Finder is claiming that 45GB > 98GB

By crazzy88ss
in Apple (macOS)

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Grand Master

Gerowen

Posted
Posted

Is that a single file that is 45 GB? If so it may be an issue with the file system that the external is formatted in. For example, a drive formatted in FAT32 cannot have a single file larger than 4 GB, and other file systems have limitations as well.

Grand Master

CPressland

Posted
Posted

Had the same issue a few weeks ago.

Turning off Time Machine and running Onyx's automated scripts to run Maintenance / Clear Kernel Cache / LaunchServices etc seams to have resolved the issue. Naturally I turned TM back on after.

No idea how this is related, but it did resolve the issue.

Mentor

winrez

Posted
Posted

It might be http://reviews.cnet....g-large-drives/#!

If you have Windows installed use Macdrive in Windows to copy the file so you avoid the bug http://www.mediafour...ducts/macdrive/

you can also use Disc Falcon to find out where your space is going on your Mac http://www.macworld.com/article/1160443/diskfalcon1.html

Grand Master

crazzy88ss

Posted
  • Author
Posted

1.) I repaired permissions with no changes.

2.) I found this little nugget (see photo).

So... I don't have time machine enabled... so 1.) What are these "back ups"? 2.) Where are they and how do I delete them? 3.) Why is Finder reporting different numbers from System Information?

post-119755-0-33553100-1354389927.jpg

Grand Master

.Neo

Posted
Posted

Backups are Time Machine snapshots stored locally. OS X does this so recent backups are still available to you when you're on the go and don't have your external drive with you. Are you sure you didn't have Time Machine turned on at some point? Versions snapshots are part of the "backup" section too. This accounts for the difference in available space in the Finder and About This Mac, which I agree on is strange.

They should have been purged though after a week. Not sure why that didn't happen. Anyway, check this link to disable local snapshots:

http://osxdaily.com/...-mac-os-x-lion/

I think this thread is the perfect example of why Apple products are no longer "easy" to use. I love how over half of your disk space is consumed by "Backups" and "Other" stuff... So informative.

Every OS is going to have its problems, OS X is no exception. You taking this as an opportunity to rip on Apple is a bit sad really. Why not go over to the Windows section and see how many issues people are having there?

Collaborator

mrmomoman

Posted
Posted

The backups could be the Mobile Backup area when iTunes backs up your iDevices. The back ups don't get deleted and will get larger in size. At least in my experience.

Look for the Back Ups for the Devices in iTunes and delete the old backups. iTunes -> Preferences -> Devices - or something similar. Recalling from the top of my head.

Also check this area out.

~/Library/Application Support/Mobile Sync/Backup

Community Regular

Breakthrough

Posted
Posted
Every OS is going to have its problems, OS X is no exception. You taking this as an opportunity to rip on Apple is a bit sad really. Why not go over to the Windows section and see how many issues people are having there?

I didn't say any operating system was perfect, but there's clearly an intuitive and a non-intuitive way to do things. And on the machine I'm writing this reply on (Linux), if it says I have 40GB of free space on my HDD, that's how much (sans filesystem overhead) I can put on the drive.

Files are files. That's all I want taking up my disk space, not all that "Other" stuff.

Grand Master

crazzy88ss

Posted
  • Author
Posted

I double checked TM... it was turned on. what. the. duck. I don't use TM on this computer.

I'm guessing it was activated when I downgraded to OS 10.8. I'm so tired of these crappy OSX updates.

That being said... WHY would these backups overwrite my ability to use my HDD how I want?! As Breakthrough pointed out, I really feel Apple's slipping these days.

Grand Master

.Neo

Posted
Posted

There you have it. And yeah, bad Apple! There's just no way this could have been user error huh?

Here's the thing: If Time Machine allowed backups to be automatically overwritten people would go berserk over loosing their precious backups. If Time Machine doesn't, people (like you) go insane over loosing disk space.

Files are files. That's all I want taking up my disk space, not all that "Other" stuff.

"Other" are all the documents that don't fit in the other categories. Shouldn't really be hard to figure out...

Grand Master

.Neo

Posted
Posted

Sorry to sound silly (never used OSX) but surely it should remove old backups with the newest backup taking precedence instead of hogging your hard drive with an 'archive' of backups?

I believe backups are automatically deleted after a week.

Proficient

srbeen

Posted
Posted

98GB isn't enough space for a 45GB file, and 62.4GB isn't enough space to do a 3.1GB time machine backup? Whats going on here?! Permissions?

I vouch OSX knows what its limits are, so it has a reason not to do the copies.. but its such a simple command. Would doing the copy in terminal offer more details?

Sorry to sound silly (never used OSX) but surely it should remove old backups with the newest backup taking precedence instead of hogging your hard drive with an 'archive' of backups?

I think it can merge the newer backups with the old and update any new/modified files, So you have one continuous backup (say daily backups) or it can do a set amount of backups (like save five, which would be a month at one a week) or a set file size limit (backup until 50GB used, then start deleting the oldest files)

Pretty sure you set this up when you setup time machine. Maybe I'm getting confused with rsync.

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