Hard drive full but no big files

How to find what is filling up my hard drive?

Thanks so much, found 145 gb in my recovered messages file in my email. looking at it looks like 1 email 10,000 times.
I am happy again!!!!

Similar Messages

Hard drive full of back up files, cant move them out

i am new to mac's, i am using a macpro retina 13".
i recently put all my photos in iphoto & edited few home videos in imovie & later moved my iphoto library to an external hard drive. i checked my hard drive for space after moving the iphoto library out to the external drive but it seems to be full, i checked out the storage area in "about my mac" it shows me that the mac hard drive has back ups. i am using an external hardrive for timemachine backups.
my time machine backup was not connected to my mac when i did all the work. i later connected the hard drive & did timemachine back up but the files in the macdrive does not see to move out.
i have attached a pic of the hard drive status in about my mac.
please help me to move this large file out my mac to the external hard drive.
thank you.

You really should understand what these Time Machine Local Snapshots are and how the impact the storage:
http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202301
In effect that are temporary and will be deleted as may be required for other data. You may simply ignore them since they will have no adverse affect on the MBP SSD.
Ciao.

Hard Drive Full - But with What?

We find that our iMac HD is full. I did a search for big files, anything over 100,000 kb and found one big whopper: it's called appleuser.sparseimage.
Can I delete this? What is it? Any tips for finding big files that might be stealing lots of room?

Hello sort of a nubee on Imac problems.
I have a 297g capacity drive, after getting info on files I noticed only about 80g that I have used but tried to load new turbo tax program and was told there was no space and had to clear some out.
I have read many posts, used start up disk to fix drive and check for errors. I ran a suggested search in Terminal for large files and found these large, can someone help on how to go about and deleting them?
ran
-rw-r--r--@ 1 Sabino 99M Mar 13 14:01 /private/var/folders/29/29S1udB4Eo0PZ1vY8sfzBk+TI/-Caches-/com.apple.Safari/Cache.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root 133M Feb 24 15:32 /private/var/db/dyld/dyldshared_cachei386
-rw-r--r--@ 1 502 150M Mar 2 18:35 /private/var/folders/Hf/HfiLkvrWH80vanzV1loHKE+TM/-Caches-/com.apple.Safari/Cache.db
-rw-r--r-- 1 root 160M Feb 18 15:56 /private/var/db/dyld/dyldshared_cacherosetta
-rw------- 1 _installer 251M Mar 10 17:23 /Library/Receipts/db/a.receiptdb
Feb 16 12:12 /private/var/log/asl/2009.02.13.U0.G80.asl
-rw-r----- 1 root 257M Feb 25 21:42 /private/var/log/asl/2009.02.25.U0.G80.asl
-rw-r----- 1 root 296M Jan 25 11:31 /private/var/log/asl/2009.01.25.U0.G80.asl.1232910348
-rw-r----- 1 root 782M Jan 24 19:34 /private/var/log/asl/2009.01.24.U0.G80.asl.1232849197
-rw-r----- 1 root 1.4G Jan 25 11:05 /private/var/log/asl/2009.01.25.U0.G80.asl.1232905733
-rw-r----- 1 root 1.5G Jan 25 09:48 /private/var/log/asl/2009.01.25.U0.G80.asl.1232901364
-rw-r----- 1 root 1.5G Jan 25 02:51 /private/var/log/asl/2009.01.25.U0.G80.asl.1232876287
-rw-r----- 1 root 1.6G Jan 24 20:50 /private/var/log/asl/2009.01.24.U0.G80.asl.1232854442
-rw-r----- 1 root 1.7G Jan 25 07:10 /private/var/log/asl/2009.01.25.U0.G80.asl.1232891071
-rw-r----- 1 root 1.7G Jan 25 08:36 /private/var/log/asl/2009.01.25.U0.G80.asl.1232896224
-rw-r----- 1 root 1.8G Jan 24 23:52 /private/var/log/asl/2009.01.24.U0.G80.asl.1232864778
-rw-r----- 1 root 1.8G Jan 25 04:15 /private/var/log/asl/2009.01.25.U0.G80.asl.1232880691
-rw-r----- 1 root 1.9G Jan 25 05:44 /private/var/log/asl/2009.01.25.U0.G80.asl.1232885714
-rw-r----- 1 root 1.9G Jan 24 22:26 /private/var/log/asl/2009.01.24.U0.G80.asl.1232859051
-rw-r----- 1 root 2.0G Jan 25 01:38 /private/var/log/asl/2009.01.24.U0.G80.asl
-rw-r----- 1 root 7.6G Mar 10 17:31 /private/var/log/asl/2009.03.03.U0.G80.asl
-rw-r----- 1 root 41G Jan 24 17:49 /private/var/log/asl/2009.01.23.U0.G80.asl
-rw-r----- 1 root 108G

