Anybody having trouble with Disk Utility

It's been a month since I ran Disk Utility - it was fine then. Yesterday and today I ran it again and it doesn't make any permission changes.
What used to take several minutes was over in less than 30 seconds with no permission changes.
Diane

Hi Diane,
and your question is?
Remember to run some regular system maintenance: Mac OS X 10.3/10.4: System maintenance
If this answered your question please consider granting some stars: Why reward points?

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Having trouble with Disk Utility

Hello,
I'm trying to use Disk Utility to create a disk image of my hard drive. I get an error message that says
'Unable to create "nameofimage.dmg" Resource busy.'
Any idea what this means or how to work around it?
Thanks very much!

Okay I found a work around...
if you make a disk image of your HD through Make Disk Image of Folder and select the HD, then it works!

I am having trouble with disk space,

I am having trouble with disk space, I am always getting the error message that I need to delete files on my start up disk, I am all out of space. I cant even save a file to my desktop without getting the message, Is there a way I can free up space. I am not very computer savvy, being a pensioner I cannot afford expensive options. I was familiar with the old apple imac, but I was given a macbook pro for my birthday, and am trying to work it out. I use it mostly for photos and web.

Jillian,
I'm assuming this is a second-hand machine. If it is brand new, get it to Apple because it's their problem, not yours.
First thing you should do is go to Programs: Utilities: Disk Utlity and choose "Repair Permissions." If you don't have the OS X system disk (a DVD) go ahead and verify the Disk. It can't fix itself, so to speak, but can tell you if there is a problem. iIf you have the OS X system disk then boot off the disk, go to Disk Utility, and run Repair Disk. Assuming all is OK:
You don't need to download any programs to get started on figuring out why all your space is gone. Try this first:
Oh, when deleting, especially at first, you may have to move only small folders or even files, of 100 MB or so to the trash, then empty the trash. As the free space increases, you can trash progressively larger files. To delete files, the computer needs to create even more files to tell it what files it is deleting before it deletes them. I know, go figure.;)
It would not be a bad idea, and is in fact a very good idea, to run the disk utility "Repair permissions" after every half-dozen trash/empty trash cycles and then restart the computer.
The basic plan is to search for unreasonably sized folders.
From the Finder:
Open a window, click in the window and then:
Go to menu item View. (If you click on the desktop instead of a window, you'll get a different set of view options, none of which is the one you want.)
Click on it and move the cursor to the bottom choice, Show View Options (alternative Apple (Command)-J). Make sure the checkbox "Calculate all sizes" is checked. If it isn't, check it and then click on "Use as default" When checked, it will show you the size of a folder. If it was unchecked, don't be surprised if nothing seems to be happening as it will take awhile for the computer to calculate the size of, literally, thousands of folders. But some will start to show up right away. If you open a new window and don't see any folder sizes, Repeat the Show View Options routine above and if Calculate all sizes is checked, just wait.
I've heard you Aussies enjoy a beer or two. If your Mac has to calculate all the folder sizes, this might well be a good time to have a cold one or two, as it will take some time.
Go to the root level, which is "Computer" or "_Your Disk Name_," generically Macintosh under Devices in the sidebar.
Make sure you are in list view and can have the size column visible. Click on it (turns blue-grey) and it will sort by size, large to small or the reverse. Click again to reverse the sort order.
On my 10.6.8 machine, I have
98 GB under Users.
22 GB under Applications. If you only have the Apple-supplied applications, you probably have between 4 and 6 GB here.
Library is 24.5 GB
System is 4.6 GB
Other than a few trivially small files or folders, that should be about it for the root level.
If you have two System files, you shouldn't, and will need to get rid of one. Ask for advice before deleting one or the other. If you have a, "Previous System," or "Old System," -- can't remember the language, you can proably safely delete it if you are satisified with how your computer is working.
The Library is a candidate for bloat. Some applications, especially those that manipulate audio or video, store the bulk of their code, generally resources of one type or the other, in the Application Support folder. For instance, I have a 10.5 GB folder of Live Type in my Application Support folder. Honestly, I don't know what program it is for, but don't care because I upgraded to a 3/4 TB drive. In contrast, on my 10.7.1 computer, which has little more than the Apple supplied software on it at this point, uses only 1.5 GB for Application Support. The support folders will remain even if the program itself is deleted. As a general rule, I wouldn't bother checking out anything under 300 MB or so. Any folders over that, you should note for possible deletion _but_ be sure to ask someone with more knowledge about this what it is used for before deleting. If it is used for some program that isn't on your machine, meaning the program has been deleted, you can safely delete it. If the program is still on the machine, decide if you will use that program and, if not, delete the program and its application support files.
My next largest folder in the Library is Audio at 2.7 GB. I have audio editing programs, so that makes sense. You probaby have one also, but shouldn't be over 500 MB or so.
Next is Printers at 1.4 GB. This is a good place to clear up space. You'll see folders with various printer brands. Do you have a Brother printer? No? Trash it. Just keep the folder with your printer brand and the PPD folder and trash the rest. If you want to get real fancy, open your brands folder and delete the files for every model other than the one you have.
My next largest is Fonts at 490 MB. Leave that alone. In fact, unless Fonts is something insane like 2 GBs, stop deleting from the Library.
Go to Users. There could be between one and more than one user. (Fudge of an answer there.) There is no such thing as a guideline for user folder size. Is there a previous user? If so, check with them and see if you can delete it. I have a "dummy" administrative - level user that can be used for some esoteric rescue operations and it takes up a trivial 33 KB or something like that while my own account is pushing 100 GB.
You'll see several folders, Music, Pictures, Desktop, etc. This is stuff you or the previous user have created. If you don't want it, delete it. You will also see, aha! another Library folder. There shouldn't be many folders over 100 MB here except for Mail and our friend Application Support. I get a lot of mail, rarely delete any, and have carried it over from 10.3 and measures out at 3.7GB. Still, if its someone elses mail and you don't want it, you can delete it, but again, check with more knowledgable people as there are probably some files and folders you absolutely should not delete, others that you should delete from within Mail, and some you can manually delete.
My Application Support Folder weighs in at 1.4 GBs, of which 1.2 GBs is for Final Vinyl. That's a lot. Sneaky sucker stored some untitled audio files in there. Bye! OK, now the Application Support folder is down to 145 MB. So, I'd say anything much over that should be investigated for possible deletion. Close up Library and move on.
Downloads may be very small or very large. Depends on how meticulous the previous user was in deleting or moving to a more appropriate location. Ask them if there is anything they want, and if no, delete it.
My Application folder has Zero KB because I always install at the root, administrative level. If there is anything there, figure out if you want to use it or not. If not, trash it.
Overall:
1) Don't sweat the small stuff. The days are long gone when searching a hard drive for a 100 K file to delete is worthwhile.
2) Start small. A disk that full is going to be pretty touchy, so once you have identified a bloated folder, go inside of it and trash the smaller files and folder, then empty the trash, then delete a few more files, empty the trash, etc.
3) Don't forget to periodically Repair Permissions and restarting the computer.
4) If you are unsure about whether a folder or file can be safely deleted, ask someone knowledgable or just knock off for the day and hit it again tomorrow. Seriously, an unanswerable question you have might well be answered by sleeping on it and attacking it the next day.
5) As Douglas Adams wrote: DON'T PANIC!
Best of luck!
Chris

