HDD Won't free up any space when I delete a file

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HDD Won't free up any space when I delete a file

Hello

I have been having a persisting issue which has to do with my HDD.

If I look at my activity monitor, it says I have about 70GB free, but if I look on my desktop on my Harddisk icon, it says in more information that I have about 230gb free.

If I delete a file, it doesn't change anything on activity monitor, but it does change on the Harddisk icon on the desktop.

I'm not really sure which one I can go with, so if you have a fix or solution, please feel free to leave it below

Thanks.

MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2012), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5)

Posted on Jan 9, 2014 4:26 PM

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Answer 1

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Linc Davis

Level 10

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Jan 9, 2014 5:41 PM in response to DeFuore

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

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Answer 2

DeFuore Author

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Jan 10, 2014 2:18 PM in response to Linc Davis

Thanks, that's quite helpful information.

So does that mean that I actually have about 230gb to use? or do I just have the 70 to spare..

And if it's just the 70 to spare, is there a way to put the snapshots on an external HDD?

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Answer 3

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

Jan 10, 2014 4:28 PM in response to DeFuore

So does that mean that I actually have about 230gb to use?

Yes. In rare cases you might have to disable local snapshots temporarily in order to add a large amount of data all at once. To do that, you would turn Time Machine OFF in its preference pane and then back ON. You'll probably never have to do that.

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Answer 4

DeFuore Author

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Jan 11, 2014 1:24 PM in response to Linc Davis

Thanks a lot, man. Really helpful stuff.

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