Out of Harddrive Space? How?

[alksion]

I noticed my computer (iMac 2.66 i5, 10.6.8) was acting slower than usual yesterday. I ran my monthly all task feature on MainMenu Pro a little early just to see if it might help with anything. (Will not use anymore thanks to user advice) When it finished, it restarted and came up with an error message saying that I need to delete files because I am out of hard disk space.

Last I knew, I had about 200+GB's of space left and haven't added anything close to that in the past week.

What I want to know is there a way to check the latest things put on my computer and by size to see how this happened? Because as of now, I have absolutely no clue how I ran out of disk space..

Any input is greatly appreciated!

 

[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.
• 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.
  
  https://forums.macrumors.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=316547&d=1324232637​
• For Time Machine users on Lion, Time Machine local snapshots may be consuming space.
• Use DiskInventory X (pre-Lion), 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.

 

[alksion]

Okay, weirdest thing, it is telling me that I have my 282GB's available again. I did a verify disk in disk utility and this is the error messages I am getting.

Can someone please elaborate on this for me?! I understand what I need to do and how to do it, but will this really fix it? And does anyone know why it did this in the first place? Thanks!

 

[GGJstudios]

I understand what I need to do and how to do it, but will this really fix it?

Why don't you try it and find out?

And does anyone know why it did this in the first place?

It could be a drive failing, or something else. Hard to know for certain.

 

[alksion]

Why don't you try it and find out?

It could be a drive failing, or something else. Hard to know for certain.

I will, I just thoroughly enjoy the help and satisfaction knowing I'm doing something right and always get that from this community.

I'll check back in a little..

EDIT: My SuperDrive keeps spitting out my install disc? And it won't let me restart, it says that mail is causing the restart to fail, but I can't exit out of mail!!

EDIT 2: Force quitting worked, but my ********* SuperDrive keeps spitting out the disk... ugh

EDIT 3: Appointment made for the Apple Store tomorrow, getting this baby fixed up! Will update accordingly..

 

[SplicedBanjo]

In many cases, "Invalid volume free block count" is a "smoking gun" that pretty much proves that some of your free space is missing due to a hard drive glitch. I have had this happen to me a couple of times already under Lion.

However, whenever I have had the problem, the number that it should be is much larger than the number that it currently is. On your system, Disk Utility is actually reporting that the number should be smaller rather than larger. So while you will definitely need to get your hard drive repaired before trying anything else, it's hard to say if this will fix the problem in your case.

 

[alksion]

In many cases, "Invalid volume free block count" is a "smoking gun" that pretty much proves that some of your free space is missing due to a hard drive glitch. I have had this happen to me a couple of times already under Lion.

However, whenever I have had the problem, the number that it should be is much larger than the number that it currently is. On your system, Disk Utility is actually reporting that the number should be smaller rather than larger. So while you will definitely need to get your hard drive repaired before trying anything else, it's hard to say if this will fix the problem in your case.

Thanks for the input. I am about to head out to the Apple Store, my appointment is at 3PM PST. Hopefully the dudes over there will take care of my problems and I'll get a like-new iMac back!

 

[alksion]

UPDATE - They're replacing my HDD, cables and optical drive. On top of that they're giving me my old HDD drive back so I can clone my new drive.

Apple Care and Apple have top notch customer service and make me happy that I chose Mac over the other guys.

 

[GGJstudios]

UPDATE - They're replacing my HDD, cables and optical drive. On top of that they're giving me my old HDD drive back so I can clone my new drive.

Apple Care and Apple have top notch customer service and make me happy that I chose Mac over the other guys.

I'm glad it all worked out for you!

 

[Fishrrman]

"EDIT: My SuperDrive keeps spitting out my install disc? And it won't let me restart, it says that mail is causing the restart to fail, but I can't exit out of mail!!
EDIT 2: Force quitting worked, but my ********* SuperDrive keeps spitting out the disk... ugh
EDIT 3: Appointment made for the Apple Store tomorrow, getting this baby fixed up! Will update accordingly.."

THIS is why EVERY Mac user should have a SECOND bootable drive (a clone of the internal drive is the best to have).

IF you had that second, bootable clone of your main drive, repairing the internal drive would be as easy as:
1. Boot from the clone
2. Launch Disk Utility
3. "Aim" it at the internal and hit the "repair disk" button

Want to be insured against such problems in the future? About $100 and a few simple steps and you will be in a much more "powerful" position insofar as maintaining your Mac is concerned:

a. First, get one of these:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=usb+sata+dock&x=0&y=0
(many items shown, they all work the same, pick one you like that's cheap, you may find one for $20-25 or even less).

b. Next, get a "bare" hard drive from the vendor of your choice (I like newegg.com).

c. Download the FREE "CarbonCopyCloner" from:
http://www.bombich.com

Once you have this stuff, connect the USB/SATA dock, put the drive in, turn it on, initialize using Disk Utility, and then use CCC to "clone" your internal drive to the docked drive. Then do a "test boot" from the docked drive to be sure it's "a good clone" (Reboot, hold down the option key, keep holding it down, startup manager will appear, select docked drive with pointer, hit return).

You are now protected against crashes, loss of files, accidental erasure, etc.

There is NOTHING you can do backup-wise that is as valuable to have at-hand as a bootable clone. It can save your @** in a "moment of extreme need"!

 

[alksion]

I was needing to pick up one of those to get stuff of my HDD they're giving back to me...

But I am pretty sure my friend has one!

 

[alksion]

Got it back today.. it still won't read my install disk or my original retail snow leopard, but it will read other DVD's..

I wonder why? So annoying..

 

[ljonesj]

Take it Back to apple tell them whats going on but take your install disk with you and show them what it is doing

 

[alksion]

Take it Back to apple tell them whats going on but take your install disk with you and show them what it is doing

They said Lion 10.7.2 cannot downgrade anymore.. It's all good now I got everything back to the way I wanted it and am extremely satisfied with my new free HDD!