Hard Drive FULL, trying to move files

My startup disk and hard drive are full. I've backed up my machine two ways (two external hard drives to be redundant) I'm paranoid of losing pictures and music. I want to remove my pictures from mentioned machine (2007 Macbook Pro) and put pictures on my wife's Macbook Pro which is much newer and had adequate storage space.
Heck I don't even have to do that, I just want to lose the 38gb of pictures on this machine. I cannot open iPhoto because it says it has to update my library to view picures, but when it attempts to do so the message comes up that there isn't enough room on the Hard Drive. When I try to move photos all I see is iPhoto Library icon, and you cannot open/explore at all. My questions is do I delete the whole library? I was planning on going through the library first to try and get rid of duplicate phtotos (which for some reason there is alot of) and then re assesing.
Second Question, if I delete off my computer, can I put only some back on my machine? I'd probably only put on more recent pics, but need to know.
After that is all worked out, can I put the entire library on another Macbook Pro by simply adding the entire iPhoto library onto that machine? Happy Sunday THANKS!

1. The iPhoto library is a SQLite database and there are no user serviceable parts in it. You CAN NOT modify it in any way except using iPhoto. Using the finder or any other program will corrupt the database and cause data loss
2. Typically there are no duplicates within the iPhoto library. There will always be two or three versions of each photo. These are critical to the operation if iPhoto and can not be deleted (see #1)
3. The iPhoto library must be treated as a single entity. To move it simply drag it to the new location intact as a single entity
4. To move selected photos between libraries use iPhoto Library Manager
LN

Hard Drive Full (but not full)

Hi All,
I'm not sure I have sufficient technical knowledge to follow other, similar threads on this topic. I'd benefit from a bit of gentler handling, if that's okay!
I have a relatively new MBP with a 500GB hard drive (flash storage). I am good with my back-ups and use Time Machine in conjunction with an external HD and have backed up old video and image files to a 2TB external hard drive.
What is happening continually is that my Hard Drive gets almost completely used up very quickly. I have used OmniDiskSweeper to get a view on the size of files - the largest folder (as you might expect) is the Users folder at just over 100GB. Nothing is else is all that big - so maybe a total usage of 130GB in all.
I think the problem comes from the idea of 'hidden backups'. I recently imported some raw video into iMovie, which I then saved out as a .MOV file and moved off to an external HD, deleting the local copy. If I've read other threads correctly, the MBP holds some of these large files as a snapshot in time of the drive.
However, how can I get rid of these and get back to a relatively clean HD without doing a complete reinstall?
Suggestions are warmly welcomed.
Patrick

Please read this Apple support article on Time machine snapshots.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204015
They are meant to be only temporary and will drop off if space is needed for other data. In that regard, you may ignore them.
Ciao.

Hard drive full on wake. But restart fixes it?!

