Finding what programs are accessing hard drive

Recently, my Mac Mini has refused to auto-sleep (manual sleep works fine, though occasionally I wake up to find it's on). I've tried all the "usual" things and, just now, simply sat there and listened. After the set sleep period, the monitor went off but I heard the hard drive "access" for a brief period. For the next period, every 10-20seconds, there was brief burst of activity (talking less than a second, mmaybe one read or write process). I don't know how I could track what processes are accessing the hard drive, but if I could, I could finally track down the bandit that's keeping my Mac awake. Anyone know of a way I could accomplish this?

Nevermind. I found the offending program. It was Western Digital's "Button Manager". I have a Firewire My Book, so I'll see if I can uninstall the program.
I'd still be interested if there's a utility to track which programs access the HDD, but I consider this problem "answered" now

Similar Messages

How do I find what is on my hard drive in the other category

How do I find what is on my hard drive in the other category?

It's everything that does not fit in the definec categories - data, email, system files, etc.
What is "Other" and What Can I Do About It?- Apple Support Communities

How to find what's on your Hard Drive.

I was wondering how to find out what is on your hard drive. I have an issue where I open up evrything that is inside my hard drive and select get info. Everything like library and users and such add up to 58 gigabytes but then my hard drive actual info says that I have used 99 gigabytes. How do I find the other stuff on my hard drive? I would love to have any help with this, thanks.

First off, have you emptied the trash lately? You could have files in there which will still take up space on your hard drive until you empty it. There are also a number of invisible files, but they shouldn't even come close to how much space you are missing. I would think that if you empty the trash, you will recover much of the space you are missing. If not, then you have an issue with your hard drive. You can run disk utilites on it and see if there are any problems. If there are issues, disk utilities can not repair the boot drive. You will have to boot off the install cd. Once it fully boots up, go to the (I believe, tools menu and select the disk utilities option. You will now beable to select your internal drive and repair it.
Glor

How do I find what's using my hard drive space

My wife has a 14" iBook. How do I find what's using all the hard-drive space? It only has a 40GB hard-drive (it's one of the older G3 models) but there isn't a lot loaded onto the HD. There is only 3GB space left. I've gone through every application and utility and document and every folder (document, movie, etc.) and the largest space-hogging folder is iTunes which uses 15GB because of the music. I can't find any singular folder that uses any sizeable HD space. I recently loaded Tiger so I don't know if Tiger uses the rest of the space or if it's just a combo of all the other applications.

You could download and use WhatSize to see what may be eating up the space.
With a 40 GB hard drive, you need to keep at least 6 GB free in order to avoid problems.

How do i find what is using my hard drive space?

My hard drive space on my Macbook pro has suddenly filled up. How do I find what is using up the space so that I can see what I need to delete?

Hi s,
This is an old list, but some should still be current:
Disk Inventory X: http://www.derlien.com/
OmniDiskSweeper: http://www.omnigroup.com/products/omnidisksweeper/download/
GrandPerspective: http://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net/#download
SupaView: http://twinside.free.fr/supaview/
WhatSize ($12.99 and includes a duplicate finder): http://www.whatsizemac.com/
DaisyDisk: http://daisydiskapp.com/
http://pondini.org/OSX/LionStorage.html

Finding what sucked up my hard drive?

any suggestions on locating what file, is filling up my hard drive? i suddenly only have 8mb free on my 1tb, i had 177gb free a couple weeks ago, i know i didn't fill that myself. i think i have a log file sucking it up or something. any suggestions on finding it?

well, the only file i can find that i didn't put there, is this one
/home/urmom/.kdemod4/share/apps/nepomuk/repository/main/data/virtuosobackend/soprano-virtuoso.db
but its only 2.4gb.....and after checking directory sizes in /home/ with du, its not adding up to the amount of space that df is reporting used.....i tihnk i'm going to run fsck and see what happens

What program to check hard drive?

My computer is acting up (G5) and I need to find a good program to see if the problem is with the hard drive or system.
The Disk tools just say invalid postcount and that it cant complete the examination

When you boot to the install DVD, select your language and then from the Utilities menu select Disk Utility. Select your HD from the left side column and then select Repair Disk.

I have problem with Itunes losing where podcasts and some purchased music is located. Don't know how Itunes losing the locations of the files and I can't find the files on my hard drive. What can I do to stop Itunes losing location and restore my files?

