5K retina El Capitan Flash Storage Problem

[duke5K]

Hi-Anyone else having a problem with their Flash storage emptying out/reseting properly? I've completely cleaned out all the files on my computer and Flash storage still reads (see attached photo) 108GB (other) Audio (28GB) etc... puzzled This is the second time its happened...it happened on Yosemite as well. Mac store said the upgrade to El Cap would fix it. Guess not! Probably should have gone with the fusion storage.

 

[MadDane]

How did you clean it out? Did you format it in Disk Utility? And have you put anything back on the drive? Also, is there anything in the trash can?

 

[duke5K]

How did you clean it out? Did you format it in Disk Utility? And have you put anything back on the drive? Also, is there anything in the trash can?

Hi-thank you-Basically moved all files to an external drive. Yes, all trash cans have been emptied. Have not done anything with Disk Utility. Not sure how that would work? But there is absolutely no audio files but it still shows 28G...Not to mention 108GB in other. A little of that will be my Lightroom and premiere-adobe. But that should only be a few gigs.

Hi-thank you-Basically moved all files to an external drive. Yes, all trash cans have been emptied. Have not done anything with Disk Utility. Not sure how that would work? But there is absolutely no audio files but it still shows 28G...Not to mention 108GB in other. A little of that will be my Lightroom and premiere-adobe. But that should only be a few gigs.

I have put nothing back on the drive. Just waiting for my Apple appointment on Wed. Really not happy about making this trip for the second time. Last visit they just upgraded me from Yosemite to El Capitan. That obviously didn't help at all.

 

[MadDane]

The storage in 'Other' can be a lot of things. But I assume you have the Operating System on the SSD? In that case that is also part of 'Other'. You can see Apples own description of what this includes here: https://support.apple.com/en-ap/HT202867

You would use Disk Utility to format the SSD. In other words, delete everything on the drive and start over. I asked because you said 'I've completely cleaned out all the files on my computer and Flash storage still reads (see attached photo) 108GB (other) Audio (28GB) etc...' I just wanted to know what that meant in terms of what you had done

Here is a screenshot of the storage usage on my own MacBook Pro.

As you can see I have 177.16 GB in other. Part of that is the Operating System, my Virtual Machine (Windows) and other things. As I see it, if you have some stuff saved on the SSD (including the OS) it looks perfectly normal to me.

Can you post screen shots or tell us how much storage is used in the folders Applications, Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Movies, Music and Pictures? That might help get an idea of where there might be something stored.

 

[duke5K]

Just not sure what is stored in the Other category. Don't know if the OS resides there or not...good question. With only 250G Flash I need every bit of that for sure... Here is a screen shot from finder "All my files" You can see its completely empty. There is nothing left on the computer. Yet it still shows there are files....Photo's, Audio and movies should all be zero if anything...

 

[MadDane]

Is there anything in the folders I asked about in the previous post? If there is nothing on the SSD the easiest would be to format the iMac and reinstall the Operating System. Then you will have a clean SSD. However, you should make sure that it is either empty or that you have a backup before doing that.

 

[lobo1978]

Hi-Anyone else having a problem with their Flash storage emptying out/reseting properly? I've completely cleaned out all the files on my computer and Flash storage still reads (see attached photo) 108GB (other) Audio (28GB) etc... puzzled This is the second time its happened...it happened on Yosemite as well. Mac store said the upgrade to El Cap would fix it. Guess not! Probably should have gone with the fusion storage.

Just download from app store daisy disk utility this will give you the idea where are your files. You can also use Terminal.

 

[maflynn]

Download and use OmniDiskSweeper. It will provide a sorted list of what's consuming your space.

If you run it with sudo (As shown below), it will include some system files that it woud not normally have access to scan. That is a more accurate representation of what's consuming your drive.

sudo /Applications/OmniDiskSweeper.app/Contents/MacOS/OmniDiskSweeper

Another option is to use this terminal command
sudo du -d 1 -x -c -g /

I prefer to redirect it to a text file (this puts it in your Documents folder
sudo du -d 1 -x -c -g / > ~/Documents/du.txt

Like the sudo /Applications/OmniDiskSweeper.app/Contents/MacOS/OmniDiskSweeper command, it will scan all directories, but produce a text file as opposed to showing the results in a window

 

[Weaselboy]

Hi-Anyone else having a problem with their Flash storage emptying out/reseting properly? I've completely cleaned out all the files on my computer and Flash storage still reads (see attached photo) 108GB (other) Audio (28GB) etc... puzzled This is the second time its happened...it happened on Yosemite as well. Mac store said the upgrade to El Cap would fix it. Guess not! Probably should have gone with the fusion storage.

Ignoring the categories, does the total sound about right?

Ever since Yosemite that storage readout has been screwed up and you should just ignore it. For example, mine shows 1.3GB of Photos and I have a 9GB Photos Library. The whole thing is just messed up.

If you reindex Spotlight with the command below in Terminal it sometimes helps, but it seems inevitably the index gets messed up and the storage amounts drift off again. That storage readout gets it data from the Spotlight index.

sudo mdutil -E /

tl;dr If the total seems about right... just ignore it.

