Loss of Hard disc Space

iron-lung

iron-lung

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This one is really puzzling me... I checked the amount available on 2 of my HD and it doesn;t match the data size I have calculated on the drive (out by about 10Gb) any ideas ???? I have tried using disk first aid via / disk Utilities but the drive is Mounted and can't repair until unmounted, don't really understand the outcome of unmounting a drive PLEASE HELP !!!!
 
Although after checking the links it doesn't seem to be the same as my problem. To be more specific: Nothing to do with memory....

I was using DVDBackup and DVD2ONE, I went to drop a copy of the dvd image onto a separate drive, a warning flashed up saying that there was not enough disk space left on that drive (although there was 18+GB) I tried another drive and got the same message (this time with 7gb free)I deleted the file and when I rebooted the drives' showed alot less free space on the 'Get Info" and the Show View Options then I had calculated by hand. In total I have lost over 20Gb!!!!

I have tried running the disk Utility from the OS Disk and repairing the drives but to no avail!!!!

Anymore ideas mate ???


(By the way disk utility did sort my other thread thanks :0)
 
When you're calculating free disk space manually, are you simply selecting all the files and folders on your hard drive, doing a Get Info on them, then reading the reported number?

If that is the case, you're missing a LOT of files... OS X has many invisible files and folders that you're not picking up by manually selecting the "visible" files and folders on you drive. Try the UNIX command "df".

I'm sure those programs you're using are somehow creating invisible temporary files somewhere, perhaps in an invisible temporary folder. Navigate your filesystem using the terminal and find 'em.
 
That is what I am experiencing... this hidden file nonsense (to answer your first question this didn't happen over time, i lost 18Gb off 2 drives in 20 mins!!!)

The terminal is the Unix version of the command line... right ?

I am not confident enough to go messing with this without the right commands to hand... any suggestions on how I can scan for these hidden files via the terminal ?????


Thanx again
 
I don't know how you can scan for those hidden files only, but 'df' - as Diablo said - is the command to see the truely used space on your disk.
 
The Terminal is the UNIX command line. Just launch the Terminal application, and you'll have a UNIX command line at your fingertips.

All you need to do is type "df" (without quotes, of course) and hit enter, and the disk usage for all mounted volumes and devices will be displayed.

If you know UNIX, you can "grep" for hidden files by using a regular expression such as "/^\.+/". If you don't know regular expressions or UNIX's grep, well, you can google around for tutorials, but regular expressions are complicated and best learned in a classroom... :(
 
I have a friend who is a unix operator and we sat there for 4hrs last night trying to find these "hidden files". I one point I thought it was the Virtual PC I had installed but i think that was down to unix showing the file size in bytes instead of Kbytes.

But I have still no idea where my missing 9Gb is, or what file/s is taking up that much space... I guess because of this and my shutdown script problems (when u shutdown G4 goes to sleep instead) I think its probably better just to wipe and reinstall OSX.

Does anybody know a less destructive way of solving these annoying faults
Please
 
Try to use a utility like OmniDiskSweeper (the demo version is good enough for this). This utility will show you the size of the directories and files of your system, including hidden files. You should be able to find the lost space this way.

You can also try the following in the terminal:
du | sort -nr | head
 
Or, you can use the UNIX find command. Change directory to your root directory ("cd /"). Then, type "find . -size +614400". That will find any file bigger than 600MB on your system. If you wanna adjust the size, just change the number at the end -- it uses sizes in multiples of 1024, so if you wanna find files that are bigger than 50MB, take 50 * 1024 = 51200, and change the command to "find . -size +51200".

"find" searches from the directory you're in and recusively goes through all subfolders, so be sure to change directory to your root directory first if you wanna search the entire drive. Otherwise, it'll start with the directory you're currently in (this defaults to your home directory when a new Terminal window is opened).

Good luck!
 
OK,
Viro thanx for posting link to JDiskReport, D/L and run and it backs up my original calculation that there is 9Gb on there NOT 9Gb left. I have still got roughly 18Gb unaccounted for.

How do I now go about locating it, Would it just be easier to wipe / reinstall the drive or could this signify a damged HD ????

Still confused....... Still asking for advice....... Still need help!!!!
 
Play around with JDiskreport. I think you can get it to display where all the space is going, like sorting directories/files by size, etc.
 
Can you do this:

Run "df" in a Terminal, then copy and paste the output here.

Also, include a screeshot of a Finder window of your hard drive that shows the disk available at the bottom.

Perhaps one of us can sort the mess out with that information...
 
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