losing space for no reason

Discussion in 'Mac OS X Lion (10.7)' started by campuscop2003, May 24, 2012.

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  1. campuscop2003, May 24, 2012

    campuscop2003 macrumors newbie

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    #1
    I have a puzzling problem with my 2011 mac mini. I have been gradually losing hard disk space slowly since installing my SSD a month or so ago I have a 120GB sandisk extreme and it started at 83GB after everything was installed. Its down to 78GB and I havent installed a thing since. I have cleared out browser cache's and everything I could think of. I have an external 1.5TB drive that I store everything including pictures, itunes library and iphoto pictures on. Everything but the programs are on external. First thing I notice is when I go into about my mac its showing 7GB pictures, all my pictures are on external so that confuses me.

    I am new to MAC, only had one since Feb of this year. I can't for the life of me figure out why I am steadily losing space. Any help will be greatly appriciated. Thanks!
     
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  2. stridemat, May 24, 2012

    stridemat Moderator

    stridemat

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    #2
    Is the space recovered after a restart?
     
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  3. tecknik1, May 24, 2012

    tecknik1 macrumors member

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    #3
    In my case it was emails that were eating up my space, try deleting any unnessesary emails and see if you don't regain some space.
     
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  4. campuscop2003, May 24, 2012

    campuscop2003 thread starter macrumors newbie

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    #4
    No, space is lost no matter what I do. restarting doesn't fix. I just cleaned out my email but will revisit that when I get home.
     
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  5. Branskins, May 24, 2012

    Branskins macrumors 65816

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    #5
    This sounds like automatic local Time Machine backups. If you have space available, Time Machine will create local backups. Backup to an external drive to reclaim the space or go into Time Machine preferences to tune automatic local backups.

    The backups appear as "Other" in your hard drive information.
     
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  6. campuscop2003, May 24, 2012

    campuscop2003 thread starter macrumors newbie

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    #6

    Time Machine is set to only backup to the external.
     
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  7. Branskins, May 24, 2012

    Branskins macrumors 65816

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    #7
    Where is this space appearing in?

    Click on the Apple -> About This Mac -> More Information -> Storage

    Try to monitor where the space is appearing.

    I am going to guess its in Other, but we can at least try to eliminate something

    EDIT:
    How do you set Time Machine to external only?
     
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  8. Weaselboy, May 25, 2012

    Weaselboy macrumors Core

    Weaselboy

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    #8
    Those local backups are only enabled on portable Macs, so I don't think it would be on with the OP's Mini.
     
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