Comments on: How to determine where all of your free disk space has gone in OS X http://www.simplehelp.net/2007/06/25/how-to-determine-where-all-of-your-free-disk-space-has-gone-in-os-x/ Common questions, simple answers Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:02:03 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Scott http://www.simplehelp.net/2007/06/25/how-to-determine-where-all-of-your-free-disk-space-has-gone-in-os-x/comment-page-1/#comment-4327 Scott Sun, 28 Jun 2009 19:46:47 +0000 http://www.simplehelp.net/2007/06/25/how-to-determine-where-all-of-your-free-disk-space-has-gone-in-os-x/#comment-4327 Great article--I've been using this for a while. As my movie/mp3 collection has grown into the +200gb area I've had to be memory conscious. This is def the best tool for it. Thanks for showing some extra tricks! Great article–I’ve been using this for a while. As my movie/mp3 collection has grown into the +200gb area I’ve had to be memory conscious. This is def the best tool for it. Thanks for showing some extra tricks!

]]> By: Patrick http://www.simplehelp.net/2007/06/25/how-to-determine-where-all-of-your-free-disk-space-has-gone-in-os-x/comment-page-1/#comment-4326 Patrick Mon, 05 Jan 2009 06:45:29 +0000 http://www.simplehelp.net/2007/06/25/how-to-determine-where-all-of-your-free-disk-space-has-gone-in-os-x/#comment-4326 Thanks for the tip. And here I was using du and the crippled shareware OmniDiskSweeper. Those logs will get you every time. :-) Thanks for the tip. And here I was using du and the crippled shareware OmniDiskSweeper. Those logs will get you every time. :-)

]]> By: David http://www.simplehelp.net/2007/06/25/how-to-determine-where-all-of-your-free-disk-space-has-gone-in-os-x/comment-page-1/#comment-4325 David Mon, 15 Dec 2008 00:02:25 +0000 http://www.simplehelp.net/2007/06/25/how-to-determine-where-all-of-your-free-disk-space-has-gone-in-os-x/#comment-4325 Oh my gosh. I just cleaned about thirty GBs off my hard drive. So far I haven't run into any problems of the "Whoops, I guess that was kind of essential" variety yet. Thanks for the post. Oh my gosh. I just cleaned about thirty GBs off my hard drive. So far I haven’t run into any problems of the “Whoops, I guess that was kind of essential” variety yet. Thanks for the post.

]]> By: t.albertini http://www.simplehelp.net/2007/06/25/how-to-determine-where-all-of-your-free-disk-space-has-gone-in-os-x/comment-page-1/#comment-4324 t.albertini Tue, 02 Dec 2008 15:20:26 +0000 http://www.simplehelp.net/2007/06/25/how-to-determine-where-all-of-your-free-disk-space-has-gone-in-os-x/#comment-4324 Thanks a lot, i've been looking for such a program during several years (on pc) but it helped me troubleshooting our OS X server today. Disk was saturated and no way to find where the problem came from, with disk inventory X, it's been fast and easy ! Thanks a lot, i’ve been looking for such a program during several years (on pc) but it helped me troubleshooting our OS X server today. Disk was saturated and no way to find where the problem came from, with disk inventory X, it’s been fast and easy !

]]> By: t.albertini http://www.simplehelp.net/2007/06/25/how-to-determine-where-all-of-your-free-disk-space-has-gone-in-os-x/comment-page-1/#comment-4323 t.albertini Tue, 02 Dec 2008 15:07:25 +0000 http://www.simplehelp.net/2007/06/25/how-to-determine-where-all-of-your-free-disk-space-has-gone-in-os-x/#comment-4323 Merci beaucoup je cherche un tel logiciel depuis plusieurs années (sur pc) mais la ca m'a bien dépanné car notre OS X Server saturait, et impossible de trouver d'ou ca venait, avec disk inventory X ca a été direct ! Merci beaucoup je cherche un tel logiciel depuis plusieurs années (sur pc) mais la ca m’a bien dépanné car notre OS X Server saturait, et impossible de trouver d’ou ca venait, avec disk inventory X ca a été direct !

