Anaconda vs miniconda space

Question

On my desktop PC I have anaconda installed, and on my laptop - to save space - I thought i'd install miniconda and be selective about the modules I install. So I installed a handful, numpy, scipy etc. I didn't install anything which isn't part of the default anaconda install, but I just realized my miniconda install is taking up more space than the anaconda install! (1.8GB vs 2.2GB). (no environments in either)

The bulk of the difference comes from the pkgs folder. The miniconda install seems to have the tar.bz2 of all of the installed packages as well as the exploded versions. Are these safe to delete? Will they be deleted automatically after a while? Is there an option to not cache these?

P.S. I'm developing on both windows and mac (i've tried installed anaconda and miniconda on both mac and windows to see, and I get very similar results).

Answer 1

You can safely delete the tar.bz2 files. They are only used as a cache. The command conda clean -t will clean them automatically.