Where's My Data?

[palpatine]

My HDD is full, but I have no files (see image). I used WhatSize to take a look, and it didin't show anything, but said the drive is full. Everything in my user files is gone (music, pictures, and emails in other location are OK).

How can I recover that space? What happened?

It gets more complicated. I did something stupid. I use SugarSync for online backup. I removed my computer from sugarsync (no longer set up to sync with the service) and deleted my files (permanently) from their servers. I thought that since I had told them NOT to sync files, that I would be OK, but Sugarsync deleted all of the backed up files in my drive! I was furious, mainly at myself for screwing around with this stuff late at night.

I am trying to sort things out and see if I can recover them from Sugarsync (unlikely, but my account there is 200%+ full of data, so something is in there). I had all but two files backed up on an external drive, and unfortunately, these are ones I would really prefer not to have to remake. It's no big deal, though.

The problem is that now I cannot copy backup files onto my drive, because it is full, so I am stuck. Any advice?

 

[palpatine]

I really do not understand what is happening. I am using Time Machine for the first time today and this is what it shows (see image).

My computer sees these files. Time machine sees these files. But, I cannot

 

[Hansr]

What is in /Users/ ? Did you rename your home folder (that's generally what causes stuff like this)?

 

[palpatine]

What is in /Users/ ? Did you rename your home folder (that's generally what causes stuff like this)?

That's good to know. Thanks. Unfortunately, I didn't rename it. This is where all of my stuff was, though. Now, there are just some Microsoft Office administrative files of some sort in there.

 

[Macsavvytech]

That's good to know. Thanks. Unfortunately, I didn't rename it. This is where all of my stuff was, though. Now, there are just some Microsoft Office administrative files of some sort in there.

Odd, also only ask people if they dont know what is going on after a day. Every 30-90 minutes is just spamy.

 

[Hansr]

Try grabbing a harddrive visualization tool like omni disk sweeper etc or go to terminal and do a ls -R /

 

[pacmania1982]

I use JDiskReport to find out where what is taking up my disk space. Its nice because it doesn't require an install as it can start from Java Web Start. Download it here:

http://www.jgoodies.com/downloads/index.html

See what you find

pac

 

[palpatine]

Odd, also only ask people if they dont know what is going on after a day. Every 30-90 minutes is just spamy.

Sorry for spamming everyone. I'm sort of in a bind, because I can't access the files, can't get rid of them, and can't move them over from my backup drive. Trying something called AppleXsoft file recovery. We'll see what that turns up.

Unfortunately, today I had to go back to the netbook to get work done. Why is the control key so far away on the netbook, and why didn't I notice that before?

Try grabbing a harddrive visualization tool like omni disk sweeper etc or go to terminal and do a ls -R /

Thanks!

I think OmniDisk Sweeper looks similar to one program I used already, WhatSize. It showed that I had a full disk, but in the visualization, only showed a tiny number of files. Weird.

I tried the ls command. Great idea! Nothing I recognize yet. We'll see what happens.

 

[Macsavvytech]

Try Daisy Disk

 

[palpatine]

Results of the ls command = nothing much.

The only files I could find were a few remnants of a notetaking program here:
/Users/BUBBLES/Library/Caches/Metadata/VoodooPad/

Everything else of mine is gone. Nothing shows up.

Try Daisy Disk

Thanks. DaisyDisk figured it out. All of that disk space is SugarSync.

I should say that Sugarsync was only backing up 30GB or so of data. My boneheaded move seems to have completely confused Sugarsync. 200+ GB of the disk is taken up by this mysterious data (fiies randomly renamed by Sugarsync). Ugh.

Well, if I can't recover those two files I'm missing, it looks like Daisy Disk can at least delete things, so I should be able to solve the problem eventually.

Thanks everyone!

 

[Macsavvytech]

Thanks. DaisyDisk figured it out. All of that disk space is SugarSync.

I should say that Sugarsync was only backing up 30GB or so of data. My boneheaded move seems to have completely confused Sugarsync. 200+ GB of the disk is taken up by this mysterious data (fiies randomly renamed by Sugarsync). Ugh.

Well, if I can't recover those two files I'm missing, it looks like Daisy Disk can at least delete things, so I should be able to solve the problem eventually.

Thanks everyone!

Daisy Disk is truly one of the best Mac Apps

 

[palpatine]

Just a follow up.

I've located and deleted all of the files that Sugarsync squirreled away in my computer. I've recovered all but one file from backup, and now that I have Time Machine setup (note to self: don't screw around removing computers and deleting files in the online backup BEFORE doing Time Machine), I should be good to go.

DaisyDisk was a tremendous help. I will also give OmniDisk sweeper a try. Thanks everyone for the advice.