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Resolved Where Is My Disk Space?

C

cloudyo

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 25, 2012
151
307
I've got a MacBook Air 13" 2011 with a 128GB SSD.

My problem is pretty simple: Lion tells me, that 98 GB of my disk space are used, which can't be true, because i don't have that many large files! In an attempt to investigate i used OmniDisk Sweeper to find out where my disk space has gone. To my surprise OmniDisk Sweeper tells me, that all the files on my hard disk only add up to 53 GB! That sounds far more reasonable but begs the question: what did Lion do with the other 50 GB and how can i get them back?
 
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Operating system, apps, and the fact that the HFS+ drive format will show your drive space as being lower.

What type of files did the app say is using the biggest chunk of space?
 
What is this "Other" in the storage tab? What is eating up my space? by theSeb

To find out, where you hard drive capacity is being used, you can use the following free applications:
Maybe try a combination of several, if you still can't find the "missing" capacity.

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LiesForTheLiars said:
Operating system, apps, and the fact that the HFS+ drive format will show your drive space as being lower.
Click to expand...

Come again please?
 
simsaladimbamba said:
But that will not account to 50 missing GB. With Lion this "missing space" is common though, due to local Time Machine backups. I linked to an explanatory guide in my first reply, about what it is and how to disable the behaviour.
Click to expand...

I understand, was just making sure we were on the same page. And no I also don't think 50 GB would go missing because of that. Then again I admit I half-read your post.
 
Thanks for the Answers so far!

As i have already said, i did try OmniDiskSweeper and also another similar Application, but they both told me the same. My files only add up to about 50 GB while Lion shows about 100GB as being used. I made a screenshot, so you can see for your self.

I also thought that Time Machine might be the source of the problem, but i read somewhere else, that Time Machine should dynamically free up disk space if needed.
 

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cloudyo said:
Thanks for the Answers so far!

As i have already said, i did try OmniDiskSweeper and also another similar Application, but they both told me the same. My files only add up to about 50 GB while Lion shows about 100GB as being used. I made a screenshot, so you can see for your self.

I also thought that Time Machine might be the source of the problem, but i read somewhere else, that Time Machine should dynamically free up disk space if needed.
Click to expand...

Have you looked at the first link I provided?
 
Yes, i looked at your link. I ran the "sudo du -h -d1" command and it showed me the exact same information as OmniDiskSweeper. Additionally i disabled the local backup function of Lion and restarted. I still have the same problem though! Is there anything else you want me to try?
 
cloudyo said:
Yes, i looked at your link. I ran the "sudo du -h -d1" command and it showed me the exact same information as OmniDiskSweeper. Additionally i disabled the local backup function of Lion and restarted. I still have the same problem though! Is there anything else you want me to try?
Click to expand...

What other applications did you try to find "lost" disk space?
Or search with Finder to see if the space is being consumed by a very large file or several large files. Adjust the 50GB in the illustration to whatever size you deem appropriate.
attachment.php
 
I tried "WhatSize" (edit: and JDisk Report) it shows me the same information as the "du" command and OmniDiskSweeper. I also searched for files greater than 50GB without finding any. I couldn't even find files larger than 10GB. I made some screenshots again.

edit2: I used JDiskReport to look at the biggest files on my Disk. They are nowhere near 10 GB. The biggest File is 1.7 GB big. JDiskReport also shows about 50GB of files on my Disk. How can Lion think that 100GB are used? I just don't get it. :confused:
 

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I solved my Problem!

I used "Disk Utility" to verify the SSD. Disk Utility found errors and told me to restart an hold down "cmd + R" during the boot process. From there i ran Disk Utility again and chose to repair the volume. Now Lion tells me that 56 GB are available! I'm glad :D
 
Solved my free space issues too!;)

Thank you, cloudyo,

that's the working solution.

In summary:
Hold down "cmd + R" during the boot process. From there run Disk Utility and choose Repair the volume.

Before: 48 GB free
After: 143 GB free

Done;)

Disk utility should say:

9800747964_d8c9589daa_c.jpg
 
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