Macbook Deleted Files Still Showing

Joined
Sep 16, 2010
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Hey everyone, just joined so hi to all!

Have had my macbook for a couple of years now with no issues at all, just a couple of things have cropped up recently that im not sure how to solve.

Firstly im a professional mobile DJ and i use virtual DJ, i keep a database of around 20,000 tracks, some of which are replicated in various playlists/folders. Have had a few teething problems over the past couple of years but nothing i havnt managed to solve eventually.

1st problem: One thing that has always been a problem though is that when i type the name of a track into the search bar within the virtual DJ software, the file will show up but it wont load because basically the file doesn't exist on the mac any more. It shows up files that have already been deleted. This leads onto the same problem when i search for tracks on the mac outside of the software, again they show up but at the bottom of the box it doesn't show a destination folder because again they don't exist anymore on the laptop.

Also recently i have been searching for music that i know exists because iv located it in certain folders, and these don't show up, this seems to only apply to downloads i have done say in the past month. However if i go into a folder where i know where the file is then there it is so the files are definately there and i have managed to copy and paste them into my desired playlist folder no problem.

Question is, why are these files showing in search if they don't actually exist anymore.


2. Another problem, i have a back up external hard drive, today i have gone to do a back up and its saying that i need 100gig of space on the volume but only have 8mb available. This isnt the case as I have deleted everything from the external hard drive and there is nothing showing on the volume but the mac is insisting there is only 8mb of space

Any ideas on this?

Just incase anyone asks, I have today updated everything so all software on the mac is up to date and have since restarted.


Cheers for your help in advance

Phil
 

CrimsonRequiem


Retired Staff
Joined
Jul 24, 2008
Messages
6,003
Reaction score
125
Points
63
Your Mac's Specs
MBP 2.3 Ghz 4GB RAM 860 GB SSD, iMac 3.4 GHz Intel Core i7 32GB RAM, Fusion Drive 1TB
Might sound stupid but...did you empty the trash can?
 

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
As for the search problem: The music files may have been located in two places similar to what iTunes does. Maybe a better search program can dig them out for you. Spotlight does not always do a proper job. I use Find Any File which seems to work better. (It's free.)

The hard drive space problem is a bit of a mystery unless you deleted those files while the drive was attached and then emptied the trash after the drive was ejected. That would result in showing them gone but in fact they would still be in the Trash on the external hard drive.
 
OP
C
Joined
Sep 16, 2010
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
Points
1
As for the search problem: The music files may have been located in two places similar to what iTunes does. Maybe a better search program can dig them out for you. Spotlight does not always do a proper job. I use Find Any File which seems to work better. (It's free.)


how does this work? I havn't downloaded this just yet but with so many duplicate files would I literally have to search for every duplicate file and then delete or does this program dig them out automatically
 
OP
C
Joined
Sep 16, 2010
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
Points
1
The hard drive space problem is a bit of a mystery unless you deleted those files while the drive was attached and then emptied the trash after the drive was ejected. That would result in showing them gone but in fact they would still be in the Trash on the external hard drive.

I did delete the files while the external was attached, but they are not showing in the trash on the macbook. is there a seperate trash for the external. if so where is it?
 

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 did delete the files while the external was attached, but they are not showing in the trash on the macbook. is there a seperate trash for the external. if so where is it?

You may have deleted the files while the external was attached, but did you empty the Trash while the external was attached? If you did, the files should have been removed.

The program I recommended does not work automatically. If you've got duplicates of all your music files, chances are they're probably all located in one folder or possibly several. If you can localize one or more, that may give you a clue as to where they are for easy removal.
 
OP
C
Joined
Sep 16, 2010
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
Points
1
You may have deleted the files while the external was attached, but did you empty the Trash while the external was attached? If you did, the files should have been removed.

The program I recommended does not work automatically. If you've got duplicates of all your music files, chances are they're probably all located in one folder or possibly several. If you can localize one or more, that may give you a clue as to where they are for easy removal.

I think I may have solved the issue. What I have been doing is deleting from the external hard drive but not emptying the trash while it is attached. I have just done this and found 210,000 music files in the external hard drive trash!!!! Obviously I empty the trash regularly when the external isnt attached but didnt realise the trash acted as the externals own trash also.

The mac must have had these files in the system even when the external wasnt attached which is why when i search for music within virtual dj or outside of the software so many show up that arnt actually there in reality.

Thanks for bring this to my attention, I learnt something there :Blushing:
 

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
OK, great. Glad you got it resolved. You might want to download that free program I recommended anyway. It works much better than Spotlight. Keep it on hand for future use.
 
C

chas_m

Guest
I know I sound like an old fogey saying this, but ... who the **** NEEDS 210,000 music files in the first place? At five minutes apiece, listening for eight hours a day non-stop, it would take you a FULL SIX YEARS to listen to all that. For most people, that's more than a lifetime's worth of music-listening, and on top of that it's not possible that all 210,000 songs are good.

I think people just grab song files because they're out there with absolutely no regard to any practical use for them. It's really kind of silly IMHO.
 

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
I can easily see the requirements of needing quite a few more tracks than that. My last vinyl collection (which was sold off in '90 and took only 16 years of collecting) had in the neighborhood of 70,000 tracks if you figure the typical 10-12 tracks per album. And my collection was pretty much limited to blues, rock and jazz.

You start talking about a professional dj, ready and prepared to hit a party with whatever genre (or era from the '30s -'40s to the present) a potential client might want, taking pride in being able to pull up practically any song a guest may request...

Just that one item of being able to say 'Yes, I have that' during a paying gig instead of bringing a paltry 2-3,000 songs is a great sales tool. I can see where saying 'no' more than a couple of times at a gig would leave a bad taste in a customer's mouth and is sounding a death knoll in this type of business today. I can easily see the need of having 50,000 songs on hand for some genres (C&W or Rock 'n' Roll) just to have the 50-60 you'll end up playing during the actual gig.
 

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