Free space disappeared in Mountain Lion

frydrych · Dec 24, 2012, 04:07 AM

I had 64 gb free on my Macbook air with mountain lion. Suddenly I lost 10gb for no reason and disc utility reports only 20gb free. So I have read some others posts that it might be a difference between finder and disc utility and that I should rely on finders free space.

So I tried to install something 23gb in size, with no luck since the disc is full. I ran disc utility and found some errors in reporting free space. Repaired but still the same and now there are no errors on the disc.

Ran Onyx and cleared everything I could think of, got back about 2gb.

Ran Omnidisksweeper and what I can see is that I have 48gb of used space. From my 128 gb disk it seems strange that I only have 57 gb free.

Disc utility reports me having 100gb used space.

Now when I think of it I had a friend who started installing World of warcraft yesterday to see how it ran on a macbook air but I quit the installer half way and deleted any trace that I found. Don't see anything taking up space that I can relate to WoW anyway.

Also reset pram and smc, no change...

Can't think of anything else.

Any of you guys have a suggestion?

Thanks

Fred

Namtaro · Dec 24, 2012, 04:48 AM

Confusing post...
From what I'm hearing, you had 64GB free last time you checked, but lost 10GB. Disk Utility says 20GB is free which would indicate you lost 44GB, not 10GB?

Unlikely, but worth a shot. Might be local backups?

Click on

> About This Mac > Storage Tab

Stewart21 · Dec 24, 2012, 05:29 AM

An old chestnut this one. Check to see if Time Machine is on but you do not have an external disk connected to your laptop. If it is on then Time Machine stores your backups on your hard drive until an external disk is available to back up to. This can eat up a lot of space. There are a few other things you can do to find out what is using space. Search this forum for many threads on this.

Stewart

frydrych · Dec 24, 2012, 05:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Namtaro

Confusing post...
From what I'm hearing, you had 64GB free last time you checked, but lost 10GB. Disk Utility says 20GB is free which would indicate you lost 44GB, not 10GB?

Unlikely, but worth a shot. Might be local backups?

Click on

> About This Mac > Storage Tab

Sorry for the confusion. Well I had 64 gb free when I noticed that I've lost 10gb to 54. Hadn't crossed my mind to check what took up the free space before.

I have a time capsule that does the backup so I don't have any local backups...

frydrych · Dec 24, 2012, 06:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stewart21

An old chestnut this one. Check to see if Time Machine is on but you do not have an external disk connected to your laptop. If it is on then Time Machine stores your backups on your hard drive until an external disk is available to back up to. This can eat up a lot of space. There are a few other things you can do to find out what is using space. Search this forum for many threads on this.

Stewart

I didn't think this applied to me since I had time capsule set up from start so I ignored the posts about local backups. But I did have a lot of space taken up by local backups.

Mystery solved!

Thanks!

Namtaro · Dec 24, 2012, 07:03 AM

Ever since lion and mountain lion, there seems to be a glitch or maybe apple designed it that way, but even after syncing time machine backups, the local backups don't go away immediately so if you're transferring large files it can be a problem - at one point, I had it taking up 100gb on my ssd!. Using this will wipe the local backup instantly... I wouldn't recommend fully disabling it though.

To disable the local backup,

In Terminal :

Code:

sudo tmutil disablelocal

To Re-Enable the local backups :

Code:

sudo tmutil enablelocal

frydrych · Dec 24, 2012, 03:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Namtaro

Ever since lion and mountain lion, there seems to be a glitch or maybe apple designed it that way, but even after syncing time machine backups, the local backups don't go away immediately so if you're transferring large files it can be a problem - at one point, I had it taking up 100gb on my ssd!. Using this will wipe the local backup instantly... I wouldn't recommend fully disabling it though.

To disable the local backup,

In Terminal :

Code:

sudo tmutil disablelocal

To Re-Enable the local backups :

Code:

sudo tmutil enablelocal

Sweet, just gained 56gb of lost space! This must be a bug. I read that if space was needed the local backups should make the space available for "real" use.

Why shouldn't I disable it?

Did you mean that I should disable and then enable it again?

Namtaro · Dec 24, 2012, 04:27 PM

Yeah, disable and enable. Say you're on the road and accidentally delete a file... since you didn't bring your timemachine backup, the local one's your only hope!

I keep it on and only disable it when I'm about to transfer a lot of files.

Yes, it should be deleting the local backup when you've backed up to your time machine drive... but it doesn't for some reason. I've only noticed it since mountain lion right around the time I switched to a 256gb ssd and was more concerned about space.

frydrych · Dec 25, 2012, 04:49 PM

Lets hope for a fix in 10.8.3!

