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missing 20gb on hard drive

Mountain lion on macbook pro.

10.8.5

when I look at disk utilites i see 20 gb free.

when i look at finder get info on hd i see 40 gb free.

if i try to use 30 gb its says i cant as i dont have free space. (only 20gb)

I have gone through all the folders and cant see where 20gb has gone including hidden folders. (counting the used space does not show where the 20gb is gone) i cant account for it.

i have dont a full repair etc using onyx several times, repair using disk utilities.

i have dont a timemachine backup just in case its there.

where hs the 20gb gone ?

if it had been a couple yes fine but 20 !!

Posted on Oct 19, 2013 11:37 AM

27 replies

Oct 19, 2013 1:00 PM in response to Linc Davis

This is the problem

i have now deleted mobilebackup

but backups are still taking up 29gb

Tony T1

Level 6

10,232 points

Oct 19, 2013 1:05 PM in response to Robin Bonathan

Robin Bonathan wrote:

i have now deleted mobilebackup

Not showing as deleted. Did you delete with: sudo tmutil disablelocal

Oct 19, 2013 1:06 PM in response to Tony T1

ok, i have done this.

but on disk utilities I only have 23 gb free.

now on disk info i see 61gb free

arggghhhhhh !

Oct 19, 2013 1:08 PM in response to Tony T1

yes

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

Oct 19, 2013 1:09 PM in response to Robin Bonathan

If there's a folder named "Backups.backupdb" at the top level of the startup volume ("Sandra HD"), delete it.

Oct 19, 2013 1:11 PM in response to Linc Davis

no, that folder does not exist.

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

Oct 19, 2013 1:14 PM in response to Robin Bonathan

What is the actual problem that you have? A discrepancy in storage space reported is normal.

Oct 19, 2013 1:22 PM in response to Linc Davis

the discrepancy is way beyond normal from what i understand it can be 10% or so.

on 2 sides (disk utilities and about this mac system ) i see free space as 20gb

on my disk info i see 40 gb.

i need 30 gb for a program with data to install. i cant do this until i have that free space.

the prgram also only sees 20gb so will not install

:-)

Tony T1

Level 6

10,232 points

Oct 19, 2013 1:38 PM in response to Robin Bonathan

Very strange. You should be showing "Zero KB" as "Backups"

In Terminal:

ls /Volumes

Do you see: MobileBackups? (You should not)

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

Oct 19, 2013 1:33 PM in response to Robin Bonathan

From the menu bar, select

 ▹ System Preferences ▹ Time Machine

If the padlock icon is closed, click it to unlock the settings and authenticate. Turn Time Machine OFF, then turn it backON and close the preference pane. Wait a few minutes, then try the operation again.

Oct 19, 2013 1:41 PM in response to Tony T1

i dont see that drive/folder anymore (i did earlier on)

Tony T1

Level 6

10,232 points

Oct 19, 2013 1:44 PM in response to Robin Bonathan

Check again: ->About This Mac->[More Infor...]->[Storage]

Backups should be "Zero KB"

missing 20gb on hard drive