"About this Mac" is buggy?

[koolmagicguy]

This is very weird.

When I open up About this Mac and click on More Info > Storage, I see only yellow (other). This is a very recent problem and I'm really confused because I have over 100GB of music and movies. It's really ironic because I just spent an hour repairing permissions and cleaning up with OnyX. Please help if you can!

Here's the image:

 

[simsaladimbamba]

What is this "Other" in the storage tab? What is eating up my space? by theSeb

 

[thundersteele]

This is very weird.

When I open up About this Mac and click on More Info > Storage, I see only yellow (other). This is a very recent problem and I'm really confused because I have over 100GB of music and movies. It's really ironic because I just spent an hour repairing permissions and cleaning up with OnyX.

Maybe you left the system more confused than before.

Anyways, have you tried the simple things, like rebooting? Also, it is usually not recommended to use third party apps to "clean" the Mac.

 

[GGJstudios]

When I open up About this Mac and click on More Info > Storage, I see only yellow (other). This is a very recent problem and I'm really confused because I have over 100GB of music and movies.

For space issues, there are a few things you can try, some of which may or may not apply:

• Begin by restarting your computer as a first step. This sometimes resolves issues.
• For Time Machine users on notebooks running Lion, space may being consumed by Time Machine local snapshots, which can be disabled.
  OS X Lion: About Time Machine's "local snapshots" on portable Macs
• 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.
  
  
• Use OmniDiskSweeper, JDisk Report, Disk Inventory X or GrandPerspective to see how space is being used on your drive. Some of these apps may show more detail than others, so try several.

It's really ironic because I just spent an hour repairing permissions and cleaning up with OnyX.

Why were you repairing permissions? Some people repair, or recommend repairing permissions for situations where it isn't appropriate. Repairing permissions only addresses very specific issues. It is not a "cure all" or a general performance enhancer, and doesn't need to be done on a regular basis. It also doesn't address permissions problems with your files or 3rd party apps.

Five Mac maintenance myths

Repairing permissions: What you need to know
About Disk Utility's Repair Disk Permissions feature​

Disk Utility repairs the permissions for files installed by the Mac OS X Installer, Software Update, or an Apple software installer. It doesn’t repair permissions for your documents, your home folder, and third-party applications.

You can verify or repair permissions only on a disk with Mac OS X installed.

Does Disk Utility check permissions on all files?

Files that aren't installed as part of an Apple-originated installer package are not listed in a receipt and therefore are not checked. For example, if you install an application using a non-Apple installer application, or by copying it from a disk image, network volume, or other disk instead of installing it via Installer, a receipt file isn't created. This is expected. Some applications are designed to be installed in one of those ways.

Also, certain files whose permissions can be changed during normal usage without affecting their function are intentionally not checked.

There are times when repairing permissions is appropriate. To do so, here are the instructions:

Repairing Disk Permissions​

If repairing permissions results in error messages, some of these messages can be ignored and should be no cause for concern.

Mac OS X: Disk Utility's Repair Disk Permissions messages that you can safely ignore​

 

[koolmagicguy]

Wow, thank you for your replies! I remembered that I had turned off Spotlight and when it reindexed everything shows up as it should. Thank you all again!

 

[ljonesj]

i repair permission on my mac when it stops showing the screen saver when the appropriate amount of time lapses it does this on occasion when i repair the permissions the screen saver starts working again and the monitors go to sleep like they should