3 ms·

So to solve my problem I just have to do the mental effort I'm avoiding in the first place? My strategy is simple, I fill with my computer with crap until I de

So to solve my problem I just have to do the mental effort I'm avoiding in the first place? My strategy is simple, I fill with my computer with crap until I decide I want a fresh start. Then I back up these folders to a backup/year/month folder and never open them again. But if I ever need that meme from 2013, maybe I'll find it.

gareve 3y ago
same, but instead of backup, I just delete the biggest unimportant files. I can last for years doing that, until I change Linux distro, new laptop, or just a fresh install
- vaughands 3y ago
  Yep, in terms of just getting storage back I just simply run `ncdu` once a year and go for it.
ryanjshaw 3y ago
This is the way. Do you follow the same approach with email? I'm sitting on 110k emails in my inbox and pondering my options.
- moonchrome 3y ago
  Archive everything
- deafpolygon 3y ago
  I delete every e-mail I won't need.
kitsunesoba 3y ago
I've been doing the same for over a decade (closer to 15 years) at this point, except instead of a folder I just create an image of the drive of the computer I'm backing up. The only problems are that navigating old backups to find things is starting to become a chore and duplicates abound. I think the next time I have a bunch of time to myself, maybe between jobs or something, I'm going to take a couple hours each day for a few days to organize it all for better accessibility.
crazygringo 3y ago
And here I thought I was the only one. At first I just moved everything into a folder named "old" that sat in the same place, and eventually probably wound up having 20 or 30 recursive folders all named "old". It wasn't until after probably a decade of that I had the big-brain moment to actually bother labeling them by month+year and put them all at the same level in an explicit backup directory...
- BlueTemplar 3y ago
  Are you me ? :p
- plank 3y ago
  Parallel evolution: not on MacOs, place everything on desktop () and move it into backup folder (usually just something like 2023mei29) if the desktop becomes too unmanageable. Happy to read this solution has been thought of by others as well
- Arrath 3y ago
  I, too, subscribe to the 'shove all my crap into my bedroom closet when told to clean my room' method of computer janitoring. Ironically enough I have a folder on my desktop called "Sorted" that I just drag things into when I haven't used them in a while. Gotta love the search function, else I'd never find anything in the rare case that I do need it. Comes in handy sometimes however, like having the installers for every major version, patch and RC of an indie game going back a decade, or old editions of a minecraft or skyrim mod that the author may have pulled offline in some hissy fit or another.
JacobThreeThree 3y ago
Same here. I backup once per year. No organization effort required. Any info I need to retrieve can be found by searching for filenames or the various file metadata.
iudqnolq 3y ago
I call that folder "glacier" named after the AWS product with the same tradeoff: easy writes in exchange for harder reads. I also have a physical "glacier" bin in my closet and drawer in my desk. It's surprisingly easy to reliably remember that I would have put something in the "needed infrequently when I'm willing to spend a few minutes looking for" drawer.
horsawlarway 3y ago
I like the extra purge version of this - Exact same idea, except you also re-install the OS fresh. I used to do it once a year, but I'm down to once every other year now. Backup folders get the machine name & year, and put on dropbox/drive/nas/other. Entire machine is wiped, OS is installed, everything feels so fresh and sparkly. It's a bit like going to the dentist - not exactly fun, but you feel very clean for a bit afterwards. Really helps also wipe out all the other accumulating cruft you just don't have the time or energy to go delete.
- madeofpalk 3y ago
  On MacOS reinstalling the OS 'from fresh' doesn't really do anything any more because the OS is installed to an immutable sealed volume. Reinstalling the OS is basically a no-op.
  - kitsunesoba 3y ago
    Though they're easily removed without a reinstall, it'll clear out things like startup apps and background daemons. Kernel extensions (which should be rare already, but still exist) will also get wiped.
  - Kwpolska 3y ago
    The OS files itself may be immutable, but you’re still wiping your user data, all installed software, and other clutter stored in writeable locations.
  - horsawlarway 3y ago
    I consider volumes local to the device as something that gets wiped on OS reset, although I definitely understand the confusion. I'm not just wiping root and leaving home/mail/etc alone. I'm wiping and re-partitioning the local drive. The partition layout on macOs is fairly complex - on those machines it would be comparable to "Erase all contents and settings" option, but also with a refresh of the immutable OS to the latest released revision (Not always the case on macOS, depending on your recovery drive configuration). --- That said, I don't buy Apple products for personal use - they're far too hostile to their users for me to give them money, and I was always a "function over form" kinda guy in the first place, which is not Apple's market. Apple is the chauffeured car of the computer world... Smooth, Expensive, Hands-Off. I don't always want to drive manual, but I'm not willing to give up the steering wheel... so windows, linux, and bsd for me. Although lately, less and less Windows.
deanCommie 3y ago
Re-discovering your memes from 2013 is as pleasant of a nostalgia trip as seeing photos of your friend from college. It's a time machine for your feelings.
Eddy_Viscosity2 3y ago
Me too. Moving them to an "archive" folder I will never open solves the anxiety problems of deleting something I will never look at again.
justsomehnguy 3y ago
AIf you named it anywhere sensible, otherwise 1000s of .jpgs
Mobius01 3y ago
You’re not alone! I had developed a habit of cleaning downloads and files since storage was somewhat scarce when I started using PCs in the 90s. Now it’s so cheap that I will simply delete very large files, then name the folder yyyy-mm-dump and place it with others in a backup folder somewhere. If I ever have to recove disk space I will glance over and delete it then, but more often it has been more valuable to dig up some meme or image.
barbariangrunge 3y ago
Even easier: have a parent folder that holds all the folders/directories containing every piece of data you want to keep. Once you do your fresh start, transfer that folder over, and say to hell with the rest, after a quick scan for the 5 items you actually do want to keep

gareve 3y ago

same, but instead of backup, I just delete the biggest unimportant files. I can last for years doing that, until I change Linux distro, new laptop, or just a fresh install

vaughands 3y ago
Yep, in terms of just getting storage back I just simply run `ncdu` once a year and go for it.