When I wake my mac from sleep in the morning my mac is running really slow and it says my hard rive is full, but I know this isn't true. When I do a restart it shows the hard drive with 10% free as it should be (22GB on a 250GB hard drive)
Why is it doing this and forcing a restart?!
Thanks,
James

Downloaded Etrecheck....this is the report....lots of red stuff!
Problem description:
Mac using has plenty of hard drive space…but slowing down to halt and saying all arrive space taken up
EtreCheck version: 2.1.8 (121)
Report generated 24 March 2015 15:04:43 GMT
Download EtreCheck from http://etresoft.com/etrecheck
Click the [Click for support] links for help with non-Apple products.
Click the [Click for details] links for more information about that line.
Hardware Information: ℹ️
    MacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2013) (Technical Specifications)
    MacBook Air - model: MacBookAir6,2
    1 1.3 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 2-core
    4 GB RAM Not upgradeable
        BANK 0/DIMM0
            2 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok
        BANK 1/DIMM0
            2 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok
    Bluetooth: Good - Handoff/Airdrop2 supported
    Wireless: en0: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
    Battery Health: Normal - Cycle count 96
Video Information: ℹ️
    Intel HD Graphics 5000
        Color LCD 1440 x 900
        Thunderbolt Display 2560 x 1440
System Software: ℹ️
    OS X 10.10.2 (14C1514) - Time since boot: 5:24:17
Disk Information: ℹ️
    APPLE SSD SD0256F disk0 : (251 GB)
        EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB
        Macintosh HD (disk0s2) / : 250.14 GB (24.52 GB free)
        Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB
USB Information: ℹ️
    Sunplus Innovation Technology. USB to Serial-ATA bridge 500.11 GB
        HD_500GB (disk2s1) /Volumes/HD_500GB : 500.11 GB (282.67 GB free)
    Samsung M3 Portable Samsung M3 Portable 1 TB
        EFI (disk1s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB
        Thunderbolt 1TB Samsung (disk1s2) /Volumes/Thunderbolt 1TB Samsung : 999.86 GB (848.14 GB free)
    Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Display)
    Apple Inc. Apple Thunderbolt Display
    Apple Inc. Display Audio
    Apple Internal Memory Card Reader
    Apple Inc. iPhone
    Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub
        Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
    Logitech USB Receiver
Thunderbolt Information: ℹ️
    Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus
        Apple Inc. Thunderbolt Display
Gatekeeper: ℹ️
    Mac App Store and identified developers
Kernel Extensions: ℹ️
        /Applications/Parallels Desktop.app
    [loaded]    com.parallels.kext.hypervisor (10.1.4 28883 - SDK 10.7) [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.parallels.kext.netbridge (10.1.4 28883 - SDK 10.7) [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.parallels.kext.usbconnect (10.1.4 28883 - SDK 10.7) [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.parallels.kext.vnic (10.1.4 28883 - SDK 10.7) [Click for support]
        /Library/Extensions
    [loaded]    com.sophos.kext.sav (9.2.50 - SDK 10.8) [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.sophos.nke.swi (9.2.50 - SDK 10.8) [Click for support]
Problem System Launch Agents: ℹ️
    [killed]    com.apple.AirPlayUIAgent.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.bird.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.CalendarAgent.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.CallHistoryPluginHelper.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.CallHistorySyncHelper.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.cmfsyncagent.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.coreservices.appleid.authentication.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.EscrowSecurityAlert.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.icloud.fmfd.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.iconservices.iconservicesagent.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.pluginkit.pkd.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.printtool.agent.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.recentsd.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.SafariNotificationAgent.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.sbd.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.scopedbookmarkagent.xpc.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.secd.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.security.cloudkeychainproxy.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.spindump_agent.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.syncdefaultsd.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.telephonyutilities.callservicesd.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.xpc.loginitemregisterd.plist
    22 processes killed due to memory pressure
Problem System Launch Daemons: ℹ️