I have problem with Itunes losing where podcasts and some purchased music is located. Don't know how Itunes losing the locations of the files and I can't find the files on my hard drive. What can I do to stop Itunes losing location and restore my files?

Try assigning Queen as the Album Artist on the compilations in iTunes on your computer.

Tried to replace RAM but now computer not starting...PowerMac G5 dual 2.0 - are my hard drives safe? What's up?

Hello - I tried to increase the RAM in my old and trusted Power Mac G5 (dual 2.0...2005) tonight and now I'm in trouble. It has only 4 slots for RAM. It came installed with 2X256 and 2X512 ram cards. I bought 2X 1GB of Ram from Crucial.com after sending them the specs of my computer they assured me it was the right RAM. I installed the RAM just how the youtube tutorials instructed.... I replaced the 2 256 cards with the new 1GB cards and closed up the computer......note: I also "dusted" the inside of the mac very carefully and lightly with a barely damp rag.....
I plugged her in and the power button light immediately went on but the computer did not. The button wouldn't respond to being held down either. No sign of a startup or a fan noise. Nothing on the screen, no signal.... Nothing..... So I tried reversing the order of the RAM, I installed the 1GB along with the 512's. Nothing again, just the light turns on when I plug her in. Then I returned the RAM to the original configuration.....again NOTHING...just the light on.
I reset the SMU. (little button underneath the RAM area) I haven't tried to reset the PRAM yet, but I'm pretty sure that will not work either as she is not starting up at all....just the light is on... I didn't get a noticeable shock or static spark during the entire operation either. ****....whats up?
Are my Hard Drives safe in there?
Any ideas out there? Thanks in advance to your advice, T

ToddMusic wrote:
note: I also "dusted" the inside of the mac very carefully and lightly with a barely damp rag.....
Are my Hard Drives safe in there?
Any ideas out there? Thanks in advance to your advice, T
Ouch! That was not the way to get dust out. Running that damp rag anywhere near an electronic component, even if you were wearing a properly grounded writs strap, was way dangerous.
Did you lay the machine on its left side when you replaced the RAM? That is much safer (though the recommendation only shows up in the service documentation, not the user guide, for some reason).
What I would do at this point is to remove all RAM and try to power the machine. If other stuff is OK, you won't start but you will see the lunar LED flashing in a repetitive pattern above the power switch. If you don't see that happening, then things are exceptionally serious.

External hard drive connected to my airport extreme will no longer open, when navigating to it in Finder, the Finder window quits and reopens, cannot access hard drive, it is visible in airport utility, since the problem began I have updated firmware

External hard drive connected to my airport extreme will no longer open, when navigating to it in Finder, the Finder window quits and reopens, cannot access hard drive, it is visible in airport utility, since the problem began I have updated firmware on Extreme as well as both of my Airport Expresses. Hard drive is USB connected to Extreme.

Reboot the USB drive.. assuming it is powered.. or unplug and replug a self-powered drive.. (you should not use self-powered drives on AE before the latest model.. always use a powered hub).
Does the drive now appear in finder..
If not reboot both drive and the AE.. it should now appear.
If it doesn't work with direct connection try a powered hub.. that can help.

What happened to my Hard drive memory?

I have iMac,24", early 2008, with 400GB memory. Up untill recently, about 90 GB was available out of 400. Now since the computer is slow, I was surprised to find only 20 GB is left. I can not account for loss of this memory. Is there any way to find what is taking all that memory and what can be done to recover. Thank you

