How do I find out how much of my MacBook's memory I've used?

Factual Questions
#1

I’m trying to figure out how much memory space I’ve got left on my MacBook, but I can’t find it - where is it?

#2

Do you mean hard disk space or free RAM?

#3

Applications->Utilities->Activity Monitor shows both.

#4

Better yet, install the iStat Pro (it’s free) widget to have a really easy and neat way of seeing a whole bunch of stats about your macbook (such as what tmp it’s running at, how much memory’s free, etc)

#5

as always, beowulff comes through - thanks. Looks like I’m going to have to get a separate drive for my iPod library.

#6

Frightening how much disk space audio and video takes, isn’t it?
You might consider just replacing your current drive with a new, huge one. Drives have gotten dirt cheap, and adding an external case can double the price…

#7

Doesn’t a number for hard drive still available appear at the bottom of every folder window? Sure does on our iMac.

#8

How big a drive can you put in a MacBook?

#9

Only in Finder, and it doesn’t say “X left out of Y”.

See, I’m old school. When I started, I just had a floppy internal drive (512 k) and an external floppy (another 512 k). A hard drive of 20 megs was huge, an unimaginable amount of memory (or, as my brother put it when I first got a Mac, “you could run the moon landing with 20 megs!”). So when I see a little thing on the bottom of a screen that says “757 megs free” I think, “wow, I’ve got a lot of drive space left.”

Then I get a message saying the disk is nearly full, and I realise two things:

  1. iPod stuff takes up a lot of space; :eek: and,

  2. I’m old. :frowning:

#10

I think think the biggest 2.5" drive currently available is 500GB: http://www.slashgear.com/hitachi-travelstar-5k500-a-whopping-500gb-notebook-drive-039329.php
On preview, it appears that this drive is too tall for the MacBook, but I think there are 320GB ones that will fit (9.5mm).

#11

Just click on the icon for the hard drive (Macintosh HD or whatever you’ve renamed it) and Get Info (command-I). You’ll see Capacity, Available, and Used.

#12

Hey, iStat Pro is pretty neat! I’d heard of it before, but of course, an SDMB recommendation always carries more weight. :stuck_out_tongue:

#13

Thanks, beowulff. Think I’ll wander over to the Mac store and see what they can do for me.

#14

In the finder, go to preferences. Under “Show these items on the Desktop,” select at least “Hard Disks” and “External Disks.”

Every disk icon on your desktop will now say “Y GB, X GB free” right underneath it.