it and post it here. lol, what's going on with that folder..