My very first Mac experience

[thugpoet22]

The last time i owned a mac was never lol. I do remember them being the most common computer back when i was younger, but back then i didn't have the money to own a computer. I decided to go for the macbook, which im typing this thread on now. I love this computer. I've only had it for about 3 days. And while i adore the simplicity of the OS, i cant help but to feel a little uncomfortable with the transistion. I have to get use to a lot of new things with Mac os X. Here are a few things that i just didn't understand with the mac,

1, Why does it seem like apps are a lot larger in mac os than in windows. I mean, why is a app take up so much drive space.

I bought my laptop with a 80 gig hard drive, and its already down to 50 gigs, I did add 9 gigs of songs and installed microsoft office, and a few other apps like ymessenger and Aim but thats about it, I downloaded the app called "whatSize and i see a lot of used space and i cant seem to get to it to analyze it so i can decide if i will delete it or keep it. I dont know if i have doubles of something or if i delete this app will it screw up my system. Like for example, when i ask WhatSize to analyze my HD drive, i get something like this,

9.01 GB Library
5.80 GB Users
4.36 GB Volumes
4.36 GB Applications
1.66 GB Private
506 MB usr

Now i have now clue what Library, Volumes, Private or usr is for, or what it holds in its folders and if it is safe ot delete some or all of it. I know this a newbie questions and i dont mean to waste time, but i hold someone can lend a hand or two to reply to my message and help me understand and fix my problem. Thanks in advance.

 

[apachie2k]

some of that stuff are drivers that are already installed on your computer...so u don't have d/l them, that's what makes it work with about almost anything so that's up some room

 

[vv-tim]

Lots of useless fonts and translations that Mac OS X feels the need to include by default... lots of random trial software.

 

[thugpoet22]

i was also wondering, if i were to delete a app like idvd, imovie or garage band, will i be able to put them back on my computer by using the software that came with my computer? I dont see myself really using those apps often if ever, but i would not want to take them off if i cant get them back, in a simple manor.

 

[Fearless Leader]

what i do when i first get a mac is reinstall the operating system with just x11 and the os its self. then i add stuff as i need it.

 

[clevin]

i was also wondering, if i were to delete a app like idvd, imovie or garage band, will i be able to put them back on my computer by using the software that came with my computer? I dont see myself really using those apps often if ever, but i would not want to take them off if i cant get them back, in a simple manor.

yes, you can,

 

[thugpoet22]

I would do that, but i just added a whole lot of songs from my other computer to this apple laptop. I dont want to srew anything up, being that its my first time really using apple. I would just like to backup apps on a dvd rw that i dont normally use but that i can get to them when ever i want. So, if was to delete garage band or imovie or idvd, would i be able to get it back with the software that came with my computer?

 

[Allotriophagy]

I recommend Monolingual for removing unwanted language packs from OS X. I have used it on all my machines and saved a bit of space with no problems.

 

[FredClausen]

i was also wondering, if i were to delete a app like idvd, imovie or garage band, will i be able to put them back on my computer by using the software that came with my computer? I dont see myself really using those apps often if ever, but i would not want to take them off if i cant get them back, in a simple manor.

You can via inserting the OS X setup disk, selecting the optional software component install, and then selecting the parts of iLife that you want.

 

[aristobrat]

So, if was to delete garage band or imovie or idvd, would i be able to get it back with the software that came with my computer?

Try it now.

Stick in the OS X Install Disc 1 that came with your computer. After a moment, you should see the DVD mounted on your desktop. Open it.

You should see a window like the first attachment below. Notice the "Install Bundled Software Only" option.

If you double-click on that, Installer should open and after a bit, you'll get to the screen where you can select which software you want to reinstall. My DVD has everything that came installed on my MacBook + a trial of Office, which wasn't installed.

