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Leopard taking too much space on my hard drive

S

SophomoreTech

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 20, 2009
3
0
Hi Mac Rumors Forum,

I have a slight problem with my Mac computer. I have an iMac with a 320 GB hard drive. I recently re-installed Leopard on my hard drive. In the process of doing so I discovered that I had 290 GB free of my full 320 GB. How can this happen? Leopard usually takes up a typical 9-12 GB of your hard drive. How come Leopard, in my install, took up 30 GB? Is there a way to fix this issue without having to reinstall Leopard?

Please enlighten me with this cumbersome problem I am faced with:confused:

Thank you.
 
SophomoreTech said:
Hi Mac Rumors Forum,

I have a slight problem with my Mac computer. I have an iMac with a 320 GB hard drive. I recently re-installed Leopard on my hard drive. In the process of doing so I discovered that I had 290 GB free of my full 320 GB. How can this happen? Leopard usually takes up a typical 9-12 GB of your hard drive. How come Leopard, in my install, took up 30 GB? Is there a way to fix this issue without having to reinstall Leopard?

Please enlighten me with this cumbersome problem I am faced with:confused:

Thank you.
Click to expand...

The actual size of your hard drive for file system use is not 320 GB. With overhead and formatting the size is actually smaller. A bit uses 1024 bytes while your HD is set in 1000 bit size. See the link below for a explanation.

http://www.softwaretipsandtricks.com/forum/windows-xp/15273-how-calculate-your-hard-drive-size.html
:eek:
 
GGJstudios said:
If you do some basic searching, you'll find that hard drive manufacturers quote capacity using different methods than software makers. 320 GB capacity is NEVER 320 GB USABLE capacity.
Click to expand...

Dear "GGJstudios",

The problem is that I was actually downgrading from Snow Leopard. In Snow Leopard, on the other hand, it showed me that I had 318 GB of free hard drive space after the install. How should I proceed now? Oh and for the matter of fact you are right that manufacturers quote capacity different but they do not fall 30 GB off the actual drive. If that was the case then it would have been a total rip-off.

Thank you.
 
Richard1028 said:
During your downgrade to Leopard, you also installed all the languages and printers.
Click to expand...

Thank you for taking the time to answer my question. Actually, I did not install the extra bulk that usually is available in the Mac OS X install. Even so, the install would have taken maximum 12 GB. How can I get my 30 GB back:mad: This problem is really frustrating. If you have any other queries you want to ask me please feel free to do so.
 
SophomoreTech said:
Thank you for taking the time to answer my question. Actually, I did not install the extra bulk that usually is available in the Mac OS X install. Even so, the install would have taken maximum 12 GB. How can I get my 30 GB back:mad: This problem is really frustrating. If you have any other queries you want to ask me please feel free to do so.
Click to expand...

Try an app like Grand Perspective to map your HD (http://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net/). If you can't find the culprit all I can say is completely wipe the HD then re-install SL.
 
Snow Leopard doesnt read HDD size the same as Leopard, it shows a different byte size like the situation mentioned before.
 
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