250 GB MBP HD full up with no user documents (75 GB "backups")! Parallels, Virtual Box or Mavericks?

hi kurt. thank you!

i am running mavericks on the MBP and TTP6. i am running Mountain Lion on the Mac Pro.

for some reason i am not finding a system preferences pane in the pulldown items so i am looking in the "Test", "Tools" and "Reports" pullodowns under mode and i am not seeing anything.

if i got into the Application Support directory in Library (i hold down the Option Key if i recall correctly to see this item listed in the Go pulldown in Finder) i am only seeing a "Tech Tool Pro 6" folder that is under 200 KB. there dows not appear to be another folder that i am finding.

perhaps i need to look closer or maybe completely uninstall TTP or even to update it or something? i've been completely flummoxed on this one for months now to the extent that i am not even storing any data on the machine except for under 1 MB of files on the desktop...

THANKS

hi eric. THANK YOU. this is driving me crazy. i run WhatSize and then OmniDiskSweeper and then look in the Mavericks Get Into for Apple Info for Storage and between the three of them it is a lot confusing.

do you know where i might find this file for TM? also, if this is in fact a TM issue it does not appear to be working correctly because taking up 75 GB of a 250 GB HD when i have a remote backup already happening wirelessly (including two other externals backed up as well) seems like it is not workable.

i mean, this makes total sense in the fact that i don't have any of these with my wired TM backup on the desktop machine but 75 GB means i don't have any space to put my data on because i was getting 15% HD available with TTP and at one point i had like very low HD space available so i just flat out moved it all off the machine (in terms of user created files...).

thanks

duh. i'm an idiot. i was looking for a "Preferences" in the pulldown menu items. so i've found the System Preferences section and it has a second item listing that says "Directory Backup" and the HD of my laptop is checked. i have to uncheck it to get it to stop being so helpful is that right Kurt?

OK. feeling like an idiot on #2 as well but i have found the correct folder in Library and it says "Tech Tool Protection". it seems like there are a lot of files in here including my personal HD name, my last name, and the name of the Toshiba HD that is in the system - as well as folders for the two hard drives that i back up this laptop to (not seeing the Time Machine in here for whatever reason). however, when i run a Get Info on the whole Tech Tool Protection folder it is only giving me 4.51 GB of data when About Mac is telling me this "Backup" is like 75 GB.

am i unchecking the HD name in the Directory Backup section, deleting everything in the folder and then pushing onward through the fog in search of other backups...

THANK YOU

poor pondini. i can't figure out if i hope he gets karma by the number of posts he answers of by the number of hours he puts into answering them.

OK, so i love Time Machine as much as the next guy but this business with the wake/sleep with the MBP and this new stuff with snapshots is insane.

is this a Mavericks feature? help me out here. it is helpfully incrementally filling up my hard drive - without alerting me to this fact - so that it can save the data that it is incrementally forcing me to move /off/ the hard drive because the snapshot are slowly taking up so much space?

i mean, someone clue me if here (and i have posted to the Time Machine forum when i was totally desperate earlier in the day) but i am supposed to plug in my laptop to my Time Capsule because if it is not plugged in the HD will fill up with snapshots incrementally until i plug the device back into the wireless Time Capsule again?!

either that or i have to use a Terminal command to turn them off?

is there at least a way to see how much space they take up? or is that what About Mac in Mavericks is trying to show me...?

my head is spinning i am so confused.

wish this stuff behaved like my almost ten year old mac pro...

hi kurt. always greatful to see your name here. i feel like a total bonehead with this one.

one thing i may have mis-typed however. i /did/ just now get in and uncheck this default checkbox.

however, the folder that i am going to delete (i guess you want me to delete the whole folder) is only showing 3.7 GB of data in GetInfo.

the 75 GB is what the Apple Icon > About this Mac > More Info > System Report > Storage Tab shows me under "Backups".

from what i can tell this means that i have 70 GB to go with the likely culprits being new Time Machine "features", some Parallels backup deal with the Virtual Machine, or some deal with the Virtual Box software that i just installed (and can't figure out how to properly uninstall...).

THANKS

"...will use up to approx. 80 - 85% (I believe) of your hard drive IF your laptop is not plugged into your TM drive..."

i must be missing something. the whole point of getting a Time Capsule is to have it wirelessly back up my laptop. now they want me to plug it in periodically so that it will erase the 80% of my hard drive it is taking up or they want me to use Terminal to get it to stop?

are they trying to bridge some transition in the iplementation of upcoming OS'es with this or something?

hi babowa. thanks for your help.

oof. pondini passed away?

that guy is going to have a lot of good karma going with him.

super helpful and nice guy. big loss...