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Your disk is full notification when my disk isn't full

I am running the latest OS of Sierra.


I have 20+ gb of space free on my 256GB drive. I get the "Your Disk is Almost Full Manage Your Storage" almost every ten minutes. My disk isn't almost full.


I don't want to have to free up 40GB on my drive just to get this notification to stop. Does anyone know the threshold of how much space you need free for this to stop or does anyone know how to disable the notification?


I used to love the notification before Sierra because it actually would remind me when I was out of space. Now, it means nothing. It pops up with I have tons of space left.


Help!

Posted on Mar 5, 2017 9:24 AM

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Mar 5, 2017 10:25 AM in response to cdhw

I have not. I worked in Apple Retail for 6 years so I know computers very well.


The one thing I've noticed is that it pops up more when I'm doing a very CPU intensive task, processing RAW photos or editing movies. When I close those applications it seems to subside.


My guess is that it is somehow when I'm processing photos it uses temporary storage a lot and for a few moments it takes up a lot of space but when I close those apps it frees up that space.


I've attached a photo of what the notification looks like. This is not from my computer so disregard the toolbar icons.User uploaded file

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Mar 6, 2017 9:52 AM in response to Lexiepex

I've attached the report from etrecheck at the bottom. I've also attached a screenshot that shows the notification telling me I've only got 4gb available and Finder telling me I have 23GB available.


It's getting really frustrating. I tried downloading a large file and it wouldn't let me because it says I don't have enough storage available.


Either Finder is wrong or something else. It's getting a little frustrating. Here's the Etrecheck notes:


>

EtreCheck version: 3.1.5 (343)

Report generated 2017-03-06 12:47:13

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime 2:22

Performance: Excellent


Click the [Support] links for help with non-Apple products.

Click the [Details] links for more information about that line.

Click the [Remove] links to remove adware.


Problem: No problem - just checking


Hardware Information:

MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012)

[Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]

MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro10,1

1 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7 (i7-3615QM) CPU: 4-core

8 GB RAM Not upgradeable

BANK 0/DIMM0

4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

Bluetooth: Good - Handoff/Airdrop2 supported

Wireless: en0: 802.11 a/b/g/n

Battery: Health = Replace Soon - Cycle count = 1017


Video Information:

Intel HD Graphics 4000

NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M - VRAM: 1024 MB

Color LCD 2880 x 1800


System Software:

macOS Sierra 10.12.1 (16B2555) - Time since boot: about 18 days


Disk Information:

APPLE SSD SM256E disk0 : (251 GB) (Solid State - TRIM: Yes)

[Show SMART report]

EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB

Macintosh HD (disk1) / [Startup]: 249.77 GB (7.07 GB free) (Low!)

Core Storage: disk0s2 250.14 GB Online


USB Information:

Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)

Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller


Thunderbolt Information:

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus


Gatekeeper:

Mac App Store and identified developers


Adware:

~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.bittorrent.uTorrent.plist

~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.spigot.ApplicationManager.plist

2 adware files found. [Remove]


Kernel Extensions:

/Applications/BlueStacks.app

[not loaded] com.bluestacks.kext.Hypervisor (4.3.26 - 2015-07-30) [Support]


System Launch Agents:

[not loaded] 7 Apple tasks

[loaded] 147 Apple tasks

[running] 101 Apple tasks

[killed] 16 Apple tasks

16 processes killed due to insufficient RAM


System Launch Daemons:

[not loaded] 42 Apple tasks

[loaded] 153 Apple tasks

[running] 93 Apple tasks

[killed] 15 Apple tasks

15 processes killed due to insufficient RAM


Launch Agents:

[not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (2016-08-16) [Support]

[running] com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud.plist (2016-11-10) [Support]

[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (2017-01-13) [Support]


Launch Daemons:

[loaded] com.BlueStacks.AppPlayer.bstservice_helper.plist (2016-09-01) [Support]

[running] com.aaa.windscribe.OVPNHelper.plist (2017-02-18) [Support]

[running] com.adobe.adobeupdatedaemon.plist (2016-11-10) [Support]

