Failed Erase Free Space NOW missing all free space

I just recently performed an Erase Free Space from the Disk Utilities application. It failed and now I am missing all my free space. Can someone please help me correct this problem.
I did post this same question in another Forum. I wanted to make sure I posted it in the correct place.
Thank you,
Shannon

I think that a file is created that is the size of the free space, and then written over several times and then deleted. There may be a very large file lurking somewhere on your hard drive. You might want to try using a free utility like Whatsize to look for a large mysterious file, and if you find one then just delete it. Good luck.

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Failed erase free space

I recently ran the secure erase free space option from the disk utility using zero-out overwrite. The system locked up for about an hour, ultimately resulting in a force quit and reboot. Since the wipe process was not itself finished, the overwrite file was not deleted by the disk utility and now the disk has only approx 100 MB of free space... not enough to log-in.
I have read previous posts regarding how to delete this file from terminal but with root enabled. Since I do not make a habit of keeping the root user enabled, it seems some of my options in Terminal are very limited. And since I am not fluent in Linux, I need some assistance. Here are my efforts thus far:
a. Load Terminal from CD.
Screen is:
-bash-3.2#
Typed:
sudo rm -f /var/root/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems/*
And I get:
-bash: sudo: command not found
I have also tried:
sudo ls -al /var/root/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems
And I get:
-bash: sudo: command not found
b. I attempted to enable the root user from Terminal by typing:
% sudo tsch
And I get:
-bash: fg: %: no such job
I have also substituted .../root/... for .../mwdemoss/... (my short handle) also with no results.
I could restore from Time Machine if I *NEED* to, but I have a few files which haven't been backed up yet. I give preference, therefore, to the deletion of the overwrite file. If you are able to assist, please let me know. As I said, I have almost no experience with Terminal and so if your solution involves Terminal commands, please be very explicit in the keystrokes.
Thank you kindly.

Restored data from Time Machine.

IPod sync doesn't transfer files--but iPod is now missing all music/videos

I added some older songs to my library last night and this morning-they had been on a previous hard drive which I finally linked up with and imported them (just the music, nothing else).
I am using a 30gb 5.5 iPod, Windows XP pro SP2, Itunes 7.3 and my itunes and all files are kept on an external HDD. Never had a problem till now.
I imported the desired songs, and I can see them in my itunes library. So I connected my ipod to charge and to sync, and it said it was done syncing so I checked. And before I even checked, the bar that details ipod capacity had me worried-it went from 10gig free, to 27 gig free...
So I checked my ipod, and all music is gone. All movies and tv shows are gone. Only thing that survived was apparently my photos.
I did a restore of the ipod (since it was pretty much empty now anyways), and then re-synced when it was done, and the sync is completed way too fast, considering theres almost 20 gig waiting for it, and of course, nothing is going over.
I did, before it crapped out, go into movies/tv and select what I did and didnt want to sync, but I have since then gone back to the defaults, and that isn't helping.
Any ideas? Right now I have all my files usable in iTunes, but an empty iPod

Someone may have a better explanation, but I decided to remove the iPod from my system via my computer, rebooted, reconnected and now it's synching
though, oddly enough, 100 Beatles songs that I ripped from my CDs using iTunes, can't be located so I have to rip again I guess.....wasnt a problem before because the songs were on the iPod.
ah well

Synced new ipod to itunes, now missing all but itunes store purchased music that is already on my phone

Synced our new ipod nano today to itunes. I don't know what happened but now all but itunes store purchases are in the library, my playlist is gone as well as all the music I had downloaded from my CD's. The iphone 5 still has everything on it but not on my computer. Frustrating!! Now I'm scared to sync my phone, thinking I may lose all of my library off there as well. How do I get my library back on to my computer so I can transfer that music to my ipod?

Look into iTunes Match, a service from Apple that uploads your music in itunes to the cloud (not icloud) so you can download it to other devices.
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I made a dumb decision to 'Erase Free Space' on my drive. I now have no free space, I realize because it wrote 0's over all my free space. Is there a way to undo this??? Help please I can't save any documents now! Thanks in advance all, it is truly apprec

I made a dumb decision to 'Erase Free Space' on my drive. I now have no free space, I realize because it wrote 0's over all my free space. Is there a way to undo this??? Help please I can't save any documents now! Thanks in advance all, it is truly appreciated. how can find the hidden temporary files using the terminal what do i type in?

