About this Mac- Storage anomaly in Lion

Looks like the little utility in Lion is reporting incorrect numbers. Attached is a picture to spare me the 1k words.

Apple's good at confusing folks with this mostly useless display. 
Backups are either Local Snapshots (on the OSX drive, or another drive that's being backed-up by Time Machine), or actual Time Machine backups.
And, the categories shown are dependent on Spotlight indexing, so if it's not caught up, or things are excluded, the display may be out of date.  If the index is corrupted, there's no telling what it may show.
In the case of your Storage drive, note that Get Info doesn't show anything for Used at all.  It looks like there's either a directory or Spotlight problem on that drive.
First, repair it, per #6 in Using Disk Utility.
If that works, go to System Prefs > Spotlight > Privacy and place the drive on the exclusion list for a few moments, then remove it.  That should trigger a complete re-indexing.
When the indexing finishes, cross your fingers and see what the Storage display shows.

Similar Messages

  • About This Mac/Storage/Other - what's the starting point?

    I have a very new MacBook Air.  After a fairly abortive migration (it carried over lots of stuff from my iMac which I didn't want - I only wanted settings, not files) I scoured the discussions and picked up a thread that suggested setting up a new administrator profile and deleting the old one, thereby getting rid of all the files and so on.  (now why didn't I think of that?).
    However, I've made the mistake of checking the "About This Mac"/storage info, and it shows as follows:
    Audio 656.8MB
    Movies 42.3MB
    Photos 112.7MB
    Apps 3.73GB
    Backups zero
    Other 9.45 GB
    Now it's bugging me enough that I can't track down the audio, movies and photos (although I concede that these are very small and may be system related?).
    BUT the "Other" section is really annoying me.  What is it? 
    I'm aware that I might reinstall OS and start again only to discover that I STILL have 9.45GB in Other.
    Can anyone who knows about these things help?
    Does anyone have a brand new MacBook Air on which they haven't yet done anything at all and can check what it says under their "Other"?
    Thanks!
    Margo

    Hi Margo:
    Ultimately, you may want to perform a complete do over--which given your circumstances might require you to perform a clean install. More on that later if you want to do so eventually.
    I am assuming you transferred your data, etc., from your iMac using either Firewire Target Disk Mode for over a network. It doesn't matter much, but which did you do.
    Regardless, for now, I would do a repair install of Lion and see how things look after doing so. A repair install should leave installed apps, files, and settings alone. And, such an install very well sort out any issues of how much of what you have where. There are several ways of doing so. first, if your Lion Recovery HD partition is present or you have set up a Lion Recovery Disk Assistant, then either will work. Let's see if you can do either of these before going any other route.
    Try starting up holding down the option key. Once done, see if there is a "recovery" option. If yes, then I would choose it and ultimately choose to reinstall Lion from the Apple site. If you have unbacked up files, etc., then be sure and back them up to your iMac before doing any kind of install.
    If you want to read more about what I am talking about, then go here (read from the top).

  • Where are the files for the Backups that show up in About This Mac - Storage?

    Where are the files for the Backups that show up in About This Mac - Storage?
    My new Macbook Pro 13 retina has 1TB flash drive. But despite my TimeMachine being in a TimeCapsule my Macintosh HD shows 277 Gb of space has Backups. What is this for? How can I delete it?

    OS X Lion and newer Mac OS X versions create local snapshots in portable Macs if Time Machine is enabled. See > http://pondini.org/TM/30.html
    You don't have to worry about. They are stored in a kind of volume named "MobileBackups", but they appear as stored in your hard drive. To delete them, open System Preferences > Time Machine, and turn off Time Machine. Then, turn it on. However, you don't need to delete them, as they will be deleted when your hard drive gets full

  • Mac Air 11" - how do I find out what files are showing up in "About this MAC" Storage "other" category?

    Hi - I am having storage trouble with my storage.  When I go into About this Mac, Storage, the category "Other" has a very large amount of gigs stored.  I have already dumped my email, downloads when in to Trahs, emptied secure trash, etc.  How do I find out what is included in the "other" category?

