How to tell a files Real Size in MAC OS X ?

[fab5freddy]

i started a transfer of a large file, but it did not finish,
but the DMG file is showing me the 7 GB Full Size of the Finished file!

But i know that the file stopped midway and only transferred
half of it, around 3.5 GB...

Is there any way to see in the Finder / Inspector the
real size of this file which should only be 3.5 GB and not
the 7 GB it is displaying in the Inspector ??

thanks !

 

[gibbz]

You can use Terminal and type

du -h insertfilename

 

[larkost]

Did you by chance use something like BitTorrent to download it? If so, then they sometimes pre-allocate the whole file size, and then fill it in chunks. Those chunks do not have to be in order. So even if your client did not pre-allocate the file it could have downloaded the last chunk making the file the same size as the whole file.

 

[fab5freddy]

Hi Gibbz,

i tried that, but it can't find the file....
do i have to include the path ?

 

[gibbz]

Yes in the terminal, you need to either go directly to the directory where the file is located or type in the full path after typing "du -h"

 

[fab5freddy]

Gibbz,

How do you know so much about the Terminal ?
Are you a programmer ?

 

[throttlemeister]

Did you by chance use something like BitTorrent to download it? If so, then they sometimes pre-allocate the whole file size, and then fill it in chunks. Those chunks do not have to be in order. So even if your client did not pre-allocate the file it could have downloaded the last chunk making the file the same size as the whole file.

We have a winner!

This is what is happening, and "du -h" will also show you the full size as the space is already allocated.

 

[miles01110]

How do you know so much about the Terminal ?
Are you a programmer ?

Simple commands like du -h aren't exactly high-level knowledge...