TonyBot

So ... my MacMini (mid 2011, os10.11, upgraded to 8g ram) has been running slow lately and I look, for what is probably the first time, and see that I am using about 90g of my 500g hard drive for photos -- and 360g for "other" -- leaving me with less than 25g "free". As I understand it, this cache is mostly unused, and may even be items that may have been used only once, and never again. In pulling up and looking at some of these files, a great number of them are photos (jpg, cr2, and/or png), but most are items I'm sure I will never use again (y'know, some are old research projects, or letters like "gimme a raise or I'll quit"). Most, including the photographs, are several years old, and have not been accessed in quite some time. I've researched on Google and Bing about how to clean the HD up, but I do not feel confident enough to do it manually. I *think* that using an app, prepared by professionals, is going to be necessary, but I am concerned about two things: Will trashing the photos in that cache remove them permanently from my HD (or are they just "working copies"), and; If I choose a free app (such as MacPaw's "CleanMyMac" or TrendMicro's "Dr Cleaner") from the App Store, will a very un-savvy user such as I am be able to use it successfully? Any suggestions/opinions will be helpful!

Just Fred Loc: Darwin's Waiting Room

A couple of things:

1) It's a good idea to "reserve" 10% of your hard disk space for system use (caches, temp files, etc.). Going below that is risky, as one of the worst things that can happen in the computer world is running out of disk space.
2) A (free) utility you might want to down load is Trend Micro's "Dr. Cleaner." It helps monitor memory usage, can clear out memory when things get tight, and can help remove junk files from your computer. It's not a panacea, but it's useful. And it's free. Available on the iTunes App Store. See https://www.drcleaner.com.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Huh?
If you are talking about the memory in your unit being 500 GB - that is your hard drive so any thing deleted will be gone - period the end.
Get an external drive and transfer the stuff you think you might want to keep by moving or copying and then deleting the hard drive version. That will give you the chance to get them back if you want. If you get a one or two TB external you can also put a full backup of your whole system on it. Lots of software available to do that.

Most of us mean RAM when we say memory, we classify the hard drive's memory as "storage".

As to all those "other" not pictures just open all your files and look at what it is. If it is no longer needed just delete it. Put it on the external drive if you aren't sure. I recently started doing that with a lot of lesson plans, article saved from research etc. I retired from teaching over 10 years ago so I decided I don't really need those files anymore.

I also have an idea that a lot of that stuff is programs/apps you installed and used but haven't touched in a long time. If they are of no further use - uninstall them. They are usually much larger than any files you saved. I found one photo app that I had the last 4 versions installed, I only use the latest. The other 3 unused old versions were well over 3 GB that I freed up by doing an uninstall on each of them.

A good system cleanup and maintenance app will give you a chance to review things before trashing them. And some have the ability to automatically keep things clean by making sure temp files and left over fragments really do get deleted. Even Macs occasionally fail to do that and the longer it has been used without cleaning the more junk is left over to take up space and slow things down.

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

There are several free utilities, Macpaw as you mentioned, and others that access the built in routines of your Mac's Operating System to clean up things like caches. The OS runs daily, weekly and monthly clean up routines to keep things running smoothly. Sometimes you may need to manually kick start them if they get confused though.

I used to make use of an app called ONYX to check and force run the clean up scripts. Macpaw CleanMyMac is similar though.

Link for ONYX:

https://www.titanium-software.fr/en/onyx.html

You can also run the clean up scripts manually - http://thexlab.com/faqs/maintscripts.html

As was mentioned, you should always keep some free space on your drive for system use - at least 10% for sure.

FWIW: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4926557?start=0&tstart=0

TonyBot

Thanks, folks. I'll check out the suggestions and links. (and, yes, Robert - I did mean hard drive)

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

My drives are seldom even half full. You're really pushing your luck - and the computer's resources. Get an external drive, and also a backup, for all of your images. Everything will work better. If you want speed, get a Samsung SSD for $150. I put one in my 2011 MacBook Pro and several other computers. It was recommended as a top choice among all SSD for general use.

https://smile.amazon.com/Samsung-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-75E500B-AM/dp/B00OBRE5UE/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1510310251&sr=1-1&keywords=samsung+ssd&dpID=41fw65-8tpL&preST=_SX300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

Brent Rowlett Loc: Atlanta, GA

Always use external hard drives for photos and video. When they become full, buy another for a $100. If your computer dies, you have them. Many professionals recommend burning all photos to a DVD after completing an assignment or job. Always keep your computer clean for best performance.

wmdooley

If you don't often use the Mac's SD card slot for other purposes, an easy way to add a modest amount of storage is to put in an SDXC card. I use a 128GB card to hold program and OS installers, and other seldom-used files. A 128GB card costs about $60. Amazon has a 256GB Sony card for $98 and change. The files are always available and Time Machine backs up the card. For this use, a slower, lower-priced card is fine.

Of course, an external hard drive will give you vastly more storage per dollar.

I also use CleanMyMac 3. It's never caused a problem.

wmdooley

PS - you will need to format the card as HFS+ to avoid the 4GB file size limit of FAT32.

whitewolfowner

Get an external drive; in fact get two external drives. You should have your photos and anything important on two drives. The golden rule of computing is NOT Will my hard drive fail, but WHEN WILL my hard drive fail. If I were you, I would get one larger than the other. Use the smaller one for your photos and the larger one for back up for photos and everything else. Free up that drive that has the operating system on it to do your computing and get the storage stuff off of it so it can deliver for you. Until you do this, at any time that drive could fail and you will lose everything.

mcveed Loc: Kelowna, British Columbia (between trips)

If your pictures are important to you a back-up drive is essential. I have three; one 2TB drive serves as my Time Machine back-up; one is used for monthly, or project end bootable back-ups of the whole system; and the third for storing phots on which editing is complete. I use Onyx for keeping the system running smoothly.