    First, empty the Trash if you haven't already done so.
    Use a tool such as OmniDiskSweeper (ODS) to explore your volume and find out what's taking up the space. You can delete files with it, but don't do that unless you're sure that you know what you're deleting and that all data is safely backed up. That means you have multiple backups, not just one.
    Proceed further only if the problem hasn't been solved.
    ODS can't see the whole filesystem when you run it just by double-clicking; it only sees files that you have permission to read. To see everything, you have to run it as root.
    Back up all data now.
    Install ODS in the Applications folder as usual.
    Triple-click the line of text below to select it, then copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C):sudo /Applications/OmniDiskSweeper.app/Contents/MacOS/OmniDiskSweeper
    Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
    ☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
    ☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
    ☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
    Paste (command-V) into the Terminal window. You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning not to screw up. If you see a message that your username "is not in the sudoers file," then you're not logged in as an administrator.
    I don't recommend that you make a habit of doing this. Don't delete anything while running ODS as root. If something needs to be deleted, make sure you know what it is and how it got there, and then delete it by other, safer, means.
    When you're done with ODS, quit it and also quit Terminal.

  • About This Mac Storage shows wrong size

    Hello, the story so far
    Actions:
    - MBA early 2014 (128GB) maverick updated to yosemite in November 2014
    - fresh install of Yosemite via wifi in January 2015 - followed instructions as suggested here http://support.apple.com/kb/PH14243
    Consequences after fresh installation:
    - About This Mac > Storage shows total hard disk size 120GB, About This Mac > Storage shows 110GB
    - About This Mac > Storage shows approx 9GB of apps. The actual applications folder size is far, far, far less than 9GB as showed in Terminal.
    - About This Mac > Storage shows approx 1GB of data for videos, audio and photos. There are no photos, video, documents stored on MBA.
    For the records, no device data was sync after fresh installation and the trash is being emptied securely.
    I am new to MAC so I would be grateful if you could help me understanding why About This Mac > Storage is showing more data stored than Terminal and Finder and what I should do to rectify the discrepancy.
    Many thanks of your understanding and support.
    Cheers, puzzled_me

    Kappy, may thanks. No difference, Get Info for the folders returns same data size as About This Mac > Storage
    On a different note I have noticed that there are two Library folders under harddrive. See screenshot attached.
    System/Library (6.8GB) folder contains subfolders that are also contained under Library (2.7GB) folder.
    Could that be the problem?? Is that normal to have two Library folders??
    Thank you for your help.

  • About this mac storage backups is growing over time

    I have a Timecapsule that I use time machine to backup 2 macs to.  One of the macs concerns me because when I go to "about this mac", "storage" the value for "backups" is increasing over time.  each mac has its own unique account one of them has zero for the length of backups, both appear to backup ok with time machine.  Is the value for backups as indicated in the mac a sign that it's not being backed up to the time capsule?  do i have a configuration problem?

    The sparsebundle can be checked on the TC for each machine.. mount the backup and make sure it is working.
    0 for length of backup isn't right.. there is always something to backup.

  • Using OS10.7, my hard disc is full. When I go to "About this Mac - Storage" almost all of the HD is occupied by "Other".  Does anyone know what "Other" is so that I can remove some of it?

    Using OS10.7, my hard disc is full.  When I go to "About this Mac - Storage", it shows that it is entirely filled with "Other".  Does anyone know what "Other" is so that I can delete some of it?

    First, reboot. That will temporarily free up some space. According to Apple documentation, you need at least 9 GB free for normal operation. You also need enough space left over to allow for growth of your data.
    Use a tool such as OmniDiskSweeper to explore your volume and find out what's taking up the space.
    Proceed further only if the problem hasn't been solved.
    ODS can't see the whole filesystem when you run it just by double-clicking; it only sees files that you have permission to read. To really see everything, you have to run it as root.
    First, back up all data if you haven't already done so. No matter what happens, you should be able to restore your system to the state it was in at the time of that backup.
    Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
    ☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
    ☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
    ☞ If you’re running Mac OS X 10.7 or later, open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the page that opens.
    After installing ODS in the Applications folder, drag or copy — do not type — the following line into the Terminal window, then press return:
    sudo /Applications/OmniDiskSweeper.app/Contents/MacOS/OmniDiskSweeper
    You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning not to screw up.
    I don't recommend that you make a habit of this. Don't delete anything while running ODS as root. When you're done with it, quit it and also quit Terminal.

