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Did you run Grand Perspective on the whole Macintosh HD, not just your user account?

Post a pic of the left column in Disk Utility to see your structure

Woof, Woof - Dawg
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Did you run Grand Perspective on the whole Macintosh HD, not just your user account?

Post a pic of the left column in Disk Utility to see your structure

Woof, Woof - Dawg
pawprint.gif
I just clicked on Macintosh HD

Here is disk utlity
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When's the last time you emptied the trash?

Do you empty the trash securely?

Have you used disk utility to erase free space?
 
When's the last time you emptied the trash?

Do you empty the trash securely?

Have you used disk utility to erase free space?
I haven't deleted anything, but will be doing the erase free space thing (never really saw it before). Could be there was a big image of the windows stuff (27gb) on this main partition before it was copied over (and then deleted) by the IT people. However, if that was the case, I wonder why finder (is showing that's not usable...it could be on the drive, but since its been deleted - it would be marked for writing over and thus be considered usable).

The estimated time for a zero-out erase free space is nearly an hour it seems. We'll see what it says afterwards!
 
Ok, I am not being much help then, and I am sorry for that

About the only thing I know to tell you at this point is to back up both partitions

You can use Time Machine or clone your OS X partition
To clone your internal OS X partiton, Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC) or SuperDuper (SD) can do this for you, both are free

I would use WinClone for the Boot Camp partition and it is free

Then I would erase the drive and start over with a new Boot Camp partition and restore your clones to the OS X and Boot Camp partitions

That's if you are really concerned about your HD space

Someone else may come along with more understanding than I have

Good luck

Woof, Woof - Dawg
pawprint.gif
 
Ok, I am not being much help then, and I am sorry for that

About the only thing I know to tell you at this point is to back up both partitions

You can use Time Machine or clone your OS X partition
To clone your internal OS X partiton, Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC) or SuperDuper (SD) can do this for you, both are free

I would use WinClone for the Boot Camp partition and it is free

Then I would erase the drive and start over with a new Boot Camp partition and restore your clones to the OS X and Boot Camp partitions

That's if you are really concerned about your HD space

Someone else may come along with more understanding than I have

Good luck

Woof, Woof - Dawg
pawprint.gif
Thanks, got my fingers crossed the hour long delete may fix it but doubt it.

Would cloning to a backup drive via time machine save all my programs? This sounds like a good option, because I'm thinking time machine will only recognize the 32 gb of stuff that SHOULD be there and copy that...
 
Thanks, got my fingers crossed the hour long delete may fix it but doubt it.

Would cloning to a backup drive via time machine save all my programs? This sounds like a good option, because I'm thinking time machine will only recognize the 32 gb of stuff that SHOULD be there and copy that...

Time Machine is not techinically a clone, because it is not bootable
SuperDuper and Carbon Copy Cloner can make bootable clones

But yes, Time Machine is a very good option
Since we don't know what you are really dealing with, I'm not sure what to expect :eek:

Woof, Woof - Dawg
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Time Machine is not techinically a clone, because it is not bootable
SuperDuper and Carbon Copy Cloner can make bootable clones

But yes, Time Machine is a very good option
Since we don't know what you are really dealing with, I'm not sure what to expect :eek:

Woof, Woof - Dawg
pawprint.gif

I've toyed with CCC and SuperDuper in the past...never went all the way with the bootable option because thats when my hard drive decided to quit so I had to send it back to apple. In fact, I was trying to get to the bottom of this phantom 27gb before I practiced a clone via one of those two and booted to that clone.


In my case, what I NEED to backup is my programs.

If you don't mind I'd like to get your opinion on the process of this backing up itself.

1. Use Time Machine to backup to external drive (its formatted in HFS+, and the boot record is the one thats compatible with mac bootable).
2. Format the Mac partition, and reinstall OSX. I assume this is done by inserting the OSX cds...is there an option when I do this to completely wipe (reformat) the partition i'm installing on before the osx installation starts? From past experience, I know there are a couple options when installing windows, but only one of them does a full proper reformat (ie. not quick).
3. Now how do I get my programs and data back on this new install of OSX? Do I open up time machine and just click restore and it lets me select the backup I did on the external drive? Does time machine backup, in addition to my programs and data, my Library? - one of my programs stores electronic textbooks somewhere (I'm not entirely sure where exactly - but its a pain to download all of them again).

Thanks for the help.
 
1. Use Time Machine to backup to external drive (its formatted in HFS+, and the boot record is the one thats compatible with mac bootable).

