shamalk

Q: Mac OS X 10.8.2 Shows wrong available disk space

Hi,

The free disk space (available disk space) reported in Disk Utility, About My Mac and Finder is inconsitent. I have attached a screenshot. Please help me to resolve this issue.

 

Notice that the free space reported:

  • About This Mac - 26.75 GB
  • Disk Utility - 26.75
  • Finder - 120.97 GB

 

If you add all the used space as shown in 'About This Mac' it adds up to a 142.38 GB which is greater than my disk size 120.47 GB.

 

Calculation: 3.41 (Audio) + 2.97 (Movies) + 2.01 (Photos) + 13.02 (Apps) + 94.22 (Backups) + 26.75 (Free) = 142.38 GB.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Screen Shot 2012-10-25 at 3.51.15 PM.png

MacBook Air, MID 2012

Posted on Oct 25, 2012 1:23 AM

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Q: Mac OS X 10.8.2 Shows wrong available disk space

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  • by m.molina,

    m.molina m.molina Nov 1, 2012 10:33 AM in response to shamalk
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 1, 2012 10:33 AM in response to shamalk

    Hi shamalk!

     

    Did you already solve it? If not, did you alredy tried to verify or repair your drive using Disk Utility?

     

    I also own a mid 2012 Macbook Air, and although my "About this Mac" disk info seems consistent, it differs from Finder info, but this is because Finder ignores Backups (wich is ok).

  • by shamalk,

    shamalk shamalk Nov 1, 2012 4:40 PM in response to m.molina
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Nov 1, 2012 4:40 PM in response to m.molina

    molina, After I recieved an update it seems to be working fine now. Thanks.

  • by thomas_r.,

    thomas_r. thomas_r. Nov 1, 2012 4:54 PM in response to shamalk
    Level 7 (30,924 points)
    Mac OS X
    Nov 1, 2012 4:54 PM in response to shamalk

    I didn't see this the first time around, but note that this is 100% normal. Disk Utility and the storage display both include Time Machine's local snapshots in the used space. The Finder does not, because those snapshots will be automatically deleted if free space gets too low, so they are considered to be equivalent to free space. For more information on this, see:

     

    What are Local Snapshots?

    The Storage Display

     

    Also, note that I'm not sure why an update would fix the "problem," as it should still be behaving the same way.

  • by shamalk,

    shamalk shamalk Nov 1, 2012 6:41 PM in response to thomas_r.
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Nov 1, 2012 6:41 PM in response to thomas_r.

    Thomas A Reed,

    Please read the portion

     

    If you add all the used space as shown in 'About This Mac' it adds up to a 142.38 GB which is greater than my disk size 120.47 GB.

     

    Calculation: 3.41 (Audio) + 2.97 (Movies) + 2.01 (Photos) + 13.02 (Apps) + 94.22 (Backups) + 26.75 (Free) = 142.38 GB.

     

    So it IS a problem. Because it shows wrong Information.

  • by thomas_r.,

    thomas_r. thomas_r. Nov 1, 2012 6:54 PM in response to shamalk
    Level 7 (30,924 points)
    Mac OS X
    Nov 1, 2012 6:54 PM in response to shamalk

    Ahh, yes, if it's adding up to more than the possible space on your hard drive, something is wrong. If an update fixed it, I wouldn't worry about it. For others, if it persists, it may mean that there's a problem with the drive.

  • by Linc Davis,Helpful

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Nov 1, 2012 7:09 PM in response to shamalk
    Level 10 (207,983 points)
    Applications
    Nov 1, 2012 7:09 PM in response to shamalk

    Rebuild the Spotlight index by following these instructions:

     

    Spotlight: How to re-index folders or volumes

  • by lubnah,

    lubnah lubnah Aug 28, 2013 5:50 AM in response to shamalk
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 28, 2013 5:50 AM in response to shamalk

    I've experienced this problem a few times. For me, it's always been because of local Time Machine snapshots. Try toggling Time Machine off and then back on. This fixed the issue for me – it seems to clear out the local snapshots (Disk Utility counts local snapshots, whereas Finder doesn't).

