OSX Lion: Backups/Other Disk Space

I had the same initial problem as the poster. According to my About my Mac, I had 27+GB worth of "Backups" that, I eventually learned, were just local snapshots my Macbook Air was creating. I wanted to free that space up, so I followed instructions and turned off Time Machine and restarted my Mac. Suddenly, my "Backups" were now zero GB but my "Other" became 27+GB--the same amount that was classified as "Backups" just a restart ago. So I suspect it isn't all just system stuff.

I checked the hidden .MobileBackups folder and there was nothing there.

I tried disabling local snapshots via terminal (sudo tmutil disablelocal) to see if it would delete the old data. It didn't, and I restarted. No luck.

I turned on Time Machine again thinking maybe it needs to be on to delete all those old snapshots. I restarted. No luck.

So now, my "Backups" category keeps increasing again (which I have decided to live with since they don't really "count" as disk space, and they automatically get deleted anywy), but I STILL have 27+GB worth of "Other" data that was not there before.

Neither DaisyDisk nor TinkerTool can tell me what that 27+GB of "Other" data is made up of, so I really do believe it's old, undeleted local snapshots that are no longer in /.MobileBackups.

It could get rather frustrating. Does anyone have any ideas?

mikeyllorin wrote:

. . .

So now, my "Backups" category keeps increasing again (which I have decided to live with since they don't really "count" as disk space, and they automatically get deleted anywy),

If your .MobileBackups folder is empty, whatever it is probably won't get deleted automatically. 😟

but I STILL have 27+GB worth of "Other" data that was not there before.

I've seen some reports that Mail is creating huge files/folders for attachments. You might watch the size of <your home folder>/Library/Mail.

I've also seen some indications that WhatSize does better than some of the similar, but free apps. See http://www.whatsizemac.com/index.php

Mail folder only 2.3GB. 😟

Checking out WhatSize now. Thanks.

Ok, I'm not sure if this is just a coincidence, but I deleted all of my iPhone backups (besides my most recent) and I got back all of the free space that I was losing after my install of Lion. I suggest giving it a try, at least!

I have been searching the internet for a few days now to find a solution. I am having the exact same issue with my MBP running Lion. I have a SSH with 120 gb and really only store what I need on that drive. Much like others here I have checked my hard drive space and was shocked to learn that I have 75GB of "other" out of 120 GB. I'm getting pretty frustrated reading various forums suggesting it could be system files, mail and other things. There is no possible way OSX requires that amount of space for 'other'.

Like others in this thread I have stoped the local time machine snapshots using terminal and did free up about 10 gb of space doing that but I am still left with 75 GB of other I cannot seem to find an answer. I know most users probably don't know how or havn't checked their disk space to discover Lion eating up their storage. If I was running a 1Tb or larger hard drive it wouldn't be so bad but I didn't pay extra for a SSD only to have my OSX use up 80% of that space.

I'm one of the biggest apple fans you will find and have just about every product they sell. I am very shocked to find I am having these issues with Lion and hope once I resolve this problem I can start to enjoy Lion.

Have you tried the things in Where did my Disk Space go?

yes I have been to that website. That is where I found out how to stop the snapshots of time machine. I am still at a loss as to why I have 75GB of other data out of 121 GB. I have read some sites saying it could be mail backup or dublicate attachments but 75 GB seems unreal for that? If I just downloaded Lion does it come with any phone suport?

AaronBlitz wrote:

. . .

I am still at a loss as to why I have 75GB of other data out of 121 GB.

Are you saying the 121GB is much larger than before Lion?

Use one of the 3rd-party tools towards the end of that page. They will show what you have, by file/folder, etc.

I have read some sites saying it could be mail backup or dublicate attachments but 75 GB seems unreal for that?

Yes, that's a lot, but one of the tools should highlight it.

If I just downloaded Lion does it come with any phone suport?

I don't think so. Call AppleCare and ask.

No 121 GB is my drive size. 75 GB is what is being taken up by 'other' which was not the case before I upgraded to Lion. I will install one of those tools and see what it says is taking up so much room. I will report back with my findings.

Thanks for your help.

AaronBlitz wrote:

. . .

75 GB is what is being taken up by 'other' which was not the case before I upgraded to Lion.

Before Lion, there was no such display (I wish Apple hadn't added it, or explained it - the way it is, causes unnecessary worry).

Other can include parts of the OS, your documents, music, various other things that Lion doesn't put in the main categories. It may also include videos that aren't in your Movies folder -- that's not clear.

If the total used on your drive has grown a great deal (or the space available has shrunk), you may have a problem. If not, don't worry about the categories.

Hey all

I was actually facing the same problem with many of you. My "other" appears to be fine thought ranging around 23GB+, however, my "backup" was shown to have ~40GB+.

Fortunately, I have a copy of DaisyDisk, I run a scan under adminstration and found a folder ".mobilebackups", i draged that entire folder to collections in DaisyDisk and deleted it. Not quite sure if its harmful to my system, but it definately free up all those 40GB of space. Now my Backup is 0GB! 🙂

hope that helps, let me know if its harmful to delete. Thank you!

Tongteh wrote:

. . .

Fortunately, I have a copy of DaisyDisk, I run a scan under adminstration and found a folder ".mobilebackups", i draged that entire folder to collections in DaisyDisk and deleted it.

That's where your Local snapshots are stored.

Turning Time Machine OFF would also delete them.

But . . . why bother? OSX will delete them automatically if your disk gets too full (90% on a large one).

See #30 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions for details.

AaronBlitz, did you find a solution to your problem?? I have the exact same problem, can't get rid off that extra files in the "Other" category. Been searching the web and I find a lot of people with the same problem but no solution yet. Please report your findings. I will do the same..

Do not worry about the categories. See: Lion's Storage Display

I know this is fairly old but I thought I'd just add something for those searching for htis issue.

I had a similar issue, except the backup portion was 240GB, on my 500GB disk :/

You can disable local backups which will free up space. As far as I know this problem doesn't really affect desktop macs because they don't need to backup in offline mode.

Anyway, if you use

sudo tmutil disablelocal

from the shell and enter your password when prompted it will disable the locally stored backups. Within a minute or two the space will be released back.

A word of warning, this will mean that you have no backups unless your macbook [pro] can connect to your time machine. So when you are out and about, it wont backup and you can't restore (you'll have nothing to restore from). You can reverse the disable using the same command but changing disablelocal for enablelocal.

Hope it helps

ScaredyCatUK