43GB of disk space DISAPPEARED when I DISABLED time machine local snapshots!!

[Winter Charm]

I ran a command to disable time machine local snapshots when I had about 40GB of snapshots on my mac...

I assumed the mac would delete these snapshots... but it didn't. Now... I can't find where the files went, or how to delete them manually, but they were recategorized as "other" files.

Before I deleted the snapshots, Get info on Macintosh HD was showing 192 GB free space (since it doesn't count local snapshots)

The About this Mac pane was showing 149 GB free... which means 43GB of backup files existed.

Once I deleted the backup, Instead of getting my 192GB of free space, I still only have 143 GB free space.... so the files are still there, but I'm totally unable to locate them

Help!

 

[GGJstudios]

If you're wondering what "Other" category in the Lion storage tab is about, this may help explain:

What is this "Other" in the storage tab? What is eating my space​

For space issues not explained by the above, 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
  
  
• Check to see if some of the space is being used by your sleepimage file.
  
  
• 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, DaisyDisk 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.
  
  
• Check your drive with Disk Utility: Using Disk Utility to verify or repair disks
  
  
• Try re-indexing your drive: Spotlight: How to re-index folders or volumes

Here are a few resolutions found by others with the same question:

• Encrypted drive
• Time Machine backup files and needed disk repair
• App filling log file
• App or file was 89GB
• Drive needed to be re-indexed
• Time Machine backup file
• Large app cache file
• Garageband files and video podcasts
• Oversized email being duplicated
• Another email issue

 

[Winter Charm]

Thank you! I shall start going through the list immediately. I've Already done a few of those things, like the restart...

hope this works.

 

[GGJstudios]

Thank you! I shall start going through the list immediately. I've Already done a few of those things, like the restart...

hope this works.

I know it's a lot to go through, but your solution is very likely in there, somewhere!

 

[Winter Charm]

Currently trying an erase free space, then ill move onto indexing.

Nothing yet... But I did learn that I will never ever have any other Mac keep local snapshots on the hard drive or SSD or whatever else comes out in the future.

There's really no extra security in it and I back up at least twice a day (or more) to an external.

*sigh* oh well.

 

[GGJstudios]

Currently trying an erase free space, then ill move onto indexing.

Nothing yet... But I did learn that I will never ever have any other Mac keep local snapshots on the hard drive or SSD or whatever else comes out in the future.

There's really no extra security in it and I back up at least twice a day (or more) to an external.

*sigh* oh well.

Erasing free space won't help. It only zeroes out space already identified as free. You're looking for space that isn't considered free. I'd look at a Finder search or try some of the apps I mentioned, to identify the space being used.

 

[Winter Charm]

From what I've heard it creates a temporary file that's as large as the free space on your drive, and then deletes that file.

My logic here was that if snapshots delete themselves when disk space is consumed, this large file created by zeroing free space would cause those snapshots to disappear since the file would be so large...

It may not work, but it's worth a shot haha

 

[GGJstudios]

From what I've heard it creates a temporary file that's as large as the free space on your drive, and then deletes that file.

My logic here was that if snapshots delete themselves when disk space is consumed, this large file created by zeroing free space would cause those snapshots to disappear since the file would be so large...

If you have, for example, 100GB that shows to be free, but it should be 140GB, erasing free space will only zero out the 100GB. It won't mark the other 40GB as free. You're right, it doesn't hurt anything to try it, but it won't solve your problem.

 

[Winter Charm]

Reindexing did nothing.
Disk repair did nothing.

:/ ive been trying to manually hunt down the files. Haven't found them anywhere :/

 

[SpazzyMac]

Daisy Disk

Try something like Daisy Disk
there are probably other apps that does the job for free,
but I am too lazy to search

 

[GGJstudios]

Try something like Daisy Disk
there are probably other apps that does the job for free,
but I am too lazy to search

No need to search. I've already listed several such apps in the 5th bullet point in my post below, complete with links.

 

[Weaselboy]

I ran a command to disable time machine local snapshots when I had about 40GB of snapshots on my mac...

I assumed the mac would delete these snapshots... but it didn't. Now... I can't find where the files went, or how to delete them manually, but they were recategorized as "other" files.

Time Machine local backups are stored in /Mobilebackups

You can delete files stored in this space by turning Time Machine off then back on.

You might want to rerun the command with the switch flipped to reenable local backups first.

 

[Winter Charm]

Time Machine local backups are stored in /Mobilebackups

You can delete files stored in this space by turning Time Machine off then back on.

You might want to rerun the command with the switch flipped to reenable local backups first.

I actually tried this, as well.