]]> By: Jed Daniels http://www.simplehelp.net/2007/06/25/how-to-determine-where-all-of-your-free-disk-space-has-gone-in-os-x/comment-page-1/#comment-4321 Jed Daniels Wed, 27 Jun 2007 05:08:32 +0000 http://www.simplehelp.net/2007/06/25/how-to-determine-where-all-of-your-free-disk-space-has-gone-in-os-x/#comment-4321 Ross, Interesting about the logs. Sounds like you have a debug build of VirtueDesktops. I looked for a log file and didn't find one at all, much less one that was chewing up drive space. Do you have an MBP, MB, or PowerBook? I know people that have had some instability with non-intel macs and VirtueDesktops. It looks like there are at least a few other people with the same problem on the Virtue Forums at cocoaforge. I'm guessing you might want to see if there is an alternate build that has debugging turned off of whichever version is stable for you. I suspect killing VD regularly is just fine, but you might consider just doing a "cat /dev/null > /Users/you/Library/Logs/VirtueDesktops.log" if there are any ill effects. On opening the large file in a text editor, I suspect that the latest versions of Vim can probably cope just fine, but I'm going to test it in a little while and report back with the results if you are interested. --jed www.itsnotthenetwork.com Ross,

Interesting about the logs. Sounds like you have a debug build of VirtueDesktops. I looked for a log file and didn’t find one at all, much less one that was chewing up drive space. Do you have an MBP, MB, or PowerBook? I know people that have had some instability with non-intel macs and VirtueDesktops. It looks like there are at least a few other people with the same problem on the Virtue Forums at cocoaforge. I’m guessing you might want to see if there is an alternate build that has debugging turned off of whichever version is stable for you.

I suspect killing VD regularly is just fine, but you might consider just doing a “cat /dev/null > /Users/you/Library/Logs/VirtueDesktops.log” if there are any ill effects.

On opening the large file in a text editor, I suspect that the latest versions of Vim can probably cope just fine, but I’m going to test it in a little while and report back with the results if you are interested.

–jed
http://www.itsnotthenetwork.com

]]> By: Ross McKillop http://www.simplehelp.net/2007/06/25/how-to-determine-where-all-of-your-free-disk-space-has-gone-in-os-x/comment-page-1/#comment-4319 Ross McKillop Tue, 26 Jun 2007 18:45:32 +0000 http://www.simplehelp.net/2007/06/25/how-to-determine-where-all-of-your-free-disk-space-has-gone-in-os-x/#comment-4319 Jed - I wasn't about to open that bad-boy up in any text editor, but I did a tail on it and got stuff like: 2007-06-26 11:31:21.948 VirtueDesktops[128] PNDesktop.m:497 -[PNDesktop addWindows:]; Ended 2007-06-26 11:31:21.948 VirtueDesktops[128] PNDesktop.m:659 -[PNDesktop updateDesktop]; Add new windows 2007-06-26 11:31:21.948 VirtueDesktops[128] PNDesktop.m:663 -[PNDesktop updateDesktop]; Ending So it really looked like it was logging nearly everything that occurred on a given window. On my never-ending list of things to do is research why on earth this is happening, if it can be disabled (I did a scan of the Prefs and it doesn't even mention logging, let alone disabling it) or started w/ logging disabled. Since it's kinda a low priority for me (and VD has never used much CPU) I just setup a cron to kill VirtuDesktops, delete the log file, and restart VD every 12 hrs. I did try 0.54b4 for a few days but it was actually more buggy than b3 (for me) so I reverted back to b3. The du method you mentioned above is EXACTLY what I told a buddy of mine to do when he asked about why his new MBP had much less free space than he thought it should have. My suggestion was actually: cd / ; sudo du -h -d 1 > ~/Desktop/drive.txt and then import to a spreadsheet and sort by the size column. But then I found Disk Inventory X and that is really a lot easier :P I'm curious - do you have a /Users/you/Library/Logs/VirtueDesktops.log file? And if so, how big is it? Cheers, Ross Jed -

I wasn’t about to open that bad-boy up in any text editor, but I did a tail on it and got stuff like:

2007-06-26 11:31:21.948 VirtueDesktops[128] PNDesktop.m:497 -[PNDesktop addWindows:]; Ended
2007-06-26 11:31:21.948 VirtueDesktops[128] PNDesktop.m:659 -[PNDesktop updateDesktop]; Add new windows
2007-06-26 11:31:21.948 VirtueDesktops[128] PNDesktop.m:663 -[PNDesktop updateDesktop]; Ending

So it really looked like it was logging nearly everything that occurred on a given window.