    [killed]    com.apple.awdd.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.cache_delete.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.ctkd.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.icloud.findmydeviced.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.iconservices.iconservicesagent.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.iconservices.iconservicesd.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.ifdreader.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.MobileFileIntegrity.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.nehelper.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.spindump.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.sysmond.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.tccd.system.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.wdhelper.plist
    [killed]    com.apple.xpc.smd.plist
    [killed]    org.cups.cupsd.plist
    15 processes killed due to memory pressure
Launch Agents: ℹ️
    [loaded]    com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist [Click for support]
    [running]    com.sophos.uiserver.plist [Click for support]
    [running]    com.trusteer.rapport.rapportd.plist [Click for support]
Launch Daemons: ℹ️
    [loaded]    com.adobe.fpsaud.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.oracle.java.JavaUpdateHelper.plist [Click for support]
    [running]    com.sophos.common.servicemanager.plist [Click for support]
    [running]    com.trusteer.rooks.rooksd.plist [Click for support]
User Launch Agents: ℹ️
    [loaded]    com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist [Click for support]
    [running]    com.akamai.single-user-client.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.google.keystone.agent.plist [Click for support]
    [running]    com.spotify.webhelper.plist [Click for support]
User Login Items: ℹ️
    iTunesHelper    Application (/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)
    Window Tidy    Application (/Applications/Window Tidy.app)
    Dropbox    Application (/Applications/Dropbox.app)
    Google Drive    Application (/Applications/Google Drive.app)
    Deezer    Application (/Applications/Deezer.app)
Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️
    FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 17.0.0.134 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]
    QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3
    AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: Version: 11.0.10 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]
    AdobePDFViewer: Version: 11.0.10 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]
    Flash Player: Version: 17.0.0.134 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]
    Default Browser: Version: 600 - SDK 10.10
    SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.4.8 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]
    Unity Web Player: Version: UnityPlayer version 4.6.2f1 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]
    Silverlight: Version: 5.1.30514.0 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]
    JavaAppletPlugin: Version: Java 8 Update 31 Check version
Safari Extensions: ℹ️
    1Password
    Facebook Improved
    Pin It Button
    Open in Internet Explorer
3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️
    Akamai NetSession Preferences [Click for support]
    Flash Player [Click for support]
    Java [Click for support]
    MusicManager [Click for support]
    Paragon NTFS for Mac ® OS X [Click for support]
    Trusteer Endpoint Protection [Click for support]
Time Machine: ℹ️
    Skip System Files: NO
    Mobile backups: OFF
    Auto backup: YES
    Volumes being backed up:
        Thunderbolt 1TB Samsung: Disk size: 999.86 GB Disk used: 151.72 GB
        Macintosh HD: Disk size: 250.14 GB Disk used: 225.62 GB
    Destinations:
        Data [Network]
        Total size: 3.00 TB
        Total number of backups: 25
        Oldest backup: 2014-12-24 04:08:34 +0000
        Last backup: 2015-03-15 13:09:18 +0000
        Size of backup disk: Adequate
            Backup size 3.00 TB > (Disk used 377.34 GB X 3)
Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️
       103%    prl_vm_app
         5%    WindowServer
         0%    fontd
         0%    prl_client_app
         0%    prl_disp_service
Top Processes by Memory: ℹ️
    1.07 GB    prl_vm_app
    275 MB    softwareupdated
    48 MB    com.apple.WebKit.WebContent
    39 MB    InterCheck
    30 MB    prl_client_app
Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️
    64 MB    Free RAM
    544 MB    Active RAM
    507 MB    Inactive RAM
    2.04 GB    Wired RAM
    15.49 GB    Page-ins
    401 MB    Page-outs
Diagnostics Information: ℹ️
    Mar 24, 2015, 03:03:08 PM    /Users/[redacted]/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/QuickLookSatellite_2015-03-24- 150308_[redacted].crash
    Mar 24, 2015, 03:02:52 PM    /Users/[redacted]/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/QuickLookSatellite_2015-03-24- 150252_[redacted].crash
    Mar 24, 2015, 09:39:12 AM    Self test - passed
    Mar 23, 2015, 12:03:56 PM    /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/softwareupdated_2015-03-23-120356_[redacted].cp u_resource.diag [Click for details]
    Mar 21, 2015, 05:13:55 PM    /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Skype_2015-03-21-171355_[redacted].cpu_resource .diag [Click for details]

