Disk Utility shows incorrect free disk space after erasing hard disk

Hello.
A few days ago, I tried to re-install my Mac OS and both Snow Leopard and Lion got the same problem. Before the re-installation, I erased the hard disk of my MacBook (late 2009) and the SSD of my MacBook Air (late 2010) - but after erasing the disks, the disk utility continued to show more or less 5 GB of used disk capacity, although the disks should have been cleared entirely I think.
After installing Snow Leopard or Lion, Finder showed as much free space as I usually expected it would, but Disk Utility still stated 5-10 GB less. For example:
MacBook: Finder shows 17 GB free, Disk Utility 6 GB free
MacBook Air: Finder shows 26 GB free, Disk Utility 19 GB free
There are 2 problems:
1) I need the original disk capacity. Think everybody agrees with that wish.
2) More important: The MacBook should still get a Bootcamp partition (unfortunately, that's necessary for my university's software.. :s): With 17 GB free space, it would work - but 6 GB doesn't.
I would be very pleased if somebody could help me. I searched the web many times so far but didn't find any real solution.

The available disk space reported in finder is totally wrong.
Even if it accounts for the local snapshots. In my macbook air it shows 120 Available in finder which is just 1GB less than my SSD capacity.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4467217

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Disk Utility Shows Incorrect Free Space

I've had this problem for a while now, and I've been unable to figure out why. I can't even remember when it started, but it has become quite a nuisance.
The Finder window shows that I have 302GB of harddrive space remaining, out of 500GB. The Activity Monitor and Disk Utility show I have 240GB space remaining, and my System Profiler shows I have 239GB remaining. I just deleted a bunch of old TV shows off of iTunes (about 40GB worth) to open up some space, but only the Finder changed (up to 302GB from 260GB) but the Activity Monitor, Disk Utility, and System Profiler haven't changed.
Now, I'll assume the Finder is showing the correct amount of space, but I'm wondering why the other utilites are showing the incorrent amount of space. I have a feeling maybe something was screwed up when I created a 50GB Windows 7 partition through Boot Camp a couple months ago.
I've attempted to Repair Disk through the Disk Utility and it says everything looks fine. Any solutions to this minor inconvenience? Or at least an answer as to why this is happening?

The available disk space reported in finder is totally wrong.
Even if it accounts for the local snapshots. In my macbook air it shows 120 Available in finder which is just 1GB less than my SSD capacity.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4467217

Disk Utility "Input - Output error" when attempting to erase Hard Drive

Hope that someone can point me in the right direction.
I bought an external hard drive for Windows a year back and loaded music onto it. I realized that I my MAC wasn't getting "Read / Write" privileges for the External Hard Drive, so I decided to try to Partition it and make it into a FAT readable device. It erased all data from my hard drive, but Disk Utility stopped the process and displayed an "input - output error".
Consequently, I can't initialize the external hard drive to make it usable on my MAC.
Can anyone point me in the right direction so I can "reformat" my external?
Thanks!

Hi all,
I'm having similar issues on a white macbook (2006 model). I ran into some trouble with it about a month ago, when on booting up, it showed only the folder with a question mark. Booting up from the original grey install DVD worked, so I thought the problem was most likely a faulty hard drive.
It's only after having this problem, that I came across this recall for possible faulty hard drives, that Apple offered:
http://www.apple.com/support/macbook/hd/repairextension/
Doh! Too late?
So, I got onto ebay and picked up a deal and received my new hard drive yesterday. I swapped out the original 80GB with 320GB, only to find the same input/output error described by the OP, here (also in a couple of other Apple discussion posts - see below).
Disk utility shows the new hard drive to be 2.3TB in size! Should be 320GB - but, this is also what others have described. See e.g.,:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/16090313#16090313
I've run the extended testing from the CD (holding down 'D' on boot-up) and it reported no problems. Also, similar to others experiences:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/16081818#16081818
So, what can the problem be?!?!?!?!?
In this post, JMPC suggests it has something to do with the size of the new internal hard drive....groan.....:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/16145560?tstart=0#16145560?tstart=0
Can anyone confirm this?

