Aluminum MacBook full HD, that isn't!

[snatchblock]

Help, please, I have my old and faithful Mac book, (13 inch 2.4Ghz intel core duo, 3gb memory, 250 HD.)which runs perfectly well, but when I run Disk Utility I am informed that the HD capacity is 238.24GB, Available 45.75GB, Used 192.48 GB.

When I use grand perspective, and disk inventory I am told that there is only about 40.5 GB used.

Using the get info facility, I can find out that;
Applications = 6.16 GB
System files =135MB
Library=. 8.5GB
Resources = 26 Bytes
Users =. 18.9 GB
System =. 4.92 GB


I have run verify disk etc, erase free space, and even the maintenance scripts, nothing helps.
What is going on? How do I get the machine to find all the free space?
Oh yes, I am running 10.7.3, and everything is up to date.
Any help gratefully accepted!!

 

[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
• 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

 

[snatchblock]

Thanks for that, 100gb of Other!