FileVault eats space after OS X crashes

[arogge]

My FileVault image grew bigger than 1 GB today, so I decided that it needed to be reset since a 300 MB account should not grow into a 1 GB FV image. I deactivated FV and reactivated it, and the FV image grew to a reasonable 400 MB. Apparently, every time OS X crashes and needs a reboot, FV forgets to shrink the size of the image. After each forced reboot, the image grows larger until it fills up the hard drive. 😱 The user doesn't see this unless the size of the FV image is checked from root or another account. If you're missing a lot of space, it might be FileVault that's eating it.

 

[aplasticspork]

restart normally and tell it to continue when it asks if you want to recover the disk space, then you'll get it back and you wont have to turn file vault off and back on 🙂

that's what's always worked for me

--andrzej

 

[emw]

Okay, so you didn't ask, but I'll mention it anyway. I think the best way to protect files is to use a password protected disk image (create one using Disk Utility). FileVault always seems to cause so many problems - and it requires that all files be encrypted and decrypted on the fly. It isn't often you need to encrypt everything on your user directory, I wouldn't think.

The disk image scenario allows you to create a nice space for things you do need to protect.

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

FileVault eats HD space period. When I stopped using it recently I got back more than 3 GB (of a 60 GB disk) just by shutting down FileVault... If you're pressed for space than just don't use it...

 

[arogge]

I often tell FV to resize on logout, but it seems that FV only starts shrinking from the point of the last normal logout. If a forced reboot occurs, the space used during that session is lost, and the FV image gets fatter. This is like how Microsoft Windows gets bigger until its bloat results in a Fatal Exception Error or some other nonsense that requires reinstallation. 😀

 

[arogge]

I use Disk Utility to make encrypted disk images, too. I use FileVault on the PowerBook because I don't want the stuff contained in "<User>/Library" to be read if it is stolen.