What will happen to my key if my hard disk is formatted, will the key work after my hard disk is formatted ?

I want to know that, will my synchronized computer key will work if I format my hard disk because when hard disk is formatted then the key code will be erased , though I have saved my key will it work after formatting hard disk . let me know .
let me also know that what will happen if I lose the key I had saved then how will I access my synchronized computer .

Hi!
Can you point to the information where it says that the information is backed up in our servers? If that's mentioned anywhere we need to clarify it.
The only reference I found is here: [[What is Firefox Sync?]] and it specifically says that the information is synched across devices through our servers. If that's misleading, let me know so we can rephrase it.
Regarding storing the key in your pen-drive or any other back up system: This is the best solution and it will work smoothly after you format your computer. The key doesn't change when you format your computer so you will have no issues after all.

Disk utility shows incorrect size

When I open disk utility on my 2011 macbook air it shows that I have used 181gb with 68 free. But when I right click on my Macintosh HD and select Get info it shows that i have 215gb free and I've only used 34gb. *** is going on. My SSD should be 256 minus overhead/recovery. But these numbers are way off. And yes i have tried to reboot and clear my trash can/cache files.

I figured it out. It was the /.Mobilebackup folder that's taking up all the space. turned off localbackup and it wiped out the directory and cleared up the space. But i'm not sure if this is a good idea. It does give my all my space back in disk utility which is the same result as get info from my hd. These commands helped out a lot
df -H
sudo du -cxhd 1 /

Regain memory after erasing hard disk

I notice that my new 1TB drive has lost its memory from 1TB to 930GB even after full erase operation in disk utiity even after selectiong 7 zero erase option. What happen to the 70 GB memory? Can I get back the lost 70GB? If yes, how do I go about it?

I see you're on 10.5.8; you may be seeing an apparent anomaly caused by differences in the way HD sizes are advertised and how they're reported by DU.
The manufacturer designates the drive using decimal notation, so 1TB = 1,000 GB
Your system reports using the (correct) binary notation in which 1TB = 1,024 GB
So a 1TB drive will be seen by DU as approx 977 GB (actually, it should really be 909 GB but that's another story)
The anomaly is addressed in SL by Apple changing DU to report in decimal rather than binary.

After Erasing Hard Disk, Can't Eject Startup CD

Not entirely sure where this belongs on this forum, but I am preparing to sell my old PowerBook G4 17in and so did a 7-pass erasure. In order to do this, I had to boot from a start-up CD for the MacBook Air that I have. It won't let me install this operating system, (fair enough,) but it also doesn't give me a way to eject the CD, because the PowerBook can't start-up or run without the CD. Any thoughts? Can I somehow boot it from my current computer and then get it to eject the CD?
Thanks.

Restart with the trackpad or eject buttons pressed, or press Option, Command, O, and F simultaneously, and issue the following:
eject cd
mac-boot
(52291)

How can I erase My hard drive. Disk utility only gives me the option of erase free space. I have 27in iMac with Lion and 12 gb ram.

How can I erase my hard drive? Disk utility only gives me the option to erase free space.
Thanks for any assistance.

Drive Preparation for Lion
1. Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Quit DU to return to the main menu.
5. Select Reinstall Lion then click on the Continue button. You need an active network connection in order to download the Lion software.

After i enter my password for the wifi in internet recovery mode it just shows a blank screen no disk utility shows why??? NEED HELP

After i enter my password for the wifi in internet recovery mode it just shows a blank screen no disk utility shows why??? NEED HELP

Enter your admin passwrod, not Wi-Fi network password.

Does Secure Empty Trash Accomplish the same task as Running disk util to wipe free space

Does using the secure empty trash option accomplish the same task as running disk util to eliminate free space from old deleted files? I'm currently running the 7 pass deal on my late '12 iMac. Says its gonna take 7 hrs. Can I use safari or iTunes while the Big Mac works its magic?

