Missing Hard Drive Space...

Joined
Jan 14, 2010
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Hello Everyone!

Maybe someone will be able to help me out here...I have an iMac that I bought 2 years ago, everything has been fine, except for the past couple of months. 'Something' seems to be eating up my hard drive space. So I bought an external hard drive to put my music and photos, etc. to free up about 80GB. A few weeks ago I got the notification that I have no more space. I deleted some files to only free up about 4GB. Today it's gone. Also, a side note, I have a disk that's stuck in the cd-drive, (It keeps saying the disk is in use, when it's not) that has a copy of Photoshop CS on it. (I also can't delete it from the disk) I've tried everything to get it out (aside from taking it to the shop). I'm thinking maybe this may have something to do with it. I can't find what's taking up all my space. Haven't downloaded anything to the hard drive. Thanks in advance.

Sam
 

chscag

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
65,248
Reaction score
1,833
Points
113
Location
Keller, Texas
Your Mac's Specs
2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
I can't help you with removing the disk from your drive if you've already tried everything, however, I suggest you do an extensive Google search and see what remedies there are.

As for what's using your disk space, it's not the stuck CD. Download the free "Disk Inventory X" application which will give you an idea of what's using the space. LINK

Regards.
 
OP
S
Joined
Jan 14, 2010
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Missing Hard Drive Space/private root folder

Hello Everyone!

OK, so I posted earlier about missing hard drive space, and got a reply about downloading Disk Inventory X (thank you!) and found out that I have a 200GB private folder under the root user!?! I've read on the forum that I shouldn't delete this, but I obviously need to clean this out. Is that advisable, and if so how do I do that? Also, is there any reason why it's so large? I've also read on these forums it should only be around 5GB. I'm sure this folder is getting larger by the day, as I'm getting the notification every few days that I'm running out of hard drive space. Thanks in advance!

Sam
 

bobtomay

,
Retired Staff
Joined
Dec 22, 2006
Messages
26,561
Reaction score
677
Points
113
Location
Texas, where else?
Your Mac's Specs
15" MBP '06 2.33 C2D 4GB 10.7; 13" MBA '14 1.8 i7 8GB 10.11; 21" iMac '13 2.9 i5 8GB 10.11; 6S
?? Have you browsed that folder to see exactly where the 195 GB is located.

When is the last time you restarted the computer?

PS
(And that would be located at the root "/" (of the drive, not root user).)

PPS
I also merged these two threads together.
No need for a new thread while still on the same question.
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top