[running] com.adobe.agsservice.plist (2017-01-30) [Support]

[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (2017-01-30) [Support]

[loaded] com.google.keystone.daemon.plist (2017-01-30) [Support]


User Launch Agents:

[loaded] com.BlueStacks.AppPlayer.Service.plist (2016-09-01) [Support]

[loaded] com.BlueStacks.AppPlayer.UninstallWatcher.plist (2016-09-01)

[failed] com.BlueStacks.AppPlayer.Updater.plist (2016-09-01) [Support]

[loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (2016-08-18) [Support]

[loaded] com.bittorrent.uTorrent.plist (2016-08-27) Adware! [Remove]

/usr/bin/open

[running] com.spigot.ApplicationManager.plist (2017-01-03) Adware! [Remove]

~/Library/Application Support/Spigot/ApplicationManager


User Login Items:

Flux Application

(/Applications/Flux.app)

PopClip Application

(/Applications/PopClip.app)

Dropbox Application

(/Applications/Dropbox.app)

Caffeine Application

(/Applications/Caffeine.app)

Windscribe Application

(/Applications/Windscribe.app)

Google Chrome Application Hidden

(/Applications/Google Chrome.app)


Internet Plug-ins:

FlashPlayer-10.6: 24.0.0.221 - SDK 10.9 (2017-02-14) [Support]

Flash Player: 24.0.0.221 - SDK 10.9 (2017-02-14) [Support]

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (2016-11-14)

PepperFlashPlayer: 24.0.0.221 - SDK 10.9 (2017-02-15) [Support]

AdobeAAMDetect: 3.0.0.0 - SDK 10.9 (2016-11-10) [Support]


User internet Plug-ins:

SecureBrowser: Unknown - SDK 10.11 (2016-05-11) [Support]


Safari Extensions:

Instapaper - Instapaper Holdings Inc. - http://www.instapaper.com (2017-02-10)

Translate - SideTree.com - Apps for Mac and Web - http://SideTree.com/extensions.html#Translate (2016-08-30)

Save to Pocket - Read It Later, Inc. - http://getpocket.com/ (2016-09-22)

Evernote Web Clipper - Evernote Corp. - http://evernote.com (2017-02-01)

Ghostery - GHOSTERY, Inc. - https://www.ghostery.com/ (2016-09-18)


3rd Party Preference Panes:

Flash Player (2017-01-30) [Support]


Time Machine:

Time Machine not configured!


Top Processes by CPU:

39% kernel_task

19% Safari

6% mdworker(19)

4% Newton

4% WindowServer


Top Processes by Memory:

1.28 GB kernel_task

696 MB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent(14)

508 MB Finder

254 MB Newton

213 MB mdworker(19)


Virtual Memory Information:

1.27 GB Available RAM

45 MB Free RAM

6.73 GB Used RAM

1.23 GB Cached files

546 MB Swap Used


Diagnostics Information:

Mar 5, 2017, 12:56:32 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/cloudd_2017-03-05-125632_[redacted].crash

/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CloudKitDaemon.framework/Support/cloudd



User uploaded file

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Mar 5, 2017 10:19 AM in response to JosephmWood

Apple say that macOS Sierra requires 8.8GB of free space, e.g. here:


https://www.apple.com/uk/macos/how-to-upgrade/


So, one would think that 20GB should be well above the threshold that macOS would try to warn you. I'm suspicious about the wording of the message particularly the phrase "manage your storage", which I don't recall ever seeing from OS X or macOS. Have you, intentionally or unintentionally, installed some crapware 'disk cleaner' application that is nagging you to run it?


Let's see what's going on... Please run EtreCheck:


https://etrecheck.com/


and post its report here.


C.

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Mar 6, 2017 12:33 AM in response to JosephmWood

MBA has an apple builtin SSD, but with Trim: the 10% is enough when more than 10GB.

If you have a nonApple SSD you should have 20GB or more, to have the WearLevelling working optimal.

