Use of OmniDiskSweeper

[atavus]

I decided to use the above to release more space, and up to a point, it seems very easy to use. But given my general lack of nous about this kind of thing, I'm not at all sure what I'm looking at with the long list of items that come up on the sweep, and which ones I can safely delete. "Library", "Applications" etc. seem self-explanatory (and I assume I don't touch those) but there are lots of others about which I know nothing at all. How does one tell which items are redundant/useless and can be safely deleted to release disc space?

 

[honestone]

First of all, do you make backups to an external device? That is critical, and especially with using a "cleaning" application like OmniDiskSweeper.

 

[atavus]

I decided to use the above to release more space, and up to a point, it seems very easy to use. But given my general lack of nous about this kind of thing, I'm not at all sure what I'm looking at with the long list of items that come up on the sweep, and which ones I can safely delete. "Library", "Applications" etc. seem self-explanatory (and I assume I don't touch those) but there are lots of others about which I know nothing at all. How does one tell which items are redundant/useless and can be safely deleted to release disc space?

No - I don't use any external back-up devices at all. Should I avoid the OmniDiskSweeper then?

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello and welcome.

Yes - if you have no backup of your data, it is not advisable to use any form of utility software, especially one that can erase hidden/System files. In addition, if you don't have experience with "pruning" your data, you can easily render your Mac unusable.

We always recommend that folks have a current Time Machine or other backup of their data at all times. It isn't a question of if, but when a hard drive will fail.

The only really "safe" files users should delete are those in their Home folder - Desktop/Documents/Downloads/Movies/Music/Pictures. The Library/System folders shouldn't be touched manually. Some files/folders in Applications folder can safely be deleted, especially those that did't come with your Mac from Apple.

-Which model Mac?
-Which version of OS X/macOS?
-How much free space is left on the drive?

C

 

[atavus]

Thanks for this. My OS system is 10.9.5 - and it's still this despite several opportunities to upgrade. My reason is that I'll probably lose my favoured Pages version in the process (it happened before and it had to be "rescued" by Apple.) One good thing about this - and so far I haven't been rash enough to actually use the DiskSweeper - is that I've discovered that I've loads of space left anyway. I'm a writer, and I have millions of words (my own and others) and was worried that I might be running out of space. I've since discovered that this is nothing, and it's photos and videos that take all the space. Of these, I have almost none. So thanks to your warning, I've a) decided against using the DiskSweeper, and b) discovered that I don't need it anyway. Shouldn't these things come with a health warning, for computer bozos like me who have the weird idea that a thousand pages of text actually takes up any room on the hard disk? (Rhetorical question.)

 

[honestone]

While all that seems to imply that you think you are safe, Cory is correct about backups. And to enhance on what Cory said, even if the hard drive's health remains OK, you could have a software issue that would require a backup to recover from a disaster.

 

[Lufbrarunner]

I have thousands of digital photographs, to keep them from using up space on my main hard drives they are kept on separate hard drives that can be dropped into a dock when needed, each of these hard drives is also duplicated in case of problems and they are also backed up on DVD, better safe than sorry.

 

[honestone]

better safe than sorry.

Exactly! And excellent advice.