While I’m working on the backend for ThisIsLee.com, I’ll be posting more frequently here in the style I’ll be writing in over there. Just so you can get used to it.

You never really notice how much you do to your new computer.

I’ve had my new Macbook for exactly two weeks as of today. On the first day, I ordered 4GB of RAM for it. On this 14th day, I ordered a 320GB hard drive for it. Many people I know have asked me why, considering I still have 60GB free on this one. I want to do Boot Camp, a few different VMWare machines, and be able to hold all my multimedia (videos/photos/ALL my music). I haven’t done much of that yet, because I don’t think I’ve got the space. Hopefully, the extra 200GB will help.

That’s not the point of this post. This post is about where in the hell I spend nearly 60 GB of space in only two weeks, with no music and only about 10 photos. I’ve been asking myself this same thing since early last week.

I don’t remember how much was gone, but a much larger chunk than what I anticipated was actually being used when I first booted this thing. Most of that, of course, was the metric shit-ton of language files and printer drivers Apple so nicely installed for me. Yeah, I could have removed that stuff, but I didn’t really feel like it. My fault.

First, I started just installing everything I wanted to. Unfortunately, student discount software ($300 CS3 FTW), deals like Macheist, and Apple’s wonderful freeware/ad supported developer community gave me way too much shit to install. And I did. Even worse, I can even see myself using much of it at least some, so I can’t really make myself remove any of it. After my free space started dropping like the gas gauge in my girlfriend’s oversized SUV, I started using Xslimmer to shave a little fat off of some applications. I reclaimed a few gigs this way, so I was content.

It’s the multimedia stuff that really gets you. I took a few videos of a going-away party we had for a friend a few weeks ago. Great opportunity to load them into iMovie or something, right? Sure. Being a Windows guy, I figured I’d just open the file, play with it, and then render it out wherever I wanted.

No, wrong. Apparently, one must import most multimedia into a “library” of similar file types before they can be used. Ok, that makes sense. I’d actually probably do that anyway, so whatever (stick with me here, I’m easing back to the topic). What did not make sense at first is that iMovie makes umpteen copies of the file in a few different places on the hard drive. Thus, my 400MB file turned into about 1.2 GB* of space. Do that a few times and see where that gets you. I like this idea, though, protecting me from myself and keeping various backups in case I get drunk and decide that rendering a negative exposure effect with Comic Sans subtitles is a great way to present a How-To video.

(* For this post, 1.2GB/400MB = umpteen. Live with it.)

So, the next few hours will consist of me making a huge list of all the stuff I want to reinstall on the new hard drive because I want to do things cleanly rather than do a drive image. I’ll also need to get all my data consolidated into easy-to-find places so when this old hard drive gets locked up in its new USB enclosure prison that I ordered at the same time, I’ll be able to drag them all over to the new SuperMacbook.

Sorry this didn’t actually go into much about upgrading the Macbook. It was more of a rant. I’ll post a video of the upgrade process for those who don’t know how to do it, along with the one I’ve already got on how to upgrade the RAM. Both are stupid easy on the Macbook, but some people like step-by-step videos for everything, so yeah.

Note: Yeah, I know. I’m probably doing something wrong. Someone out there is going to want to tell me that iMovie didn’t need an import and I could have simply plugged a Firewire cable into my ass to get the files to load or something. Thanks. I appreciate it. But I shouldn’t have to think. It should just work, right?