Clean install of Lion taking up 13GB? Is that correct?!

[Texxy]

Hey guys I am having some trouble here. I have an OWC 120GB SSD (118GB in actuality) and the first time I did my install of Lion on the SSD I could have SWORN I had 112GB to spare (Never wrote it down so not sure). Lion only took up 6GB then.

Now, I recently did a clean install with Lion and now it is leaving me with 105GB. I am 100% sure I am erasing/reformatting the SSD before installing from my Lion USB Key correctly. Am I missing something?

Boot from USB Key, reformat SSD from Disk Utility, and install Lion.

Any ideas here? Is lion taking up 13GB for the rest of you?

Thank you!

 

[bb426]

Hey guys I am having some trouble here. I have an OWC 120GB SSD (118GB in actuality) and the first time I did my install of Lion on the SSD I could have SWORN I had 112GB to spare (Never wrote it down so not sure). Lion only took up 6GB then.

Now, I recently did a clean install with Lion and now it is leaving me with 105GB. I am 100% sure I am erasing/reformatting the SSD before installing from my Lion USB Key correctly. Am I missing something?

Boot from USB Key, reformat SSD from Disk Utility, and install Lion.

Any ideas here? Is lion taking up 13GB for the rest of you?

Thank you!

I wouldn't worry about it. That's normal.

A 128 GB SSD can't use all of its space for file storage, only about 120 GB can be used. And then, on OS X, you need about 200 MB for EFI storage, plus a good 100 MB+/- of space between each partition made, so after an install and everything, you're probably down to what you said.

Your sleep image is probably taking up space too. You can disable hibernate and get rid of the sleep image if you are using an SSD:

http://www.markc.me.uk/MarkC/Blog/Entries/2009/12/15_Changing_the_sleep_mode_on_Apple_OSX.html

Other than that, really, that's about where you should be.

 

[Texxy]

I wouldn't worry about it. That's normal.

A 128 GB SSD can't use all of its space for file storage, only about 120 GB can be used. And then, on OS X, you need about 200 MB for EFI storage, plus a good 100 MB+/- of space between each partition made, so after an install and everything, you're probably down to what you said.

Your sleep image is probably taking up space too. You can disable hibernate and get rid of the sleep image if you are using an SSD:

http://www.markc.me.uk/MarkC/Blog/Entries/2009/12/15_Changing_the_sleep_mode_on_Apple_OSX.html

Other than that, really, that's about where you should be.

Does sleep mode not matter for SSD is that why you say disable it?

 

[Nielsenius]

Does sleep mode not matter for SSD is that why you say disable it?

That is correct. When idle a SSD uses very little power. When idle a HDD uses power to keep spinning. You can turn off sleep. Also, changing your sleep mode to 0 is a good idea. By default the contents of your RAM are written to the disk when going to sleep. This will utilize disk space equivalent to the amount of RAM your Mac has (in my case 8GB). So, this will clear up space. One other benefit is that, in sleep mode 0, if you close the lid of your Mac while it is writing to the disk it will not freeze. In the default mode it will freeze. (I'm not 100% certain on this, but I use it)

 

[ViviUO]

You should disable sleep and delete the sleep image file.

Google to learn more.

 

[johnnyturbouk]

i have not disabled sleep, but set hibernate to zero and deleted sleep image


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By default the contents of your RAM are written to the disk when going to sleep.

yep, changed sleep mode to zero, disabled hibernate + deleted sleep image

i used this method - note the comments below the post which gives details on how to delete the sleep image

 

[Texxy]

i have not disabled sleep, but set hibernate to zero and deleted sleep image


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yep, changed sleep mode to zero, disabled hibernate + deleted sleep image

i used this method - note the comments below the post which gives details on how to delete the sleep image

Alright I will do this. Thank you

 

[clutchm3]

i have not disabled sleep, but set hibernate to zero and deleted sleep image


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yep, changed sleep mode to zero, disabled hibernate + deleted sleep image

i used this method - note the comments below the post which gives details on how to delete the sleep image

Alright wanted to chime in here as well...I changed HIBERNATE to 0 and deleted sleep image file (8GB WOW thank you for that) but how do I change "sleep mode to zero". Also in the battery saving options what should I set computer sleep and display sleep too?

ALSO should I uncheck "Put the hard disks to sleep when possible" option?

 

[bb426]

Alright wanted to chime in here as well...I changed HIBERNATE to 0 and deleted sleep image file (8GB WOW thank you for that) but how do I change "sleep mode to zero". Also in the battery saving options what should I set computer sleep and display sleep too?

ALSO should I uncheck "Put the hard disks to sleep when possible" option?

Sleep mode zero? That could either mean making your computer not sleep at all or making your drive not sleep at all. Either way there's really no need for either. Setting Hibernate to 0 and deleting the sleep image is good enough (for SSD's that is).

As for when to put your computer to sleep that's completely up to you, experiment with it. If you feel like you wake up your computer a lot when it goes to sleep, extend the time it takes to do so. It takes more power to turn your Mac back on then it does for it to keep running (that is, unless you leave it sitting there and running when it could be saving power and sleeping). I myself keep the default settings because they work for me. Whatever your preference, it doesn't matter if it's an SSD.

As for the "Put the Hard Disk(s) to sleep when possible", I've seen a lot of people say to uncheck it with SSD's and a lot of people say to leave it alone. Because I have 1 SDD and 1 HDD, I just leave it on because it spins down my HDD when it needs to. There's been no problem with my SSD and leaving it on and checked that I have noticed (turning it off doesn't fix the problems I'm having anyways). I am pretty sure that OS X knows not to try to spin down the SSD (because it can't). If you don't have an HDD in your Optibay, uncheck it if you want. If not, well, experiment with it.

If you want to set your disk sleep to sleep after one minute, open terminal and enter

sudo pmset -a spindown 1

Here's an old thread that may be helpful if you want to try to selectively do so if you do have my setup.