Need help, running out of SSD space

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bacobits1

Re: Need help, running out of SSD space
« Reply #20 on: 5 Jul 2016, 02:51 pm »
I just picked up a Samsung 500gig SSD 850evo drive. Very nice speed boost on a Win 7 machine.
I have read in Windows do not use "defrag" on SSD Drive "disk clean up" is ok just not defrag there are separate utilities for that.

dB Cooper

Re: Need help, running out of SSD space
« Reply #21 on: 6 Jul 2016, 01:38 pm »
A few things.

One, SSDs do not need defragging, which is a tool designed to organize the physical layout of a spinning hard drive so the read head can find them more quickly on the disk. This is irrelevant to an SSD. Even on a spinning drive, the Mac OS defrags all files above a certain size, 10MB IIRC. On a Mac at least (don't know about Win), the OS moves things around to different memory locations to maximize the service life of the drive, so 'defragging' may actually be detrimental to the life of the computer.

Two, I skimmed the thread and didn't see a mention of which Mac you have but I am assuming it's a laptop. Some have the "SSD" soldered directly onto the logic board which is not upgradeable or replaceable. Most current models aside from the new MacBook and the 11 inch MacBook air have SD card slots on them. There is a brand of SD card called 'JetDrive' which is a slightly non-standard shape so that it sits flush with the edge of the computer when inserted. B&H sells the 128 GB for $65 or 256 GB for $165. This provides a big storage boostnfor a small cost. Read/write speeds are not as fast to/from an SD card as an internal SSD to my knowledge but that shouldn't matter for playing music or video files, only for large files that you need high speed access to.

Lastly, a common place for storage space to disappear is in the Downloads folder. A lot of applications leva assorted debris like installers there, for example Microsoft office whose installer is about 1.5 GB. Many of these installers make the problem even worse by creating package files from the disk image (installer) files and leave them behind too,which doubles down on the problem. If there are any .dmg or .pkg files in your downloads folder, and those apps are installed on your computer, you can safely delete those files.

A great way to figure out where your storage space is going, including those annoying 'Other' files, is a $10 application called DaisyDisk. It gives you a visual representation of everything that's on your computer files and delete them. Word of caution, as a general ruledon't delete anything in a 'Library' or 'System' folder unless been okayed by someone along the lines of AppleCare. Lastly, if you have AppleCare on your computer, definitely take advantage of the over the phone technical support. They can help you sort all this crap out.

Hope this helps.

JLM

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Re: Need help, running out of SSD space
« Reply #22 on: 6 Jul 2016, 03:46 pm »
Thanks dB...

Sorry for not mentioning it, but the computer in question is a 13 inch, early 2014 MacBook Air (with an SD slot).  So my guess is the SSD is directly soldered.

dB Cooper

Re: Need help, running out of SSD space
« Reply #23 on: 7 Jul 2016, 12:15 am »
Probably. I think the Jetdrive would solve the storage issue. What's the built-in storage (128/256/512)?

BTW you can get DaisyDisk from the App Store.

jpm

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Re: Need help, running out of SSD space
« Reply #24 on: 7 Jul 2016, 01:59 am »
One simple solution is a low profile SD card. There are quite a few now that are designed specifically to barely protrude from the SD slot on Apple laptops. Move all of your music onto a dedicated 128GB card, and Bob's your uncle. The read rate should be fine for music files.

The caveats: verify the maximum supported SD card capacity of your laptop; do a test to make sure iTunes doesn't puke over accessing music from an SD card; Keep a copy / backup ... etc. etc.

Here's a google search with a boatload of options:

https://www.google.com/search?q=+low+profile+sd+card+for+mac&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

Jonathon Janusz

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Re: Need help, running out of SSD space
« Reply #25 on: 7 Jul 2016, 02:23 am »
Thanks dB...

Sorry for not mentioning it, but the computer in question is a 13 inch, early 2014 MacBook Air (with an SD slot).  So my guess is the SSD is directly soldered.

Your RAM is soldered on the logic board, your SSD is not.  Once you get to it, one screw and it comes out.

The SD card is a pretty good option for adding storage space, but I'm not sure I'd want to rely on one as my everyday system drive, or for something that will get a lot of write/rewrite cycles put on.  Just my $.02.