Suddenly lost 110 GB of hard drive free space

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Level 1

4 points

Suddenly lost 110 GB of hard drive free space

The available hard drive space on my MacBook Pro (mid 2012, OS 10.9.5) has just dropped from about 220 GB down to under 110 GB. I have added nothing to my system to account for the loss of 110 GB. Recently I changed where on the internal HD I stored about 95 GB worth of images, by that was only a change, not an addition.

"Get Info" on MacIntosh HD shows this:

Capacity 750 GB

Available 110 GB

Used 640 GB

"Get Info" on the individual folders shows this:

Applications 19 GB

Library 11 GB

System 7 GB

Users 494 GB

TOTAL= 531 GB

The 531 GB figure is what my system was normally at, and should still be at. I read through Pondini's "Where did my disk space go?" article and went through each step without luck. I installed the WhatSize app, and for Macintosh HD it shows 643 GB used, but folders displayed only add up to about 539 GB (see image). This corresponds to what the Mac's Get Info windows are telling me, so it seems unlikely that either software is simply reporting incorrectly. Also, the local Time Machine backup is at zero (I turned it off temporarily to test) so that can't be the issue either.

I also ran DiskWarrior, which found a few typical minor issues, but the problem remained.

Are there more hidden files that the finder or WhatSize won't EVER display? It seems like there must be a hidden file somewhere taking up 110 GB but at this point I'm not sure what else to look at.

Thanks.

MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5), Model 9,1, 15", 2.6 GHz i7

Posted on Jun 29, 2015 4:18 PM

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Answer 1

Jun 29, 2015 4:21 PM in response to MacVal

Even though you used Disk Warrior, run Disk Utility to verify the disk for errors just in case.

Launch Disk Utility located in HD > Applications > Utillities

Select the startup disk on the left then select the First Aid tab.

Click: Verify Disk (not Verify Disk Permissions)

If Disk Utility reports errors, restart your Mac while holding down the Command + R keys.

From there you should be able to access the built in utilities in OS X Recoveryto repair the startup disk and restore OS X.

Sudden loss of drive space can be an indication that the drive is failing. Make sure to backup all your important ASAP.

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Answer 2

MacVal Author

Level 1

4 points

Jun 29, 2015 9:54 PM in response to Carolyn Samit

Thanks, I've tried verifying already and all appears to be ok. I've been backing up regularly just in case. If the drive was failing I would have thought DiskWarrior would have picked up on that, but maybe not.

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