I recently had some 8mm film transferred to DVD. I am trying to edit the film clips using Premier Elements 4.0. Some of the film clips copy into the project but others don't. I tried copying the VOB filed onto my hard drive and then changing the file ext

I recently had some 8mm film transferred to DVD. I am trying to edit the film clips using Premier Elements 4.0. so I can reburn the films on a single BluRay disc. Some of the film clips copy into the project but others don't. I tried copying the VOB filed onto my hard drive and then changing the file extensions on the VOB files to MPEG but this was no help. Some of the VOB files contain numerous film clips but my software does not appear to be able to recognize them as such. I need to know if replacing my old Premier Elements with the new Version 13 would solve this problem or not. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Bob

Bob
What do you have now.....
What computer operating system do you have?
We can go into the finer points of source and your intentions, but for now it would appear that you are using SD 4:3 source media to get to a HD 16:9 result. Lots to discuss in this regard.
What was given to you on the DVD disc? DVD-VIDEO 4:3 or something else?
If DVD-VIDEO on DVD disc, you should expect to find on the disc a folder named VIDEO_TS. That is your target for your video files.
If you were given a DVD-VIDEO on DVD disc, then all you want from it are the video files, specifically
VTS_01_1.VOB, VTS_01_2.VOB, and so on through that series until possibly getting to
VTS_02_1.VOB, and so on. How many files you have beyond the VTS_01_1.VOB file will depend on the size of the DVD-VIDEO.
Does the above scenario apply to you?
The alternative might be someone giving a DVD disc (data disc) which contains just the VTS files mentioned which were copied from
the VIDEO_TS Folder. So, you do not get the whole VIDEO_TS Folder, just the essential video files. Does this scenario apply to you.
I see no need to replace your Premiere Elements 4 with a later version unless you have a huge project and need a later version that will be a 64 bit application running specifically on Windows 7, 8, or 8.1 64 bit computer.
Consider...Premiere Elements 4 and if you have DVD-VIDEO on DVD....
1. Place the DVD disc in the burner tray
2. Open Premiere Elements 4 and set the project preset for NTSC DV Standard (assuming you are working in a NTSC setup)
3. Go to
Get Media
"DVD, Digital Camera, Mobile Phone, Hard Drive Camcorder, Card Reader"
"Adobe Premiere Elements - Media Downloader" and its Advanced dialog.
Set the Source in the latter dialog for the drive which has your DVD disc inserted in its tray
You should see your VTS_01_1.VOB thumbnail in the "Adobe Premiere Elements - Media Downloader" Advanced dialog.
With this VOB selected, click on Get Media to get the file from there into the project.
Should work fine.
Complications may be involved if the people who processed your footage gave you something other what is described above.
Please review and consider, and then we can plan our project strategy accordingly.
Thank you.
ATR

I'm trying to backup a my harddrive with disk utility but I'm getting an error Unable to create Backup.dmg" (input/output error). Is there any other way to save my data? I believe my hard drive is failing or corrupt file. I can't boot up. Grey screen

I'm trying to backup a my hard drive with disk utility but I'm getting an error Unable to create Backup.dmg" (input/output error). Is there any other way to save my data? I believe my hard drive is failing or corrupt file. I can't boot up. Grey screen and spinning wheel. I've tried everything https://discussions.apple.com/message/20580424#20580424
any help will be greatly appreciated.

Check here. Also have you done a TimeMachine back up?
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570

My hard drive died but I am able to reach the files on it; can recover myFirefox bookmarks?

Recently, my hard drive crashed but I have a lot of bookmarks I'd really like to keep. I have a hard drive enclosure that allows me to reach the files on that hard drive through another computer. I was hoping that I'd be able to rescue those book marks through this. I had Windows 7 and Firefox 3.6. Any help would be really appreciated! Thank you!!

Sorry, it's been awhile since I have read that article, looks like it is slightly different than I recall.
You need to locate your old Firefox Profile folder. <br />
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox#Finding_the_profile_folder <br />
Start with the section titled - '''Navigating to the profile folder'''
You need the '''places.sqlite''' file. Copy that file from the old Profile folder into the new Profile folder, replacing the same named file that is in the new Profile folder.

Why is my hard drive full when I only have the operating system loaded and nothing else? No pics, music, nothing...It's the 60 Gig hard drive on the air built in late 2010.