  • About This Mac - Storage - Bug

    I just noticed that on my "About This Mac" > "Storage".
    Anyone knows how to fix it?

    Due to a bug in the forum software, your image is not showing.  Based on past problems with that display, I suggest a reindex of Spotlight:
    http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2409
    If my guess is wrong, no harm will come to your MBP or your data.
    Ciao.

  • How can I have ext hard disks show on "About this Mac/Storage" that are ousted and show on screen

    I have Mac 10.9.5, Intel.  I was working in iMovie, when message came up and said I do not have enough space on my hard disk.. I have several hundred GB available.  All my ext. HD's appear on my screen.  In  "About this mac/storage" only my HD and two of the four external drives show up.  The two  ext. drives that show on "about This Mac" are full.  I have done a disk utility check on every drive and they are fine.  Also, the whole machine is very slow. I have rebooted also.

    Problem description:
    MAC OS X YOSEMITE, 13.1 MODEL, INTEL CORE I5 8’GB MEMORY, WHEN I OPEN IMOVIE, I GET A MESSAGE THAT THERE IS NO SPACE AND TO CLOSE IMMEDIATELY OR I WILL LOSE WORK, IT WILL EVEN CLOSE ITSELF. I HVE OVER 700 GB ON MY HARD DISK
    EtreCheck version: 2.0.4 (89)
    Report generated October 18, 2014 at 1:23:07 PM EDT
    Hardware Information: ℹ️
      iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2012) (Verified)
      iMac - model: iMac13,1
      1 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 4-core
      8 GB RAM Upgradeable
      BANK 0/DIMM0
      4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok
      BANK 1/DIMM0
      4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok
      Bluetooth: Good - Handoff/Airdrop2 supported
      Wireless:  en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n
    Video Information: ℹ️
      NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M - VRAM: 512 MB
      iMac 1920 x 1080
    System Software: ℹ️
      OS X 10.10 (14A389) - Uptime: one day 3:20:30
    Disk Information: ℹ️
      APPLE HDD ST1000LM024 disk0 : (1 TB)
      S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified
      EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB
      Macintosh HD (disk0s2) /  [Startup]: 999.35 GB (672.03 GB free)
      Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>  [Recovery]: 650 MB
    USB Information: ℹ️
      G-TECH G-DRIVE 2 TB
      S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified
      EFI (disk4s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB
      G-DRIVE (disk4s2) /Volumes/G-DRIVE : 2 TB (406.60 GB free)
      Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)
      Western Digital My Book 500.11 GB
      S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified
      book 1 (disk3s1) <not mounted> : 500.11 GB
      Western Digital My Book 1 TB
      S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified
      disk2s1 (disk2s1) <not mounted> : 32 KB
      my book 3 (disk2s3) /Volumes/my book 3 : 1 TB (25 KB free)
      Western Digital My Book 1 TB
      S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified
      EFI (disk1s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB
      book 2 (disk1s2) <not mounted> : 999.86 GB
      Western Digital My Book 1234 3 TB
      S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified
      EFI (disk5s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB
      My Book for Mac (disk5s2) /Volumes/My Book for Mac : 3 TB (1 TB free)
      Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub
      Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
    Thunderbolt Information: ℹ️
      Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus
    Gatekeeper: ℹ️
      Mac App Store and identified developers
    Kernel Extensions: ℹ️
      /Applications/Extras/WD +TURBO Installer.app
      [not loaded] com.wdc.driver.1394HP (1.0.11 - SDK 10.4) Support
      [not loaded] com.wdc.driver.1394_64HP (1.0.1 - SDK 10.6) Support