 

[duke5K]

The storage in 'Other' can be a lot of things. But I assume you have the Operating System on the SSD? In that case that is also part of 'Other'. You can see Apples own description of what this includes here: https://support.apple.com/en-ap/HT202867

You would use Disk Utility to format the SSD. In other words, delete everything on the drive and start over. I asked because you said 'I've completely cleaned out all the files on my computer and Flash storage still reads (see attached photo) 108GB (other) Audio (28GB) etc...' I just wanted to know what that meant in terms of what you had done

Here is a screenshot of the storage usage on my own MacBook Pro.
View attachment 607693
As you can see I have 177.16 GB in other. Part of that is the Operating System, my Virtual Machine (Windows) and other things. As I see it, if you have some stuff saved on the SSD (including the OS) it looks perfectly normal to me.

Can you post screen shots or tell us how much storage is used in the folders Applications, Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Movies, Music and Pictures? That might help get an idea of where there might be something stored.

Ignoring the categories, does the total sound about right?

Ever since Yosemite that storage readout has been screwed up and you should just ignore it. For example, mine shows 1.3GB of Photos and I have a 9GB Photos Library. The whole thing is just messed up.

If you reindex Spotlight with the command below in Terminal it sometimes helps, but it seems inevitably the index gets messed up and the storage amounts drift off again. That storage readout gets it data from the Spotlight index.

sudo mdutil -E /

tl;dr If the total seems about right... just ignore it.

t

Ignoring the categories, does the total sound about right?

Ever since Yosemite that storage readout has been screwed up and you should just ignore it. For example, mine shows 1.3GB of Photos and I have a 9GB Photos Library. The whole thing is just messed up.

If you reindex Spotlight with the command below in Terminal it sometimes helps, but it seems inevitably the index gets messed up and the storage amounts drift off again. That storage readout gets it data from the Spotlight index.

sudo mdutil -E /

tl;dr If the total seems about right... just ignore it.

the numbers are way off...my audio reads 28Gig and there is not one audio file to be found on the computer.

Just download from app store daisy disk utility this will give you the idea where are your files. You can also use Terminal.

Thanks...I can give that a try but I think the problem is in the storage indicator mechanism. Its just not resetting as I clean out my files.

 

[Weaselboy]

the numbers are way off...my audio reads 28Gig and there is not one audio file to be found on the computer.

Like I said, that storage readout does not work properly and you should just ignore it. There is nothing you can do to fix it.

 

[duke5K]

Like I said, that storage readout does not work properly and you should just ignore it. There is nothing you can do to fix it.

I can't ignore it because eventually it will start giving me disk space warnings. And my computer will not function. Disk space warnings comes off the storage readout.

 

[DeltaMac]

Can you tell us the steps that you use to move files to external storage?
That ordinarily just does a copy, and your files are still in place on the SSD. You then move the original files to the trash, and empty the trash.
The Finder does not update much in real time in El Capitan, so after a major change you should logout, then login - or just restart your Mac. The Finder may then show more accurately.
I wonder if you may also get better results if you reset the spotlight database after making major changes to your storage.

 

[Erdbeertorte]

Maybe this might help you to find where most of your data is located:

If you want to see the hidden files/folders too, copy this in the Terminal:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE;killall Finder

 

[duke5K]

Can you tell us the steps that you use to move files to external storage?
That ordinarily just does a copy, and your files are still in place on the SSD. You then move the original files to the trash, and empty the trash.
The Finder does not update much in real time in El Capitan, so after a major change you should logout, then login - or just restart your Mac. The Finder may then show more accurately.
I wonder if you may also get better results if you reset the spotlight database after making major changes to your storage.

Just dragged everything over to a external drive and then dragged the files into the trash and emptied it. Although i figured out the problem. I used OmniDiskSweeper and it located a bunch of files in the Cache. Thats why my "Other" was reading so high. I didn't realize so much was being stored. I recommend Omnidisksweeper to find the hidden files!!! Its a free download. Thank you everyone for you help!!

Maybe this might help you to find the where most of your data is located:

View attachment 608031

If you want to see the hidden files/folders too, copy this in the Terminal:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE;killall Finder

Thanks much...I ended up downloading the OmniDiskSweeper and found the hidden files in the cache.

 

[Erdbeertorte]

I recommend Omnidisksweeper to find the hidden files!!! Its a free download. Thank you everyone for you help!!

Yes it's a nice application. And I saw it has been recommended before. Just wanted to show you another option, without downloading anything.

 

[maflynn]

Thanks much...I ended up downloading the OmniDiskSweeper and found the hidden files in the cache.

Its a handy little application that can help rooting out large files that may go unnoticed

 

[tdbrown75]

Hi-Anyone else having a problem with their Flash storage emptying out/reseting properly? I've completely cleaned out all the files on my computer and Flash storage still reads (see attached photo) 108GB (other) Audio (28GB) etc... puzzled This is the second time its happened...it happened on Yosemite as well. Mac store said the upgrade to El Cap would fix it. Guess not! Probably should have gone with the fusion storage.

I believe the Storage tab within the About this Mac information dialogue is not real time, but based on Spotlight indexing values. I noticed this myself by comparing size properties on the SDD itself (McIntosh HD). If different, you can re-index the drive using spotlight, wait for cleanup to happen naturally or use a utility such as OmniDiskSweeper.

Tim

 

[Weaselboy]

I can't ignore it because eventually it will start giving me disk space warnings. And my computer will not function. Disk space warnings comes off the storage readout.

You never mentioned this was happening. The entire thread you seemed only concerned about the storage category readouts, and that is a waste of time because they are all wrong.