You are confusing hard drive storage space with RAM (Random Access Memory).
You have 20 GBs of hard drive storage space left.
What year, screen size, CPU speed and amount of RAM installed?
How many applications do you run simultaneously in the background while working in another application?
Do you run any antivirus software on your Mac? Antivirus software can slow down the normal operation of OS X.
Do you run any "crapware" like Mackeeper or any other type of "crapware" like so called hard drive "cleaning" apps?
Hard Drive full or near full?
Follow some of my tips for cleaning out, deleting and archiving data from your Mac's internal hard drive.
Have you emptied your iMac's Trash icon in the Dock?
If you use iPhoto, iPhoto has its own trash that needs to be emptied, also.
If you use Apple Mail app, Apple Mail also has its own trash area that needs to be emptied, too!
Other things you can do to gain space.
Delete any old or no longer needed emails and/or archive older emails you want to save.
Look through your Documents folder and delete any type of old useless type files like "Read Me" type files.
Again, archive or delete any old documents you no longer use or immediately need.
Download an app called OnyX for your version of OS X.
When you install and launch it, let it do its thing initially, then go to the cleaning and maintenance tabs and run all of the processes in the tabs. Let OnyX clean out all web browser cache files, web browser histories, system cache files, delete old error log files.
Typically, iTunes and iPhoto libraries are the biggest users of HD space.
You may have to Purchase an external FireWire or Thunderbolt hard drive to move these files/data off of your internal drive to the external hard drive and deleted off of the internal hard drive.
If you have any other large folders of personal data or projects, these should be moved, also, to the external hard drive and then either archived to disc and/or deleted off your internal hard drive.
Good Luck!

I can't access hard drive

I buy Airport time capsule.
I can access WiFi but can't access hard drive ?

Are you actually running Lion on your computer??
Make sure the preference in Finder allow it to show network drives.
This might be turned off.
Have you setup Time Machine.. Time Machine can usually find the TC. If it fails then you need to redo the setup of the TC.
Use all short names, no spaces and pure alphanumeric.
Manually mount the TC hard disk from finder.. go .. connect to server.
Type in the name.
AFP://TCname (in mavericks you will need to add the domain.. so TCname.local) TCname is of course replaced with your actual TCname.

I want to upgrade my Hard Drive to 1TB and more. What is the maximun Hard Drive I can install for a MacBook Pro 2009 Yesterday, I tried a SEAGATE SSHD but my screen was always a showing a QUESTION MARK (?). It's not the cable because when I put back

I want to upgrade my Hard Drive to 1TB and more.
What is the maximun Hard Drive I can install for a MacBook Pro 2009
Yesterday, I tried a SEAGATE SSHD but my screen was always a showing a QUESTION MARK (?). It's not the cable because when I put back the old original version, everything works...Any sugestion of brabnding or procédure to upgrade my hard drive?

The largest 2.5" dia SATA drives available are 2 TB in capacity.
Have you tried the Seagate SSHD connected externally to the MBP via USB? The drive itself may be faulty.
Ciao.
Here is a good place to start looking for a replacement drive:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-drives/2.5-Notebook/

HI, I HAVE A MacBook Pro 2.3GHz dual-core Intel i5 AND I WAN'T TO UPGRADE THE HARD DRIVE UP TO 750GB AND ALSO THE RAM MEMORY TO 8GB. WHAT SPECIFIC MODEL OF HARD DRIVE AND RAM MEMORY SHOULD I BUY??? THANKS

HI, I HAVE A MacBook Pro 2.3GHz dual-core Intel i5 AND I WAN'T TO UPGRADE THE HARD DRIVE UP TO 750GB AND ALSO THE RAM MEMORY TO 8GB. WHAT SPECIFIC MODEL OF HARD DRIVE AND RAM MEMORY SHOULD I BUY??? THANKS

No need to type in all caps - we HEAR you!
I would take a look at the internal drives offered by both Crucial (click the link "Internal Hard Drives Now Available") and OWC. I would stay away from Western Digital drives as they seem to have problems on a number of Mac models.
You can also shop for RAM at Crucial and OWC - just select the System Scanner tab at the Crucial website to find out which memory is right for your machine.
Good luck,
Clinton

What is the maximum hard drive size can I install into my MacBook Pro 15 "late 2008 ?

Hello community, I play with the thought in my MacBook Pro 15 "late 2008 equipped with an SSD hard drive. What is the maximum hard drive size can I install? Thank you in advance
Dirk

mende1, greetings:
mende1 wrote:
I don't recommend you to install a hard drive bigger than 2 TB if you are going to install Windows in Boot Camp or you may have problems
The largest 2.5" SATA HDDs of 9.5 mm thickness that I am aware of are 1 TB in capacity. There is a 12.5 mm thick HDD that will fit some MBPs. But I have not seen any of larger capacity.
Are there now 2 TB HDDs available for MBPs? If so, I am interested.
Ciao.
Both OWC and Crucial have SSDs of about 1 TB capacity.
Message was edited by: OGELTHORPE

Finding what programs are accessing hard drive

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for