Imac running out of memory

[roisin20]

My Imac is eating up memory. I have in total a 250GB harddrive. It is now full. There is no way I have used up all this memory myself. 2 months ago I still had 200 GBs free space, so I dont understand where all this space has dissapeared to. I deleted a few movies etc to free up some space, within 2 hours another quarter of a GB had dissapeared even though I wasn't near my computer. Has anyone any idea what could be going on?

 

[VicX]

My Imac is eating up memory. I have in total a 250GB harddrive. It is now full. There is no way I have used up all this memory myself. 2 months ago I still had 200 GBs free space, so I dont understand where all this space has dissapeared to. I deleted a few movies etc to free up some space, within 2 hours another quarter of a GB had dissapeared even though I wasn't near my computer. Has anyone any idea what could be going on?

memory or harddrive storage?
if it's harddrive, try cleaning disc to remove those temp internet files, temp files, thumbnails and caches

 

[roisin20]

Its harddrive storage. Thanks I'll try that but Its unlikely these files would take up so much space...??! I'll have a look anyway

 

[avihappy]

Try using JDiskReport or Daisy Disk. They will show you graphically where all the space is going.

 

[roisin20]

Thanks for your help, I downloaded JDiskReport, came accross a log file that was 65GB!! deleted it so hopefully problem fixed

 

[OldCorpse]

You might have inadvertently enabled Time Machine on your drive - this means TM is using part of your drive to back up, and that can eat up space plenty fast.

 

[avihappy]

Thanks for your help, I downloaded JDiskReport, came accross a log file that was 65GB!! deleted it so hopefully problem fixed

You should have tries opening the log file and checked if there is some process that is sending the same message over and over, bloating the log file. It seems like you only deleted the symptom and not the cause. The log file might come back.

 

[roisin20]

yes your right, I deleted the folder (it is named "asl"). However it reapeared and is already growing pretty fast. How do I check if there is some process that is sending the same message over and over?? and is there a way I can permanently delete the folder?
Thanks

 

[wesleyh]

You could probably change the permissions to read only for everyone (right click > show info) if you don't find the program responsible and provided this isn't a system file.

 

[avihappy]

yes your right, I deleted the folder (it is named "asl"). However it reapeared and is already growing pretty fast. How do I check if there is some process that is sending the same message over and over?? and is there a way I can permanently delete the folder?
Thanks

Open the Console.app in the /Applications/Utilities folder. Then look for the log file that was 6GB in the left hand column (I think asl might be "system.log"). Then look for any messages that are repeating. When/if you find it, post it here and maybe someone can tell you what it is. I wouldn't try to permanently remove it, as the system logs are a critical part of the OS.