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deleting files, but free disc space doesn't budge

so, I was just cleaning up my harddrive. I just deleted another 2GB and yet.. free disk space did not increase. Not even a tiny bit. What am I missing here? The files were an old project that I moved to an external drive. Yet free disk space is stubbornly remaining at precicely 59.47GB.. Why is this happening to me?... There IS a God, and he hates me?

This is totally baffling.. 😟

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Apr 18, 2013 3:55 PM

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14 replies

Apr 18, 2013 4:02 PM in response to stedman1

hehe yes, I did empty the trash. (also the iphoto trash since it seems to be separate).. nothing. I could restart, but since that would clear out the swap, the free space would definitely increase, but how would I be able to tell from what? I just want to make sure that the files I delete are actually GONE, and not just invisible or something.


Is it possible that if I delete audiobooks from itunes that were in the past synchd to my phone, they are actually still sitting in my phone backup and that's why no more free space? It would actually be sorta clever if iTunes didn't double up on files that were both in itunes and phone backups.


BUT.. that was definitely not the case with these particular files. :/

Apr 18, 2013 6:56 PM in response to Laralyn10

“You may notice a difference in available space statistics between Disk Utility, Finder, and Get Info inspectors. This is expected and can be safely ignored. The Finder displays the available space on the disk without accounting for the local snapshots, because local snapshots will surrender their disk space if needed."


About Time Machine's "local snapshots" on portable Macs

Apr 20, 2013 2:49 PM in response to Linc Davis

Hmm okay that would explain why the iStat widget shows a different number. I miss the status bar at the bottom of finder windows that reacted when you emptied the trash.. it was just so satisfying.


Except... oh, I see- when you get info on Macintosh HD, it says I have about 13 GB more available space than system profiler is showing me. So I gather these local snapshots are perpetrated by time machine... in order to.. um... make things faster when I use TM, I suppose? Nothing to do with someone thinking it's a great idea to clutter up your drive till it's 80% full without asking the user. Guess it's time to get an SSD.

Apr 20, 2013 5:18 PM in response to Linc Davis

Linc,


ok, I admit I'm overreacting. However.. I'm read local snapshots start deleting themselves when 80% of the disk is full. I'm a total layperson.. but, maybe that's because HDDs are said to operate best when there's at least 20% free? So if the local snapshots were indeed totally harmless, why would they need to curate themselves this way, why not just fill up ALL the free space, or 99% instead of 80%? I might be mistaken.. but in general, the more free disk space, the better, right? It means less fragmentation and more room for the system and swap space, etc... that is what I meant by cluttering up your drive. Who's to say 30% free wouldn't be better, especially considering that I almost never actually have to use TM.


Yet Apple does not even allow me to turn it off in the TM preferences, forcing power users to resort to terminal workarounds, stranding intermediate users like me since I do not mess with terminal (yes I know I must seem like a n00b but unlike, say, my mom, I can actually grasp most of the concepts invovled and am usually capable of making an informed choice about how I want my own darn computer to handle my own darn files), and of course safely guarding the dumbest...everyone's mom...um..the beginner users from having to understand anything for it to "just work". Gurrrr..

deleting files, but free disc space doesn't budge

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