Delete GarageBand to Save Precious Gigabytes of Mac Storage

Apples GarageBand is a fantastic app that brings powerful audio creation and edit
ing tools to music lovers of all levels. But its also a huge waste of space for u
sers who dont need it. Whether youre musically challenged like us, or if you alrea
dy use more advanced software like Logic Pro, Audition, or Pro Tools, heres how y
ou can delete GarageBand from your Mac, and save several gigabytes of storage sp
ace in the process.
Manually Delete GarageBand
As a rich media application, GarageBand installs relatively large groups of medi
a files to several locations on your Macs drive. Based on a clean install of Gara
geBand 10.0.2 on OS X 10.9.3, key locations of large files include:
Macintosh HD/Applications/GarageBand.app (1.16GB)
Macintosh HD/Library/Application Support/GarageBand (995MB)
Macintosh HD/Library/Application Support/Logic (880MB)
Macintosh HD/Library/Audio/Apple Loops (up to 10GB)*
sudo rm -R "/Applications/GarageBand.app"
sudo rm -R "/Library/Application Support/GarageBand"
sudo rm -R "/Library/Application Support/Logic"
sudo rm -R "/Library/Audio/Apple Loops"
*Note that the size of the Apple Loops directory will vary depending on the numb
er and type of loops downloaded by the user. You should not delete this folder (
or the Logic folder) if you are using Logic Pro.
Under normal circumstances, however, users looking to delete GarageBand can expe
ct to save around 3GB of space. It may not seem like much, especially as storage
capacities continue to rise, but 3GB can make a huge difference for those with
small SSDs.
To delete GarageBand, first quit all open applications and make a full system ba
ckup to be on the safe side. This can be accomplished via something like Time Ma
chine or with the creation of a bootable clone with an app like Carbon Copy Clon
er.
Once youre all backed up, head to the locations listed above and delete them one
by one, authenticating with an administrator account if asked. If you need a qui
ck way to get to the folders in your System Library folder, open Finder and pres
s Command-Shift-G to launch the Go to Folder window. Then just paste the folders
location into the box and press Go.
With all files and folders moved to the Trash, right-click on the Trash icon in
your Dock and choose Empty Trash. Finally, reboot to ensure that everything rela
ted to GarageBand is gone.
Delete GarageBand with a Third Party App
The above process nukes the GarageBand app and takes care of its large files, bu
t there are still some small preference and support files that may be left behin
d. You can remove these manually by searching for GarageBand in your various syste
m folders, or you can quickly hit them all with a third party OS X uninstaller app
.
The two OS X uninstaller apps that we recommend are AppZapper ($13) and AppClean
er (Free). Both operate similarly: you launch the uninstaller app which gives yo
u a blank drop zone, and you drag and drop the app you want to delete into the dro
p zone. AppZapper and AppCleaner will then scour your Mac for all of the associa
ted support, preference, and data files that arent in the apps self-contained bund
le. These apps arent perfect, and do indeed miss things from time to time, but th
eyre generally a good place to start when trying to delete unwanted OS X apps.
Theres just a small bit of configuration that we must do first before we can use
either app to delete GarageBand. The apps developers didnt want users to inadverte
ntly try to delete key OS X apps like Finder and Safari, so they installed safeg
uards to protect Apple applications.
AppZapper Preferences
To temporarily disable this safeguard so that we can delete GarageBand, launch e
ither app and go to its Preferences menu by clicking the apps name in the Menu Ba
r and selecting Preferences. In AppZapper, uncheck the box Keep Apple Application
s Safe. In AppCleaner, go to the General tab and uncheck the box Protect Default A
pps.
AppCleaner Delete GarageBand
With these boxes unchecked, youll now be able to drag and drop the GarageBand.app
file into the drop zone and see the various preference and support files that a
re associated with it. Browse the list to make sure nothing important was incorr
ectly included and then press Zap! or Delete to remove the files. Just as with t
he manual instructions above, a reboot following this process is a good idea.
Once you delete GarageBand and its associated files, head back to the Preference
s of either app and re-check the boxes that protect the deletion of default Appl
e applications. While handy, both of these apps can quickly get you in trouble i
f you delete the wrong files, so having that extra safeguard is key.