Intel SSD free space issue.

[calimed]

Hopefully someone has an idea of why this occurs.

I have an Intel 80GB SSD in my MacBook Pro. I do not use Time Machine. I initially could not figure out why my SSD was almost full (besides the obvious that is small). I counted everything up and it came nowhere close. I have 55GB of files yet it says I only have 6 GB free. Every now and then it will say I have up to 14 GB free which I feel is more accurate given the probability of hidden system files. Then it will randomly go back to 6GBish.

Any thoughts?

 

[GGJstudios]

For space issues, there are a few things you can try:

• Begin by restarting your computer as a first step. This sometimes resolves issues.
• 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.
  
  
• For Time Machine users on Lion, Time Machine local snapshots may be consuming space.
• Use OmniDiskSweeper, JDisk Report 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.

 

[bdodds1985]

I had the same problem until i re installed the OS on the intel drive. I have a 120gb apple and a 120gb intel 320 sata II. I also turned off time machine and local snapshots, and only back up when I feel necessary. finder would tell me one thing and disk utility would tell me another. Ever since I did those two things however, I have not noticed this problem.

I doubt you want to re install like I did, but it really did not take long at all and after turning off time machine and local snapshots while running the OS from the intel in the optical bay drive, I have had no problems.

first, like GGJstudios said, try any one or all of those apps. I use OmniDiskSweeper

 

[thundersteele]

My tip is that the sleepimage gets deleted sometimes, which would explain the 8 GB fluctuation. The sleepimage is a copy of the contents of your RAM - I'm just assuming that the OP has 8 GB of RAM.


@GGJstudios
I see that you dropped DiscInventoryX from your list of recommended tools. Any particular new issues with it?

 

[maflynn]

My tip is that the sleepimage gets deleted sometimes, which would explain the 8 GB fluctuation. The sleepimage is a copy of the contents of your RAM - I'm just assuming that the OP has 8 GB of RAM.

Time Machine's local snapshots can also chew up space as well.

I use omnidisksweeper to report and exhibit my space utilization

 

[fehhkk]

My tip is that the sleepimage gets deleted sometimes, which would explain the 8 GB fluctuation. The sleepimage is a copy of the contents of your RAM - I'm just assuming that the OP has 8 GB of RAM.


@GGJstudios
I see that you dropped DiscInventoryX from your list of recommended tools. Any particular new issues with it?

Yep, that's what it seems likely. Open a terminal window, do a:

ls -la /var/vm

And that will show you the disk space taken by your hibernate/sleep image, which is about the size of your RAM.

 

[GGJstudios]

@GGJstudios
I see that you dropped DiscInventoryX from your list of recommended tools. Any particular new issues with it?

There was some discussion in another thread about that. I had DiscInventory X listed with a (pre-Lion) caveat, as some had reported that it either didn't work with Lion or gave inaccurate results with Lion. Since there are still a few others to choose from, I dropped it to avoid any questions or confusion, until it can be firmly established whether or not it works accurately with Lion.

 

[thundersteele]

Time Machine's local snapshots can also chew up space as well.

Yes - this is why the OP stated that he didn't use Time Machine.