      [not loaded] com.wdc.driver.USB-64HP (1.0.3) Support
      [not loaded] com.wdc.driver.USBHP (1.0.14) Support
      /System/Library/Extensions
      [not loaded] com.silex.driver.sxuptp (1.5.1) Support
      [not loaded] com.tomtom.driver.UsbEthernetGadget (1.0.0d1) Support
      [not loaded] com.wdc.driver.1394.64.10.9 (1.0.1 - SDK 10.9) Support
      [loaded] com.wdc.driver.USB.64.10.9 (1.0.1 - SDK 10.9) Support
    Problem System Launch Agents: ℹ️
      [failed] com.apple.CallHistoryPluginHelper.plist
      [failed] com.apple.cmfsyncagent.plist
      [failed] com.apple.security.cloudkeychainproxy.plist
      [failed] com.apple.spindump_agent.plist
    Problem System Launch Daemons: ℹ️
      [failed] com.apple.ctkd.plist
      [failed] com.apple.icloud.findmydeviced.plist
      [failed] com.apple.ifdreader.plist
      [failed] com.apple.nehelper.plist
      [failed] com.apple.wdhelper.plist
      [failed] com.apple.xpc.smd.plist
    Launch Agents: ℹ️
      [running] com.Affinegy.InstaLANa.plist Support
    Launch Daemons: ℹ️
      [loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist Support
    User Launch Agents: ℹ️
      [loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist Support
      [loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist Support
      [loaded] com.genieo.completer.download.plist Support
      [loaded] com.genieo.completer.ltvbit.plist Support
      [running] com.genieo.completer.update.plist Support
      [loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist Support
    User Login Items: ℹ️
      iTunesHelper UNKNOWN (missing value)
      System Events Application (/System/Library/CoreServices/System Events.app)
      EPSON Scanner Monitor UNKNOWN (missing value)
      Belkin Router Monitor Application (/Applications/Belkin/Belkin Router Monitor.app)
      Mail Application (/Applications/Mail.app)
      Safari Application (/Applications/Safari.app)
      AdobeResourceSynchronizer ApplicationHidden (/Applications/Adobe Reader.app/Contents/Support/AdobeResourceSynchronizer.app)
      Dropbox Application (/Applications/Dropbox.app)
      apple-scc-20140818-081903 UNKNOWN (missing value)
    Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️
      FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 15.0.0.152 - SDK 10.6 Support
      Default Browser: Version: 600 - SDK 10.10
      AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: Version: 11.0.06 - SDK 10.6 Support
      AdobePDFViewer: Version: 11.0.06 - SDK 10.6 Support
      Flash Player: Version: 15.0.0.152 - SDK 10.6 Mismatch! Adobe recommends 15.0.0.189
      QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3
      Google Earth Web Plug-in: Version: 6.0 Support
      Silverlight: Version: 5.1.20513.0 - SDK 10.6 Support
      iPhotoPhotocast: Version: 7.0
    User Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️
      fbplugin_1_0_3: Version: (null) Support
    3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️
      Flash Player  Support
      Growl  Support
    Time Machine: ℹ️
      Skip System Files: NO
      Mobile backups: OFF
      Auto backup: YES
      Volumes being backed up:
      book 2: Disk size: 999.86 GB Disk used: 999.86 GB
      Destinations:
      G-DRIVE [Local]
      Total size: 2 TB
      Total number of backups: 71
      Oldest backup: 2014-01-15 09:49:47 +0000
      Last backup: 2014-10-18 17:19:31 +0000
      Size of backup disk: Too small
      Backup size 2 TB < (Disk used 999.86 GB X 3)
    Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️
          3% WindowServer
          1% AppleIDAuthAgent
          0% Google Chrome
          0% fontd
          0% AppleSpell
    Top Processes by Memory: ℹ️
      241 MB com.apple.WebKit.WebContent
      146 MB iTunes
      137 MB Mail
      120 MB mds_stores
      103 MB WindowServer
    Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️

  • In About this Mac, Storage, the Backups takes up about 49gb, do I need this and if not how do I get rid of it?