 

[thugpoet22]

Thanks a lot for the help and the visuals. That made it a lot easier to understand. Im about to run out and buy a good book to further my understanding of this OS. Its good to know that what ever app that i decide to take off i can put back on. I think i just need some time to get use to the file system of the mac os x. I understand that it was built off of freebsd, and i use linux often, im a fedora man, and noticed when i was using the bash command line that it was very similar to Linux, in the since of how the file system works. But its macs os x GUI that really simple, but so simple to the point that i was confused. With win xp, you have to do two or three more clicks or drags that seems to only take one on a mac. Im sooo happy i got my mac, Im going to try to go a whole month without using my windows system. Thanks again for all the that was provided on this thread.

 

[fistful]

Some of those proportions definitely seem disproportionate. Library seems plausible, mine for example only has a few hundred mb but then I do not have garagband or idvd installed as well as their corresponding loops and themes taking up that space. If you have 9gbs of music your user file would definitely have more than 5gbs. Applications folder sounds way too big, I have 60+ apps taking up 1.5gbs. Private and usr sizes sound about right.

 

[breakfastcrew]

I think most mac newbies like me will play and screw around with the mac for a month or two and then reinstall tiger and start fresh and new without all the crap we put on.

 

[gadgetgirl85]

I think most mac newbies like me will play and screw around with the mac for a month or two and then reinstall tiger and start fresh and new without all the crap we put on.

Exactly what I did on my mini Screwed things up a few times and had to reinstall

 

[mikesk8]

I think most mac newbies like me will play and screw around with the mac for a month or two and then reinstall tiger and start fresh and new without all the crap we put on.

Yes, good idea

 

[XP Defector]

Man, my applications file is like 6GB. Reason (which is around 1.2GB) is the inly big app I can think of due to sound banks. Not sure what the other 4.8GIG is for!

 

[Killyp]

Man, my applications file is like 6GB. Reason (which is around 1.2GB) is the inly big app I can think of due to sound banks. Not sure what the other 4.8GIG is for!

iDVD takes up a lot of space. The biggest culprit is iWork (if you have it). ~800 mb for each app!

 

[iVersa]

I recommend Monolingual for removing unwanted language packs from OS X. I have used it on all my machines and saved a bit of space with no problems.

Great suggestion, using this and removing a few unused apps like imovie/idvd etc, I recovered 2.79 gb.

Thats quite substantial when using a 40gb ibook

 

[viperguy]

I'm a mac noob too, but found this article at uneasysilence:

Veteran Mac users might be familiar with this hint, but loads of switchers will surely enjoy this. You can slim down your hard disk and gain more space in a couple of minutes using my easy to follow step by step guide! It’s totally natural, and what’s more, it’s totally free. I didn’t want to sound like a yoga video, so before I get any worse, here it goes.

Open your Application folder and select iMovie. Press alt, cmd (the Apple key) and “i” and you’ll get an info pane. You’ll see that iMovie is over 70MB. Drop down the languages arrow and you’ll see a list of languages. Select them all BUT English and click on “Remove”. You’ll see that the app has slimed to about 46MB. Doing this for each and every app will result in GIGs of space being recovered. Some apps have “en_” or something similar instead of “English”. To complete the process you have to empty the Trash. I suggest you check how much space you have free on you HD to see the difference afterwards.

I should also tell you that there are apps which process to make this lengthy process easier. Two of which are Monolingual and DeLocalizer. I’m not suggesting you use these as some people seem to have had problems with them, but non-the less, you should be informed of their existence and that there have been success stories.

 

[iVersa]

PS. If you deleted garageband, I'd recommend going into Library > Audio > and deleting apple loops folder, its ove 2gb! And just has garageband loops and a few other ilife sounds.

Not sure if the ilife sounds are important for anything else but I just deleted it problem free

 

[thugpoet22]

i would like to delete that folder but i dont now how it make ilife react, and im no starving for space so, until i know for certain that its ok i will let that folder stay. But just as a sidenote taking those other languages off freed a little over a gig of space.Very happy about that. Im also thinking about taking off imovie, but i think i will keep idvd and iphoto.

 

[aristobrat]

You could rename that folder. As far as the applications are concerned, that's just as good as deleting it. If you discover that not having that folder DOES cause problems, you simply rename it back and you're good to go. Otherwise after a few days of everything still working well, you could just delete it.