Very large jump in number of files on HD

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Level 4

1,201 points

Very large jump in number of files on HD

I use SuperDuper every Saturday to clone my #1 HD to my #2 and #3 HD's (I'm a little paranoid) using smart update (incremental).

Last Saturday, 8/11, when I ran SD it evaluated about 490K files. This Saturday when I ran SD it evaluated about 840K files. I used Disk Utilities to look at #1 and it indicated about 840K files. Before I ran SD on #3 it indicated about 490K.

Last week Disk Utility indicated I used about 30G and it now indicates about 35.5G.

I have done nothing in the last week to increase my files by 70% or add 5G+. I've update a few app's but that is it. I have scanned #1 using VirusBarrier X6 and have also used Disk Utility to Verify #1.

I have also used HoudahSpot to look at files created/modified on or after 8/11 on #1 and there are no where near 350K. Note, I don't use Time Machine.

This is driving me crazy; any thoughts?

System Info: Pro Mac running 10.8 since July 26th.

Mac Pro, OS X Mountain Lion

Posted on Aug 18, 2012 11:13 AM

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Answer 1

mende1

Level 10

93,538 points

Aug 18, 2012 12:07 PM in response to RobertJ

Don't worry about that

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Answer 2

RobertJ Author

Level 4

1,201 points

Aug 18, 2012 12:10 PM in response to mende1

Not particularly worried but would like to know why.

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Answer 3

mende1

Level 10

93,538 points

Aug 18, 2012 12:41 PM in response to RobertJ

Sometimes, the size is wrong and it changes

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Answer 4

RobertJ Author

Level 4

1,201 points

Aug 18, 2012 12:50 PM in response to mende1

Two different app's, SuperDuper and Disc Utility, give the same number of files more or less. I can understand changes with caches etc always in play; however, a 70% change in file count I can't understand in one week when I've done virtually nothing but update a few app's.

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Answer 5

RobertJ Author

Level 4

1,201 points

Aug 19, 2012 1:17 PM in response to RobertJ

Issue identified and solved. 🙂 User uploaded file

When I installed Mountain Lion I went through and tested various programs to insure nothing got screwed up. I have a pref pane called Macaroni which runs a number of Unix like maintenance tasks on a regular schedule. I had turned it off and forgot to test it. One of the tasks it runs once a month is called Removing localized files; which, as you might think strips all non-English [this is configurable] lproj directories from all System directories, all application bundles and any other lproj directories found in the Applications directory and lproj directories found in the Users directory.

This morning I remembered it and turned it back on. I then manually ran it and the file count is back in a more "normal" range. It reduced the file count by over 200,000 and knocked off about 2G of disk storage.

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