Missing HD space

dkrohndkrohn
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
Hello,

My iMac has a 40 MB hd, with 20MB said to be used. However utilites like omnidisksweeper can only account for 12MB. Using the finder, I too can only account for 12MB. Can someone suggest why I cannot find the source of the 8MB difference, or suggest a utility to do so?



Thank you

David

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    der kopfder kopf Posts: 2,275member
    [You're probably talking about GB, not MB]



    1) Formatted hard disk size may differ from vendor-announced size (I'd think up to 3 or even 4 GB on a "40 GB" hard disk).



    2) OS X has quite some 'hidden' directories, which can not be seen in the Finder, these can account for 1 or 2 GB, in my experience.



    3) Virtual memory allocates a chunk of your HD as... virtual memory (at boot time, methinks), this is, I believe, at least 2 GB.



    Give and take some variation, I believe these are the three main factors.
  • Reply 2 of 7
    spartspart Posts: 2,060member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by der Kopf

    3) Virtual memory allocates a chunk of your HD as... virtual memory (at boot time, methinks), this is, I believe, at least 2 GB.



    As far as I know, it's written as needed in ~70-80MB chunks. 2GB default would be insane.



    As for formatted capacity, I have a "40GB" hard drive divided up into two partitions, and the available space adds up to about 2.75GB less than 40GB. So formatting takes your space down to 37.25.



    37.25 minus 12 is 25.25GB, 5.25GB gone to something...a complete OS X install isn't even that big.



    Mind posting a screen shot of the Get Info window on your hard drive? (If you don't know how to do this, then follow these instructions: Select the drive on the Desktop. Under the File menu, select Get Info. A window will appear with information about the drive. While holding down the Apple (?) and shift buttons, press the 4 key. Your pointer will turn into a cross-hair, let go of the Apple and Shift buttons. Now, press the space bar, and the cross-hair will turn into a little camera. Place it over the get info window, and click. A file will appear on your desktop (probably something like "Picture 1.pdf".) If you don't have webspace to host it, you can send it to me via email: spartian at grm dot net)
  • Reply 3 of 7
    spartspart Posts: 2,060member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by der Kopf

    3) Virtual memory allocates a chunk of your HD as... virtual memory (at boot time, methinks), this is, I believe, at least 2 GB.



    As far as I know, it's written as needed in ~70-80MB chunks. 2GB default would be insane.



    As for formatted capacity, I have a "40GB" hard drive divided up into two partitions, and the available space adds up to about 2.75GB less than 40GB. So formatting takes your space down to 37.25.



    37.25 minus 20 is 17.25GB, 5.5GB gone to something...a complete OS X install isn't even that big.



    Mind posting a screen shot of the Get Info window on your hard drive? (If you don't know how to do this, then follow these instructions: Select the drive on the Desktop. Under the File menu, select Get Info. A window will appear with information about the drive. While holding down the Apple () and shift buttons, press the 4 key. Your pointer will turn into a cross-hair, let go of the Apple and Shift buttons. Now, press the space bar, and the cross-hair will turn into a little camera. Place it over the get info window, and click. A file will appear on your desktop (probably something like "Picture 1.pdf".) If you don't have webspace to host it, you can send it to me via email: spartian at grm dot net)
  • Reply 4 of 7
    dkrohndkrohn Posts: 8member
    Hi guys,

    Here are the figures from get info:



    Format: Mac OS Extended

    Cap: 38.15 GB

    Ava: 17.09 GB

    UsedL 21.05 GB



    I don't think the space is taken by virtual memory (although I am not certain) because top indicated VM is 1.57 GB. So, since OmniDiskSweeper found only 12.1GB, there seems to be 7.5 GB unaccounted for.



    Thanks

    Dave
  • Reply 5 of 7
    1337_5l4xx0r1337_5l4xx0r Posts: 1,558member
    reboot, then empty the trash.
  • Reply 6 of 7
    dkrohndkrohn Posts: 8member
    Hi guys,

    I feel a little silly, apparently it seems that disk sweeper, and get info do not count the space used by other users on the machine. Other users had files in their document folders that took up the room.



    Thanks all

    David
  • Reply 7 of 7
    dobbydobby Posts: 797member
    Next time open a terminal window then

    $ cd /

    $ du -sk ./*

    Add up the number (listed in KB) and you have the used drive space.

    Make sure you are root or sudo.

    Oh you can also hide space by mounting an network drive over a directory that contains files. Don't know if other apps pick this up.



    Dobby.
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