npr- trouble with my macbook?

thebubble09

longshot, but anyone really know macs?  i have a 2 year old macbook that's running out of space somehow.  i have 70 gb of "other" and 70 gb of movies apparently, but i dont really have THAT many movie files and i dont know what other is.  the computer is REALLY slow these days too.  help??? TIA!

LuckyDad

I'm not a total guru, but I do know that a full HD can slow down your machine performance. Are you the only one who uses this computer?

If you are downloading full length *perfectly legitimate copies* of DVDs, those files can easy be ~1 GB each. I'm not totally sure what "other" is exactly. Program files?

Try rebooting, see if that clears out anything. Sometimes web browsers are set up to just keep stuffing more and more stuff in the cache, and if you only put your computer to sleep rather than turning it off it *might* be gobbing up a lot of space. You may have to go to your local genius bar. Make sure to clear off all your "personal" pictures before you do!

thebubble09

LuckyDad:

I'm not a total guru, but I do know that a full HD can slow down your machine performance. Are you the only one who uses this computer?

If you are downloading full length *perfectly legitimate copies* of DVDs, those files can easy be ~1 GB each. I'm not totally sure what "other" is exactly. Program files?

Try rebooting, see if that clears out anything. Sometimes web browsers are set up to just keep stuffing more and more stuff in the cache, and if you only put your computer to sleep rather than turning it off it *might* be gobbing up a lot of space. You may have to go to your local genius bar. Make sure to clear off all your "personal" pictures before you do!

  thanks so much- i did try clearing the cache, rebooting, and general cleaning out the HD- i have no full length movies, just clips of DD!  gah.

tarebear9891

DH works for apple, I can ask him in a minute.

Can you back up all your stuff and try wiping the computer? We regularly transfer everything to our server and wipe the hard drive.

And as LD said HD movies are huge and take up a ton of room.

tarebear9891

DH says "other" means anything that the computer doesn't recognize. Meaning movies you might have downloaded, applications, etc.

LuckyDad

thebubble09:

thanks so much- i did try clearing the cache, rebooting, and general cleaning out the HD- i have no full length movies, just clips of DD!  gah.

If you have an SLR and shoot high quality video, that actually could gobble up space pretty fast.

I agree with the "get an external HD" comments. A 500 GB is really cheap these days.

thebubble09

tarebear9891:

DH works for apple, I can ask him in a minute. Can you back up all your stuff and try wiping the computer? We regularly transfer everything to our server and wipe the hard drive. And as LD said HD movies are huge and take up a ton of room.

thanks!!

 i dont have a back up drive.  this is the first time that i've really cared about what's on my computer (LO photos, grad school work)!  a really stupid question- what's the best way to go about backing up regularly (wirelessly?  plug into something? a cloud?) and what type of external drive should i get?  can I just move old photos and stuff to the external drive and trust that they're there? sorry, im a tech idiot.

tarebear9891

thebubble09:

tarebear9891:

DH works for apple, I can ask him in a minute.

Can you back up all your stuff and try wiping the computer? We regularly transfer everything to our server and wipe the hard drive.

And as LD said HD movies are huge and take up a ton of room.

thanks!!

 i dont have a back up drive.  this is the first time that i've really cared about what's on my computer (LO photos, grad school work)!  a really stupid question- what's the best way to go about backing up regularly (wirelessly?  plug into something? a cloud?) and what type of external drive should i get?  can I just move old photos and stuff to the external drive and trust that they're there? sorry, im a tech idiot.

He said Western digital external harddrive. The size depends on how much space you need.

He also said there is an app called Time Machine that you can put on you Mac that will regularly back up to your external if you set it up that way.

Eta: he said google "Mac Osx time machine" and then a knowledge based article will pop up. It will give you step by step instructions.

thebubble09

thanks so much!  i really appreciate it. 

i think i might be duplicating my movies, i see some of them in imovie and then again in iphoto, then again as cache movies-- idk, i'll figure it out! lol

tarebear9891

thebubble09:

thanks so much!nbsp; i really appreciate it.nbsp; i think i might be duplicating my movies, i see some of them in imovie and then again in iphoto, then again as cache movies idk, i'll figure it out! lol

I am really terrible with technical things. He loves having something he knows so much more about.

He used to make up songs to explain things to me. Made me want to hurt him;

thebubble09

tarebear9891:

thebubble09:

thanks so much!nbsp; i really appreciate it.nbsp; i think i might be duplicating my movies, i see some of them in imovie and then again in iphoto, then again as cache movies idk, i'll figure it out! lol

I am really terrible with technical things. He loves having something he knows so much more about. He used to make up songs to explain things to me. Made me want to hurt him;

Do you watch modern family??  phil did this to claire- maybe in season one?  it's a really funny episode.  really, thank you both for your help!

tarebear9891

thebubble09:

tarebear9891:

thebubble09:

thanks so much!nbsp; i really appreciate it.nbsp; i think i might be duplicating my movies, i see some of them in imovie and then again in iphoto, then again as cache movies idk, i'll figure it out! lol

I am really terrible with technical things. He loves having something he knows so much more about.

He used to make up songs to explain things to me. Made me want to hurt him;

Do you watch modern family??  phil did this to claire- maybe in season one?  it's a really funny episode.  really, thank you both for your help!

Yes! That's our favorite show right now. And where my DH got his inspiration.

thebubble09

Lol my bil IS Phil. Looks like him, acts like him, thinks like him it's uncanny... And odd, but charming?