disk space

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Level 1

40 points

disk space

iMac 2011late 2009, OS 10.11.6

When I do Get Info on my hard disk icon, I get "Used ... 255.52 GB on disk"). But when I total up all the pieces (System, Library, User, etc.) I only get 80 GB. What's going on?

iMac Pro

Posted on Mar 12, 2019 10:10 AM

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Answer 1

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Dannymac22 Author

Level 1

40 points

Mar 14, 2019 6:48 AM in response to Dannymac22

Well, OK, now it is clear. Amazing that people didn't understand. It has to do with permissions. I was stunned that one User folder, which Get Info's out as 7.9GB, was a bit bigger. I was copying that folder, and it told me that it was copying 133GB of data. Huh???

Looking into it, it was clear that one user had enormous music and picture files for which the assigned permission was ONLY to that user. That is, no one else could access them. Not even Admin.

So, if you can't access those files, the only way you know that they're there is to copy them. (Well, "About this Mac"->Storage is aware of them, but you don't know where they are from that Finder app.) You can't open those files, but the finder will tell you how much is being copied. So Get Info will only tell you how much is on the disk that, I guess, Admin has access to.

Bottom line. Get Info will only tell you the size of what Admin has access to.

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Answer 2

macjack

Level 10

111,168 points

Mar 12, 2019 11:37 AM in response to Dannymac22

Be careful with Onyx, if you use it, use it at the presets only. It used to be a useful utility but most of what OnyX does is now taken care of by the system.

The Storage tab is known to report incorrectly. Also check by choosing your Mac HD and "Get Info" (command-i). It may be different. Try rebuilding Spotlight index.

How to rebuild the Spotlight index on your Mac - Apple Support

Some of the space may also be from Time Machine Snapshots.

About Time Machine local snapshots - Apple Support

Download Omni DiskSweeper:

https://www.omnigroup.com/more

DiskSweeper can give you a more accurate read of disk space than Finder or Storage Tab of About this Mac. It can also show you the precise size and location of all your files. It will inventory your disk starting from the files that take up the most space. If you want you can even delete files from OmniDisk Sweeper. But be careful some of the items may be important to your system.

Check Mail menu > Window > Connection Doctor. If you have check marked “Log connection activity” turn it off.

For information about the Other category in the Storage display, please see Apple Support Topic

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202867

Purgeable Space:

If you are using iCloud Drive those files are marked as Purgeable on your Mac, which means when you run low on disk space they will be overwritten.

Also, empty the Trash if you haven't already done so. If you use iPhoto, empty its internal Trash first:

iPhoto ▹ Empty Trash

In Photos: File ▹ Show Recently Deleted ▹ Delete All

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Answer 3

Eric Root

Level 10

684,045 points

Mar 13, 2019 10:34 AM in response to Dannymac22

Disk Space - Free Up

Disk Space – Free Up (2)

Disk Space – Free Up (3)

Disk Space - Free Up - Mavericks

Disk Space - Other in High Sierra and later, this is now included in System

Disk Space - "Other" and What Can I Do About It?

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Answer 4

Dannymac22 Author

Level 1

40 points

Mar 13, 2019 7:25 AM in response to macjack

Sheesh, OK.

Here is the result of doing "Get Info" on my hard drive. It says 254GB used.

And here is what OmniDiskSweeper comes up with when first launched. Again, 254GB is allegedly used.

But once OmniDiskSweeper does a sweep of the disk, this is what it sees - only 94.7GB.

As far as I know, that's really what's on the disk. But somehow, 254GB keeps coming up.

So the issue is, where does this incorrect 254GB keep coming from??

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Answer 5

Dannymac22 Author

Level 1

40 points

Mar 13, 2019 10:49 AM in response to Eric Root

For what it's worth, here's what "About this Mac"->Storage finds this ...

Now, this is just nuts. I have NO movies, 80MB of Photos, and about 6GB of audio (some in iTunes) on this disk. As noted, I have some 90GB of identifiable stuff on my machine, but here it seems to find 255GB of stuff.

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Answer 6

Dannymac22 Author

Level 1

40 points

Mar 12, 2019 12:35 PM in response to macjack

Well, that Spotlight rebuilding doesn't make a lot of sense. You drag the folder or disk that you want to index again to the list of locations that Spotlight is prevented from searching ... and then you drag it out? That's supposed to do something?

As to OmniDiskSweeper, I open it up, and it immediately says my disk has 252GB used, which is what "Get Info" was telling me. But when I "sweep" that disk, only 90GB shows up in the file/folder list.

Very confusing. Where is that 252GB coming from?

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Answer 7

macjack

Level 10

111,168 points

Mar 13, 2019 5:39 AM in response to Dannymac22

Well, that Spotlight rebuilding doesn't make a lot of sense. You drag the folder or disk that you want to index again to the list of locations that Spotlight is prevented from searching ... and then you drag it out? That's supposed to do something?

Yes, it rebuilds the index.

As to OmniDiskSweeper, I open it up, and it immediately says my disk has 252GB used, which is what "Get Info" was telling me. But when I "sweep" that disk, only 90GB shows up in the file/folder list.

Can you post the output?

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Answer 8

Dannymac22 Author

Level 1

40 points

Mar 13, 2019 9:08 AM in response to macjack

Well, when I want to know how full a disk is, I don't want to have to spend five minutes waiting for ODS to do a sweep. Who's to say that Finder is getting any file or folder size right? Something really stinks here.

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Answer 9

Dannymac22 Author

Level 1

40 points

Mar 14, 2019 8:45 AM in response to Dannymac22

Sorry, let me rephrase that. Get Info on the disk will tell you the amount of EVERYTHING on the disk, but the Get Info on the individual folders will only show you the size of what you have permissions on.

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