Mac OS X forum: Why is my hard drive memory disappearing?

Have you installed anything lately?

P

Hi

1)Is the temporary files in the Caches folder for Safari? It is 23MB.


2)Should I run the Disk Utilities that came with iMac OS9 installation, or is it in the AppleCare box - or does it come with the OSX disk - sorry for so many ques.?

Thanks.

PS: Today my memory is 632MB at the moment - this fluctuates.

Safari stores copies of the images of sites you visit to display in Top Sites. This consumes space simply by the act of web browsing. I don't use Top Sites. In fact, I disabled it. Here's how:

To completely disable Top Sites, go to Safari > Preferences > General

New windows open with: Top Sites
Change it to something else. Obviously, you can do the same for New Tabs.

(You'll also see Top Sites in the Show All Bookmarks window. Drag that up, don't stop when it first stops moving. It will be reduced to a thin bar.)

Now delete the Image Cache. Choose Safari > Reset Safari... and select Remove All Webpage Preview Images. Click Reset. Now go to YourUserName/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari and select the Webpage Previews folder. Press Cmd-I and click Locked. Now it won't accumulate a jpeg and png of every web page you visit. I saved over 500MB of disk space!

Yes - sorry about that - you are right, I meant hard drive space.

Thanks Mr Greg, I reset Safari and I have recovered a little space - I am now at 652MB.

I have run Disk Utilites from the Install CD - clicked repair - but it hasn't made a difference. I still don't know the cause. What are my options now?

Should I do a clean install on to my HD?
Also, is it possible to install and run application programmes from an external HD?

Your OS uses your HD for temporary files --- your disappearing icons tells you that your OS has run out of "scratchpad" space and is in trouble.

There are several free utilities (cache cleaners) out there that can recover some space for you. For your situation, I'll suggest MacJanitor to start. There are others that can do more, but make sure you check version/ OS compatibility (Onyx,for example, has a Panther version that requires BSD)

Besides checking your browser settings as allready suggested, look at your email *and* email attachments folder. Those pix, flix, icons, etc. can still be there--- even after you have erased the email.

Consider deleting those demos, games, and other programs that you don't use.

You could also consider getting an external drive, and reorganize your system a bit (as in move that stuff that you don't want to dump)

You need version 1.2.1 --- scroll down the page a bit for the one you want:

http://personalpages.tds.net/~brian_hill/downloads.html

1. Be aware that you will **not** be able to use the full capacity of your external drives. The maximum size for your machine is 128G. Yes, you can plugin and use your 250/300G drives --- you just won't be able to use the full capacities.

2. You can format and install your OS on the firewire drive -- it will be bootable. You can also install it on your built-in drive. I personally would use the firewire as a cloned bootable backup and the USB for data (those large music, photo, video, etc files)

3. Regarding how far you can take your machine:
The max usable drive size is 128G
You can take it up to 1 G RAM total --- 2 slots that take PC-100 3.3V 168-pin SDRAM
OS depends on which processor you have: 350MHz can go to 10.3x, the faster processors can go to 10.4x

4. you may want to seriously consider counting your nickels and pricing a newer machine as you consider spending $ on this one ---

Assuming that you will be going for Tiger --- I would install Tiger on the firewire drive and use the migration assistant to get your set-up info into the Tiger OS. You can then select the firewire disk using your system preferences/startup disk --- or the OS9 Startup Disk Control Panel. Another way to select a startup disk is to hold down the Option key as you restart your computer. Youll see the available startup disks and can select one.

At this stage, you will have three boot choices, OS9, OS 10.2, OS10.4
I would suggest using the new OS for a while, before you dump 10.2 ---- there are significant changes they may break some stuff that you use. You will need to see if those items have a suitable updater or replacement available for your purposes.

****take the time to clean out that 30G drive*** as suggested earlier.

Drag and drop merely copies the visible files. You can do that just to save your assorted data files.

A bootable clone involves proper **placement** of all the assorted visible **and** invisible stuff. You need a cloning copier for that.

You can get Carbon Copy Cloner here: (get the version for the OS you will be cloning)

http://www.bombich.com/download.html

Your computer only has USB 1.0 which is not really suitable for hard drives or optical drives.

P