    In About this Mac, Storage, the Backups takes about 49gb, do I need this and if not how do I get rid of it?

    Yes, I used TM for the first time about a month or two ago, using an external HDD to backup my Mac and my daughters Mac's as well. The exHDD has not been regularly connected to my Mac Air and I've seen a couple of warnings come up stating- Time Machine was unable to backup your computer because..... (I forget ).
    Correct me if I'm wrong but if this disc space is being used for the snapshots, then as I continue to use my computer then the space used for snapshots will submit? to the other apps requiring more space. So this probably isn't something that I need to worry about?

  • "About This Mac" Storage Screen and Time Machine Question

    Hello,
    I've been poking around in Lion a bit, and noticed something odd...
    When you go to About This Mac >> More info >> Storage, my external hard drive that only has my Time Machine backup on it is displayed entirely as "other" in the file-type breakdown. Thusly, all utilized space is shown as yellow, as opposed to the purple that would designate it as "backup" information.
    Is there something wrong with my Time Machine backup, or are other people experiencing this as well? It just seems strange that the results of the built-in backup application are not recognized as a backup by Lion.
    Thoughts?
    Thanks,
    -Kevin

    spartykjc wrote:
    Hello,
    When you go to About This Mac >> More info >> Storage, my external hard drive that only has my Time Machine backup on it is displayed entirely as "other" in the file-type breakdown.
    Yes.  The purple Backups refers to (some of ) the storage used for Local snapshots (on laptops, see #30 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions), and, apparently, Versions.
    There are many other misleading and inaccurate things there, too.   

  • What does "Backups" mean in the "About this Mac" storage graphic?

    I just migrated the contents of one Mac to a new MacBook Air and discovered something I had never seen before.  I had 37MB of storage taken up with "Backups."  What is that?  What is the best way to reduce or manage it?
    One other question, while I am at it.  What is included in the category of "Other?"

    OS X: What is "other" space in About This Mac? - Apple Support
    About Time Machine local snapshots - Apple Support
    The local snapshots should take care of themselves if you have a backup drive in place and Time Machine activated. 

  • ITunes states 95GB used but in about this mac storage says 124 for audio. Thats a big difference.

    I am running out on space on my MacBook Pro. When I check my iTunes library it states 90.18 GB used but when I go into "About this Mac" under storage I see the audio space used is 124 GB. That's quite a difference - 34 GB. Does anyone know why the difference is so high?

    Go step by step and test.
    Try step 5 first.
    1. Start up in Safe Mode.
        http://support.apple.com/kb/PH11212
    2. Empty Trash.
       http://support.apple.com/kb/PH13806
    3. Disk space / Time Machine ?/ Local Snapshots
      Local backups
       http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4878
    4. Delete old iOS Devices Backup.
        iTunes > Preferences > Devices
        Highlight the old Backups , press “Delete Backup” and then “OK”.
        http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4946?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
    5. Re-index Macintosh HD.
        This will take a while. Wait until it is finished.
        System Preferences > Spotlight > Privacy
        http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2409

  • Wrong photos/videos reading in About This Mac - Storage Tab

    I have updated to Photos from iPhotos but now when i hit about this mac and storage reading ... i get it all messed up it shows 1GB of photos where i have at least 20GB .. is there any way to fix this ? before i used to re-index the database but i don't know how to do this in the new app

    IF you set up Photos to keep only an "optimized" library on your local drive, the size will be substantially smaller than if you chose to keep "original."
    How large is the library when you navigate to your User > Pictures folder and check the size there?

  • I don't know what it means "other" in "about this mac -- storage". Someone knows???

    Like i said, when i'm at "about this mac --> more information --> storage" i don't know what it means "others". I want to know this cause i used 27 gb of "others". Thanks,
    Francisco from Argentina

    fran.catena wrote:
    Like i said, when i'm at "about this mac --> more information --> storage" i don't know what it means "others". I want to know this cause i used 27 gb of "others". Thanks,
    Francisco from Argentina
    Hi, have a look at this Discussion...
    https://discussions.apple.com/message/16073912

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