Using SD to 'thin out' unneeded files

[Rudy]

I'm running a MacBook with 60GB drive and I would like to keep as much disk space free as possible. I notice that when I do a backup to an identically sized backup disk my backup is smaller than my original. I assume this is because of SD doesn't copy "the temporary and system-specific files that Apple recommends excluding" as it says in the dialog box. I haven't told SD to ignore any folders, I'm using the default settings. On my last backup the amount freed up was almost 5GB.

My questions:

1) What files does SD NOT copy?
Are these log or scratch files that I'll never really need?

2) If the copy frees up disk space, can I copy from my backup onto the MacBook drive with the result that I have a copy with everything I really need and expect but some extra disk space? If I can get 5GB back I'd call that a feature.

Thanks,
Rudy

[dnanian]

To answer:

- Our scripts are totally readable by you, so if you'd like an exact list of what we're not copying, you need only look. But, the files we don't copy are temporary files, vm swap files, and other files that have no meaning across a restart. In addition, a few caches are not copied since they can interfere with startup should you bring the backup to a different machine -- all are automatically recreated.

- You don't get the 5GB back, no. It'll build up again over time. But, it's possible that you have some "junk" in the /Volumes folder. Try ejecting any external drives. Then, open /Volumes with Finder's "Go To Folder" command. Any folders there with the names of drives that aren't connected?

[Alembic]

But, the files we don't copy are temporary files, vm swap files, and other files that have no meaning across a restart.Hi, just a quick question: does that include browser cache files? I'm just wondering if I need to clear those out before using SD. BTW, great app!

[dnanian]

No, we retain browser cache files because those do have a meaning across restart.