Resolved different amounts of free space

[bdodds1985]

Disk utility & System Information shows me that on my internal SSD I have 72.1 GB of free space. But under "Get Info" on the "Macintosh HD", and the icon on my desktop, shows me that I have 101.87 GB of free space. I know I dont have that much stuff on my internal. NO music, 2.5GB of photos and videos, a couple apps (the biggest one is VLC!), 4.55GB Total.

I have my time machine backups going to an external when I want them to, and thats on a 1.5TB FW800 External with a partitioned 100GB specifically for backups.

So why is disk utility saying I have used 48.37GB!?!?! Theres no way.

I'm trying to figure this out before I install my 2nd SSD into the optical bay slot, which I will use it for music (60GB) and everything else I stated above. That way pretty much the only thing on the boot drive, is the OS.

But somethings not right here... what can I do to get the correct amount of disk space and free up the extra unused GB's?

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Take a look at DiskInventory X (will not work in Mac OS X 10.7 Lion), OmniDiskSweeper, JDisk Report or GrandPerspective to see where your SSD space went to.

 

[heisenberg123]

Disk utility & System Information shows me that on my internal SSD I have 72.1 GB of free space. But under "Get Info" on the "Macintosh HD", and the icon on my desktop, shows me that I have 101.87 GB of free space. I know I dont have that much stuff on my internal. NO music, 2.5GB of photos and videos, a couple apps (the biggest one is VLC!), 4.55GB Total.

I have my time machine backups going to an external when I want them to, and thats on a 1.5TB FW800 External with a partitioned 100GB specifically for backups.

So why is disk utility saying I have used 48.37GB!?!?! Theres no way.

I'm trying to figure this out before I install my 2nd SSD into the optical bay slot, which I will use it for music (60GB) and everything else I stated above. That way pretty much the only thing on the boot drive, is the OS.

But somethings not right here... what can I do to get the correct amount of disk space and free up the extra unused GB's?

are you on Lion? using Time Machine?

time machine takes local snapshots

 

[bdodds1985]

are you on Lion? using Time Machine?

time machine takes local snapshots

I am on Lion, and as I stated Time machine is on my external when its plugged in, and even so I havent used 40GB of space! What I stated above is EVERYTHING I have on the drive as far as space that should be used, plus the OS. Soooo.... maybe 20-25GB. I only have 7GB of stuff on the drive. plus the 10 or so for Lion. I did have to use a thumb drive to install Lion even though the recovery is built into my MBP. I just couldnt download it via the internet, nor would I ever want to. So its possible that the recovery drive still uses some space but it STILL shouldnt be that much.

EDIT: now all the sudden it changes and says I have 100GB of free space. Im so lost. I knew I shouldve taken a screen shot when it said that, but I didn't. I do have one now though in case it does it again.

 

[heisenberg123]

I am on Lion, and as I stated Time machine is on my external when its plugged in, and even so I havent used 40GB of space! What I stated above is EVERYTHING I have on the drive as far as space that should be used, plus the OS. Soooo.... maybe 20-25GB. I only have 7GB of stuff on the drive. plus the 10 or so for Lion. I did have to use a thumb drive to install Lion even though the recovery is built into my MBP. I just couldnt download it via the internet, nor would I ever want to. So its possible that the recovery drive still uses some space but it STILL shouldnt be that much

ya i dont know, I personally have about 20GB of "other" that i cant trace using any of the above methods, most people tell me dont worry its just system files, that might be your case too

 

[squeakr]

Are you sure that you have turned off local snapshots as the previous poster stated? If you don't turn them off through terminal commands then even though Time Machine is on your external, with Lion it will take local snapshots and depending on how many it has taken it could easily be the amount you are reporting?

 

[bdodds1985]

one more note, this is not the first time I've noticed this problem. and the first time I had time machine off. No need to constantly back up if nothing changes.

 

[squeakr]

one more note, this is not the first time I've noticed this problem. and the first time I had time machine off. No need to constantly back up if nothing changes.

Yes, but did you turn off the local snapshots. Even with Time Machine off, the snapshots will still remain on the system, they don't just disappear. The only time that they are removed is when the space is needed and then Time Machine deletes some snapshots to make space on an as needed basis (although I have read where people say that their snapshots disappeared when they sync'd with Time Machine but that is not how it is supposed to happen as per Apple). So once again, did you disable it within Terminal? We would like to help you but we need you to be able to answer questions to help with this process.

Time Machine constantly backs up as something is always changing, new email, a background system setting, such as an update scan, etc. I have disabled my local snapshots through Terminal, as I just need an occasional back up to roll to if my smaller SSD drive dies (and most of my information is on the cloud or my server).

 

[bdodds1985]

Yes, but did you turn off the local snapshots. Even with Time Machine off, the snapshots will still remain on the system, they don't just disappear. The only time that they are removed is when the space is needed and then Time Machine deletes some snapshots to make space on an as needed basis (although I have read where people say that their snapshots disappeared when they sync'd with Time Machine but that is not how it is supposed to happen as per Apple). So once again, did you disable it within Terminal? We would like to help you but we need you to be able to answer questions to help with this process.

Time Machine constantly backs up as something is always changing, new email, a background system setting, such as an update scan, etc. I have disabled my local snapshots through Terminal, as I just need an occasional back up to roll to if my smaller SSD drive dies (and most of my information is on the cloud or my server).

Sorry squeakr, I do appreciate the help... trust me. As a novice user it why I'm here.

I would LOVE to disable the snapshots but have no clue how. Can you show me? Can you show me, and if I do this does it have any effect on time machine when it does back up onto my external?

 

[thundersteele]

Time machine local snapshots is one possible explanation for this discrepancy:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4878

Note:
About this Mac -> Storage tells you what is occupying your disk. On my MBP, it currently says 66.56 GB free out of 120.47 GB. If I look at the breakdown, "Backups" are 383.4 MB.
Now, if I select my HD in Finder and click "Get Info", it says 66.95 GB free. It does not count the backups as used space, because, as explained in the link above, the local snapshots are freed up if the HD space is needed.

What probably happened is that you moved a few large files through your SSD, and then deleted them. At some point I had more than 10 GB in backups. After a while (about a week), it was freed up again. It is not necessary to disable the local snapshots, but you can do it if they disturb you.

 

[Sonhascome]

I'd download daisy disk. Turn off timemachine and when you do it should delete all of the time machine backups that it has put on the computer, then you shouldn't have a discrepancy between the two anymore

 

[bdodds1985]

now the problem im having is that it wants to back up my music or something? its telling me that i have almost 100GB to back up! thats the 70GB of music plus the other 25GB of everything else... i have my music on my optical bay ssd, and it doesnt need to be backed up. any way i can turn that off, or select just backing up whats on my original ssd to back up?