On my never-ending list of things to do is research why on earth this is happening, if it can be disabled (I did a scan of the Prefs and it doesn’t even mention logging, let alone disabling it) or started w/ logging disabled. Since it’s kinda a low priority for me (and VD has never used much CPU) I just setup a cron to kill VirtuDesktops, delete the log file, and restart VD every 12 hrs.

I did try 0.54b4 for a few days but it was actually more buggy than b3 (for me) so I reverted back to b3. The du method you mentioned above is EXACTLY what I told a buddy of mine to do when he asked about why his new MBP had much less free space than he thought it should have. My suggestion was actually:

cd / ; sudo du -h -d 1 > ~/Desktop/drive.txt and then import to a spreadsheet and sort by the size column. But then I found Disk Inventory X and that is really a lot easier :P

I’m curious – do you have a /Users/you/Library/Logs/VirtueDesktops.log file? And if so, how big is it?

Cheers,

Ross

]]> By: Jed Daniels http://www.simplehelp.net/2007/06/25/how-to-determine-where-all-of-your-free-disk-space-has-gone-in-os-x/comment-page-1/#comment-4320 Jed Daniels Tue, 26 Jun 2007 17:38:34 +0000 http://www.simplehelp.net/2007/06/25/how-to-determine-where-all-of-your-free-disk-space-has-gone-in-os-x/#comment-4320 I've also been using Disk Inventory X for a long time, but for me it doesn't work *that* well because I also use FileVault protection. FileVault encrypts all the data in my Users directory (for those that have it turned on), and Disk Inventory X simple can't see inside of it. Instead I get a big block of "spare disk image" that takes up most of the space. I was going to post about how you can use "du -h -d 1" from a terminal window to get the information you need, but I checked on the Disk Inventory X website forums and I found that you can simply select just your home folder, instead of the whole drive, to get the details on what is inside of that encrypted space. For those of you that may ask "why use FileVault?", the answer is simple: security. On any laptop that you use for work or have any private or sensitive information on (financial stuff, email, etc.), you really should encrypt at least the juicy bits. FileVault does it automaticaly and does a pretty decent job. I know it had some issues in 10.3 and earlier, but on 10.4 it has been rock solid. Great article Ross, keep up the good work. Did you find what about VirtueDesktops was filling up that file? I've been using 0.54beta2 for a while and haven't noticed anything odd (I just saw that there is an 0.54beta4 update, which I will apply today). --jed www.itsnotthenetwork.com I’ve also been using Disk Inventory X for a long time, but for me it doesn’t work *that* well because I also use FileVault protection. FileVault encrypts all the data in my Users directory (for those that have it turned on), and Disk Inventory X simple can’t see inside of it. Instead I get a big block of “spare disk image” that takes up most of the space.

I was going to post about how you can use “du -h -d 1″ from a terminal window to get the information you need, but I checked on the Disk Inventory X website forums and I found that you can simply select just your home folder, instead of the whole drive, to get the details on what is inside of that encrypted space.

For those of you that may ask “why use FileVault?”, the answer is simple: security. On any laptop that you use for work or have any private or sensitive information on (financial stuff, email, etc.), you really should encrypt at least the juicy bits. FileVault does it automaticaly and does a pretty decent job. I know it had some issues in 10.3 and earlier, but on 10.4 it has been rock solid.

Great article Ross, keep up the good work. Did you find what about VirtueDesktops was filling up that file? I’ve been using 0.54beta2 for a while and haven’t noticed anything odd (I just saw that there is an 0.54beta4 update, which I will apply today).

–jed
http://www.itsnotthenetwork.com

]]> By: Marc http://www.simplehelp.net/2007/06/25/how-to-determine-where-all-of-your-free-disk-space-has-gone-in-os-x/comment-page-1/#comment-4322 Marc Tue, 26 Jun 2007 14:08:55 +0000 http://www.simplehelp.net/2007/06/25/how-to-determine-where-all-of-your-free-disk-space-has-gone-in-os-x/#comment-4322 I've been using Disk Inventory X for a long time now and have absolutely loved it. It gives a very intuitive feel to where you disk space is used. I’ve been using Disk Inventory X for a long time now and have absolutely loved it. It gives a very intuitive feel to where you disk space is used.

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