OS 10.4 - Power Failure During Sleep - Big Image File Somewhere?

mac57 · mac57 #1 (**permalink**)

01-23-2007, 10:09 AM

Last night when I was done with my Mac, I put it to sleep, as I usually do. I am assuming that like a PC hibernating, when a Mac is sent off to dreamland, it writes out a file somewhere containing a complete image of what was in memory at the time, ready to re load when you wake it up. I have 2.5 GB of memory, so this would be a BIG file (1% of my 250 GB hard drive).

We had a power failure last night, and this AM, my Mac was off, not asleep. I had to start it up cold.

I am guessing that hidden somewhere on my Mac is a now legacy 2.5 GB image file from the sleep the Mac would never awaken from.

Can anyone point me at where Mac OS X keeps these sleep images, so I can check?

Alternately, is there some way to search my entire hard disk for files that exceed a specific size, say any file greater than 1 GB?

Thanks!

surfwax95 · surfwax95 #2 (**permalink**)

01-23-2007, 12:00 PM

The sleep image can and will be written over by OS X. It's invisible to the user, but is located in /private/var if you want to delete it manually.

Download Disk Inventory X. It's a neat program that allows you to catalog your drive and see what's taking up so much space, it will also allow you to delete your sleep image.

mac57 · mac57 #3 (**permalink**)

01-23-2007, 12:45 PM

Great surfwax95, thanks! ...and welcome back! I haven't seen you on the forums for a little while. It may just be that I have failed to notice you, but in case you have been away ...Nice to have you back!

mac57 · mac57 #4 (**permalink**)

01-23-2007, 01:01 PM

Well, I loaded Disk Inventory X and tried it out, and it looks like, once again, Macs are better than I expected. There is no massive memory image lurking in /private/var, or anywhere else in fact. Mac OS X must have cleaned it up when I rebooted. I LOVE my Mac! :-)

surfwax95 · surfwax95 #5 (**permalink**)

01-23-2007, 03:14 PM

Hey, thanks for the welcome!

I was out from work (and M-F) with a kidney infection that was quite a horrible ordeal, but I'm all good now and back to help out!

Glad you got it sorted.

mac57 #1 (permalink)
Member Since: Apr 29, 2006 Location: St. Somewhere Posts: 4,547 Mac Specs: PowerMac G5 Quad, 2.5 GHz, 4 Core, 120 GB SSD, 500 GB HDD	01-23-2007, 10:09 AM Last night when I was done with my Mac, I put it to sleep, as I usually do. I am assuming that like a PC hibernating, when a Mac is sent off to dreamland, it writes out a file somewhere containing a complete image of what was in memory at the time, ready to re load when you wake it up. I have 2.5 GB of memory, so this would be a BIG file (1% of my 250 GB hard drive). We had a power failure last night, and this AM, my Mac was off, not asleep. I had to start it up cold. I am guessing that hidden somewhere on my Mac is a now legacy 2.5 GB image file from the sleep the Mac would never awaken from. Can anyone point me at where Mac OS X keeps these sleep images, so I can check? Alternately, is there some way to search my entire hard disk for files that exceed a specific size, say any file greater than 1 GB? Thanks! My Macs: PowerMac G5 Quad, 2.5 GHz, 4 Core, Mac Pro, 3.2 GHz 8 Core, Power Macintosh 7500/100 My iStuff: 32 GB iPhone 4, 30 GB iPod Video, 16 GB iPod Touch My OS': Mac OS X Tiger, Mac OS X Snow Leopard, Mac OS X Leopard, Mac OS 8.6, openSUSE 10.3, Win XP I was on the Mac-Forums honor roll for September 2007
	QUOTE Thanks

surfwax95 #2 (permalink)
Member Since: Aug 27, 2005 Location: Fayetteville, AR Posts: 2,410 Mac Specs: 15" Powerbook G4 • 24" iMac • iPhone 3Gs	01-23-2007, 12:00 PM The sleep image can and will be written over by OS X. It's invisible to the user, but is located in /private/var if you want to delete it manually. Download Disk Inventory X. It's a neat program that allows you to catalog your drive and see what's taking up so much space, it will also allow you to delete your sleep image. I try to Command+Shift+/ when I can. They're - Their - There \| Two - Too - To \| You're - Your \| MAC - Mac I was on the M-F honor roll for October, 2006.
	QUOTE Thanks

mac57 #4 (permalink)
Member Since: Apr 29, 2006 Location: St. Somewhere Posts: 4,547 Mac Specs: PowerMac G5 Quad, 2.5 GHz, 4 Core, 120 GB SSD, 500 GB HDD	01-23-2007, 01:01 PM Well, I loaded Disk Inventory X and tried it out, and it looks like, once again, Macs are better than I expected. There is no massive memory image lurking in /private/var, or anywhere else in fact. Mac OS X must have cleaned it up when I rebooted. I LOVE my Mac! :-) My Macs: PowerMac G5 Quad, 2.5 GHz, 4 Core, Mac Pro, 3.2 GHz 8 Core, Power Macintosh 7500/100 My iStuff: 32 GB iPhone 4, 30 GB iPod Video, 16 GB iPod Touch My OS': Mac OS X Tiger, Mac OS X Snow Leopard, Mac OS X Leopard, Mac OS 8.6, openSUSE 10.3, Win XP I was on the Mac-Forums honor roll for September 2007
	QUOTE Thanks

surfwax95 #5 (permalink)
Member Since: Aug 27, 2005 Location: Fayetteville, AR Posts: 2,410 Mac Specs: 15" Powerbook G4 • 24" iMac • iPhone 3Gs	01-23-2007, 03:14 PM Hey, thanks for the welcome! I was out from work (and M-F) with a kidney infection that was quite a horrible ordeal, but I'm all good now and back to help out! Glad you got it sorted. I try to Command+Shift+/ when I can. They're - Their - There \| Two - Too - To \| You're - Your \| MAC - Mac I was on the M-F honor roll for October, 2006.
	QUOTE Thanks

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OS 10.4 - Power Failure During Sleep - Big Image File Somewhere?

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