Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT
I recently installed a 1 TB drive on my MacBook Pro. It has filled up so fast it puzzled me. I used my Whatsizeisit application and learned my User folder holds 410 BG of data and the "var" holds 410 GB of data. "var" also is called "Private." Can anyone explain this and what do I do about it? What is in the "var?"
MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.1), 16GB RAM, 1TB Hard Drive 7200RPM
dot.com wrote:
If I were to guess - there are two likely "hogs" in the /var folder - one is an interrupted install or migration assistant - they both save a copy of the entire hard drive in the /var/tmp tree and then move it into the needed locations as the installation or migration progresses. Another possible "hog" is the /var/log tree with a run-a-way app generating tons and tons of error or diagnostic messages.
A simple look in /var/log will show the latter (the sort puts the largest at the end of the list) -- do the following in a Terminal window -- Terminal.app is located in /Applications/Utilities:
sudo du -skc /var/log/* | sort -n
A simple "du" type command will narrow down the former:
sudo du -skc /var/tmp/*
Might take a few seconds or certainly no more than a minute or two unless you have either a problem with the disk or some sort of "competition" for disk resources like indexing for spotlight or backups in progress or something like that going on at the same time
Figuring out why the big chunks are being consumed is the harder question to answer.
Good luck
And Linc Davis wrote:
Backup all ......
This was very sound advice!
Have you tried the restart in Safe Mode?
I apologize for not seeing this thread was continued on page 2 last night. I have two separate backups on hard drives. I have let the computer run on the blank screen for safe mode for several hours and nothing has happened. I do not see any information relating to a firmware issue on the screen.
I am considering a clean install because there have to be significant problems causing this, and I need the computer to work for my business.
Thanks.
I am considering a clean install
Fortunately you're prepared to do that. Ask if you need guidance.
I believe things are coming together. I went to recovery mode and when when I did disk repair it showed another Metadata Superblock as a second volume along with two sets of numbers and another numeric name for the volume.
I remember now when I did the last clean install I could not migrate the files into the computer under my normal user name, so it forced me to use same user name with a (1) behind it. I did not want to keep that username with a (1) so I changed it in the User Account System Settings. I just checked the user's by going to my backup drive and saw there are two users listed, one with the (1) and a library was listed under it. But this user does not show in the System Account pane.
Also, recently when I was trying to recheck possible problem causes, I saw two user ID's in the Account pane and happened to click on one of the and it change to another number and I could not return to the previous one. I think my error messages and crashes on Console may be related to the "two" volumes confusing the system.
I would appreciate your suggestions on migrating my files back after a clean install.
Thanks
If I were you, I would have the machine tested at an Apple Store before doing anything else with it, because it sounds like the drive is malfunctioning.
Erase and install OS X. This operation will destroy all data on the startup volume, so you had be better be sure of the backups. If you upgraded from an older version of OS X, you'll need the Apple ID and password that you used, so make a note of those before you begin.
When you restart, you'll be prompted to go through the initial setup process in Setup Assistant. That’s when you transfer the data from a backup.
If you're not sure what software was installed, select only users and Computer & Network Settings in the Setup Assistant dialog—not Applications or Other files and folders. Don't transfer the Guest account, if it was enabled.
After that, check the App Store for software updates.
If the problem is resolved after the clean installation, reinstall third-party software selectively. I can only suggest general guidelines. Self-contained applications that install into the Applications folder by drag-and-drop or download from the App Store are usually safe. Anything that comes packaged as an installer or that prompts for an administrator password is suspect, and you must test thoroughly after reinstalling each such item to make sure you haven't restored the problem.
I strongly recommend that you never reinstall commercial "security" products or "utilities," nor any software that changes the user interface or the behavior of built-in applications such as Safari. If you do that, the problem is likely to recur.
Any system modifications that you do choose to install must be kept up to date. None is required for normal operation.
Before installing any software, ask yourself the question: "Am I sure I know how to uninstall this without having to wipe the volume again?" If the answer is "no," stop.
Never install any third-party software unless you know how to uninstall it.
Update:
I was unable to get to an apple store so I used the Apple Hardware test. It did not load holding the "D" key, so I had to use the Option D. It said there was no problem.
I did a clean install, installed applications, and did not use migration assistant because I always have trouble controlling the files being migrated. I did not want to migrate any VAR files so I moved files from the Time Machine backup to simply copy over. perhaps not the best method, but I wanted to avoid the VAR files. I don't think it worked. The About This Mac data shows I already have 125GB of "Other." I used Whatsize to measure the files and it slowed to a crawl, and after several attempts it crashed and could not function. This tells me things are not in good shape. I will go the the Apple Store tomorrow to check the drive. I did see in Whatsize I had 10 GB of Private as it tried to measure, and the console messages were major kernel events.
One of the very big things in /private/var folder is your sleepimage file in /var/vm -- it is used for saving your memory in case of losing power. It's as big as the amount of memory you have - so if you have 8GB, the file is 8GB - don't removie it.
Why does "var" hold 413 GB of space on my 1TB hard drive?