It's more likely a failed Erase Free Space, which creates a huge temporary file; that's why it looks like you have no more available drive space. You can recover from this. See these links
https://discussions.apple.com/message/10938738#10938738
http://www.macgeekery.com/tips/quickie/recovering_from_a_failed_secure_erase_fre e_space
Post back if you need any help with this.

September 2012 - Update 5.1 Now missing youtube and flickr & a lot more on Apple TV???

On September 26, 2012, our Apple TV prompted the latest update (5.1)
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Youtube
flickr
Podcasts
Photo Stream
Mobile Me
It is a second generation Apple TV, model MC572C/A
Everything else that is supposed to be there is there & otherwise working.
Can someone here or from Apple guide me into resolving this issue?
Thanks & Regards!

Thanks Deggie!
Reset all settings?
or
Restore to factory settings?

My external hard drive accidentally switched off during Disk Utility's "erase free space" process. I restarted the external hard drive and Disk Utility, but now I get the "couldn't mount disk" error when trying to finish the erase. Please help!

My external Lacie Quadra hard drive accidentally switched off in the middle of "erase free space", and when I switched it back on Disk Utility was hanging. So I Force Quit Disk Utility and restarted it. Now when I try to erase I get
"Secure Disk Erase failed with the error: Couldn’t unmount disk."
But "erase free space" seems to work...
What can I do? I'm erasing as I'm giving the drive to someone else and I wanted to wipe it clean.
Also should I use "erase" or "erase free space" if I want to wipe the drive clean?
Please help!

Sorry I don't really understand.... there are no partitions on the drive. How do I repartition it?
And should I use "erasing free space" or "erase" for wiping clean my drive of everything? Erase seems to be faster last tiem I tried.
Thanks!

HELP! I attempted to erase free space and now I can't open any files!

Hi everyone! I hope you can help me with my problem.
Last night, I attempted to erase free space from my HD using disk utility. During the operation, the computer hung, so it wasn't able to complete 'creating temporary file' operation. So i had to stop the operation. And now, I can't open any files! Turns out my HD was full. But prior to my attempt to erase free space, I still had 25GB out of 55GB of free space. What happened? And how do I fix it? A lot of important files are in my HD and I don't want to lose any of it.
Hope somebody could help me. Thanks a lot!
allworkedup
iBook G4 14" Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Hi, Scary isn't it? I did the self same thing. Check your trash, you should see one or more disk images there. Empty the trash. All will be OK thereafter.
If they're not there, restart and either the system will sort itself out or they will appear in the trash, so empty it.
See here for my thread on the same subject.
Good luck,
Adrian
Message was edited by Adrian: Oh, and Welcome to Discussions !!

Killed Disk Utility Erase Free Space. Now 0 available

(I erroneously posted this earlier to the Safari forum; posting here again)
I ran Disk Utility "Erase free space" on my iMac G5 250GB boot drive (I had about 130GB free). It ran for about 50 minutes, and got to "creating temp file" and then seemed to hang (thermometer didn't move for 20 minutes). So I force killed it. It seems to have left that "temp file" that takes up all available space since Disk Utility now reports 0 bytes available (and MS Entourage says insufficient free space and exits). I ran Finder "Secure empty trash" to delete 57 files with no error. But Disk Utility still says 0 bytes available.
First Aid "Verify Disk" reports no problems. "Verify Permissions" reports no problems.
Is there a way to regain my available space?
Thanks,
Ken

Restart did it. Thanks very much.
Ken

I used the "erase free space " option in disk utility and now my imac says the disk is full and wont let me download songs. please help!

i used the "erase free space " option in disk utility and now my imac says the disk is full and wont let me download songs. please help!

You could try repairing permissions with disk utility, I don't think you will have the option to repair the drive but you could verify it.
This may help you delete the files that DU made but did not remove when erasing the free space.
http://macosx.com/forums/mac-os-x-system-mac-software/317204-no-disk-space-after -failed-disk-utility-erase-free-space.html
When you get your SL disk it will not have the iLife applications, that would have been on the second install disk that should have been with the computer. I forget which version of iLife you will need for SL but I think it is this http://www.amazon.co.uk/Apple-iLife-Single-User-Mac/dp/B003XKRZES/ref=sr_1_1?ie= UTF8&qid=1409607702&sr=8-1&keywords=apple+ilife+11
A search of the forums will confirm or deny this.
As to whether a clean install will cure your problem, i.e. partition the HDD and install I would expect it to be yes, but there are no guarantees it is an old machine.

HT1199 Macbook 2007 - erase free space took all my free space! help!

