Different Sizes in Macintosh HD and User's folder

[J.e.n.n.y.]

When I checked the Disk Usage under Activity Monitor, I noticed that my User's folder's space utilized is 297.38 GB and space free is 117.57 MB. However, when I clicked on Macintosh HD, it said that the space utilized was 148.62 GB with the space free 117.57 MB.

How come the user folder has more GB than the Macintosh HD?

 

[DeltaMac]

The important number for you right now is the Space Free 117.57MB.
That's in the danger zone, and you need to delete some files.
Are you using File Vault?
I hope not...
File Vault will still register that space as used, even if you empty your trash. You have to turn off File Vault, and let your system clean out that unused space in your user account. But - you almost certainly won't have enough free space to turn off file vault.
You will really struggle to clear space when your hard drive is that full. You should be getting 'disk is full' messages all the time now!

 

[J.e.n.n.y.]

Yes, that's exactly it! I had made another thread that explained my situation and the measures I took but no one replied...

I have just downloaded Omnidisksweeper and was about to deleted some files when I realized I had no idea what those files were! I am really confused...

If you don't mind, could you please help me with my disk volume problem? This is what I wrote on the other topic:
http://macosx.com/forums/mac-os-x-s...p-disk-full-deleted-stuff-but-still-full.html

Thank you so much!!!!

 

[DeltaMac]

If you have mostly filled your hard drive with garageband files (ones that you have saved), then that's a really good place to begin. You said that you have already saved those garageband files to another drive? Then, you can use OmniDisksweeper to find those files (if they are still on your hard drive) and delete them directly from the OmniDisksweeper window. Those will be files that you have named, so should be easy for you to find.
Are you using FileVault? you will need to turn off FileVault before you can really do anything - and that may stop you...

 

[J.e.n.n.y.]

Yes, I am using FireVault and it requires me to free up 55 GB to turn off!

As for the garageband files, I deleted them from my computer once I transferred them.

OmniDisksweeper is a bit weird for me. Because it was taking 120.4 of my Macintosh HD, I went Macintosh HD > User > .(myusername) > .(username).sparsebundle > bands

And then I'm lost...

It shows me thousands of 8.0 MB sized items, and there are no names for those files, only numbers (0, 1, 100, 1000, 1001, etc.)

Can I deleted those? What are they?

 

[DeltaMac]

Yes, those are the sparsebundle bands. Those are part of the encrypted image that FileVault uses. Also used by Time Machine. If you delete those bands, you will lose access to your data - so, I don't think you want to do that.
I recommend that you make more space for FileVault to function (and you do want to turn FileVault off at this point).
But - you don't have enough space on your hard drive to do that, and you can't truly delete anything until you succeed in turning FileVault off - and you don't have enough space to do _that_
So - what can you do?
You need a much larger external hard drive.
Install OS X on that external hard drive.
Migrate all your data and files to the bigger hard drive. The migration tool is one of the first steps when setting up OS X, so you can simply follow the directions for that.
Once you get all your files and data on the bigger hard drive, you'll have enough space to turn off FileVault.
Notice that I am not saying anything about turning FileVault back on after you are done. This is not a fun situation, and much of it is caused by using FileVault, and letting the hard drive get too full. Unless your personal matters or business requires the security that FileVault will provide - I recommend that you ignore FileVault completely.

 

[djackmac]

But - you don't have enough space on your hard drive to do that, and you can't truly delete anything until you succeed in turning FileVault off - and you don't have enough space to do _that_
So - what can you do?
You need a much larger external hard drive.
Install OS X on that external hard drive.
Migrate all your data and files to the bigger hard drive.

But then again, she can't migrate until FileVault is turned off. I'd do a restore to the external HD and then boot to the external and turn off filevault.

 

[DeltaMac]

You are correct, as usual. Restore, using Disk Utility, is a better solution.
The main point here, I think, is that FileVault can put you in a bad spot, and makes a full hard drive even more of a challenge.

 

[djackmac]

The main point here, I think, is that FileVault can put you in a bad spot, and makes a full hard drive even more of a challenge.

+1. FileVault just complicates everything even more with any kind of issues. If people insist on using FV, they should a solid backup plan in place.

 

[J.e.n.n.y.]

I thought at first that FileVault would come in handy if I lost an essay or something, but I guess it does more harm than good...