Does using the secure empty trash option accomplish the same task as
running disk util to eliminate free space from old deleted files?
No.
Finder > Empty Trash just tells the file system that those areas on the drive are now available for overwriting with new data. Data deleted off hard drives can be recovered if this method is used before it's overwritten with new data with special software.
Finder > Secure Empty Trash runs a 7x pass military approved overwrite only on the deleted files in the Trash, works for hard drives only.
Disk Utility > Erase Free Space creates a huge file that takes the remaining free space on the volume selected and either writes zeros or 7x pass, then confirms it and then removes the file. Takes a long time to complete, do not interrupt.
This can be used if one forgets to use Secure Empty Trash or wants to scrub caches or other files that don't necessarily go to the Trash for user deletion, such as program files that self delete and download cache files etc.
Only works for hard drives and there is no recovery possible for nearly all users. Those with special expensive magnetic equipment can possibly recover data off a zero pass, but not off a 7x overwrite.
The zero erase free space can be also be used to pre-eliminate potential unknown bad sectors on hard drives before wanted data is written to them, thus preventing future issues with data retention on hard drives.
Disk Utility > Erase - (not moving the slider) will erase all data on the volume or partition selected, including wanted data. It just tells the file system the deleted data is ready for overwriting. Thus can be recovered using special software before it's overwritten on hard drives only.
Disk Utility > Erase w/Security Option - (or moving the slider from the left) will secure erase all data on the volume or partition selected, including wanted data.
It can vary on the operating system version used from zero pass, to 3x overwrite, to 7x overwrite to 35x overwrite (old version for days past of smaller drives, don't use on newer larger drives as it will take weeks to finish.)
Secure erase methods are used to secure erase private data off of hard drives only, doesn't work for SSDs.
For secure data deletion off a SSD or any flash media, it's NSA advised to grind it into a fine powder.
How do I securely delete data from the machine?

Disk Utility 11.0 (252) crashes system after 10.5.1

After doing the auto update to 10.5.1 Disk Utility honks the system to where I have to force a power down.
The auto update was something I have never seen before. I was working on documents when out of the blue the "check for updates" said I needed to update to 10.5.1. I opted for "Not Now". Later I went to check for updates and allowed it to install 10.5.1. It started instantly!! Where did the update file come from? There was zero activity on my ethernet switcher and router. Did it load without my knowledge while I was working on the computer earlier?? It went instantly to the blue screen and only took a couple minutes to update and restart. That's not normal!! BUT I couldn't do anything after the restart as I was running at 100 percent CPU time for well over an hour. Activity Monitor showed that installdb was consuming 97 percent. Who/what is that?? I have never seen installdb before or after.
After over an hour all seemed okay (3% CPU when doing nothing). I opted to check a brand new USB 2.0 drive I bought to do TM but could not make it work after doing a format (tried all options) under 10.5. 10.5.1 promised a fix for such NTFS drives. That's when I brought up Disk Utility. It can't even do a verify disk on my internal startup drive without taking the system to it's knees. Spinning pizza of death. Force quit will not work. Only a forced power down will get the computer going again. Monitoring Activity Monitor during this you see nothing but red lined processes (not responding).
I am in panic. Is my boot drive okay as now I can't check anything. I booted from 10.5 Install Disk and ran Disk Utility and it says the drive is okay and a couple permissions are bad (GUID) being one of them but otherwise the internal seems okay. I downloaded the standalone installer and ran it. It went fine as far as I can tell. But Disk Utility 11.0 (252) still crashes the system big time.
How can I fix Disk Utility?? Can I throw it into the trash and run the standalone installer again??
Thanks for any help.

I got the same thing - only even worse:
Repairing permissions for “Dorkorama”
Warning: SUID file "usr/libexec/load_hdi" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/DiskManagement.framework/Versions/A/Resources /DiskManagementTool" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/DesktopServicesPriv.framework/Versions/A/Reso urces/Locum" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Install.framework/Versions/A/Resources/runner " has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Admin.framework/Versions/A/Resources/readconf ig" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Admin.framework/Versions/A/Resources/writecon fig" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "usr/libexec/authopen" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/Resources/OwnerGroupTool" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/ARDAg ent" has been modified and will not be repaired.
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement".
ACL found but not expected on "System/Library/Extensions".
ACL found but not expected on ".".

