CalebGrayson

Q: disk space (mysteriously) disappearing

i've been running low on hard disk space so i tried deleting big files, but no matter how much i delete my new recovered space shrinks.  i even deleted 40GB of music and movies and then my space over a few days ended up ar only 500MB.  i continue to delete large amounts of photos like 20GB and the same thing happened — warnign low on space only 750MB.

i delete some more — like 15GB and now i only have 10GB free..  it's a bizarre situation.  feels like some virus.

 

so today i discovered this:

 

missing disk space.png

 

there's a 60GB difference from what the User level folder info says and the Hard Drive level info says.  what's happening to my space!!!

 

—Caleb

MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2010), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5), Finder issues

Posted on Oct 22, 2013 2:26 AM

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Q: disk space (mysteriously) disappearing

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  • by thomas_r.,Helpful

    thomas_r. thomas_r. Oct 22, 2013 5:36 AM in response to CalebGrayson
    Level 7 (30,924 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 22, 2013 5:36 AM in response to CalebGrayson

    A tool like OmniDiskSweeper cannot be used to compare to the numbers the Finder will give you, for a variety of reasons. You can do better by using a tool that can authenticate to "root" permissions, which allows it to look everywhere. The WhatSize app can do that:

     

    http://whatsizemac.com/

     

    However, even then, there are certain things that the Finder won't report, since they will be deleted automatically when necessary. So you'll never get perfect one-to-one correlation with these kinds of comparisons.

     

    For more help with this sort of thing, see:

     

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

  • by CalebGrayson,

    CalebGrayson CalebGrayson Oct 22, 2013 1:03 PM in response to thomas_r.
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Oct 22, 2013 1:03 PM in response to thomas_r.

    i didn't want to spend $13 just to find out about a few GB difference.. you really think that 60GB could be hidden and only this paid app can show that to me?  and can it then delete it?

     

    i read that link from pondini.org and it was very usefu information.  i follwed all it suggestions and still couldn't find 60GB or anything over 8.

  • by thomas_r.,

    thomas_r. thomas_r. Oct 22, 2013 1:20 PM in response to CalebGrayson
    Level 7 (30,924 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 22, 2013 1:20 PM in response to CalebGrayson

    60 GB could easily be hidden away in a number of different places, but you wouldn't want to delete any of that unless you know exactly what you're doing. Those locations wouldn't be likely to be causing the problem anyway.

     

    Did you examine the size of the log files, as indicated in that link I gave you? My guess here would be a runaway log file, but that could be wrong.

  • by petermac87,

    petermac87 petermac87 Oct 22, 2013 1:38 PM in response to CalebGrayson
    Level 5 (7,402 points)
    Oct 22, 2013 1:38 PM in response to CalebGrayson

    Do you perhaps have a second User account carried over from another install? How did you install the current system?

     

    Pete

  • by CalebGrayson,

    CalebGrayson CalebGrayson Oct 22, 2013 4:05 PM in response to thomas_r.
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Oct 22, 2013 4:05 PM in response to thomas_r.

    i found the problem..sorta.

     

    i broke donw and got WahtSize and it shows 60GB in the sytem folder under:

    /System/Library/Caches/com.apple.coresymbolicationd

    /System/Library/Caches/com.apple.coresymbolicationd/data has 1GB

    and then there's about 100 files all 611MBthat look like this:

    /System/Library/Caches/com.apple.coresymbolicationd/grow.fPotKe1

    WhatSize.png

  • by CalebGrayson,

    CalebGrayson CalebGrayson Oct 22, 2013 4:06 PM in response to petermac87
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Oct 22, 2013 4:06 PM in response to petermac87

    i have contiunally upgraded my account from serveral past computers..so that's a possibility. 

    i deleted them, though, and created a new one.

  • by rlbruderick,

    rlbruderick rlbruderick Apr 9, 2014 5:39 PM in response to CalebGrayson
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 9, 2014 5:39 PM in response to CalebGrayson

    If found the same problem.  My MacbookPro so over-filled that I had to restart in safe mode, delete some big files, buy WhatSize, and then discover the DISEASE.  555Mb files were being cached, they're in System/Library/Caches/com.apple.coresymbolicationd/  

     

    It's still doing it!

     

    How do I kill it?

  • by CalebGrayson,

    CalebGrayson CalebGrayson Apr 9, 2014 7:58 PM in response to rlbruderick
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Apr 9, 2014 7:58 PM in response to rlbruderick

    i dont' know why it stoppe don mine.

     

    i had to clear it out a couple of times and not it doesn't do it anymore.. mayby an OS upgrade i did!?

     

    good luck!

     

    —C