ryanjshaw 3y ago

This is the way. Do you follow the same approach with email? I'm sitting on 110k emails in my inbox and pondering my options.

moonchrome 3y ago
Archive everything
deafpolygon 3y ago
I delete every e-mail I won't need.

kitsunesoba 3y ago

I've been doing the same for over a decade (closer to 15 years) at this point, except instead of a folder I just create an image of the drive of the computer I'm backing up. The only problems are that navigating old backups to find things is starting to become a chore and duplicates abound. I think the next time I have a bunch of time to myself, maybe between jobs or something, I'm going to take a couple hours each day for a few days to organize it all for better accessibility.

crazygringo 3y ago

And here I thought I was the only one. At first I just moved everything into a folder named "old" that sat in the same place, and eventually probably wound up having 20 or 30 recursive folders all named "old". It wasn't until after probably a decade of that I had the big-brain moment to actually bother labeling them by month+year and put them all at the same level in an explicit backup directory...

BlueTemplar 3y ago
Are you me ? :p
plank 3y ago
Parallel evolution: not on MacOs, place everything on desktop () and move it into backup folder (usually just something like 2023mei29) if the desktop becomes too unmanageable. Happy to read this solution has been thought of by others as well
Arrath 3y ago
I, too, subscribe to the 'shove all my crap into my bedroom closet when told to clean my room' method of computer janitoring. Ironically enough I have a folder on my desktop called "Sorted" that I just drag things into when I haven't used them in a while. Gotta love the search function, else I'd never find anything in the rare case that I do need it. Comes in handy sometimes however, like having the installers for every major version, patch and RC of an indie game going back a decade, or old editions of a minecraft or skyrim mod that the author may have pulled offline in some hissy fit or another.

JacobThreeThree 3y ago

Same here. I backup once per year. No organization effort required. Any info I need to retrieve can be found by searching for filenames or the various file metadata.

iudqnolq 3y ago

I call that folder "glacier" named after the AWS product with the same tradeoff: easy writes in exchange for harder reads. I also have a physical "glacier" bin in my closet and drawer in my desk. It's surprisingly easy to reliably remember that I would have put something in the "needed infrequently when I'm willing to spend a few minutes looking for" drawer.

horsawlarway 3y ago

I like the extra purge version of this - Exact same idea, except you also re-install the OS fresh. I used to do it once a year, but I'm down to once every other year now. Backup folders get the machine name & year, and put on dropbox/drive/nas/other. Entire machine is wiped, OS is installed, everything feels so fresh and sparkly. It's a bit like going to the dentist - not exactly fun, but you feel very clean for a bit afterwards. Really helps also wipe out all the other accumulating cruft you just don't have the time or energy to go delete.

madeofpalk 3y ago
On MacOS reinstalling the OS 'from fresh' doesn't really do anything any more because the OS is installed to an immutable sealed volume. Reinstalling the OS is basically a no-op.
- kitsunesoba 3y ago
  Though they're easily removed without a reinstall, it'll clear out things like startup apps and background daemons. Kernel extensions (which should be rare already, but still exist) will also get wiped.
- Kwpolska 3y ago
  The OS files itself may be immutable, but you’re still wiping your user data, all installed software, and other clutter stored in writeable locations.
- horsawlarway 3y ago
  I consider volumes local to the device as something that gets wiped on OS reset, although I definitely understand the confusion. I'm not just wiping root and leaving home/mail/etc alone. I'm wiping and re-partitioning the local drive. The partition layout on macOs is fairly complex - on those machines it would be comparable to "Erase all contents and settings" option, but also with a refresh of the immutable OS to the latest released revision (Not always the case on macOS, depending on your recovery drive configuration). --- That said, I don't buy Apple products for personal use - they're far too hostile to their users for me to give them money, and I was always a "function over form" kinda guy in the first place, which is not Apple's market. Apple is the chauffeured car of the computer world... Smooth, Expensive, Hands-Off. I don't always want to drive manual, but I'm not willing to give up the steering wheel... so windows, linux, and bsd for me. Although lately, less and less Windows.

deanCommie 3y ago

Re-discovering your memes from 2013 is as pleasant of a nostalgia trip as seeing photos of your friend from college. It's a time machine for your feelings.

Eddy_Viscosity2 3y ago

Me too. Moving them to an "archive" folder I will never open solves the anxiety problems of deleting something I will never look at again.

justsomehnguy 3y ago

AIf you named it anywhere sensible, otherwise 1000s of .jpgs

Mobius01 3y ago

You’re not alone! I had developed a habit of cleaning downloads and files since storage was somewhat scarce when I started using PCs in the 90s. Now it’s so cheap that I will simply delete very large files, then name the folder yyyy-mm-dump and place it with others in a backup folder somewhere. If I ever have to recove disk space I will glance over and delete it then, but more often it has been more valuable to dig up some meme or image.

barbariangrunge 3y ago

Even easier: have a parent folder that holds all the folders/directories containing every piece of data you want to keep. Once you do your fresh start, transfer that folder over, and say to hell with the rest, after a quick scan for the 5 items you actually do want to keep