Deleting caches to free up space

a friend of mine has in internal hard drive that is COMPLETELY full and needs my help explaining what she can throw away to free up space. an external drive is not an option.
I see that the /User/Library/Caches/Quicktime folder can get big...mine is around 250 MB
Can I simply delete this entire folder without a problem? I mean, isn't it just leftovers of downloaded quicktime movies that are completely unnecessary?
I also would like to know if it is possible, without a 3rd party program, to delete all the different non-english language versions of OS X that are automatically installed???
And can I easily manually throw away all printer drivers for printer models that are not used without running into any problems screwing up the OS??
thank you very much

Hi David!
As Limnos posted, insufficient available space, can cause performance issues, system corruption, and possible loss of data.
Depending on Mac system usage habits, it is a general recommendation, to keep 10% to as much as 20%, of the Total capacity, available at all times.
Review the suggestions, in the documents that I have linked to below.
Authored by Dr Smoke:
Problems From Insufficient RAM And Free Hard Disk Space
Freeing Space On Your Mac OS X Startup Disk
Have you ever run any routine Maintenance procedures, as suggested in the articles linked to below?
Mac OS X 10.3/10.4: System Maintenance, authored by Gulliver
Maintaining Mac OS X, authored by Dr Smoke
Is the Mac shutdown overnight, or does it run 24/7?
If you turn the Mac off nightly, the Background Maintenance Tasks, are never run.
These can also be run, using a Third-Party utility, or manually using Terminal, to run the CRON Commands.
I use MacJanitor, when necessary.
INSTRUCTIONS TO RUN CRON MANUAL COMMANDS
Quit all applications/programs.
Navigate to HD > Applications > Utilities.
Double click on Terminal, to open.
At the prompt, type:
sudo periodic daily
Press Return.
Enter your Admin password when prompted, then press Return.
This will execute the daily script that is sheduled to run every night.
When completed, repeat this procedure, but change the command to:
sudo periodic weekly
This one rebuilds a database or two, and usually takes somewhat longer to complete. It is scheduled to run once a week.
Repeat again, with command:
sudo periodic monthly
Or they can all be run in one pass, which is preferable, with this command:
sudo periodic daily weekly monthly
When the tasks complete, and return to the prompt, you may quit Terminal.
Restart the Mac, and run Repair Permissions.
TO REPAIR PERMISSIONS ON THE STARTUP DISK
1.Open Disk Utility, located in Applications/Utilities, and select the startup disk in the left column.
2.Click First Aid.
3.Click Verify Disk Permissions to test permissions or Repair Disk Permissions to test and repair permissions. (I never "Verify". Just run "Repair".)
Rerun RP, until no messages are reported.
When "Repair Permissions" is complete. Quit "Disk Utility".
ali b

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How to Delete photos to free up space

Hi,
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Hi,
I have been taking photos on my iphone 4 since I inherited it from my daughter. It has 16Gb memory, and I have just 1.64Gb left from 14.8 Gb. There are 5 folders, with 8digit names housing photos numbered from 0-999, 1000-1999, 2000-2999, 3000-3999 and some in a folder 4000-4020 (these are the most recent obviously).
Itunes tells me I have over 60% of my phone memory taken up with photos, but does not give me any option to see them, let alone delete them! I then shut down itunes, and just opened the DCIM folder.
I have no Mac - just a Windows PC, running Windows 7.
I have copied photos from all the folders to backup folders and the folder with photos 0-999 dissappeared after I copied it off the phone.
I have deleted photos 1000 to 1999 out of the folder, (although the folder itself won't delete, even though it appears empty.)
same with 2000-2999. I have been left with some .xmp files which won't delete.
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Welcome to Apple Support Communities
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4847

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slsperry wrote:
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http://osxdaily.com/2011/11/15/repair-user-permissions-in-mac-os-x-lion/
Startup holding command-r keys.
You will boot into the Repair Utilities screen. On top, in the Menu Bar click the Utilities item then select Terminal.
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Does DELETE operation frees up space

Hi,
Does DELETE on some rows of a table also free up space on the tablespace.
If no, how to actually free up the tablespace occupied memory in the tablespace after a delete operation.
Thanks,
Himadri

> Rows with a specific condition should be removed and the space
should be freed up. That is what i am looking for.
Oracle does not work like that. For good (performance related) reasons.
Oracle has "percentage used" and "percentage free" space parameters. These you/the DBA need to tune for the optimal balance between performance and space utilisation.
These percentages serve as low- and high-water marks. When there are data above the high water mark, the block is removed from the free list (free list = blocks with sufficient space for more rows to be added to the block).
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How do I delete files to free up space?

Here are some general tips to keep your Mac's hard drive trim and slim as possible
You should never, EVER let a conputer hard drive get completely full, EVER!
With Macs and OS X, you shouldn't let the hard drive get below 15 GBs or less of free data space.
If it does, it's time for some hard drive housecleaning.
Follow some of my tips for cleaning out, deleting and archiving data from your Mac's internal hard drive.
Have you emptied your Mac's Trash icon in the Dock?
If you use iPhoto, iPhoto has its own trash that needs to be emptied, also.
If you store images in other locations other than iPhoto, then you will have to weed through these to determine what to archive and what to delete.
If you use Apple Mail app, Apple Mail also has its own trash area that needs to be emptied, too!
Delete any old or no longer needed emails and/or archive to disc, flash drives or external hard drive, older emails you want to save.
Look through your other Mailboxes and other Mail categories to see If there is other mail you can archive and/or delete.
STAY AWAY FROM DELETING ANY FILES FROM OS X SYSTEM FOLDER!
Look through your Documents folder and delete any type of old useless type files like "Read Me" type files.
Again, archive to disc, flash drives, ext. hard drives or delete any old documents you no longer use or immediately need.
Look in your Applications folder, if you have applications you haven't used in a long time, if the app doesn't have a dedicated uninstaller, then you can simply drag it into the OS X Trash icon. IF the application has an uninstaller app, then use it to completely delete the app from your Mac.
To find other large files, download an app called Omni Disk Sweeper.
Download an app called OnyX for your version of OS X.
When you install and launch it, let it do its initial automatic tests, then go to the cleaning and maintenance tabs and run the maintenance tabs that let OnyX clean out all web browser cache files, web browser histories, system cache files, delete old error log files.
Typically, iTunes and iPhoto libraries are the biggest users of HD space.
move these files/data off of your internal drive to the external hard drive and deleted off of the internal hard drive.
If you have any other large folders of personal data or projects, these should be archived or moved, also, to the optical discs, flash drives or external hard drive and then either archived to disc and/or deleted off your internal hard drive.
Good Luck!

Deleting caches to free up space

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