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You are here: MacNN Forums > Software - Troubleshooting and Discussion > macOS > Total folder space does not add up (missing a few GB)

Total folder space does not add up (missing a few GB)
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Ham Sandwich
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Aug 18, 2014, 04:27 PM
 
This is probably an ancient issue but I have the following folders (only visible, no invisible folders) inside of my Home directory:

Desktop
Documents
Downloads
Movies
Music
Pictures
Public
uparm

As a direct sum these take up 28.04 GB.

But my home folder when I do Get Info on it is 31.89 GB.

I know how to use "ls -al" but I didn't see any unusually large invisible files (a few bytes here and there).

So, what's eating up my space?
     
ghporter
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Aug 18, 2014, 08:17 PM
 
I'll bet it's an issue of file sizes versus drive space usage. You're talking about a difference of less than 4GB between the calculated sizes of all those folders and the used space on the disk. That could easily be "slack" due to small files taking up a particular minimum amount of disk space. I think the default minimum is 4096 bytes, so any file of less than that will take up 4096 bytes. Also, IIRC OS X has moved to using the drive manufacturers' habit of giving data in "decimal" terms rather than the true decimal equivalent of the binary values, so 4096 bytes would be shown as "4000" or just "4k" bytes...

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
reader50
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Aug 18, 2014, 08:39 PM
 
Probably an invisible folder in your home folder. Use OmniDiskSweeper to sweep your drive, then check your home folder in the display. Shouldn't be hard to find the discrepancy.

@glenn, minimum block size used by OSX on disk is 4096 bytes. So that is the minimum file size, not counting 0-lenth files. However, this shouldn't be a binary/decimal thing. The same Get Info tool was used on the home folder, then on each subfolder. The totals disagree by 3.8 GB.
     
Waragainstsleep
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Aug 18, 2014, 10:24 PM
 
I don't see your Library folder in that list. You must have one and if you use Apple Mail then the 4GB discrepancy is likely your email data. If you don't its just other assorted fonts, preferences and probably Safari caches.
I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
     
Spheric Harlot
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Aug 19, 2014, 04:26 AM
 
Doesn't Time Machine keep invisible local backups that don't count against the total?
     
ghporter
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Aug 19, 2014, 06:58 AM
 
Yeah, almost 4GB is too much for slack to account for it. I agree that there's a hidden folder somewhere that accounts for the difference.

Somewhere I read that Finder used non-binary values the way disk drive manufacturers do...

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
badidea
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Aug 19, 2014, 08:34 AM
 
What OS version?
When I installed the Yosemite Beta on a second partition of my HD, I found a similar problem - one folder, which was cloned to the second partition, showed a different size in the "get info" window even though it had the exact same content!
There were about five files in the folder which would have summed up to 5.4GB - get info showed 7.1GB! (Yosemite)
In Mavericks everything is correct ... I have no idea why Yosemite can't count (no invisible files in the folder)!
***
     
Ham Sandwich
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Aug 19, 2014, 09:10 AM
 
Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep View Post
I don't see your Library folder in that list.

Duuur!


Got it, stupid folder is always invisible.


Update: My Safari user cache was 3 GB. I told Safari to Clear History and got 3 GB back.
     
Waragainstsleep
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Aug 19, 2014, 03:44 PM
 
Kinda surprised no-one else caught it sooner tbh.
I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
     
ghporter
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Aug 20, 2014, 07:14 AM
 
Yeah, that's odd. I keep forgetting that Library is hidden.

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
P
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Aug 20, 2014, 11:21 AM
 
FFR: the terminal command to check the space used by folders is "du", usually with a few switches. -h is human readable , -d1 means show only one level, so

du -hd1

Would have showed you what you needed.

(My Library is 31G, btw, and that is on the MBA, not even my main Mac)
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
     
reader50
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Aug 20, 2014, 02:28 PM
 
I didn't know that one. Thanks.
     
Ham Sandwich
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Aug 20, 2014, 03:51 PM
 
Originally Posted by P View Post
(My Library is 31G, btw, and that is on the MBA, not even my main Mac)
Every few months I go through every personal folder/file on my computer and downsize. Recently I cleared about 12 GB of stuff just by offloading to other media, deleting rarely-used apps, etc.

I still remember my first iMac and thinking, gosh, I've used only 1 of my available 4 GB.
     
Waragainstsleep
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Aug 20, 2014, 06:40 PM
 
I still have my first Mac, a Performa with a 500MB HDD.
I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
     
chris v
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Aug 24, 2014, 12:05 PM
 
They added back the option to show the ~/Lbrary directory in 10.9. Select your home folder, then choose "Show View Options" from the view menu. There's now a checkbox there for the Library.

When a true genius appears in the world you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him. -- Jonathan Swift.
     
   
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