Nelson Brann
Level 4 (3,459 points)
Mac OS X

Q: erase hard drive

Our MacMini (10.11.6) has ghosted several hundred GB of space the only way I can think to get it back is to reformat the drive and restore users from time machine... thoughts?

Posted on Aug 28, 2016 8:17 PM

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Nelson Brann

Q: erase hard drive

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  • by joe_7399,

    joe_7399 joe_7399 Aug 29, 2016 12:25 PM in response to Nelson Brann
    Community Specialists
    Aug 29, 2016 12:25 PM in response to Nelson Brann

    Hello Nelson Brann,

     

    Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities!

     

    It is my understanding you are not seeing all the space that should be available on your hard drive.  I have a couple suggestions that should help you out.

     

    The first thing I would do is make sure you have a current Time Machine backup of your computer.  You can check when the last backup was made by clicking on Time Machine icon located at the top of the monitor.

     

    Once you have a current backup click on the spotlight in the upper right corner and type in Disk Utility.  Open the Disk Utility App.  Click on the top drive listed in the left column and click on partition along the top of the Disk Utility window.  If it is showing 2 partitions, click on the partition that needs to be removed and click on the " - " button at the bottom left.

     

    If that does not work, then most likely you will need to erase the drive and re-install everything.  If you need help, follow the instructions found here:

    How to reinstall OS X

     

    Have a great day!