[Hidden-tech] so many duplicate files

Fri Jan 3 21:26:28 UTC 2020

Hi Elyssa,

As others have said, an external drive will be your friend. Here’s a process you might use.

1. Download Grand Perspective <http://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net/>, a free app that will show graphically what’s taking up the most space. DaisyDisk <https://daisydiskapp.com/> is similar, and costs $10. 

2. Run either one of those apps to show what’s on your Mac and it will show you the largest files. Move them to your backup disk (if you still need them, otherwise delete them), then delete them from your Mac (and empty the trash).

3. If you have 12,000 jpgs you could just move all of them to a photos folder on the external drive, too. 

4. Then get an app like Gemini 2 <https://macpaw.com/gemini>, which will find and delete duplicate files on your Mac. (You can also run it on the external hard drive to get rid of duplicates there).

5. Clean My Mac <https://cleanmymac.macpaw.com/20?campaign=cmmx_search_text_brand_us&ci=105095406&adgroupid=15565330806&adpos=1t1&ck=cleanmymac%203&targetid=kwd-111733657446&match=%7Bif:e%7D&gnetwork=g&creative=197446344603&placement=&placecat=&accname=cmm&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIjO-Yi6ro5gIVCmyGCh2qHQPzEAAYASAAEgKZhvD_BwE> is another very good app that gets rid of lots of built-up “system junk" and other files you don’t need. It’s good for regular maintenance and will often create a huge amount of space. 

6. Go to Settings > iCloud and set it to hold your photos in the cloud so they are not taking up space on your Mac. You can get 50gb of storage for a dollar a month, or 200gb for $3/month. You can also store other files (documents, etc) in the cloud. You will see small versions of the photos in the Photos app, but they won’t be taking up so much space and they will be safer in the cloud, too.

7. You might need help getting rid of the duplicate accounts, since the apps mentioned above will only check one account at a time. If you make an appointment at the Apple store it won’t cost you anything.

8. Once you have your machine in good order, duplicate files gone and large files moved to the backup drive, you want to keep things orderly. Maybe you want to buy a second 2 TB hard drive and use Disk Utility to split it into two virtual drives. Use one half for Time Machine backups and use the other for occasional Super Duper backups of your Mac. The Apple store might be able to help with this, too.

Most people are terrible at backing up their stuff. Here’s a basic approach <https://www.backblaze.com/blog/the-3-2-1-backup-strategy/>.

Good luck!

Chris

Chris Landry
Landry Communications
Tell Your Story, Change the World
www.christopherlandry.com <http://www.christopherlandry.com/>    
413 522-2494

> 
> From: "Rich at tnr" <rich at tnrglobal.com>
> Subject: Re: [Hidden-tech] halp ......so many duplicate files
> Date: January 3, 2020 at 9:26:17 AM EST
> To: hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net
> Reply-To: rich at tnrglobal.com
> 
> 
> I am dealing with a similar case now, and a warning - Time machine requires a good bit of working space 
> SO if you are having space issues, time machine will not work even incrementally.
> 
> As 2nd drive is the best solution. There are various 'diff' versions that can do bulk and sub-directory comparisons.
> Well worth having.
> 
> Also, I have found switching from iPhoto to Photo appears to leave a large number of complex working files,
> sorting that out now.
> 
> In general, images and worse videos is what fills up a disk, it takes 1000's of documents to take the same place as one video.
> Also, if the older machine backup includes system images and/or downloaded installers (usually many copies) 
> those can be deleted - they are of no use.
> 
> Advanced technical help is often very warned, think about it - few people have a car without regular use of a shop.
> Computers are equally or more complex.
> 
> Good luck
> 
> Rich
> 
> On 1/3/2020 8:10 AM, Hai Nguyen Ly via Hidden-discuss wrote:
>> Hi Elyssa:
>> I highly recommend starting the process by making a time machine backup of your newest MacBook using an external drive. Once this is done, I would make a bootable copy of your MacBook drive using software such as Super Duper or Carbon Copy Cloner. Once the bootable drive has been created, you might consider booting from this drive to verify that works. Once this bootable drive has been verified, shut down your mac and disconnect any attached drives. After the attached drives have been disconnected, you can power back on the machine and start deleting user's and contents to free up space with the knowledge that you have two backups just in case something goes sideways. Regarding data backups, remember the mantra, two is one and one is none.
>> After you have freed up space on your MacBook, use another external drive for active time machine backups of your cleaned up Mac. Depending on the importance of the data, it may be worth considering keeping an encrypted bootable backup drive in another location.
>> I hope this helps a bit. Please feel free to reach out off-list if you would like clarification regarding any of the above.
>> 
>> Cordially:
>> Hai Nguyen Ly
>> 
>>> On Jan 3, 2020, at 12:43 AM, Elyssa Serrilli via Hidden-discuss <hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net <mailto:hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net>> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Hey friends and neighbors,
>>> 
>>> A few years ago, my old Macbook died.  Some nice folks were able to "rescue the data", and put it on my new Macbook.  They created a new user to do this, and duplicate files of all my data and apps.  Then my old new Macbook died.  Some nice folks were able to "rescue the data", and put it on my new new Macbook.  My new new Macbook has three users on it, each with the old old data 3 times, and the old data 2 times and the new new data once.  This sucks.  Almost all my memory is used up.
>>> 
>>> I tried to download a duplicate file deleter app, but I couldn't because I don't have enough memory to download the one app, and I don't have a recent enough version of Mac Os to download the other.
>>> 
>>> What can I do?  I have kerzillions of files.  I tried going through the list one by one using a "Smart Folder", but I have over 12,000 just jpgs.  I have an external hard drive... I wonder if that could be put to good use in this endeavor.
>>> 
>>> Oh good techies of the valley... what do you know about this? <3
>>> 
>>> 
>>> In the dance of Service to all Life 
>>> In Magycke and Divine Play
>>> 
>>> Elyssa Marie Serrilli 
>>> 
>>> Cultural Engineer
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
> 
> 

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