Big iNode file in lost+found

Hello ReverendFitty,

I too have a very large 3.5G iNode file in lost+found and would like to delete it if it saves space.

But all of the advice that I have read so far has pointed to just ignoring the files in this folder. I do have a time machine backup of it, but will leave it alone until I hear otherwise.

Regards

Ok. I did some research through the forum postings and found that you can go to the terminal, cd to the folder where the lost+found files are kept and find out more information about the file using the 'file' command.

$ file iNodexxxxx

Once I ran that command I found that the file was an archive. I used the archiving program to list it's contents and found that it was the Lion installer.app!

Since I had already made a copy of this file on an Airdisc connected to the airport extreame, I went ahead and deleted it. Now I'm +3.5G more space.

I would certainly not recommend that removing the file in lost+found for all circumstances, but in my case I thought it would be ok.

Regards,

Mark

You made a good guess. The wrong guess on an iNode file could bring down your Mac. These are low level folders and should not be touched.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inode

A file system relies on data structures that contain information about the files, beside the file content. The former is called metadata—data which describes data. Each file is associated with an inode, which is identified by an integer number, often referred to as an i-number or inode number.

Inodes store information about files and folders, such as file ownership, access mode (read, write, execute permissions), and file type. On many types of file system implementations, the maximum number of inodes is fixed at file system creation, limiting the maximum number of files the file system can hold. A typical allocation heuristic for inodes in a file system is one percent of total size.

Great advice! Thank you. I will never do that again! :|

Regards,

Mark

I have found a large 3.67GB iNode file in the lost+found folder in MacintoshHD which after opening turns out to be the installer for OSX Lion. Now my OSX Lion had been installed a month back and has been up and running for a month with intermittent blank screen and Kernel Panic regularly. I wonder whether something had happened with the installation of Lion. 😟

I have a 3.74gb iNode file in lost+found as well. 'file' in terminal tells me it's an xar archive, same as gooober's. But I wonder: could this file be related to Lion's Recovery Mode?

xar files are Excel auto-recover.

I have a file named "iNode13934595" that is 3.74GB, same as the poster above. I right-clicked and opened it with DiskImageMounter.app, and sure enough it was the Lion install image file.

I assume that deleting it is OK. Gooober did it and still lived.

Once it is in Lost + Found, then it's not a low-level folder anymore.

Put it in the trash but don't flush.

Then, restart and see how your Mac behaves. After you're sure things are OK, then delete it.

Did just that, everything is okay. Thanks.

First off, I'm an idiot. I was cleaning up my macbook, and also ran a disk utility. Ended up deleting a desktop folder that held all my work from 2012. It is 100% gone! I tried a few recovery tools, no luck. the only thing I spotted was this lost+found folder that I hadn't noticed before. it has a 3.7 gig file called iNode in it, and that is all. Is there any chance this contains my files?... from earlier strings, it looks like this might just be a lion install backup or something, but I am desperate. Any help is hugely appreciated.

The iNode file when unpacked was the Lion Installer. I am told by tech support that it should have been deleted at install.....but wasn't. So I went ahead and trashed it saving me 4+ Gigs of space.

GT

I have just noticed this Same folder today. However, mine contains 2 Inode files one weighing in @ 4.35 gb and the other @ 3.75 gb. Mounted them both and they are the install files for lion and mountain lion respectively. From what I read in this post it was supposed to be deleted but was not? And happened twice with each new install ? Seems weird to me. So I can go ahead and delete it and free up the 8gb! ?

No I'll effects experienced by u guys?

Ditto..except moved the installer to my backup drive and then trashed the iNode file...rebooted..works without a problem

xar files CAN be Excel aut-recover files. Certainly not in my case though as I don't have Excel, but I do have a 4.35Gb iNode file in my lost+found.