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PookJP · Jan 24, 2006, 02:21 AM

I'm a bit confused about a missing 2.64GB of space hiding within my PowerBook G4's 60GB drive. I know that formatted its capacity is 55.76GB, but when I add the total sizes of the items within my computer's first directory (Applications, Installer Log File, Library, System, Users, ViewpointLog.log), and that's 53.12.

So where'd it go? Can I recover it? I'm down to 1.76GB left internally (yes, I have an external, but I need a certain files stored internally) and would like to use every bit I theoretically have.

Cheers!

Randman · Jan 24, 2006, 05:15 AM

Are you using FileVault? If so, you may be better off reformatting vs trying to reclaim space from a sparse disk error.

bowwowman · Jan 24, 2006, 05:38 AM

"""""""v*i*r*t*u*a*l m*e*m*o*r*y,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

ShotgunEd · Jan 24, 2006, 06:32 AM

Yeah, I'd say its VM alright.

There are some topics on here about it that can be found with a quick search.

Chuckit · Jan 24, 2006, 10:39 AM

I don't recommend using every bit of disk space you have. That's asking for trouble.

CharlesS · Jan 24, 2006, 10:50 AM

There's also the invisible /usr, /bin, /sbin, and /private directories. These contain quite a lot of stuff when added up, especially if you have much UNIX software (or the dev tools) installed.

This is why I wish Apple didn't insist on having so much invisible crap these days. The size of the /System directory is nowhere near representative of the total size of your OS.

Maflynn · Jan 24, 2006, 11:50 AM

A handy app to find out where your space went is Disk Sweeper I use this whenever I feel that free space is shrinking.

There could be lots of reasons to why your space is diminshing and with omni's disk sweeper you can see for sure.

Mike

PookJP · Jan 24, 2006, 01:26 PM

Thanks for the input, guys. And yeah, I know it's better to not use all my hard drive space; I'm trying to figure out just what else I can lose.

I'll try Disk Sweeper and see if that helps.

jmault · Jan 27, 2006, 12:29 AM

What exactly does Disk Sweeper do? It sounds like something I would be interested in, but I was wondering does the free download work just as good, or what not, as the one you could buy. I clicked on the link and it gave me 2 options, the one to buy and the one to just DL.
Thanks
jmault

chris v · Jan 27, 2006, 04:47 AM

Does your drive have more space upon restart? If so, you've been building up swap files. The folder's invisible by default, but you can see its contents by using the Finder> Go> Go To Folder... menu item and typing /var/vm

Swap files frequently soak up a gig or two.

Maflynn · Jan 27, 2006, 07:30 AM

Originally Posted by jmault

What exactly does Disk Sweeper do? It sounds like something I would be interested in, but I was wondering does the free download work just as good, or what not, as the one you could buy. I clicked on the link and it gave me 2 options, the one to buy and the one to just DL.
Thanks
jmault

Since you went to the site you should have seen the free one just reports the space utilization and the one you pay for allows file deletion with the application.

Snipped right from their web page.

Free Trial License:

If you would like to give OmniDiskSweeper a try in its licensed mode (great for testing out that delete button we mentioned) we offer free, expiring one day trial licenses. Just click here to get one for OmniDiskSweeper.
Mike