Missing Gigabytes

2015-01-14T17:20:48+00:00

On my iBook G4 running Leopard 10.5.8 I was using iMovie HD 6.0.3 to import a movie from my camcorder when, about a third of the way in iMovie informed me that my start up disk was almost full. When I 'got info' on the hard drive it showed a capacity of 55.77 GB with 54.5GB used. When I double click on the hard drive it contains Applications 1.7GB, Library 4.96GB, Users 4.36GB, and System 4.04GB, plus the project I'm working on 4.15GB, a total of less than 20GB. How do I retrieve my stolen gigabytes?

Re: Missing Gigabytes

2015-01-14T20:07:02+00:00

Maybe other more knowledgable members may come up with a more sophisticated answer, but have you emptied the trash recently. Maybe there is a lot of stuff there that is hiding away from scrutiny.

Re: Missing Gigabytes

2015-01-14T21:33:40+00:00

Yep, iMovie told me to!

Re: Missing Gigabytes

2015-01-14T22:53:34+00:00

In earlier versions of OSX the caches and or log files did not get flushed and cleaned out unless the machine was running at 2 am, in recent versions the clean out occurs on start up. You might want to have a look at information on the Macaroni utility - I think it is free (or very cheap) it cleans out the Daily Weekly and Monthly logs on a regular basis. It also removes the National Language Support (NLS) files from the Operating System and Application files. NLS files contain translations of all the text information you see when running the computer, eg Menu contents, Help info etc.

Re: Missing Gigabytes

2015-01-14T23:05:15+00:00

Hi Eric, Happy New Year. You are almost certainly suffering from redundant caches. Software should clean these up automatically, but for a variety of reasons sometimes doesn't. You have three main ways to sort these: 1. Safe Boot (restart with the shift key held down, log in, and then restart normally. 2. Remove offending caches manually, video here > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO6zeDsAl2s < or, probably safest and easiest, 3. download (free) Onyx FOR YOUR VERSION of OS X from > http://www.titanium.free.fr/onyx.html < Go to Cleaning > User > delete the cache(s) Applications. Now check your comparative size calculations, hth. P.S. collision with Derek's post, check his ideas too!

Re: Missing Gigabytes

2015-01-15T11:28:05+00:00

Thank you Derek and Euan, and a Happy New Year to all our readers. I had a look at Macaroni but I couldn't see different versions for different OSes, and I don't want to confuse myself as I'm running Leopard on the iBook and Mountain Lion on the Mini. I did a safe boot etc., which had no effect, then I got OnyX and had a good go with that, likewise to no avail. I had a look at that video but the bloke mumbles a bit, or I might be a bit mutt & jeff. It's been enormous fun (not) but I reckon my best option is to reinstall Leopard. What do you chaps think?

Re: Missing Gigabytes

2015-01-15T11:35:13+00:00

why not upgrade your iBook to Snow Leopard? My G4 iBook runs happily on that version and it's a bit more up-to-date.

Re: Missing Gigabytes

2015-01-15T12:48:33+00:00

Well, I bought the laptop to run inDesign 2 which I don't think would work under Snow Leopard.

Re: Missing Gigabytes

2015-01-15T14:42:46+00:00

Leave the machine powered up over night - ensure that it will not go to sleep via the System Preferences - Energy Saver setting, do not put hard disks to sleep, you could allow the screen to sleep if you wish. Then check to see if any more space has become available. Re Macaroni - send the developers an email asking if it will run on your level of OSX.

Re: Missing Gigabytes

2015-01-15T17:46:46+00:00

Try this to see where your disk space is being used... Note: type the command after the '>' prompt. i.e. for step 2 You will type: cd / 1. Open Terminal (found in your Applications/Utilities folder) 2. type this to get to your root level in the file system> cd / 3. type this> sudo du -hd 1 . 4. Enter your admin password at the prompt. 5. Wait for the action to complete. 6. Copy and paste your results here and we'll see which high level directory is gobbling up those extra GBs. (For Euan: stop drooling... now ;-)

Re: Missing Gigabytes

2015-01-15T18:31:34+00:00

Drool? Moi? ;-)

Re: Missing Gigabytes

2015-01-16T10:00:19+00:00

I can already taste the fear, I must have a cup of tea first!

Re: Missing Gigabytes

2015-01-16T10:30:33+00:00

Got the bounder! 38G ./.trashes

Re: Missing Gigabytes

2015-01-19T12:05:00+00:00

Good afternoon Gentlemen, I obviously didn't make myself clear; I only meant I'd seen the invisible burglar, I still don't know what to do about him!

Re: Missing Gigabytes

2015-01-19T14:12:16+00:00

Eric, just to be clear, you have emptied the trash from within iMovie (and iPhoto, if you use it) as well as your Desktop Trashcan?

Re: Missing Gigabytes

2015-01-19T14:38:31+00:00

Hallo Trevor, no, I wasn't aware that you had to do that. I've just had a look in there now though, and its empty.

Re: Missing Gigabytes

2015-01-19T15:56:57+00:00

6. Copy and paste your results here and we'll see which high level directory is gobbling up those extra GBs. Can you please copy and paste _all_ the results from the du command? Be sure to copy not type...

Re: Missing Gigabytes

2015-01-19T15:56:57+00:00

Re: Missing Gigabytes

2015-01-19T17:34:23+00:00

Thank you Martin, but I think, (only think mind you), that it has cured itself! What happened was: Yesterday I got fed up and reinstalled Leopard. I then worked on two more 'projects', which meant importing them from my camcorder into iMovie, saving them, restarting in target disk mode, copying the projects onto the Mini and working on them there, restarting the laptop and deleting them there. Having copied my current project to the Mini I did the old file - get info thingy with the following results: Capacity 55.77GB Used 50.39GB iMovie project 12.5GB I then shut down and started up again, and File - Get info now said: Used 30.2 I then trashed and emptied the project with the result: Used 13.06 I didn't do anything differently today, I just followed my usual procedure. (I think).