Time Capsule left files on my Macbook!

[gondolli]

Hey guys, I could really use some help with a problem I'm having with my MacBook Pro. I'm running Snow Leopard 10.6.3 on my 120 GB MB Pro. I have an external HD set up on my Airport Extreme that I use to back up my files via Time Machine.

Anyway, last night I was having some problems with some apps not running properly so I decided to restore my system from a previous backup (yesterdays).

I entered Time Machine, selected the backup and clicked Restore. Time Machine proceeded to Copy about 50 GB of files; I left my MacBook running over night and when I woke up this morning everything seemed to be working great.

The problem is I only have 20 GB of room left on my Macintosh HD (should be about 70 GB) It seems like whatever Time Machine did, it left that 50 GB of files on my Laptop from my external HD.

My question is where are these files and how do I properly take them off my Macintosh HD?

Thanks a lot everyone!

 

[spinnerlys]

You can use Disk Inventory X, Omni Disk Sweeper or Grand Perspective to scan your HDD for big files and folders.

We don't know what kind of files you restored, so we don't don't know what might be the "issue".

 

[JediMeister]

If you were looking to restore your entire system from the backup, you should have booted to the Mac OS Install DVD and used the Restore from Backup option in Utilities. I am not quite sure what you did instead...

 

[gondolli]

If you were looking to restore your entire system from the backup, you should have booted to the Mac OS Install DVD and used the Restore from Backup option in Utilities. I am not quite sure what you did instead...

I never did this step.

I clicked Time Machine in the Status Bar and went into the Time Machine Portal thing that had all my previous backups, selected the one I wanted then clicked Restore. My MB started copying the files and I just left it overnight and did nothing else.

I don't believe my system was actually restored but everything was working fine when I woke up (stupid of me I know I should t have been so quick to restore). I don't want to restore anymore seeing as how everything is working fine but when it copied all those files it took up ~50 Gb. I want my 50 Gb back darnit!

 

[spinnerlys]

I never did this step.

I clicked Time Machine in the Status Bar and went into the Time Machine Portal thing that had all my previous backups, selected the one I wanted then clicked Restore. My MB started copying the files and I just left it overnight and did nothing else.

I don't believe my system was actually restored but everything was working fine when I woke up (stupid of me I know I should t have been so quick to restore). I don't want to restore anymore seeing as how everything is working fine but when it copied all those files it took up ~50 Gb. I want my 50 Gb back darnit!

So the following didn't help in any way I presume?

You can use Disk Inventory X, Omni Disk Sweeper or Grand Perspective to scan your HDD for big files and folders.

We don't know what kind of files you restored, so we don't don't know what might be the "issue".

 

[gondolli]

You can use Disk Inventory X, Omni Disk Sweeper or Grand Perspective to scan your HDD for big files and folders.

We don't know what kind of files you restored, so we don't don't know what might be the "issue".

I'm going to try this as soon as I get back home from work. Though, I did a pretty thorough run thru this morning of the folders that had been updated in the past 24 hours and couldn't find anything, hopefully I just missed it and one of these apps finds it for me.

When in Time Machine I selected the 'Macintosh HD' folder the Restore, I would assume it would copy over to my desktop but only the original Mac HD is there.

 

[spinnerlys]

When in Time Machine I selected the 'Macintosh HD' folder the Restore, I would assume it would copy over to my desktop but only the original Mac HD is there.

If you select your Macintosh HD, then it will copy to Macintosh HD and not Macintosh HD / Users / YOU / Desktop, that will only happen if you select Macintosh HD / Users / YOU / Desktop.

PS: Macintosh HD is the name of the actual HDD and it is not a folder. You can change the name of the HDD to something else if you'd like.
Folders are the ones indicated by a blue icon like the following one.

Internal HDDs (Hard Disk Drives) are displayed by this icon:

External HDDs use these icons (USB and Firewire):

 

[gondolli]

I may have made the problem a bit confusing to understand, here's a step by step:

1. Clicked Time Machine in Status Bar selected Enter Time Machine.

2. In the Time Machine Portal, selected yesterdays backup, then selected my HDD, then clicked Restore in the bottom right corner.

3. Prompted for my password, entered it. This caused ~200,000 files, ~ 50 GB to begin 'copying'

4. Went to sleep, woke up.

5. 'copying' was completed.

I never used a Mac OS disc or any disc, didn't do anything after entering my password. Where did those files go? They're somewhere on the HDD.

 

[spinnerlys]

I may have made the problem a bit confusing to understand, here's a step by step:

1. Clicked Time Machine in Status Bar selected Enter Time Machine.

2. In the Time Machine Portal, selected yesterdays backup, then selected my HDD, then clicked Restore in the bottom right corner.

3. Prompted for my password, entered it. This caused ~200,000 files, ~ 50 GB to begin 'copying'

4. Went to sleep, woke up.

5. 'copying' was completed.

I never used a Mac OS disc or any disc, didn't do anything after entering my password. Where did those files go? They're somewhere on the HDD.

Ah, I understand.

That may be the problem, as it may have made duplicates of a lot of files. Thus use any of the applications I recommended in one of my posts.