Lost Hard Drive Space

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saksak
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
I recently purchased a MacBook and I already knew that I wouldn't get the full 80 GB (74 GB) but why has the OS and apps eaten up 17GB of my hard drive? I haven't even installed any of my own apps and pictures (music, documents, etc.). My 80 GB drive is now 57 GB before I even put anthing on there If I reinstall the system software will I some how magically some/most of my hard drive space back?

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  • Reply 1 of 5
    Marvinmarvin Posts: 15,570moderator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by sak


    I recently purchased a MacBook and I already knew that I wouldn't get the full 80 GB (74 GB) but why has the OS and apps eaten up 17GB of my hard drive? I haven't even installed any of my own apps and pictures (music, documents, etc.). My 80 GB drive is now 57 GB before I even put anthing on there If I reinstall the system software will I some how magically some/most of my hard drive space back?



    Here we go again.



    This gets asked so many times. It's mainly the apps that get bundled with your system that use up the space. Garageband takes 3GB (not the program itself but the audio loops), add on iwork, iphoto, imovie, idvd, which all come with huge templates and then all the languages (another 1 GB), all the printer drivers you won't use (2GB) and you start to see how your space gets eaten up.



    Use this program to see what's using the most and you can delete it if you don't think you'll use it:



    http://www.id-design.com/software/whatsize/
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  • Reply 2 of 5
    papasteves02papasteves02 Posts: 1member
    I read somewhere else that you should be careful in what programs you delete, even if you don't use them, because deleting programs like garageband and templates and all that may depreciate the resell value of a mac. Is there any truth to that? What programs are not included on the install disk?



    I would delete garageband in a heartbeat, but that whole resell thing kinda scared me.
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  • Reply 3 of 5
    moviecuttermoviecutter Posts: 72member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by papasteves02


    I read somewhere else that you should be careful in what programs you delete, even if you don't use them, because deleting programs like garageband and templates and all that may depreciate the resell value of a mac. Is there any truth to that? What programs are not included on the install disk?



    I would delete garageband in a heartbeat, but that whole resell thing kinda scared me.



    That's idiotic. Of course they give you the software on the install disks.
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  • Reply 4 of 5
    Marvinmarvin Posts: 15,570moderator
    Yeah all the stuff is on the install DVD. It makes you wonder how crappy some of the formats are though when the whole thing expands to 17GB from 4.4GB. Why for example do they not compress their audio loops in Apple lossless format instead of aiff? Why doesn't the help files for the Developer tools come in a compressed format like .chm. I put it on a dmg and it went from nearly 1GB to 300MB.



    If they went through it in detail, I bet that Apple could give users the same amount of stuff but probably use less than 10GB to do it. I read even Vista only takes up about 8GB.
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  • Reply 5 of 5
    gwoodpeckergwoodpecker Posts: 367member
    I agree with MovieCutter and Marvin, as soon as you reinstall the operating system, everything that was originally installed on that computer is there again. So: first of all, don't lose the install DVDs, and second, it is advised anyway to reformat and reinstall a computer before selling it. You probably don't want that Mr. Buyer sees all your family or vacation photos in a matter of a few clicks...
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