- 2006.12.13
I ran across a couple of utilities last week (via an article on
Digg) that can help the OS X
user eliminate some unnecessary files. These two utilities have given
me back nearly 2 GB of free space. Your mileage may vary.
The default install of OS X includes a number of language kits that
are used to display the operating in other languages. That's just in
case you should suddenly move to France or something, I guess. I'm sure
there are people who need alternative languages installed and find the
feature very convenient, but I doubt they are the majority.
Monolingual
Anyway, this wonderful utility called Monolingual by J. Schrier and
Ingmar J. Stein strips all the unneeded/unwanted languages from your
Mac. This process can take a while to complete. On my 1.5 GHz G4 PowerBook, it took around 15-20
minutes to locate and delete all the extra language files. I gained
nearly 1.3 GB hard drive space from this simple operation.
Just be sure you don't delete English in your enthusiasm, read the
manual carefully to avoid a few other problems before starting. Even
better, when installing OS X, choose a customized install and
don't install the unnecessary files in the first place.
iPhoto Buddy
Another utility is iPhoto Buddy by Rick Neil.
iPhoto Buddy searches your library for duplicate files, original
versions of photos that have been edited, thumbnails, and images not
filed in an album, and selectively deletes them or moves them to a
folder at your direction. You get a considerable amount of control of
what happens during this screening.
This utility also takes a while to run, but the result was nearly
800 MB of files located for deletion. I had a problem with my iPhoto
files on a previous computer, and as a result I imported two partial
libraries on the computer I use now, resulting in widespread
duplication of images.
The author wisely advises you to back up your library before
beginning. I use Backup regularly to preserve all of my photos, music,
and documents, so this wasn't a problem.
I'm sure there are other fine utilities out there, but I urge all
OS X users to take a look at these two.
Like all Macs, modern machines don't behave well when hard drive
space begins to run out, because the OS is constantly writing files to
the drive for memory management, defragmentation, and so on, and it
needs a little room to breathe.
is a longtime Mac user. He was using digital sensors on Apple II computers in the 1980's and has networked computers in his classroom since before the internet existed. In 2006 he was selected at the California Computer Using Educator's teacher of the year. His students have used NASA space probes and regularly participate in piloting new materials for NASA. He is the author of two books and numerous articles and scientific papers. He currently teaches astronomy and physics in California, where he lives with his twin sons, Jony and Ben.< And there's still a Mac G3 in his classroom which finds occasional use.
