Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Holy Harddisk space, Batman!

E

eyeofnewt

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 12, 2007
8
0
So today I get an alert from my OS that I'm running low on hard disk space. I check my Macintosh HD, and there's a staggeringly low number staring back at me. 16 GB. 16GB??! Yesterday I had at least 116GB of my original 250. What gives?!?!

I haven't been downloading anything massive. I've just been doing a lot of video ripping and editing as of late. The only explanation I can think of is some malicious malware downloaded and unwittingly is taking over all the free disk space I had. I knew I should have been more cautious when google warned me about checking out that particular search result. I thought Macs weren't prone to internet illness.

Just when I thought my days of computer related woes were behind me now that I've forsaken windows for Mac OS X....

Could anyone help solve the mystery of the disappearing disk space? I don't know where to begin!
 
This is usually the result of a runaway log file. Download WhatSize, OmniDiskSweeper or Disk Inventory X to help you look for large files. You're probably safe just deleting it once you track it down, as these events are usually just one-offs. But if it happens again, you'd want to start investigating what's causing it.
 
Thanks, WildCowboy. As it turns out, the most obvious solution is often the answer to problems like these.

I followed the instructions laid out here <http://www.askdavetaylor.com/running_out_of_disk_space_on_a_mac.html> and discovered that the cause of my dissolving HD space was the newest .mov file I created. For some unfathomable reason, the 5 min mov I edited down from the original source avi I ripped saved as a 99GB file. Go figure!
 
eyeofnewt said:
For some unfathomable reason, the 5 min mov I edited down from the original source avi I ripped saved as a 99GB file. Go figure!
Click to expand...

Ah yes...that's another common cause of it. Unfortunately, I don't know enough about video editing to really pinpoint what causes things like that. :eek:
 
eyeofnewt said:
Thanks, WildCowboy. As it turns out, the most obvious solution is often the answer to problems like these.

I followed the instructions laid out here <http://www.askdavetaylor.com/running_out_of_disk_space_on_a_mac.html> and discovered that the cause of my dissolving HD space was the newest .mov file I created. For some unfathomable reason, the 5 min mov I edited down from the original source avi I ripped saved as a 99GB file. Go figure!
Click to expand...

Thats crazy. I posted a similar thing a cpl weeks ago. I was just putting together a 5 seconds movie clip and for some unknown reason it turned into 32gb or something. I got a warning box saying my internal hdd was almost full but Id just checked it that morning and had 40gb free.

Deleted file, back to normal.
 
Its very unwise to let your space get down to less than a gigabyte on 160/320/500 gig drives regardless of warnings given by the system. That's past the threshold beyond which HFS+ filesystem corruption occurs.
 
I wonder if the threshold that triggers the message is based on comparing the largest accessible contiguous space on the drive with the size of the swapfile.... when you've got an (inadvertently) 99GB movie file you're editing, you're probably using a lot more VM than you intend to be! ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back