My laptop has been having problems - track pad doesn't always work, runs slow, freezes. I replaced the hard drive on advice and that didn't help. I went to disk utility and verify and repaired disk permissions, that didn't help. I went to the erase tab and I clicked on "erase free space" thinking that would "defragment" free space, like a PC has. Now all my available memory is gone. Can I get it back? I thought I was freeing up space. Now my apps don't work correctly and I can't reinstall because I don't have enough disk space. HELP! I really appreciate any help or suggestions. I'm a teacher and can't teach without it!

Could be many things, we should start with this...
"Try Disk Utility
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu at the top of the screen. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Select your Mac OS X volume.
5. Click Repair. Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Then try a Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, reboot when it completes.
(Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive.)

Clicked erase free space in disk utility, now I have no SPACE!

I ran erase free space in disk utility in hopes of freeing up more room on my hard drive, and had 34 GB free, but now it says zero kb available. I have never done this before. It still has twelve hours to go, and I was wondering if this was normal.
MacBook Mac OS X (10.4.7) White 2 Ghz.
MacBook Mac OS X (10.4.7) White 2 Ghz.

Doing so does not free up any hard drive space.
Copied from this link.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=DiskUtility/10.5/en/duh1010.html
You might see a message saying that you are running out of disk space, but you can ignore that warning. When this operation is complete, you will have the same amount of free space as you did when it started.
For suggestions to free up hard drive space, check this link.
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/freeingspace.html

With itunes match live on my iOS devices, can I now remove all local music files from my PC to free up space? There's no need to keep it if it will always be in the cloud. Right?

With itunes match live on my iOS devices, can I now remove all local music files from my PC to free up space? There's no need to keep it if it will always be in the cloud. Right?

With itunes match live on my iOS devices, can I now remove all local music files from my PC to free up space? There's no need to keep it if it will always be in the cloud. Right?

Erase free space fails

I am trying to erase the free space on my hard drive, but part way through I get an error message. I started up my MacBook from the OS-X cd and ran Disk Utility. Selected "Erase Free Space" (7-pass) and after it ran for a few hours, but before it was finished, it quit. This message was displayed: "Disk Utility internal error - Disk Utility has lost its connection with the Disk Management Tool and cannot continue. Please quit and relaunch Disk Utility." I tried rebooting, and the same thing happened. I tried running Disk Repair and found no problems. Any suggestions?

Erasing Free Space Will Definitely Help Me and My Situation. Plus I've deleted or transferred files to an External HD, a ton of files(About 75%). And still the hard drive is reading FULL. The Erase Free Space Option just isn't working for some odd reason. So Erase Free Space Is Definitely What I'm Looking For. Any think you can think of, why it's not working properly?? And thanks for you speedy response also.

Disk Utility Erase Free Space Option Nonexistant

Have an iMAC 1 GHZ PowerPC G4 256 MB DDR SDRAM OS 10.3.9. According to various google results I should be able to call up Disk Utilities>Partition>Erase>Erase Free Space. Its not there. (Its exactly where it should be on a nearby G5 running 10.5.8.).
It will allow me to erase the entire disk or either of two partitions but the Erase Free Space isn't just grayed out, it is completely missing.
1) The hard drive was partitioned at some point in the past I think to get around some admin thing. One partition has 51 out of 60 GB filled, the other has 12.4 of 16.3 GB filled.
2) Don't ask about the admins, my Entourage has been broken for 9 months - I am not joking.
3) My computer knowledge is spotty - you've been warned.
Help!

Try starting the iMac in Target Disk Mode while attached to one of your newer computers with a firewire cable. This basically makes the iMac an external hard drive. I've not tried this but you should then be able to use a newer version of Disk Utility on that drive.
[How to use FireWire target disk mode|http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661] includes description of hardware and software requirements.
[What to do if your Mac doesn't enter FireWire Target Disk Mode|http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75414], also read about [Open Firmware Password Protection|http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/openfirmwarepassword.html] which can disable Target Disk Mode.
I'm not a technician but I don't think it "misses" areas, it's just more a matter of covering up what was written there before. Think of it as you write something on a piece of paper, then erase it and write something down in the same space. If you look closely you can see what was written there before. Now erase that again and write something else. It'll be pretty difficult to make out what was written there the very first time. Do that 7 times and it will be very, very, very difficult. Do that 32 times and it will be impossible. However, all that erasing and writing will take its toll on the paper and take a long time. I'd say anything more than a erase once would really have to be justified by very sensitive data. Anybody wanting to recover the data would have to use pretty specialized equipment.

Failed Erase Free Space NOW missing all free space

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