What is Lost ➕ Found? Can I delete it?

Here's a couple of explanations of that folder.

http://classroom.synonym.com/lost-found-mac-20688.html

http://www.techradar.com/us/news/computing/apple/explained-lost-found-folder-in- os-x-712519

Basically, it's recovered, or orphaned scratch data. It's a hidden folder in OS X. If you want, you can use a Terminal command to show all hidden items on the drive, then sort though what's in there to see if there's any data you want to save. Generally, there isn't. You can then delete the entire contents of the folder if you wish.

To view all files on your Mac, open the Terminal and enter the following two lines.

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE

killall Finder

When you're done, type in the same two lines, except change TRUE to FALSE to return file viewing to normal.

MBP 13" mid-2009

OSX 10.10.1

Just discovered this file, which isn't hidden.

lost+found > iNode

I read the above links, which warned agains deleting it. I then read some more forum discussions, where the consensus was the iNode file contained the installer files. Opened mine (which is 5Gb in size) to discover the Yosemite installer. Why would I need this taking up space? Trashed it. Rebooted. Black screen of death!!!!!!! [gulp!].

Rebooted into safe mode (hold down shift after starting beeb, let go when Apple logo appears), with lots of very uncharacteristic screen flickering OS X loaded, with safe mode highlighted in red. From a not quite right looking desktop I was able to restore from the trash. Rebooted, all is well! Phew!

It is a shame that this file seems to be hogging up a load of space..., but seemingly it is required!

It may be a leftover failed download of the Yosemite installer. However, it most certainly is not a requirement of OS X in order for it to operate.

The screen flickering in Safe Mode is due to the OS using a very generic video driver, and not the one meant for the specific brand or model video hardware in your Mac. So the display runs very slowly/badly. It's intentional in case the normal video driver happens to be the reason a Mac won't boot normally.

Boot into Recovery Mode by restarting and immediately holding down Command+R. Launch Disk Utility and do a Repair Disk on the startup drive. Then restart normally. Put the file in the trash again and restart.

Hi Kurt,

Thanks for your reply. I did exactly as you suggested, and this time it worked! (even though Repair Disk didn't find any problems!). Great to free up some much needed space!

Thanks,

Bryn.

Excellent! 🙂