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Is anybody having trouble with your ringer after installing OS 6.0 and using the new GPS system?

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*shrug*
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Trouble with Disk Utility, Erase Free Space

Hello,
I have (had) a 120GB HD w/ about 53GB free. I had trashed some large files and thought I'd try the "Erase free space" option in Disk Utility.
I ran it per the help file: seleced Macintosh HD, Erase Free Space, using the "Zero Out Deleted Files" option. It got started, created a temp file, then told me it would take about 31 minutes. As it neared completion, I was presented w/ a Dialog: Out of Free space - or smthg to that effect.
Per the help file, which said I might be presented w/ such a warning but that I could ignore it, I clicked "OK".
Then the computer chugged along for another hour or so, never finishing. Finally I clicked the "Skip" button, and it chugged along for another 30 min. or so, never making any progress in "skippin" in the status bar. I finally just quit Disk Utility.
Now I'm showing a completely full HD. I've restared, but the same thing. I've tried to run Erase Free Space again, but it gives an error "Could not create temp file" - I'm assuming b/c it needs free space to do the task, and it thinks there is none. So...
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Thanks in advance...

There's probably a huge temp file somewhere, maybe in a folder in your Trash. Do a search for a huge (multi-GB?) file (it might be an image file) that looks suspicious.
The only reason to use erase is for security purposes, and doesn't do anything in the normal course of computer usage. Erase actually writes data to your remaining file space (as you have discovered with no space left) and then trashes that data (or not, in your case).
P.S. In future you should post this kind of topic as a question so people will know it is something that needs answering rather than being a comment.
Message was edited by: Limnos

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