New "About This Mac": problem regarding storage tab

[SaturnStrobe]

I just bought a new macbook air and was trying to transfer my itunes over from my old macbook. Its been a total disaster so far and I just cant seem to get it sorted, when I copied my itunes music folder over all the folders went in as well as the library details like play counts etc but no actual mp3 files were in the folder and so no tracks would play.

I then tried to transfer a load of photos as well and the exact same thing happened, all the folders but with no files inside.

I subsequently deleted all the folders to try and start again but in storage it says ~100GB of my 256GB SSD is used by "backups".

Im so lost and getting frustrated as to whats taking up all this space because I cant see any files. Anyone have ideas, Cheers.

 

[matwue]

Regarding the space used by "Backups": See this article here, the root of the problem is a new Time Machine feature ("local backups"). You can safely disable it and free the space by using the following command in your Terminal:

sudo tmutil disablelocal

Concerning your music/image transfer problems I don't really know what happened. Since you have 100GB of deleted data I would assume that the data has been copied correctly, but you might have been looking in the wrong directory for it?

Anyway, in order to avoid such problems in the future I would recommend using your time machine backup to transfer all of your data. This can be done very easily with the Migration Assistant which pops up when you start your new Mac for the first time and which can also be accessed under Applications -> Utilities - Migration Assistant.

 

[fortheloveofmac]

google for how to use your mp3 as a hard disk. the Apple directions are so easy and have screen shots. the transfer could take a while though.

 

[mikejpt]

Migration

I had a similar problem. TUAW announced an update to migration assistant. This moves all personal data and preferences. I went ahead and rewiped my new air. Hold the option key down during boot. A new disk utility will open. Choose your volume and hi erase. Close disk utility and then reinstall lion. After its done (about an hour), boot up, jump through the hoops and move everything you want with migration assistant. Worked without a hitch this time including iTunes, email accounts, even my VPN. My first attempt used 50 GB more than my previous MB PRO. After wiping clean and starting over, all the space was recovered.
Good luck
Mike

 

[SaturnStrobe]

Thanks I'll give that terminal command a go when I get home and that will hopefully get all my space back.

I dont want to completely wipe the mac and start again as ive done some stuff I cant be bothered setting up again. When I try to use migration assisstant though it seems to want to transfer the user account instead of just the files I want. Ive copied all the files onto my external hard disc I dont see why it wont work just dragging them onto my new mac. Need to give it another go later