So glad to have you out of lurkdom. What an honorable intention of downsizing your data load. I can just see what would happen to me though. "hey, I know I have that pattern here somewhere, let me find it, it would be perfect for this fabric, person, occasion". I would then proceed to drive myself crazy insane looking for it for days, maybe even weeks before I would remember I had purged my files. :roll:
However, a self purging is better then having your hard drive crash and having absolutely no choice in what you saved and trashed. Good for you!