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Macbook takes up unused space?

M

marlizjk

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 27, 2015
7
1
Hello!

I've been having this problem for a long time now and I hope any of you can help me out (as I'm not very good with these things hah).
My Macbook has 251GB of Flash memory, and finder says I only have around 45GB of space left.
Though, when I check home (which should contain all my files) and click on 'show info', it says I've used only 80GB of space. I'm really confused where the 125GB of memory on my Macbook has gone?

Also here's a little screenshot:
nJEzApU.png

There's no way I've used that much space for my applications and audio. Plus when you add all those GB's together it extends the actual maximum space for my laptop.

I'm just really confused and I'm hoping there's a way I can get some memory back.
Any help is appreciated!
 
Run the command below in Terminal then post the output here so we can take a look.

This command will show all the base folders and their size in GB. You will be asked for your password.

Code: 
sudo du -d 1 -x -c -g /
 
Weaselboy said:
Run the command below in Terminal then post the output here so we can take a look.

This command will show all the base folders and their size in GB. You will be asked for your password.

Code: 
sudo du -d 1 -x -c -g /
Click to expand...
Here it is:

1 /.DocumentRevisions-V100
1 /.fseventsd
0 /.PKInstallSandboxManager
1 /.Spotlight-V100
0 /.Trashes
0 /.vol
44 /Applications
1 /bin
0 /cores
1 /dev
1 /home
50 /Library
1 /net
0 /Network
8 /private
1 /sbin
11 /System
78 /Users
2 /usr
1 /Volumes
190 /
190 total
 
You have 44GB in Applications. Does that sound correct, or is something else installed there?

You have 50GB in /Library and that is odd. It should be something around 10GB.

Everything else looks normal.

Run the command again like this to see what is in /Library.

Code: 
sudo du -d 1 -x -c -g /Library
 
Weaselboy said:
You have 44GB in Applications. Does that sound correct, or is something else installed there?

You have 50GB in /Library and that is odd. It should be something around 10GB.

Everything else looks normal.

Run the command again like this to see what is in /Library.

Code: 
sudo du -d 1 -x -c -g /Library
Click to expand...
The applications looks correct yeah.

In the library:

39 /Library/Application Support
5 /Library/Audio
1 /Library/Automator
1 /Library/Caches
0 /Library/ColorPickers
1 /Library/ColorSync
0 /Library/Components
0 /Library/Compositions
0 /Library/Contextual Menu Items
1 /Library/CoreMediaIO
1 /Library/Desktop Pictures
1 /Library/Dictionaries
0 /Library/DirectoryServices
1 /Library/Documentation
1 /Library/DropboxHelperTools
1 /Library/Extensions
0 /Library/Filesystems
2 /Library/Fonts
1 /Library/Fonts Disabled
1 /Library/Frameworks
1 /Library/Google
1 /Library/Graphics
1 /Library/Image Capture
0 /Library/Input Methods
1 /Library/Internet Plug-Ins
1 /Library/iTunes
1 /Library/Java
0 /Library/Keyboard Layouts
1 /Library/Keychains
1 /Library/LaunchAgents
1 /Library/LaunchDaemons
1 /Library/Logs
1 /Library/Messages
1 /Library/Modem Scripts
0 /Library/OpenDirectory
1 /Library/PDF Services
1 /Library/Perl
1 /Library/PreferencePanes
1 /Library/Preferences
1 /Library/Printers
1 /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools
0 /Library/Python
1 /Library/QuickLook
1 /Library/QuickTime
1 /Library/Receipts
0 /Library/Ruby
0 /Library/Sandbox
1 /Library/Screen Savers
1 /Library/ScriptingAdditions
1 /Library/Scripts
1 /Library/Security
1 /Library/Server
0 /Library/Speech
0 /Library/Spelling
1 /Library/Spotlight
0 /Library/StartupItems
1 /Library/SystemMigration
0 /Library/SystemProfiler
3 /Library/Updates
1 /Library/User Pictures
1 /Library/Video
1 /Library/WebServer
1 /Library/Widgets
50 /Library
50 total
 
marlizjk said:
39 /Library/Application Support
Click to expand...

Something is up in that folder. You can run the command again with the /Library/Application\ Support or just poke around in the manually. Also, might be easier to use a GUI tool like OmniDiskSweeper to look at this point.
 
I banged into a similar issue, where my fix was to purge local Time Machine snapshots, which freed up at least 200 gigs.
 
Weaselboy said:
Something is up in that folder. You can run the command again with the /Library/Application\ Support or just poke around in the manually. Also, might be easier to use a GUI tool like OmniDiskSweeper to look at this point.
Click to expand...
I see it's the Garageband and Logic folders that contain lots of GB's. But when I navigate to them through Finder and check the info, they barely contain anything..
 
Okay wow I figured it out, I haven't been navigating through my "Macintosh HD".. Very stupid. Now I know where all that used space is.
 
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