Late 2009 iMac rapidly losing HD space

[joelovesapple]

Hello,

I recently reinstalled 10.7.3 this weekend because I've been having a problem whereby my iMacs hard disk has been depleting for no reason at all.

I clean my cache out every night at the moment and use Onyx, but I'm still losing space, and am not adding ANY large quantity of data.

Does anybody know why this might be happening? I don't think it's due to local TM backups as TM is not enabled plus it's not a laptop.

I'm really panicking now because I can't contact Apple due to my work hours. I've also tried booting into the recovery mode and Disk Utility doesn't see anything wrong with the hard drive (1TB btw).

Could somebody please tell me if I need to contact Apple and get a replacement? I have Applecare, so this should not be a problem.

Many thanks,

Joe

 

[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.
• For Time Machine users on notebooks running Lion, space may being consumed by Time Machine local snapshots, which can be disabled.
  OS X Lion: About Time Machine's "local snapshots" on portable Macs
• 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.
  
  
• 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.

I clean my cache out every night at the moment and use Onyx

You don't need "cleaner" or "maintenance" apps to keep your Mac running well, and some of these apps can do more harm than good. Some remove files/folders or unused languages or architectures, which does nothing more than free up some drive space, with the risk of deleting something important in the process.

These apps will not make your Mac run faster or more efficiently, since having stuff stored on a drive does not impact performance, unless you're running out of drive space. Some of these apps delete caches, which can hurt performance, rather than help it, since more system resources are used and performance suffers while each cache is being rebuilt.

Many of these tasks should only be done selectively to troubleshoot specific problems, not en masse as routine maintenance.

Mac OS X does a good job of taking care of itself, without the need for 3rd party software. Among other things, it has its own maintenance scripts that run silently in the background on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, without user intervention.

Five Mac maintenance myths​

 

[joelovesapple]

I have already explained that my computer is not a laptop so that is no use at all.

I have tried to search for something with the keyword "size" but such a parameter does not exist in 10.7. I've had a look under 'other' and I cannot find it.

Generic responses do not help anyone. If I were to leave my mac on for hours I'd have no space left.

This is a REAL ISSUE and I need help, not a lecture. I'm not thick.

 

[GGJstudios]

I have already explained that my computer is not a laptop so that is no use at all.

Only the Time Machine item doesn't apply. All the rest apply to both desktops and notebooks.

I have tried to search for something with the keyword "size" but such a parameter does not exist in 10.7. I've had a look under 'other' and I cannot find it.

Yes, it does exist. Look again.

Generic responses do not help anyone.

It's not a "generic response". It's a response that covers the majority of space issues that people have reported, and it helps the vast majority of those who take the time to read and follow it.

If I were to leave my mac on for hours I'd have no space left.

Launch Activity Monitor and change "My Processes" at the top to "All Processes", then click on the CPU column heading once or twice, so the arrow points downward (highest values on top). Then post a screen capture of that window.

This is a REAL ISSUE and I need help, not a lecture.

I didn't lecture you. I gave you valid alternatives to try. If you don't care enough to try them, that's up to you.

I'm not thick.

I didn't suggest that you were, but your attitude is completely inappropriate for someone asking for help, toward someone taking the time to offer assistance.

You're on your own.

 

[old-wiz]

Generic responses do not help anyone. If I were to leave my mac on for hours I'd have no space left.

This is a REAL ISSUE and I need help, not a lecture. I'm not thick.

Great way to piss off people who are trying to help you.

You probably have a runaway process that is filling the error log.

 

[Ripmax2000]

There is a free app called Disk Inventory that you can run, It will show you what is taking up all the space in your HD, so will give you an idea.

 

[talmy]

Disk Inventory X is a free product that draws a map showing disk usage. Works well -- I've been using it (and similar programs for Windows and Linux) for many years.