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User profile for user: chantellee
chantellee Author
User level: Level 1
5 points

hard drive full by "other"

I have the mac mini with a 500gb hard drive. I'm a photographer so that is my main use of the computer. I've got 266gb of photos, 13.1gb of audio, 9.9gb of movies, 7.97gb of apps, and out of nowhere, 188.92gb of other. I know where everything has come from, but I have no idea about what the other is and how all of sudden my hard drive is so full by it. In programs the only things I've downloaded is Photoshop elements, yahoo chat, and spotify. I haven't really used itunes as none of my music is on the computer and I sync my iphone through another computer for the music. I have phot stream turned on between my iphone and my iphoto. I've checked the cache and couldn't find any files large enough for that. I cleared out my internet history and cookies just in case and it barely opened up space. If anyone has any idea of what could cause nearly 200gb worth of space to be taken up out of nowhere, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

Mac mini, Mac OS X (10.7.3)

Posted on Mar 9, 2012 8:27 PM

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19 replies
User profile for user: BDAqua
BDAqua
User level: Level 10
238,997 points

Mar 9, 2012 9:45 PM in response to chantellee

That likely means we have some huge Log files, i'd be tempted to try AppleJack...


http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/15667/applejack


http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/15667/applejack


After installing, reboot holding down CMD+s, (+s), then when the DOS like prompt shows, type in...


applejack AUTO


Then let it do all 6 of it's things.


At least it'll eliminate some questions if it doesn't fix it.


The 6 things it does are...


Correct any Disk problems.

Repair Permissions.

Clear out Cache Files.

Repair/check several plist files.

Dump the VM files for a fresh start.

Trash old Log files.


First reboot will be slower, sometimes 2 or 3 restarts will be required for full benefit... my guess is files relying upon other files relying upon other files! :-)


Disconnect the USB cable from any Uninterruptible Power Supply so the system doesn't shut down in the middle of the process.

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User profile for user: DrLikes
DrLikes
User level: Level 1
5 points

Mar 24, 2012 12:15 PM in response to chantellee

I am having the exact same problem. I'm a photographer, I just cleaned out and backed up my hard drive about 2 months ago. I have maybe added 10 gb of photos since then. This morning while importing a new set of photos, I got the startup disk warning. I looked and have over 200 gb of "other". Where did this come from and what is it? Any help would be appreciated.

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User profile for user: fromghosts
fromghosts
User level: Level 1
5 points

Mar 25, 2012 6:46 PM in response to chantellee

Hey ,

I've been dealing with the same exact issue. My macbook was half full with 160 gb of "other" on the 320 gb HD. It was driving me nuts. Apple care had no idea what it was so searched the communities and I found a thread that lead me to this link.

http://www.omnigroup.com/products/omnidisksweeper/


totally free, totally user friendly. I had almost 100 gb in a mail folder somehow !? I have no idea how. I only had about 20 messages combined in all my mail accounts. Definitely check it out. I joined this forum just to post here because I know how frustrating it was for me.

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hard drive full by "other"

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