Could you possibly give me a terminal command to delete that directory instead? :O

So far, nothing has worked. I really appreciate the persistence and support though.

I will admit, this is entirely my fault.

 

[GGJstudios]

So far, nothing has worked. I really appreciate the persistence and support though.

Have you tried several of the apps I mentioned?

 

[Weaselboy]

I actually tried this, as well.

Could you possibly give me a terminal command to delete that directory instead? :O

So far, nothing has worked. I really appreciate the persistence and support though.

I will admit, this is entirely my fault.

You should be able to do this in Finder. Do shift-command-g (all three at once) in Finder, then /Mobilebackups in the popup then enter.

You should now see a folder called Backups.backupdb. Double click that and you should see another folder called Machine Name (like DinJins Macbook or whatever you named your machine). That folder should contain the local backups. If Time Machine is off you should be able to delete it in Finder.

You might look in the Machine Name folder before you delta it to see if there are still Folders there. There will be one folder for each date a local backup was made.

From what I read, when you ran the initial "sudo tmutil disable local" command, that should have deleted the /Mobilebackups on its own though.

 

[Winter Charm]

You should be able to do this in Finder. Do shift-command-g (all three at once) in Finder, then /Mobilebackups in the popup then enter.

You should now see a folder called Backups.backupdb. Double click that and you should see another folder called Machine Name (like DinJins Macbook or whatever you named your machine). That folder should contain the local backups. If Time Machine is off you should be able to delete it in Finder.

You might look in the Machine Name folder before you delta it to see if there are still Folders there. There will be one folder for each date a local backup was made.

From what I read, when you ran the initial "sudo tmutil disable local" command, that should have deleted the /Mobilebackups on its own though.

Okay. About to try this. and yes, I agree... Everything I read about sudo tmutil disablelocal said it would automatically delete local backups, but for some really odd reason, it didn't

I guess there's that 1 in a million bug...

----------

No need to search. I've already listed several such apps in the 5th bullet point in my post below, complete with links.

Yes, I did try DaisyDisk, DiskinventoryX, and GrandPerspective. None of them found the time machine directory. :/ disappointing.

 

[Winter Charm]

Okay, So I think I found the issue... After a TON of digging around... here's what I discovered. It's not a time machine issue after all. It seems to be something in my music folder?

Any ideas about what It could be?

EDIT: Look at the size of the Music folder in Terminal vs. The About This Mac pane.

Using the show all files command in Terminal and relaunching finder, I found only 63GB of files... So, somehow something is taking up extra space.

Looks like I'll just reinstall OS X.

 

[GGJstudios]

Okay, So I think I found the issue... After a TON of digging around... here's what I discovered. It's not a time machine issue after all. It seems to be something in my music folder?

Any ideas about what It could be?

EDIT: Look at the size of the Music folder in Terminal vs. The About This Mac pane.

Using the show all files command in Terminal and relaunching finder, I found only 63GB of files... So, somehow something is taking up extra space.

Looks like I'll just reinstall OS X.

Rather than reinstall OS X, why not simply use Finder to search for the files?

​

 

[Mal]

Reinstalling wouldn't necessarily help anyways. Only a wipe and clean install would, and chances are if you restore from a backup those files would come back anyways. Just look in your Music folder and see what's there. You can actually use the same command you used before, just go one level down into the Music folder first and you'll see the breakdown.

jW

 

[Winter Charm]

Reinstalling wouldn't necessarily help anyways. Only a wipe and clean install would, and chances are if you restore from a backup those files would come back anyways. Just look in your Music folder and see what's there. You can actually use the same command you used before, just go one level down into the Music folder first and you'll see the breakdown.

jW

Yeah, i was talking about:
1. Wipe in recovery mode
2. Reinstall Lion
3. Install udpates
4. Manually move my files back.

And okay, I'll try that command again. I'm still a terminal noob, though, so how would I have du look at that specific directory?.

Also, If I

 

[Mal]

Yeah, i was talking about:
1. Wipe in recovery mode
2. Reinstall Lion
3. Install udpates
4. Manually move my files back.

And okay, I'll try that command again. I'm still a terminal noob, though, so how would I have du look at that specific directory?.

Also, If I

Just cd (change directory) to the Music folder first. So, "cd ~/Music/", then the du command.

jW

 

[Winter Charm]

Just cd (change directory) to the Music folder first. So, "cd ~/Music/", then the du command.

jW

Got it... The only other files that were taking up space in there were ones that I already knew of... (I keep my lossless collection separate, and for some reason, those aren't read as "music" e

Hmm.... Oh well. Clean install here we go....