– Write things down with a pen
– Hum music in your head (or out loud if you’re not me)
– Watch people passing your window
– Go see friends
– Read a book
Who’s needs virtual space on a big planet like this?
I’m in the same position. For my Macbook and external harddrives, I use Disk Inventory X to see where the space has gone. It’s a very good visualization tool, though it’s not the prettiest thing in the world. Think of it as a utility. (derlien.com)
Yes, isn’t it amazing how much we expand to take up available space. My parents first computer had a 30 MB hard drive, Wordperfect 5.1 took up 5 MB of that. We had to keep deleting programs to load other programs on. We saved all files to a floppy because there was no room.
My first hard drive by contrast was 2 GB, (How in the world would I fill that up?) and cost me $250.
And yet less than 15 years later, a 1 TB drive is less than $100. But, I still run out of space ALL the time.
Get yourself a Drobo — the best external storage device ever. I just upgraded mine by adding two 1TB drives … we’ll see how long it takes to fill it up.
I’ve gotten the “no more space available” message on my mac several times, so I’ve been deleting a lot of music that I don’t listen to, and a lot of photos that aren’t worth saving. Clear out the clutter!
Rethink your digital metaphors. Your computer is your desk; it should only contain what you’re actually working on at the moment, and the tools you need to do it. External drives are your cupboards and filing drawers – finished work, reference material, libraries of music and pics. DVDs are the attic – where you put stuff that, maybe, might be useful again some day but probably not.
Buying another cupboard is cheaper than buying a bigger desk.
As for what you load on portable devices, use ratings and smart playlists. The only music loaded on my iPod nano is ‘Songs rated four stars or more, played less than ten times, that I haven’t played in the last month, limited to 24 hours.’ So I’ve always got plenty of stuff I love that I haven’t heard for a while.
We don’t need more space. We just lost the ability to delete or throw away things, we’ll never use again. That’s also why we’re always looking for a bigger apartment or – in your case – a bigger harddrive.
Swissmiss is an online garden Tina Roth Eisenberg started in 2005 and has lovingly tended to ever since.
Besides swissmiss, Tina founded and runs TeuxDeux, CreativeMornings and her Brooklyn based co-working community Friends Work Here. (She also started Tattly which was recently adopted by BIC)
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Buy more space on your credit card maybe?
Feb 20th, 2009 / 9:57 am
thats a very good point… haha I feel that way everyday
Feb 20th, 2009 / 10:05 am
I kept clicking OK wondering why it wouldn’t go away.
Feb 20th, 2009 / 10:08 am
– Write things down with a pen
– Hum music in your head (or out loud if you’re not me)
– Watch people passing your window
– Go see friends
– Read a book
Who’s needs virtual space on a big planet like this?
Feb 20th, 2009 / 11:26 am
I’m in the same position. For my Macbook and external harddrives, I use Disk Inventory X to see where the space has gone. It’s a very good visualization tool, though it’s not the prettiest thing in the world. Think of it as a utility. (derlien.com)
Feb 20th, 2009 / 11:50 am
Yes, isn’t it amazing how much we expand to take up available space. My parents first computer had a 30 MB hard drive, Wordperfect 5.1 took up 5 MB of that. We had to keep deleting programs to load other programs on. We saved all files to a floppy because there was no room.
My first hard drive by contrast was 2 GB, (How in the world would I fill that up?) and cost me $250.
And yet less than 15 years later, a 1 TB drive is less than $100. But, I still run out of space ALL the time.
Feb 20th, 2009 / 12:23 pm
Get yourself a Drobo — the best external storage device ever. I just upgraded mine by adding two 1TB drives … we’ll see how long it takes to fill it up.
Feb 20th, 2009 / 12:56 pm
I’ve gotten the “no more space available” message on my mac several times, so I’ve been deleting a lot of music that I don’t listen to, and a lot of photos that aren’t worth saving. Clear out the clutter!
Feb 20th, 2009 / 1:48 pm
Here’s the next-gen solution:
“With the densities we describe you could store 250 DVDs on a surface the size of a quarter.”
from: http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2009/02/reuters_us_electronics_nano
Feb 20th, 2009 / 2:25 pm
Buy a 16gb iPhone?
Feb 20th, 2009 / 3:02 pm
When ever I get something new – digital as well as material – something needs to go.
Feb 20th, 2009 / 8:50 pm
Simplify.
Feb 20th, 2009 / 10:09 pm
Cross fingers cloud computer takes off as promised
Feb 21st, 2009 / 5:53 pm
If you hit the spacebar when you’re in screenshot mode, you can take shots of specific windows on your screen minus the bg.
Feb 21st, 2009 / 6:42 pm
he, perhaps get a second disk:
http://www.mcetech.com/optibay/
or get a bigger one. I have 440 GB in my Macbook Pro now :-)
Feb 22nd, 2009 / 10:37 am
Not care.
Feb 22nd, 2009 / 12:15 pm
Try Command–Shift-4 and a space bar to capture single window. Far better look :)
Feb 22nd, 2009 / 3:07 pm
Rethink your digital metaphors. Your computer is your desk; it should only contain what you’re actually working on at the moment, and the tools you need to do it. External drives are your cupboards and filing drawers – finished work, reference material, libraries of music and pics. DVDs are the attic – where you put stuff that, maybe, might be useful again some day but probably not.
Buying another cupboard is cheaper than buying a bigger desk.
As for what you load on portable devices, use ratings and smart playlists. The only music loaded on my iPod nano is ‘Songs rated four stars or more, played less than ten times, that I haven’t played in the last month, limited to 24 hours.’ So I’ve always got plenty of stuff I love that I haven’t heard for a while.
Feb 23rd, 2009 / 6:47 am
i incrementally clear out old stuff – except photos.
Feb 23rd, 2009 / 7:51 pm
you have crap sense in naming your devices.
use your imagination…
Feb 24th, 2009 / 12:21 am
We don’t need more space. We just lost the ability to delete or throw away things, we’ll never use again. That’s also why we’re always looking for a bigger apartment or – in your case – a bigger harddrive.
Feb 25th, 2009 / 10:15 am