Thanks again

angelsguardian · Apr 17, 2013, 01:33 PM

Thanks, that's 110Gb back.

Dec 24, 2012, 04:07 AM	#1
frydrych macrumors newbie Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Sweden	Free space disappeared in Mountain Lion I had 64 gb free on my Macbook air with mountain lion. Suddenly I lost 10gb for no reason and disc utility reports only 20gb free. So I have read some others posts that it might be a difference between finder and disc utility and that I should rely on finders free space. So I tried to install something 23gb in size, with no luck since the disc is full. I ran disc utility and found some errors in reporting free space. Repaired but still the same and now there are no errors on the disc. Ran Onyx and cleared everything I could think of, got back about 2gb. Ran Omnidisksweeper and what I can see is that I have 48gb of used space. From my 128 gb disk it seems strange that I only have 57 gb free. Disc utility reports me having 100gb used space. Now when I think of it I had a friend who started installing World of warcraft yesterday to see how it ran on a macbook air but I quit the installer half way and deleted any trace that I found. Don't see anything taking up space that I can relate to WoW anyway. Also reset pram and smc, no change... Can't think of anything else. Any of you guys have a suggestion? Thanks Fred
	0

Dec 24, 2012, 04:48 AM	#2
Namtaro macrumors regular Join Date: Dec 2011	Confusing post... From what I'm hearing, you had 64GB free last time you checked, but lost 10GB. Disk Utility says 20GB is free which would indicate you lost 44GB, not 10GB? Unlikely, but worth a shot. Might be local backups? Click on > About This Mac > Storage Tab __________________ Late 2011 15" Macbook Pro - 2.4GHz i7 \| 256GB Samsung 8 SSD \| 16GB Memory \| AMD Radeon HD 6770M iPad Mini - Wifi 32GB iPhone 4 - 16GB Time Machine on Networked Drive Guide
	0

Dec 24, 2012, 05:29 AM	#3
Stewart21 macrumors regular Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: South Yorkshire	An old chestnut this one. Check to see if Time Machine is on but you do not have an external disk connected to your laptop. If it is on then Time Machine stores your backups on your hard drive until an external disk is available to back up to. This can eat up a lot of space. There are a few other things you can do to find out what is using space. Search this forum for many threads on this. Stewart __________________ 20" iMac 2007 2GHZ C2D 4GB RAM 250GB & 2011 13' MBA 1.7GHz i5 4GB 128SSD. Both OSX 10.8.2. iPad Mini 32GB WiFi Black/Slate.
	0

Dec 24, 2012, 07:03 AM	#6
Namtaro macrumors regular Join Date: Dec 2011	Ever since lion and mountain lion, there seems to be a glitch or maybe apple designed it that way, but even after syncing time machine backups, the local backups don't go away immediately so if you're transferring large files it can be a problem - at one point, I had it taking up 100gb on my ssd!. Using this will wipe the local backup instantly... I wouldn't recommend fully disabling it though. To disable the local backup, In Terminal : Code: sudo tmutil disablelocal To Re-Enable the local backups : Code: sudo tmutil enablelocal __________________ Late 2011 15" Macbook Pro - 2.4GHz i7 \| 256GB Samsung 8 SSD \| 16GB Memory \| AMD Radeon HD 6770M iPad Mini - Wifi 32GB iPhone 4 - 16GB Time Machine on Networked Drive Guide
	0

Dec 24, 2012, 04:27 PM	#8
Namtaro macrumors regular Join Date: Dec 2011	Yeah, disable and enable. Say you're on the road and accidentally delete a file... since you didn't bring your timemachine backup, the local one's your only hope! I keep it on and only disable it when I'm about to transfer a lot of files. Yes, it should be deleting the local backup when you've backed up to your time machine drive... but it doesn't for some reason. I've only noticed it since mountain lion right around the time I switched to a 256gb ssd and was more concerned about space. __________________ Late 2011 15" Macbook Pro - 2.4GHz i7 \| 256GB Samsung 8 SSD \| 16GB Memory \| AMD Radeon HD 6770M iPad Mini - Wifi 32GB iPhone 4 - 16GB Time Machine on Networked Drive Guide
	0

Dec 25, 2012, 04:49 PM	#9
frydrych Thread Starter macrumors newbie Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Sweden	Lets hope for a fix in 10.8.3! Thanks again
	0

Apr 17, 2013, 01:33 PM	#10
angelsguardian macrumors regular Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: North East Scotland	Thanks, that's 110Gb back. __________________ Simon 13" MBP mid 2012, 13" MB mid 2010, 20" iMac late 2006, 2 x ATV3, Assorted iPods
	0


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