OSX Lion: Backups/Other Disk Space

Not so.

You may be thinking of hidden files; they usually don''t appear in the trash because they're hidden, but are otherwise treated like any other file.

Secure empty of the trash empties the trash just as a normal empty; the difference is, the space on the drive where the files were is overwritten by zeros so the data can't be recovered. That's why it takes longer on large files.

TRue but in this case I only had 1 file in there and it ended up deleting 103 and removing most of the other space. Definetly solved my issue.

They were hidden files. The count of files you normally see in a folder is only the visible files. But emptying the trash counts everything, so sometimes the countdown will end up in negative territory.

OK, this is driving me nuts:

My Macintosh HD appeared surprisingly full, so I checked the storage content (Apple, About My Mac, etc.) only to see that there are 250 Gb of "Backups" data (in pink). Numerous forums and help notes found by Google suggested that Time Machine (since I upgraded to Mountain Lion, I didn't use Time used- my external HD broke a few days ago) was making local snapshots to compensate the absense of external HD, so I switched it off, and here the problems begun : the "backups" data fused with the "other" data so now I have this :

(copies = backup in french)

As you can see, the global used storage is 200 Gb superior to the sum of the real data

So:

- I switched off Time Machine with the control panel AND manualy with the sudo etc., then turned it on, three times,

- I revealed all the folders and checked all of them, even the Versions database,

- I repaired the disk and its permissions countless times,

- I securely emptied the trash (and checked it folder) with Onyx and CCleaner,

- I checked that there was no more .Mobilebackup folder

- I reinstalled Mountain Lion,

And none of this worked (and I'm sure there are other things I've done that I forgot). Luckily enough, I'm in Morroco until the 13rd of August and won't be able to contact Apple's Phone assistance, a Genius Bar or an Apple authorized center. For the love of God help me!

(And sorry for the English if I tortured some eyes)

Thank you

See Where did my Disk Space go?

Hello,

I have the same problem, my disk has 500 Gb capacity and 300 is being used where I dont know. How to get this space free again?

I tried to secure empty trash, but does not allow to select this option. What shall I do?

Thanks

Posted by Pedrofavaios

http://www.dental4u.com.au

See Where did my Disk Space go?

This fixed my issue, much appreciated

I have this

No clue how I can have nothing else on my computer except other. I believe it is time machine related by disabling local backups in terminal and turning off TM don't work even after restart. Help!

tpos wrote:

. . .

No clue how I can have nothing else on my computer except other.

That's driven by Safari indexing; your disk is either excluded or the index is damaged. Go to System Prefs > Spotlight > Privacy and drag your HD there from a Finder window or your Desktop (or click the plus sign and select it); wait a few seconds, then remove it. That will trigger a complete re-indexing. It will take a while to rebuild the Storage display.

I believe it is time machine related by disabling local backups in terminal and turning off TM

No, it's Spotlight.

Even if I don't use safari?

also, if I do this will I not longer be able to search for files in my finder?

Oh, sorry, I typed Safari in the first line in error, not Spotlight. 😊

It's the Spotlight index that's borked. The rest of the post is correct.

My apologies.

tpos wrote:

also, if I do this will I not longer be able to search for files in my finder?

You will be able to use either the Finder search or a Spotlight search. In some ways, Spotlight is better (if the index is ok, of course).

Ok I tried it. I will check my storage in a bit to see if it changes.