     

    You could also try forcing a manual Time Machine update (e.g., click "Back Up Now"), although I haven't tried that.

     

    As for the Finder automatically deleting these local snapshots when disk space gets low… it won't if you're trying to copy a large file (it fails the pre-flight check). That behavior should be reevaluated by Apple engineers.

  • by jeffjaco1175,

    jeffjaco1175 jeffjaco1175 Dec 26, 2013 6:27 PM in response to shamalk
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 26, 2013 6:27 PM in response to shamalk

    I'm actually expieriencing the same problem.  I deleted a bunch of music files about 15GB should have been freed up.  However, the space is not freeing up.  How did you manage to fix this problem?

  • by Van4130,Helpful

    Van4130 Van4130 Feb 1, 2014 8:46 PM in response to lubnah
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Feb 1, 2014 8:46 PM in response to lubnah

    I'd tried everything and toggling the on/off switch in Time Machine was the solution all along.

  • by tim098,

    tim098 tim098 Feb 8, 2014 6:08 PM in response to shamalk
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Feb 8, 2014 6:08 PM in response to shamalk

    I agree. Anyone experiencing a discrepancy between the free space shown when you Get Info on the Macintosh HD, and looking into About This Mac > More Info > Storage, toggling the Time Machine switch off then on again fixes everything.

     

    I experienced this issue about a couple of months ago, and again today. Both times this fixed it and now I have the correct amount of space shown in all places.

  • by thomas_r.,

    thomas_r. thomas_r. Feb 9, 2014 5:53 AM in response to tim098
    Level 7 (30,924 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 9, 2014 5:53 AM in response to tim098

    I agree. Anyone experiencing a discrepancy between the free space shown when you Get Info on the Macintosh HD, and looking into About This Mac > More Info > Storage, toggling the Time Machine switch off then on again fixes everything.

     

    That's because that deletes your local snapshots. So, really, you're compromising your backup system in order to make two numbers that really don't matter that much agree with each other. That doesn't make much sense.

  • by tim098,

    tim098 tim098 Feb 9, 2014 6:04 AM in response to thomas_r.
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Feb 9, 2014 6:04 AM in response to thomas_r.

    The reason why I simply had to resolve these numbers was because I use an app "Quick Disk". What is primarily does is it allows me to quickly eject which ever disks I choose, and also presents very neatly the remaining amount of space in each disk in a very neat looking UI.

     

    Unfortunately, this app seems to pull its data from the same place that showed the incorrectly 'smaller' space. So when in fact I had 78 gb free on my hard disk, it showed only 30. I cant stand seeing that, so I had to find a fix.

     

    Besides, I dont think switching time machine off then on again compromises the backups too much - although I am no expert here so pardon me if I'm wrong.

     

    Edit: I am aware that even though the "smaller" space isnt indicative of how much space there really was, it kinda defeats the whole purpose of me buying this app if it doesnt show me exactly what I want to know.

     

    Screen Shot 2014-02-09 at 9.58.51 pm.png

  • by thomas_r.,

    thomas_r. thomas_r. Feb 9, 2014 6:25 AM in response to tim098
    Level 7 (30,924 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 9, 2014 6:25 AM in response to tim098

    Besides, I dont think switching time machine off then on again compromises the backups too much - although I am no expert here so pardon me if I'm wrong.

     

    See the link about local snapshots that I posted. If those backups are something you can live without, toggling Time Machine may not be harmful.

     

    Of course, getting too concerned with your free space in the first place isn't very productive. If disk space is getting tight enough that you have to keep looking at it, you need a bigger disk (or need to delete some files), since a nearly-full hard drive kills performance.

  • by ebernetPhD,

    ebernetPhD ebernetPhD Apr 13, 2014 2:46 AM in response to shamalk
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 13, 2014 2:46 AM in response to shamalk

    I had the same problem. I did reboot with Command + C. Than choose DISK UTILITY and REPAIR DISK.

    It worked.

     

    Hope it helps.

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