How do I clear space on my Mac?

househead14 · Post by **househead14** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 4:25 pm

I have a Mac G4 powerbook and it is operating very slow. Especially when surfing the internet. Is it possible I have to much stuff. I have Reason, Ableton 5,6 and now 7 all on it along with a ton of music. I know there is a way to clear room but I forgot.

Thanks

horselesspaul · Post by **horselesspaul** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 4:37 pm

Delete stuff you don't need?
Transfer what you do need to an external drive?

sparklepuff · Post by **sparklepuff** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 5:17 pm

The only way to clear space is deleting stuff. Your computer isn't going to decide for you what you don't need in terms of gigabytes of unused stuff.

Download OmniDiskSweeper, run it, and then you get to go down the hierarchy of largest to smallest sized folders and decide which crap is taking up space. Then throw it in the trash.

sparklepuff · Post by **sparklepuff** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 5:19 pm

In terms of running really slow doing stuff, RAM has always been the most important factor to me. If you've got too many things open and your RAM is full, your computer will choke up like Payton Manning.

Open your Activity Monitor when the machine is running slow and look how much RAM is being used, too.

swishniak · Post by **swishniak** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 5:53 pm

ive heard from many people that one should always at least 10% of your system disk free; if you have a 80 gig drive - there should always be at least 8g empty.

-so dump that itunes library on an external
-turn off the damn widgets
-clean up your desktop
-and this and the many other lists floating around the internet.
http://www.imafish.co.uk/articles/post/ ... d-up-os-x/

OliQ · Post by **OliQ** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 6:08 pm

Whatsize is essential for seeing where the space is being taken up and discovering stuff you can delete that you didnt know was taking up space.

http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Utilities/WhatSize.shtml