TM is a very viable option and simple to use
Yes, HFS+ is the format you want

2. Format the Mac partition, and reinstall OSX. I assume this is done by inserting the OSX cds...is there an option when I do this to completely wipe (reformat) the partition i'm installing on before the osx installation starts? From past experience, I know there are a couple options when installing windows, but only one of them does a full proper reformat (ie. not quick).

Yes, you can choose to erase the disk and format to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) which is HFS+

Or you could just restore your TM backup completely without a fresh install
However, that might defeat your purpose

3. Now how do I get my programs and data back on this new install of OSX? Do I open up time machine and just click restore and it lets me select the backup I did on the external drive? Does time machine backup, in addition to my programs and data, my Library? - one of my programs stores electronic textbooks somewhere (I'm not entirely sure where exactly - but its a pain to download all of them again).

Once you install OS X fresh, you can use Migration Assistant to restore everything, applications, data, etc. (you will need a Firewire or ethernet connection)

Woof, Woof - Dawg
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Once you install OS X fresh, you can use Migration Assistant to restore everything, applications, data, etc. (you will need a Firewire or ethernet connection)

Ok this brings up an issue. The external I was planning on time machining back up to is HFS and the boot record is whatever is correct for mac bootable.

However, it is USB only.

I have a firewire drive, but it is Master Boot Record (that used for windows, ie. you cant boot to it from a mac) but has an NTFS and HFS+ partition.

Can I use Time machine to back up to either NTFS or HFS+ on this drive? Can I use migration assisstant from an NTFS partition (with a MBR boot record) that has the time machine backup?
 
Ok this brings up an issue. The external I was planning on time machining back up to is HFS and the boot record is whatever is correct for mac bootable.

However, it is USB only.

I have a firewire drive, but it is Master Boot Record (that used for windows, ie. you cant boot to it from a mac) but has an NTFS and HFS+ partition.

Can I use Time machine to back up to either NTFS or HFS+ on this drive? Can I use migration assisstant from an NTFS partition (with a MBR boot record) that has the time machine backup?

You can't use TM or Migration Assistant on an NTFS partition or drive, and you would even need 3rd party software to read/write it

NTFS-3G will allow OS X to read/write to NTFS (Windows) and it is free

MacDrive will allow Windows to read/write HFS+ (Mac OS X), but it is not free

You may want to just use Time Machine to back up to your USB drive and restore your TM backup without a clean install if that is the case.
You would do this from the Install disc.

Sorry this seems so complicated :(

Woof, Woof - Dawg
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This is making me mad...

The delete free space from disk util didn't do anything.

Now time machine is backing up all '60 gb' of stuff :(
 
You can't use TM or Migration Assistant on an NTFS partition or drive, and you would even need 3rd party software to read/write it

NTFS-3G will allow OS X to read/write to NTFS (Windows) and it is free

MacDrive will allow Windows to read/write HFS+ (Mac OS X), but it is not free

You may want to just use Time Machine to back up to your USB drive and restore your TM backup without a clean install if that is the case.
You would do this from the Install disc.

Sorry this seems so complicated :(

Woof, Woof - Dawg
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I know about NTFS 3 G, in fact it was my surprise when I got the computer back (and no NTFS 3 g isnt installed, not that I know of) and it read my NTFS formatted external drive!

I'm gonna play around some more, thanks again for helping me out. I'll figure this out somehow!
 
I know about NTFS 3 G, in fact it was my surprise when I got the computer back (and no NTFS 3 g isnt installed, not that I know of) and it read my NTFS formatted external drive!

I'm gonna play around some more, thanks again for helping me out. I'll figure this out somehow!

OS X will read an NTFS drive, but it will not write it without something like NTFS-3G

Check out the various file systems here: MR Guide: File Systems

Woof, Woof - Dawg
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OS X will read an NTFS drive, but it will not write it without something like NTFS-3G

Check out the various file systems here: MR Guide: File Systems

Woof, Woof - Dawg
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ok that makes sense

Now, I just had a bit of a success, I was able to copy over almost everything from the previous (unbootable) backup I had made before my hard drive crashed.

But, I just realized my keyboard backlight is all messed up again!! God knows how this happened, all I did was change the ram... grrr, looks like I gotta take the computer back AGAIN.
 
Reinstallation of OSX has resolved and cleared this missing space...

I'm downloading updates and will use migration assisstant soon...

Now if only my keyboard backlight didn't decide to be broken again, this would be a very successful day. :rolleyes:
 
Reinstallation of OSX has resolved and cleared this missing space...

I'm downloading updates and will use migration assisstant soon...

Now if only my keyboard backlight didn't decide to be broken again, this would be a very successful day. :rolleyes:

Excellent
Hopefully you will resolve that too

Woof, Woof - Dawg
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