In any case, I have a few more questions... (sorry, I'm not too good with Macs)

So, according to you guys, this is what I should be doing, right?:

1. Install OS X on the external HD
Q: Is there a CD for that? I'm not sure I have one...

2. Restore everything using Disk Utility to transfer everything into my external HD.
Q: Does it delete everything from my computer once it's done or do I have to do it through OmniDisksweeper? Is it necessary to delete since I will be "booting" from the external?
Q: What happens if you check the "Erase Destination" in Disk Utility? It gets me a little bit confused... Wouldn't you want to erase the original files and keep the ones going to the destination?

3. Boot to the external
Q: What are the steps for booting? I'm not sure I understand how to do it. Do I have to switch my startup disk to the external HD?

4. Turn off FileVault
Q: How do I make sure the files or the encryptions FileVault made before are gone?


Sorry again for all these questions! I'm totally new to the Mac system!

Thank you!

 

[djackmac]

I thought at first that FileVault would come in handy if I lost an essay or something, but I guess it does more harm than good...

FV is not meant to preserve your data. It encrypts the data, so if someone steals your computer they won't be able to access anything on the drive without the FV password. If you are intested in preserving the Data, Time Machine and an external drive is what you'll need.

1. Install OS X on the external HD
Q: Is there a CD for that? I'm not sure I have one...

You don't need the DVD to install OSX, But you will need it to boot to and then access disk utility to do the restore.

2. Restore everything using Disk Utility to transfer everything into my external HD.
Q: Does it delete everything from my computer once it's done or do I have to do it through OmniDisksweeper? Is it necessary to delete since I will be "booting" from the external?
Q: What happens if you check the "Erase Destination" in Disk Utility? It gets me a little bit confused... Wouldn't you want to erase the original files and keep the ones going to the destination?

Once you move everything to the external drive, you will still need to make space. Moving everything to the external is providing you the ability to turn off FV and make the space you need. Then you'll have to restore back to the internal drive when finished. Erase destination is fine. That means its erasing the drive its copying too, not from. Just make sure you are absolutely positive you know which is the target drive and which is the destination.

3. Boot to the external
Q: What are the steps for booting? I'm not sure I understand how to do it. Do I have to switch my startup disk to the external HD?

Once you've done the restore to the external drive, just hold the option key at startup to go to boot manager to start from any drive that is not set as your startup disk.

4. Turn off FileVault
Q: How do I make sure the files or the encryptions FileVault made before are gone?

Once you've booted to the external drive, just go to system preferences and turn off FileVault.

 

[J.e.n.n.y.]

Thank you djackmac, you are a god!

Basically, all I need now is to find the OS X DVD?

Just another quick thing... I've deleted about 6GB in my home folder through OmniDisksweeper, but nothing is freeing up... Is that also due to FV?

Thank you soooo much! Your advice is super valuable! Thank you!

 

[djackmac]

Just another quick thing... I've deleted about 6GB in my home folder through OmniDisksweeper, but nothing is freeing up... Is that also due to FV?

Yes, this is due to FV. Once FV is turned off you should notice the difference in size. I imagine just turning off FV alone should free up a significant amount of space on the drive.

 

[J.e.n.n.y.]

Ok, I've got new problems now

I've created a disk image (backup) of Macintosh HD on my external HD and deleted everything on my internal HD to make more space. I turned off FileVault as well, which made a lot of space.

Now, my Macintosh HD has 137.8 GB free and the disk image is 136 GB.

I rebooted on the Mac OS X DVD and used Disk Utility to restore the disk image on Macintosh HD. However it keeps telling this: "Restore Failure. Could not validate sizes - Operation not permitted"

I can't even restart the computer anymore! It gives me the grey screen, then the apple, and then all over again. The only thing still working is the DVD.

What should I do now? What is the problem?

 

[djackmac]

Why did you make a disk image? You were supposed to do a restore to the external HD to make it bootable. A disk image is saving a read only image file to the external drive and is not bootable and can't itself be modified. Were you actually able to boot to the external HD?

 

[webb]

Hey guys, mac newb with a question here. I have the same partition (?), hd, and users on my computer. I was wondering if I could combine them into one so that I don't have a 40/70 split on my hard drive. Thanks.