Can I delete "/.DocumentRevisions-V100" "

Alan Goodall wrote:

. . .

I must also apologise for my daft ‘Pun’ re names

If you mean "Houdini" vs. "Pondini," no apology necessary -- that's where the nickname came from! It was a compliment! Better yet, one that "stuck"! 😉

But, I cannot get this to work! After numerous attempts using the Alt key I still see only the options rename, move, duplicate, lock or Browse all Version (I cannot get a Delete all versions)

I see Apple has removed those instructions from the Support article: OS X Lion: About Auto Save and Versions. 😟

In the browser, click in the title bar of any Version on the right side. If you just click, you get the option to Delete This Version... If you hold the Alt/Option key, it changes to Delete All Versions.

Another thing they don't make clear is the automatic "thinning" of old Versions. The Auto Saved versions as explained in the article above are reduced to one per day after 24 hours, then one per week after a month (I think -- it's not documented).

The Versions made each time you open a document,and hourly thereafter, or Save it, are never removed automatically.

(At least, that's what Apple said in response to a Bug Report I filed on Lion . . .)

Will the copies of the duplicate version I made (and stored on an external drive) also have multiple versions on my Flash drive??

When you copy a file, you copy the current version only, so the one on the external does not have the history anyway. If you make revisions on that external drive, OSX will create a Versions database on it for those revisions.

Can I also do this? I tried - but got this alarming message!

. . .

Can I delete the whole of the contents of Document revisions?

You can, but I would recommend it only as a last resort.

You may be able to reclaim enough space by deleting all versions of your finished product(s), but keeping any for the ones you're still working on.

If you have to, or decide to, delete the whole thing, be sure no files are open with apps that use AutoSave and Versions.

and can I delete all of /private? or just /var or what?

NO, NO, NO !

Those are hidden system libraries. Your Mac would crash and not restart. Your user accounts would be gone.

NEVER even think about deleting anything you don't understand!

I do wonder about that 77 GB in /private -- that's quite large. As your screenprint of it isn't visible (to me, anyway, but this forum software is a bit flaky), try to post it again. Most likely a separate issue, but worth a look.

Regarding my new iBook - I now realise that Apple restrict the iBook file size to 2GB - so I will have to publish this in a number of chapter sections to stay below this limit.

That might actually help you -- if you pretty much finish early chapters before tackling later ones. If you begin to have space problems, you might want to delete the old versions of finished chapters.

An alternative might be to get a big external HD, and put these documents there. You might even make separate partitions for different types or groups of documents, so each would have a separate Versions database. That way, if there's trouble with one, you could delete it without losing everything.

Finally, is it possible for me to prevent Lion from making all these versions

I've seen some workarounds that will prevent it altogether, but there are some other options.

and only save those I decide I need to keep?

No, it's all-or-nothing.

Maybe I have versions of other files that I could also delete?

Yes, any app that uses AutoSave and Versions will have some, but most won't take up much space, unless they change or delete lots of images.

Alan Goodall wrote:

. . .

I have now been able to delete the earlier versions of my new iBook

Ah, good -- that may mean the database is not damaged.

I seem to have freed up only a small amount of space ie I now have 32.67 GB free - and 174.91 still taken by 'Other'

"Other" includes lots of, well, other stuff. How much of it is by Versions of other documents is near impossible to tell. SeeThe Storage Display for an explanation.

I am having great problems trying to attach the photo screen grabs

Be sure you're selecting From your Computer, not Uploaded Images (that doesn't work).

Can you explain why Docsrevision and private are still so large?

The Versions database must have lots of versions of other files.

the subdivisions (or whatever) of the 77.4Gb under private report 77.4GB var, 71.3Gb. Trash, - which consists of numerous 'Recovered files'

Aha! Take a look at them; those are usually leftovers from app or system crashes, etc. You probably have more current versions of them elsewhere -- if so, delete the recovered items.

and used Clean my Mac 2

Many of those apps cause more problems than they solve. OSX (and WhatSize) provide all the tools you need.

So, again - how do I get rid of the huge amounts still taken up by Docsrevison

Either go to selected documents and delete all old versions, or delete the whole folder.

and private /var?

Get a list of what's there. It's unlikely much is there besides swap files and the sleepimage file.

Alan Goodall wrote:

Thank you again - this has now given me 176 GB available - which is superb!

Yay! 🙂

Below is the latest photo grab from What Size. The private now seems to be just the sleep image (as normal?)

There's a whole lot of critical other stuff there, too, but yes, that's a reasonable size. It will probably grow, but if it more than doubles, you might want to take a look.

I think I will start again - and make each chapter a new iBook to keep below the 2Gb limit of Apple for iBooks. However, I am disappointed that this may also mean I cannot optimise the photos for Retina displays (as this takes each photo file size up from abou 3-400 kb for a 1024 x 1024 to around 30MB for photos of 5000 x 5000 ie as they recommend for Retina displays)

I don't use iBook, so can't address that. You might want to check and/or post in the iBooks forums.

And as long as you don't make any changes to them once they're in your iBooks files, the changed ones won't take up space in the Versions database.

In relation to your suggestion above - I do have other 1TB hard drives.So, should I use one of these to creat ALL my new iBook files (rather than on my 250 GB i7 Flash Drive)? All my 'assets' are on another separate Firewire hard drive

That's one approach. Access will be somewhat slower, of course. That may or may not be significant.

Another is, once a book, or some chapters, are pretty well finished, to delete all old versions of those particular items.