I start my macbook air up and a file comes up with a question mark. When I go to Disk Utility I go to update things or erase everything and my disks don't show up or anything. Anyone know what to do?

I start my macbook air up and a file comes up with a question mark. When I go to Disk Utility I go to update things or erase everything and my disks don't show up or anything. Anyone know what to do?

Question (?) Mark, Blinking Folder, or Gray Screen at Startup
These are related but not identical issues. Their causes are outlined in Intel-based Mac- Startup sequence and error codes, symbols. Solutions may be found in:
A flashing question mark appears when you start your Mac
Mac OS X- Gray screen appears during startup
In most cases the problems may be caused by:
Problem with the computer's PRAM - See Resetting your Mac's PRAM and NVRAM.
Boot drive's directory has been corrupted - Repair with Disk Utility.
Critical system files are damaged or deleted - Reinstall OS X.
The disk drive is physically non-functional - Replace the hard drive.
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your Snow Leopard Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
The main difference if you are using Lion or Mountain Lion is that you must first boot from the Recovery HD:
Boot From The Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Reinstall Snow Leopard Without Erasing The drive
1. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your Snow Leopard Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
2. Reinstall Snow Leopard
If the drive is OK then quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed with reinstalling OS X. Note that the Snow Leopard installer will not erase your drive or disturb your files. After installing a fresh copy of OS X the installer will move your Home folder, third-party applications, support items, and network preferences into the newly installed system.
Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.
Reinstalling Lion/Mountain Lion Without Erasing The Drive
Boot to the Recovery HD: Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the main menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Continue button.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.

Unable to find HDD after erase with disk utility

Background id I had installed the Lion OS but then got into trouble with the "flashing question mark " at start up.
After using the recovery option, Lion OS was reinstalled and things were fine for a couple of days. Then the "flashing ?" returned
This time, it appeared the "Cmd R" did not work. So I browsed until I found out it is possible in the reinstallation, the recovery option was removed.
Ok, so then one of the discussion threads suggested to use the installer disc to boot up, use the disk utility to erase the HDD and install in my case Snow Leopard, and thereafter install the Lion OS.
I am stuck after clicking "erase". First there was an error message - "file system formatter failed' then I no longer can see the HDD in the disk utility.
How can complete the HDD erase function so I can proceed to install the OS?

A check in the system profiler - "There was an error while scanning for Serial ATA devices"
Looks like my iMac's HDD is kaput...Or is there a way to fix this?

I used a partitioned HDD for time machine, using a partition already containing other data files. I am now no longer able to view that partition in Finder. Disk Utility shows it in grey and "not mounted". Any suggestions of how to access the files?

I used a partitioned HDD for time machine, using a partition already containing other data files. I am now no longer able to view that partition in Finder. Disk Utility shows it in grey and "not mounted". Any suggestions of how to access the files? Does using time machine mean that that partition is no longer able to be used as it used to be?
HDD is a Toshiba 1TB, partitioned into two 500GB partitions.
OS X version 10.9.2

Yes, sharing a TM disk is a bad idea, and disks are cheap enough so that you don't need to.
Now
Have you tried to repair the disk yet

MacBook in target disk mode shows incorrect disk size

My 80 GB hard drive in MacBook has gone bad (the filesystem is in inconsistent state). I connected it to an iMac in Target Disk Mode. It shows up (unmounted) but the capacity reported by Disk Utility is 20 GB. Does someone know why is that? Is it due to the corrupt filesystem?
I am afraid that given this situation, if I buy and run DiskWarrior, that too might not be able to see the full disk and fail to repair it. Note that if I boot my MacBook using the Apple CD, the Disk Utility shows the correct disk size.
Thanks.

If you have a disk that is in really, really bad shape to the point that Disk Utility looks at you like a 5 year old that just spilled a glass of apple juice on the kitchen floor, it's time to bring in the big guns.
DiskWarrior.
I love it, I love it. If someone has something bad to say about it, they are lying. If there is a chance that you can get everything back to normal without spending the huge dough to send your drive out to be dismantled in a clean room, DiskWarrior is that chance.
It's worth every single penny.
Let me know if you have other queries.

Disk Utility shows incorrect free disk space after erasing hard disk

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