Memory Bloat?

Question

Level 1

35 points

Memory Bloat?

I have a Macbook Pro with retina display and 500GB of SSD memory. Checking through my folders I have utilised around 150GB of space which - plus about 20GB for the operating system means I have used less than 200GB. This seems about right because on my old MBP with 256GB hard drive I was up to about 220GB before I dumped a load of stuff I did not want. Then I transferred it all to the new MBP and sure enough it showed about 150 -200GB

The problem I see is that under Activity Monitor it now states that I have used almost 400GB of memory with only 100GB left. I know I've used nowhere near that amount and the space left is shrinking at an alarmingly fast rate.

Is there any way of recovering the unused space?

MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), Using external Cinema Display

Posted on May 19, 2013 2:13 AM

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Answer 1

LowLuster

Level 6

12,105 points

May 19, 2013 2:49 AM in response to MalcW

Do you have time machine turned on is system preferences? If you do then it could be that extra space being used is from the time machine local backups that are made on a hourly basis. Connect your time machine backup drive and make a backup and they should go away. Or just turn time machine off, restart the system and then turn tm back on it you like. That will remove all the local backups.

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Answer 2

OGELTHORPE

Level 9

57,305 points

May 19, 2013 3:58 AM in response to MalcW

Here are some extracts from the Pondini website that may help in explaining your 'Memory Bloat":

http://pondini.org/OSX/LionStorage.html

http://pondini.org/OSX/DiskSpace.html

http://pondini.org/TM/30.html

A tool that you can use is OmniDoskSweeper (free) which can be downloaded from the Internet. It will show all of your files and the respective sizes.

Ciao.

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Answer 3

MalcW Author

Level 1

35 points

May 19, 2013 5:14 AM in response to LowLuster

Hi Low Luster,

Thanks for the inputs. It's often difficult to keep up with all the changes when you move to a new system! I didn't realise that Time Machine works slightly differently on the new MBPs. Also I have an old (but still OK) World Digital 500GB drive that I use for Time Machine. The problem with it is that it occasionally causes my MBP to crash so instead of leaving it connected all the time I took to disconnecting it and relying on a calendar reminder to do a back up. ( I didn't realise that this would then kick off a huge local back-ups file) Not ideal I know but it is better than having the computer crash regularly. On the reminder I connect the drive and Time Machine does its stuff. This I just did but I then had to turn off Time Machine in Preferences and re-boot to regain the space. The local back-ups then disappeared. So thanks.

I still have about 50GB that I can't identify and now I'm going searching. See my other reply

Thanks again

Malcolm

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Answer 4

MalcW Author

Level 1

35 points

May 19, 2013 5:18 AM in response to OGELTHORPE

Great tools - thanks. As you see from my other reply I have resolved part of the bloat. The combined Audio plus Movies on my system report says there is about 170GB of data whereas my iTunes library plus the Movie folder comes to only 120GB. So there must be 50GB of "movies" lurking around somewhere. I'm going hunting!

That said your links have proved immensely useful and I thank you for sharing those with me.

Thanks again

Malcolm

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Answer 5

OGELTHORPE

Level 9

57,305 points

May 19, 2013 7:50 AM in response to MalcW

Your welcome. Good luck.

Ciao.

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Answer 6

MalcW Author

Level 1

35 points

May 21, 2013 10:10 AM in response to OGELTHORPE

This has been an immensely satisfying exercise. Not only do I now understand Time Machine more comprehensively I have discovered some "hidden" movies lurking on my hard drive. The numbers now make sense. A big thank you to you both for enlightening me on this topic. I feel much better now. And there was me thinking a knew a lot about Macs D'oh. Although I can own up to having owned a Mac since 1989 - an SE30 was the biz back then and it still works! Can you imagine - 4 MB of RAM and a 40MB hard drive. Of course as Bill Gates famously said "64K is enough for anyone".

Thanks again guys

Malcolm

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Answer 7

OGELTHORPE

Level 9

57,305 points

May 21, 2013 10:53 AM in response to MalcW

When I initially started on these forums, I viewed myself as a savvy Mac user. It took me less than a week to realize how little I actually knew and thus started the learning as well as the pedagogic process. There are some real 'heavyweights' who advise on these forums and I feel privileged to read what they have to say. I am not in their league but since my first days here, I have improved (perish the thought if it were not the case). If you have the time to spare, I would encourage you to participate as well.

Ciao.

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