Prematurely full HD

[Witty lama]

All of the files that I have on my computer (mac book 60Gb) add up to about 30 Gb yet when I "get info" on the Hard Disk it says that I only have about 7 Gb left. Why is this?

Are there "hidden" files of previously deleted content sitting somewhere - this is exactly what happened to my USB memory stick. The way I fixed that was to re-format the memory stick and I really don't want to do that to my HD

Has anyone seen this before?

Thanks.

 

[WildCowboy]

What happened with your memory stick was probably that you didn't empty the Trash with it mounted. Deleting things on a memory stick just moves them to an invisible trash folder (just like on a Mac)...you have to empty the trash in order to free up the space. Have you emptied the Trash on your Mac?

How are you determining that your files only add up to ~30 GB?

You can use programs like OmniDiskSweeper and WhatSize to get an idea of where your space is being used.