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Mysterious Hard Drive Space Usage

I am having a weird issue. My hard drive that runs my server OS has started filling up and I cannot figure out why. I used the DaisyDisk app on it and discoverd that some 60+GBs are being used by files that I cannot see but are definetly there. I want to know what these files are but more importantly, how to I get rid of them? They are eating my HD up and I cannot see them other than through this DaisyDisk app. Any help would be much appreciated. I have attached a screen shot so you can see the file path and some of the file names.


User uploaded file

Xserve, Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on Dec 29, 2011 6:59 PM

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Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Dec 30, 2011 5:59 AM

Hi


There was an issue with 10.5 Server when working behind an authenticated proxy that caused a similar problem:


http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3142?locale=en_US&viewlocale=en_US


There are also issues - depending on which service(s) you're running that also caused similar issues. The SMB Service Log has been known to bloat itself to 100s of GBs given enough time. This can also apply to the Print log - assuming the Print Service is switched on?


On the Server itself, launch Terminal and issue this command:


sudo du -chxd 1 /


and provide the Server Administrator's password. There is no echo in Terminal so you won't see it being typed. Be patient as it will take some time to run depending on how much data you have and quantity of files.


Eventually it will give you a breakdown that will look something like this:


18M /.DocumentRevisions-V100

3.3M /.fseventsd

519M /.Spotlight-V100

0B /.Trashes

0B /.vol

13G /Applications

3.7M /bin

0B /cores

4.5K /dev

1.0K /home

8.4G /Library

1.0K /net

0B /Network

115M /opt

4.2G /private

2.3M /sbin

2.5G /System

18G /Users

563M /usr

4.0K /Volumes

29G /

29G total


The above is an example only.


I'm guessing most of the space might be in /private/var/log? You can access UNIX sub-directories (which are always hidden) using either the command line or the "Go to folder" option in the Go Menu. It's quite safe to remove and delete old logs (as well as stale print jobs stuck in the cups folder - assuming you're running Print Services?) if you deem they serve no purpose?


HTH?


Tony

2 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Dec 30, 2011 5:59 AM in response to Matthew Pendergraff

Hi


There was an issue with 10.5 Server when working behind an authenticated proxy that caused a similar problem:


http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3142?locale=en_US&viewlocale=en_US


There are also issues - depending on which service(s) you're running that also caused similar issues. The SMB Service Log has been known to bloat itself to 100s of GBs given enough time. This can also apply to the Print log - assuming the Print Service is switched on?


On the Server itself, launch Terminal and issue this command:


sudo du -chxd 1 /


and provide the Server Administrator's password. There is no echo in Terminal so you won't see it being typed. Be patient as it will take some time to run depending on how much data you have and quantity of files.


Eventually it will give you a breakdown that will look something like this:


18M /.DocumentRevisions-V100

3.3M /.fseventsd

519M /.Spotlight-V100

0B /.Trashes

0B /.vol

13G /Applications

3.7M /bin

0B /cores

4.5K /dev

1.0K /home

8.4G /Library

1.0K /net

0B /Network

115M /opt

4.2G /private

2.3M /sbin

2.5G /System

18G /Users

563M /usr

4.0K /Volumes

29G /

29G total


The above is an example only.


I'm guessing most of the space might be in /private/var/log? You can access UNIX sub-directories (which are always hidden) using either the command line or the "Go to folder" option in the Go Menu. It's quite safe to remove and delete old logs (as well as stale print jobs stuck in the cups folder - assuming you're running Print Services?) if you deem they serve no purpose?


HTH?


Tony

Mysterious Hard Drive Space Usage

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