Why is my hard drive full when I'm only running the operating system and nothing else is loaded? No music, pics, nothing! I understand the hard drive is small at 60 gig, but I can't believe the os would take up that much space.

First, empty the Trash if you haven't already done so. Then reboot. That will temporarily free up some space. According to Apple documentation, you need at least 9 GB free on the startup volume 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. Back up all data now. 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. 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.

Can I use one 2tb external hard drive for time capsule and file storage?

I would like to use time capsule, but also keep the hard drive on my desktop for file storage. Can I do this?

Apple advises against doing that.
Any data stored on the disk that Time Machine is backing up to can not be backed up.
Plus the data outside of the Time Machine backup database cause problems when Time Machine starts cleaned up old backups to recover space for new backups.
For these reason it is advised that the Time Capsule disk be used for one or the other but not both.
Allan

Have songs on my hard drive already, but still has iCloud icon next to it in iTunes...

So I'm confused as to how iTunes Match should work apparently. I have it turned on and it works fine, but all of the songs in my iTunes library (connected to airport extreme) says they are in the iCloud instead of local. So then if I press the download button for that song, it downloads it and duplicates the song on the hard drive! How weird! Why wouldn't it just point to the file on my hard drive since it's already there?
Or once we turn on Match, should we go and delete our entire local library? I'm just confused.
I also thought I could play them and it would show as downloaded by pointing to the hard drive version, but no dice. Apparently it only streams from a Mac.
The whole reason this is an issue (besides *** backwards functionality) is I am trying to export a playlist and it only shows downloaded songs in the text file, not songs in iCloud, even though all the songs are on my hard drive!
Anyway, and ideas would be great.
Thanks,

sadcaper wrote:
With iCloud, is there a need to backup music anymore? If you lose your hard drive, can't you just download it again from iCloud? That was my impression at least.
Read this: FAQ: Why iTunes Match Can Not Be Used as a Backup. If you care about your data you'll still keep local backups of all your personal data. Cloud storage is nice and all that but Apple doesn't market iTunes Match as a backup solution and because the matching is not 100% accurate nor does the service store Apple Lossless files, it is not a viable backup solution. For cloud backups you want a company like Backblaze or Mozy or one of the others available who are backup solutions.
sadcaper wrote:
Currently both MBPr and iMac have the iTunes Media folder pointed to the Drobo. However, I did notice that some music files were downloaded locally on the MBPr, which I think are from the auto download feature. Not sure though.
Yeah, the home sharing thing may work. I wanted for both machines to be able to see purchases from either machine, or iPhones. That's why I wanted them to share a library. So if I bought a song on my laptop, I could run upstairs and see if on the iMac as well. Maybe library sharing is the best way to do that however.
Keep in mind that any purchases made on the MBPr will be downloaded, and with automatic downloads turned on purchases from other devices will also be downloaded. Right off the top of my head I don't know if this will result in duplicate downloads, but as long as the MBPr is on the local network and iTunes has the library pointing at the Drobo it will all go into the same spot. BUT... if you make a purchase on the MBPr while away from the local network that purchase will be downloaded to the local internal HDD.
So a variation on the theme I talked about above is to, perhaps, not make any purchases on the MBPr and turn off auto-downloads for purchases and keep iTunes Match and Home Sharing enabled. This will enable you to access the music library while home and away and not keep any media on the internal HDD.

I perviously transfered all my iTunes music to an external hard drive. But now when I connect the external hard drive and try to play a song, I get an error message saying that I need to "locate" my music. I don't how to find it on my external hard drive.

I perviously transfered all my iTunes music to an external hard drive. But now when I connect the external hard drive and try to play a song, I get an error message saying that I need to "locate" my music. I don't how to find it on my external hard drive. Please help for I am not that computer savy and don't want to mess anything up.
Thanks!

I called Apple Support and they walked me through it. They told me to basically copy and paste my music to the external hard drive. (I think.) Or maybe it was they had me transfer a folder to the EHD. I don't exactally remember it was a few years back. But I tried to plug in the EHD before starting and...nothing. Still says same thing, "locate file."