Think about how long you've been doing this, with how many projects -- all of it took about 70 GB. If that was a long time and many projects, then selectively deleting might be the way to go. Even if it takes a lot of space, as long as you know what it is and how to reduce it (and solve the other problem), that may be worth it. As long as there's enough free space for OSX to operate properly, it shouldn't matter. No reason not to use the space.

How can I avoid a repeat re DocumentRevisions and private/var (that you and Link have now solved) - for each of these new chapters on the separate drive?

Those are (apparently) two different, unrelated things. Address them separately.

There's a separate Versions database on each volume. I suggested that thinking it may have been damaged, as a way to limit the consequences if you had to delete it. So it might not gain you much, if anything.

There's only one /private system library, on your OSX drive. I'd recommend just watching for the Recovered Files folder to reappear. If it does, try to figure out what happened that might have caused it. Power failures, app or system crashes, unexpected hangs or slowness might be involved.

Any advice re choosing the best 'work flow' in working with large media files in iBooks Author would be greatly appreciated (I cannot find anything on the iBooks Discussions)

Try posting there, asking for advice.

Alan Goodall wrote:

. . .

I have been using iBooks Author a lot recently - and the file for my new book has become large.

You probably know by now that the space is taken by the Versions database.

I have used Omni disk sweeper - which tells me that I am only using some 70GB on my 250 GB Flash drive on my iMac. This appears to be just re User, Apps Library etc - as shown here

That's rather misleading, as it doesn't show stuff that's hidden or that you don't have read rights to.

The particular WhatSIze display you used is also misleading -- it shows the same stuff over and over -- try the List or Column view instead ("Browser" or "Outline" in the WhatSize toolbar). That will show the folder hierarchy and sizes more clearly.

Now, after I deleted some duplicate files I found via What size is showing this! BUT - the audio/music etc are still where they should be!

That's because the sorting into categories is done by Spotlight, not what folders things are in. And your Spotlight indexing is either behind or, as Linc says, corrupt. Once the re-indexing is done, the display should make more sense, although you may have to quit and re-select the Storage display, as it doesn't seem to get updated in real time.

why do I have such huge files under 'Document Revisions - V 100? and several of them?

As noted, those are actually some of the same files. It should be more clear in List or Column view. But the total numbers won't change.

Are these copies of my iBook files - which I thought I had removed?

Sort of. The Versions database contains the previous versions of changed or deleted "chunks" of your iBooks project(s). It's used to "reassemble" what the document looked like when you display or restore old versions in the Versions Browser.

It shouldn't get enormous unless you change lots and lots of graphics and/or there's a problem with the database.

When you delete a file that has those chunks in the Versions database, they're supposed to be deleted, too. Or if you use the Versions browser to delete old versions, the same should happen.

Unfortunately, there's no way to see what documents are taking up how much space in the database.

What can I delete of these /documentRevisons - without causing a disaster?

Nothing via the Finder, WhatSize, or any other app. That will likely corrupt it beyond repair.

Of course, the whole problem may be that it's already damaged. 😟 If so, you'll have to delete the whole thing, and lose all the revision history of every file that uses AutoSave and Versions.

If you haven't yet, Verify your internal HD, per #6 in Using Disk Utility. I don't know if it can find or fix a problem there, but it's worth a shot.

If not, the question is, assuming the database is not corrupted, do you need the old versions? Apple only gives you two options for any such file -- delete them one at a time, or all of them, leaving only the current file.

Message was edited by: Pondini

Only got part of the Versions stuff. But again, that isn't going to tell you what's inside all those chunks.

Either use the Versions browser to delete old versions, or delete the whole .DocumentRevisions-V100 folder. Those are the only two choices.

For the /private/var issue, select Go > Go to Folder from a Finder menubar and type /private/var in the prompt. That will show what's there; put it in List View and use the View item in the menubar to show the size column and check the Calculate all sizes box. If you can't screenprint the window via Shift-Cmd-4 and post it here, report the names of the largest sizes.

is this the folder itself - or all the following contents?

If you're going to delete anything, delete the whole folder. Don't try to do surgery on it. You can click through the warning, as long as you're sure you're deleting the right item.

Reboot immediately after deleting the folder.

Alan Goodall wrote:

Ok - thanks - you will see that I have asked Link for clarification re EXACTLY which folder )or part) of the .DocumentRevision-V100 folder I can delete.

Forgive me, but I think you're getting a bit scattered. I've answered that 2 or three times.

You cannot delete parts of that folder via the Finder or WhatSize -- that will corrupt it.

You can either delete old versions of selected files via the Versions browser, or delete the entire folder. That's it. Period. No other options. Ok?

will this also delete my last remaining saved version of my iBOOK ?

No. Again, the Versions database contains the old versions of things that have been changed or deleted.

The current file contains, well, only the current version. It will not be deleted.

If so - should I restore this afterwards from a backup copy?

No. But, as always, do be sure you have good backups first, in case something goes wrong.

Re /private/var - this is now confusing as the list of file sizes goes folders 192.7 MB, db 809.2 MB and vm 4.36 GB, log 51.4MB - svereal others as Kb's and others as zero

VM contains system swap files and the sleepimage file. Depending on how much RAM you have and how you use your Mac, 4 GB is fine.

So where have all the other GBs gone?

Probably in hidden files/folders and/or ones you don't have permission to see via the Finder (it shows zero in such cases, not the actual size). Use WhatSize to find the big stuff.