Finder and Disk Utility report different usage

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Finder and Disk Utility report different usage

Finder says 402Gb used, of 750Gb drive. DU says 523Gb used. Big difference! 120Gb+

I have just done a Time Machine update (to external TM drive) so assume mobile backups will be pretty empty (??)

I've emptied Trash.

I have another 500Gb external drive I want to do a full backup/clone copy of my allegedly 402Gb Macintosh HD to, but the utility I'm using says that Mac HD is 523Gb so may not fit!

I've read about TM local backups, etc, which are dispensed with if space needed locally, but as my TM is always on an external drive and I've just updated it, how can there be 120Gb of local TM backup files? I suspect that is not the culprit. And in any case, I don't want the space when I need it on the Mac HD, I want it now so I can clone.

What can be causing a 120Gb discrepancy?

Thanks in advance for any help.

George

(PS Would have posted to Mac OS and system software but that was greyed out!)

Posted on Feb 24, 2018 6:36 AM

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Answer 1

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macjack

Level 10

111,242 points

Feb 24, 2018 6:41 AM in response to george57l

The Storage tab does not always report correctly. Look in About this Mac > System Report > Storage. Also check by choosing your Mac HD and "Get Info" (command-i). It may be different. Try rebuilding Spotlight index.

How to rebuild the Spotlight index on your Mac - Apple Support

Some of the space may also be from Time Machine Snapshots.

About Time Machine local snapshots - Apple Support

After you've freed up some space download Omni DiskSweeper:

https://www.omnigroup.com/more

DiskSweeper can give you a more accurate read of disk space than Finder or Storage Tab of About this Mac. Itcan also show you the precise size and location of all your files..It can also give you a more accurate read of disk space than Finder or Storage Tab of About this Mac. Itcan show you the precise size and location of all your files. It will inventory your disk starting from the files that take up the most space. It can also give you a more accurate read of disk space than Finder or Storage Tab of About this Mac. If you want you can even delete files from OmniDisk Sweeper. But be careful some of the items may be important to your system.

For information about the Other category in the Storage display, please see Apple Support Topic

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202867

Also, empty the Trash if you haven't already done so. If you use iPhoto, empty its internal Trash first:

iPhoto ▹ Empty Trash

In Photos: File ▹ Show Recently Deleted ▹ Delete All

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Answer 2

george57l Author

Level 1

12 points

Feb 24, 2018 8:21 AM in response to macjack

Yes, so I have now learned. (Though the storage tab was in line with DU - it's Finder that was inaccurate, but ODS had a different total again and while I said it was trivial ref 120Gb, it WAS sufficiently different, and lower than both, to now make me think further. So, on reflection, while waiting for Spotlight to do its thing, I am still concerned, because ODS could not see those backups either! So I am not currently filled with confidence that reindexing SL will fix it. Fingers crossed. I'll report back.

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Answer 3

macjack

Level 10

111,242 points

Feb 24, 2018 7:50 AM in response to george57l

OK. I would tend to believe ODW over what is reported by either the Storage tab or Finder. Good luck.

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Answer 4

george57l Author

Level 1

12 points

Feb 24, 2018 7:43 AM in response to macjack

Macjack

Thanks for swift response. Trash was emptied, I do not use iPhotos, etc.

OmniDiskSweeper shows a different total again, and its counts on things like photos, music, movies, etc are all different from Finder, but relatively trivially so. Not 120Gb, though.

Discovered that there is 120+Gb of backups somewhere. Cannot see of find them and as of this moment I'm on hold with Apple Support as their first line guy is totally perplexed that he cannot see/find this 120Gb or the backups, either. Just pushed me to 2nd level and after a quick review, am now reindexing Spotlight. I'll know if it did the trick in a couple of hours, I guess. But I learned something, that Finder may not always be accurate and I need a third party app like ODS, to take a look now and again!

I'll come back and post if the Spotlight reindex fixed it. Not sure if it will give me back the 120Gb - I suspect not, but it should allow me to see them and delete the little buggers! ;-) Then I hope to be able to clone to the external 500GB drive.

Thanks again

George

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Finder and Disk Utility report different usage

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