How much disk space does OSX use?

I'm wondering how much disk space the OSX uses. I'm planning on getting a Macbook (120gb) and was wondering how much space I'd be left with and if there are applications that I can delete to maximize disk space. Thanks

 

I would say expect about 17-20 GB used for OS X + iLife and also the fact that hard drives aren't actually what they're marketed nowadays (my 80 GB HDD is actually only 74 GB).

iLife consumes most of that space, with all the GarageBand tracks and stuff, so if you want to save space you can reinstall OS X and choose not to install iLife.

 

If you have your printer drivers handy, you can opt not to install those either, as they take a lot of space also. You might not need Xcode either, which is like 1gb, but I'm not sure if that is part of the install package.

 

can we uninstall ilife?

 

Uninstalling iLife through OS X may leave behind what is really taking up all the space; the GarageBand loops, for example. I would say to really uninstall iLife cleanly, reinstall OS X and choose not to install iLife.

 

That makes sense. I will try it this way.
I really dont use applications like Garageband, iPhoto, iDVD etc.
Thanks Sam.

 

Or use a program called Disk Inventory X and see what is taking up all the space and delete accordingly. It's free too.

 

What harm does it do to uninstall components (eg. garageband, unneeded printer drivers, etc.) one by one? Is a reinstall necessary?

 

It probably won't harm it in any way. You just might miss what is actually taking up the space.

EDIT: Hmm, maybe not. I did a quick "GarageBand Loops" search in Spotlight, and it was all organized neatly in a folder. I guess you can just delete that folder if you decide you don't want to use GarageBand and you want to uninstall it.

But still, I would say if you want to completely get rid of iLife, reinstall OS X and choose not to install iLife with it.

 

instead of reinstalling os x you can use an app like appzapper to find all associated files with a program and then uninstall it that way. I was able to save something like 3.5gb just by deleting garageband by itself.

 

When you install iLife, is it all or nothing, or can you just choose to install iPhoto by itself, for example?

 

You can choose which, if any, of the iLife apps you want to install during the installation yes.

 

question- is ilife 06 on the optional installs disk? what are we supposed to do when we buy leopard? are we forced to get ilife 08?

 

iLife comes bundled with the Mac, not the OS. So getting OS X Leopard doesn't get you iLife '08. Getting a new Mac will get you iLife '08.

 

AppZapper is really good, when I deleted Garageband with it, it freed up 3GB worths of Garbage (see what I did there?).

 

no you dont understand, maybe i worded wrong. what im trying to say is, if we didnt get ilife 08, and dont have an ilife 06 disk, how are we supposed to get ilife 06 back once we install leopard? is it on an optional install or something?

 

Oh, I see what you're asking. With Leopard, you can choose to install "over" Tiger, so that your applications and files remain the same as they were before Leopard was installed. If you want to keep your iLife '06 and your other files, then do that.

 

nope sorry cant work for me. at the same time im going to install leopard i hope to upgrade my HD to, so it would be a clean install.

 

How reliable is this upgrade vs. full install of Leopard? I mean we all know how bad Windows can be with installing over a previous version. There will still be unused files left over from Tiger yes?

 

maybe. havent been with macs long enuf to know for sure, but i think that since leopard is all 64 bit, there might be some unusable things.