Ric Blanco
Level 1 (4 points)
Desktops

Q: My HD is nearly full of  "other"

I have an iMac 8.1 with 4GB RAM and 250 GB HD. Just upgraded to El Capitan. I used to belong to my dear dad who died about a 18 months ago. It was not much used and has very little on it. Or so I thought.

 

It should have tons of space on the HD but when I go into "about this mac" i get this

 

Screen Shot 2016-04-20 at 4.22.43 PM.png

 

 

I have run several utilities and they all come up with less than 20GB of actual content. I have emptied the trash, I have run Daisy disc (which does concur with the image above) showing about 240GB used. Almost anything I tried to take out of Daisy disc told me it was needed by OSX and to leave it exactly where it was. So I did. The image below is of the the four root folders in the HD. As you can see they add up to less than 20 GB.

 

folders size 2016-04-20 at 4.20.59 PM.png

 

 

Even Omnidisk sweeper says this (only 9 GB free which concurs with the "get info" report)

Screen Shot 2016-04-20 at 4.22.43 PM.png

 

But when I actually run the program it reports this, only 16.7 GB of actual comtent

 

Screen Shot 2016-04-21 at 8.47.05 AM.png

So what is going on. I thought maybe there were hidden partitions/folders but it seems they can't bee seen in El Capitan. Does anyone know what all this (about 230GB) of other is? And how do I get rid of it?

iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11.4), 2008

Posted on Apr 20, 2016 4:02 PM

Close
Ric Blanco

Q: My HD is nearly full of  "other"

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by Allan Jones,

    Allan Jones Allan Jones Apr 20, 2016 5:13 PM in response to Ric Blanco
    Level 8 (35,316 points)
    iPad
    Apr 20, 2016 5:13 PM in response to Ric Blanco

    Starting maybe with OS 10.10 Yosemite--anyway it's been around a while--there has been a known bug in reporting in the size of "Other" on some new computers or those recently upgraded. The first thing to do is re-index the Spotlight database. It is fast and easy--instructions here:

     

    Spotlight: How to re-index folders or volumes - Apple Support

     

    See if that changes things and please report back.

  • by Ric Blanco,

    Ric Blanco Ric Blanco Apr 20, 2016 6:28 PM in response to Allan Jones
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 20, 2016 6:28 PM in response to Allan Jones

    Thanks for yr reply. I did that but it didn't seem to do anything. By dragging the HD into the privacy window it was asking if I wanted to exclude it from spotlight searches. I said yes then removed it from the list. Is that the proper sequence of events?

     

    BTW before I updated just 2 days ago I did notice that the HD was showing 230GB or thereabouts which I thought was strange. I wish I had used Disk Utility then (10.6.8) before I upgraded.

  • by Ric Blanco,

    Ric Blanco Ric Blanco Apr 20, 2016 7:17 PM in response to Ric Blanco
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 20, 2016 7:17 PM in response to Ric Blanco

    Daisy Disk is just getting me more confused. If the disk is almost full (about 240 out of 250GB used) I would expect to see the "daisy" as a full wheel. But there are large chunks of black. It is still saying 241GB used. Nearly everything I try to delete it tells me is required by OSX so I leave it.

     

    Could someone more expert than I (virtually everyone!) please tell me if this is correct: if I add up all the GB of the inner most ring, that should give me my total data. Also I have noticed there is a fifth "root" folder that I can see in Daisy wheel but not in finder. In Finder there are four "root" folders under Macintosh HD: Users, Library, Applications and System. But in Daisy wheel there is another on the inner most ring: Private. But it still only accounts for 3GB.

     

    I think I need a little lie down now.

     

    Here is a snapshot of daisywheelScreen Shot 2016-04-21 at 12.00.31 PM.png

  • by Linc Davis,Helpful

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Apr 20, 2016 8:59 PM in response to Ric Blanco
    Level 10 (208,037 points)
    Applications
    Apr 20, 2016 8:59 PM in response to Ric Blanco

    ODS can't see the whole filesystem when you run it just by double-clicking; it only sees files that you have permission to read. To see everything, you have to run it as root.

    Back up all data now.

    Install the app in the Applications folder as usual. Quit it if it's running.

    Triple-click anywhere in the line of text below on this page to select it, then copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.

    security execute-with-privileges /A*/OmniDiskSweeper.app/*/M*/* 2>&-

    Launch the built-in Terminal application in any one of the following ways:

    ☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

    ☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

    ☞ Open LaunchPad and start typing the name.

    Paste into the Terminal window by pressing command-V. You'll be prompted for your login password.

    The application window will open behind other open windows. When you scan a volume, the window will eventually show all files in all folders, sorted by size. It may take a few minutes for the app to finish scanning.

    I don't recommend that you make a habit of doing this. Don't delete anything as root. If something needs to be deleted, make sure you know what it is and how it got there, and then delete it by other, safer, means. When in doubt, leave it alone or ask for guidance.

    When you're done with the app, quit it and also quit Terminal.

  • by Ric Blanco,

    Ric Blanco Ric Blanco Apr 20, 2016 9:06 PM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 20, 2016 9:06 PM in response to Linc Davis

    Screen Shot 2016-04-21 at 2.00.43 PM.png

     

    Linc, thank you I have uncovered 215.3 GB of temporary items!!

    Is it ok to delete this file? And how can I stop it from happening again?

     

    I also notice there 248MB spotlight V100 file. Should I do anything with that?

     

    Thank you so much. This has pretty well eaten two days of my time. I have searched just about every forum but they all seem to be dead ends.

     

    Much appreciated!!

     

    Ric

  • by Linc Davis,Helpful

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Apr 20, 2016 9:34 PM in response to Ric Blanco
    Level 10 (208,037 points)
    Applications
    Apr 20, 2016 9:34 PM in response to Ric Blanco

    I have uncovered 215.3 GB of temporary items!!

    The contents of that folder should be deleted automatically when you restart the computer, but if not, you can delete it.

    I also notice there 248MB spotlight V100 file. Should I do anything with that?

    No.

  • by Ric Blanco,

    Ric Blanco Ric Blanco Apr 20, 2016 9:24 PM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 20, 2016 9:24 PM in response to Linc Davis

    Thanks Linc my HD now looks like this!! A huge thank you. Why were those files invisible to begin with? Will that change I made to ODS stay or will it revert to its previous state after I quit ? How do I stop them (temp files) building up again?

    Screen Shot 2016-04-21 at 2.19.25 PM.png

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Apr 20, 2016 10:04 PM in response to Ric Blanco
    Level 10 (208,037 points)
    Applications
    Apr 20, 2016 10:04 PM in response to Ric Blanco

    Why were those files invisible to begin with?

    As I wrote earlier, you need root privileges to see them.

    Will that change I made to ODS stay or will it revert to its previous state after I quit ?

    It will revert to its usual behavior.

    How do I stop them (temp files) building up again?

    I don't know. We didn't get into the contents of the temporary folder. If all this happens again, you'll have to look into that.