My mac air says hard drive full and 90% is full of 'other' which I cant work out what 'other' is as i Have transferred most to my external hard drive

My mac air says hard drive full and 90% is full of 'other' which I cant work out what 'other' is as i Have transferred most to my external hard drive.
Do you know how I can tell how large each file is taking up and what my 'other' category could be?
thanks

Initial easy steps to gain disk space:
- Delete all files in the Downloads folder.
Empty the Trash.
- Start iPhoto.
Empty its trash.
Restart.
Backup:
Run a Time Machine (or other) backup since you are about to delete and move files and you may need to recover from any inadvertent mistakes or decisions. You will need one external hard drive for your Time Machine (or other) backup and a second if you plan to offload some files. (See suggestions for where to purchase hard drives at the end of this message.)
For more about backups:
Time Machine Basics: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1427
Most commonly used backup methods:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3045
Methodology to protect your data. Backups vs. Archives. Long-term data protection:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6031
Deleting files:
Then use the free application OmniDiskSweeper http://www.omnigroup.com/more to explore your volume in descending order by size so you can attack the problem from the top down, deleting the largest unwanted files first. Delete with caution and do not delete any system files. Remember to empty the trash after trashing the files.
Additional reference on freeing disk space:
http://pondini.org/OSX/DiskSpace.html
Offloading files:
Consider moving some of the no-often-used large files or directories to an external disk. Use ODS again to find them. This will be at least your second hard drive. Your first one(s) is/are for your Time Machine (or other) backup(s). Do not offload files onto a Time Machine disk.
Format the second drive as Mac OS Extended (journaled). Using OWS to find large files/folders and copy them from the system drive to the external hard drive and delete them from your internal drive.
Then  > System Preferences > Time Machine > Options… > Remove the offload HD name from the exclusions list.
Now both your system disk and your external offload disk will be backed up onto your Time Machine disk.
From: http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/freeingspace.html
To move your iTunes Music folder to another disk or partition:
To change the location of your iTunes Music folder, carefully follow the instructions in the AppleCare® Knowledge Base document "iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Music folder."Additional information can be found in iTunes Help.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.thexlab.com/105/ 00000849.html
Laptop users may want to consider having two iTunes libraries: a small library of current favorites on their computer, while their complete library resides on an external hard drive. Utilities like iTunes Library Manager enable you to easily have multiple iTunes libraries you can use with your account. https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/7689/itunes-library-manager
To move your iPhoto Library folder to another disk or partition:
To move the iPhoto Library folder to a new location, employ the instructions in the AppleCare Knowledge Base document from http://support.apple.com/kb/PH2506 corresponding to the version of iPhoto you are using. Additional information can be found in iPhoto Help.
Laptop users may want to consider having two iPhoto libraries: a small library of current, favorite photographs on their computer, while their complete library, or archives of older photos are saved on an external hard drive. Utilities such as iPhoto Buddy and iPhoto Library Manager enable you to have multiple iPhoto libraries that you can use with your account.
https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/12175/iphoto-buddy
https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/7158/iphoto-library-manager
Hardware — Bigger disk/SSD:
OWC sells 120, 240 and 480 GB SSD upgrades for MacBook Airs. A 240 GB upgrade costs $265. http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/ . If your Mac is under warranty or AppleCare replacing the SSD will void the warranty.

I have some stuff i want to put on external hard drive when i drag the file or files it just puts them back

i have some stuff i want to put on external hard drive when i drag the file or files it just puts them back

Did you format the external disk on Windows? If you did this, probably the external disk is formatted in NTFS. OS X can't write on this format, so it's normal that it doesn't allow you to copy the files.
In this case, you have three possibilities:
1. Install Paragon NTFS. This program allows you to write on NTFS partitions.
2. Copy the hard drive content to your internal disk and format the external disk with Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Do it only if you are going to use the external disk only with OS X.
3. The same as the last one but formatting it with exFAT. This filesystem is compatible with Windows (XP, Vista, 7, 8) and OS X (10.6.5 and newer), so you can write and read files on external disks formatted with it on Windows and OS X, but you may have problems on Linux

Hard drive full but no big files

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for