But OK, you should have no notifications when having 20GB. Clearing caches is just not effective (unless one is not working well) because they will be filled again soon. If the daily/weekly/monthly cache clearing does not work well, you could download a COMBO update and running it:

Download macOS Sierra 10.12.3 Combo Update

But it seems to me that there is something else going on, like for instance a much too high kernel memory use:

run ActivityMonitor, click the Memory button at the top, then click the memory column to see the useage from high to low. You can also make a screenshot here, and then also of the MemoryPressure at the bottom.

Kernel use normally is between 1 and 3 GB depending on the number of applications running. But I have seen in Sierra that it can "explode" to 10GB or more, and that will normally cause swaps to disk. Which is in line with your high CPU use. Sofar we have seen this more often lately in Sierra 10.12.3. There is not found a common cause here, afaik. But several times it was gone when an Antivirus tool was uninstalled, but that you will not have I suppose.

When you run etrecheck that will note such behaviour in the list, it will also note Swap-outs. That is why cdhw asked for it probably.

Lex

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Mar 5, 2017 9:33 AM in response to JosephmWood

If this drive is a SSD it is not "tons of space"...

But the message should not come.

The following may help: restart the mac while holding the shift key, it starts in the SafeMode (slow), when fully started login, then restart from the little apple menu. This clears some system caches.

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Mar 5, 2017 9:37 AM in response to Lexiepex

Tons of space is relative. And what I meant was that I have 10%+ of my drive free. I came from a 64GB MacBook Air, so that is tons of space to me.


I've cleared the cache before and it keeps coming back. It just seem random. It'll go hours without notifying me, but then it will randomly pop up every 10 minutes for an hour. I can't find the method to it.

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Mar 6, 2017 12:17 PM in response to John Galt

I always update, but there was no update coming up in software update.


When someone posted that there was a 10.12.3 update that was the first I heard of it. I went to the App Store and refreshed it several times and still don't see an update. I'll do the update, but I think I found the issue.


I ran Daisy Disk and it said that I was low on storage. So clearly Finder is wrong. I just wish Finder would refresh and show the correct amount. This all started happening when I turned off "Optimize Storage" in iCloud. I love that feature on Photos, but on the iCloud Drive with my desktop it was a nightmare. I would try and look at a photoshop file and it had to download it before I could look at it. It uploaded an entire folder that I use a lot to iCloud and it had to download 5gb of files before I could see them. When I turned off that feature this is when I started having the problems.


I'll run the update and see if it can refresh Finder.

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Mar 7, 2017 12:02 AM in response to JosephmWood

-- I propose to remove three items from SystemPreferences->Users&Groups->LoginItems: Cafeine, Windscribe and Chrome, with the minus sign underneath. Stop using Chrome: is very sloppy programming and a resource hug.

-- If you did not already remove the adware do it now, urgent!

------- restart now.

-- Your disk needs more free space urgently: I propose at least 15 GB free.

-- The battery needs replacement very soon.

-- and I propose to uninstall bluestacks, and use another one, e.g. VLC. Bluestacks will very probably not run at all anymore in the next OS upgrade.

Lex

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Mar 7, 2017 8:09 AM in response to Lexiepex

I appreciate the advice on the apps, but I use the apps for very specific purposes. I know you have good intentions, but that's not really what I'm looking for.


I am aware of my battery. This is a company computer and that is in the process.


Really, like my original question, I am trying to figure out why Finder says I have 20+ GB of space available and the system says I have <7GB of space left.


That's all I'm really trying to figure out right now. I appreciate the advice, but really I'm just trying to figure out why this is happening. If I could get help on that, that would be great. Thanks.

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Mar 7, 2017 9:55 AM in response to JosephmWood

Restarting in Safe Mode to clear caches is worth trying if you have not already done so.


A common reason for the Finder reporting more free space than other tools, such as the Terminal command 'du -h' is the presence of local Time Machine snapshots. I don't have a MBP to hand at the moment, but from memory these live in a hidden directory


/.MobileBackups


Etrecheck says you don't have TM configured. Has that always been the case? If not I wonder if you have still got some old snapshots lying around. Finder will treat them as free space, but if TM is not active they may not get purged in the way that should happen.


C.

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Your disk is full notification when my disk isn't full

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