File deleting and security

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From what I read the "Erase Free Space" command creates a huge file that takes up all the empty disk space. It seems from posts I've read here that the file(s) should be in your trash. Someone from MacOSXHints recommended using OmniDiskSweeper if you can't spot the file(s) in your trash. And run Disk Utility starting from your CD or DVD that came with your Mac and run "Repair Disk".

I wouldn't use that "Erase Free Space" command at all, unless it was imperative to do so. I've read this happens all the time getting the message your disk is full and it brings hassles.

BTW, CB did you try this?
It seems this would be similar to the Omni program. Not much help if the files are all small....I think I'll download Onyx and play with that.

BTW, Eric, I think I deserve some REP just to cheer me up.
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eric


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- check your profile...

hey, i'm at 199, who wants to push me over?
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I ran the cleaning stuff in Onyx...didn't seem to do much. I'm gonna try that erase free space again and see what happens...cya in about an hour.
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eric


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Nope won't work. Did the exact same thing. ``...Erasing free space" for about an hour+ and then ``...creating temporty file"...finally the message ``...your startup disk is almost full". So I hit OK and it just hangs there. Then clicked "skip" to get out of disk utility...restarted and here I am.

So, what good is this feature if you apparently never have enough disk space to create the temp file? BTW there was nothing in the trash during this entire process. Not happy.

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M

MacHeadCase

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It seems this would be similar to the Omni program. Not much help if the files are all small....I think I'll download Onyx and play with that.

BTW, Eric, I think I deserve some REP just to cheer me up.
yes.gif

Well that utility let's you see hidden files. I looked at the numbers of the OmniDiskSweeper screen capture and no way are you anywhere near the full hard drive or getting the whole number to fill your hard drive capacity of 80 GB (although in reality it is more around a usable space of about 74GB give or take a few MB) so me thinks there is a huge temp file somewhere that you cannot see because it is invisible. That little utility can list visible AND invisible files. Just let it run till all the file (or folder names) are in black, that means it has finished scanning.

Look at my screen capture below, the utility automatically shows you in red the over the 1GB mark with folders. If you see something that is huge, go and investigate what is in that folder. If you see a dot (« . ») before a file name, that is an invisible file)

If you see a hidden file that should be investigated, post back here. As soon as I'm around, I'll tell you how to navigate to that file, and if it is warranted, make it visible so you can drag it to the trash.

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OK, I downloaded "WhatSize" and ran the program. Attached is the screen shot. It's very close to the one I got when I ran Omni-whatchamacallit...nothing seems obviously huge that should be deleted other than that Previous System.localized file which I am kind of reluctant to delete. Besides would that even free up enough disk space? No way of telling that I can see. I just don't understand why that "Erase Clear Space" routine doesn't work. I mean if the temp files it's trying to create are always that large what good is the darn thing?
I'm now mad at Apple and the world.
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So isn't there any other way top completely remove trashed files so that they are not recoverable?

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CB, you did restart after the « Erase free space » thing, yes? A few places I've seen said that restarting cleared the temp file.
 
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CB, you did restart after the « Erase free space » thing, yes? A few places I've seen said that restarting cleared the temp file.
Well the temp file thing never finished...like I said it just hung there for like a 1/2 and hour so I clicked the "skip" button and then yes, restarted.
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MacHeadCase

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Lordie! I sure am stumped then... I'm pretty sure it's safe to drag that Previous System.localized to the trash. Just don't empty the trash for a couple of days to make sure all is well.

But till you empty your trash it won't show more free space. Besides, like you said, 3+GB isn't all that much either.

One thing you can do is start from your Mac OS X installation CD and run Disk Utility and ask it to repair the disk (not disk permissions), see what it comes up with. Better yet, if you have DiskWarrior this is something it could possibly take care of.

If anyone knows the answer to this one, now is the time to jump in here. :D

CB, if no one comes in here with an answer, post in the Apple Discussions forums.
 
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MacHeadCase

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Well good luck in finding the truth, fella. Just remember to report back here with the answer if you get one to help out anyone else who might have this problem some time soon. :girl:
 
M

MacHeadCase

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Just had a look over there myself just now and came up with this thread. Take a look at all the links some are very helpful.

Edited to add:

And this thread could be good too if you want to mess with Terminal.
 
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Just had a look over there myself just now and came up with this thread. Take a look at all the links some are very helpful.

Edited to add:

And this thread could be good too if you want to mess with Terminal.
Well at this point I'm wondering if it's even that important. Unlike the people having a similar problem I have not lost my disk space (maybe becuase I used the "skip" feature which canceled the whole process I guess)...

Using the terminal.app is a little out of my expertise and makes me nervous. What happens after I get to the "listing of the contents of the directory where the temporary files were saved in the earlier case..."? How do I get out of the terminal.app thing and back to normal? Kinda sounds like a M$ thing...almost.
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Also...see attached.
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Thanks for all the help MHC.
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M

MacHeadCase

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Getting out of Terminal, I heard, was plenty easy: you simply type, after you're done, exit.

Well too bad we couldn't find something definitive. I suppose that you can always post at Apple Discussions and ask for assistance, see if they can't get you out of this one and insist on getting an answer. I think that those who did have a file in the trash taking up all the space had let the process almost run to the end except it jammed on the temp file deletion at the end. So me thinks that file is stuck in your Mac's ether somewhere and is not showing up but the system knows it's there anyways. Kinda like sitting on a fence if you ask me.

I know you emptied caches as you wrote somewhere in this thread but did you empty all the caches? Namely your user and all users caches, the system's cache, browser caches and the font cache?

Well anywho, I'll keep my eye open for this one and if I can come up with something, I'll post back!
 

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so, if you do a 'get info' on your hard drive now, or at the bottom of finder, what do you see as your free space? from that picture of whatsize i can' see how you've got that much space taken up, though you're probably cropping some of the stuff to the left out, correct?
 
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No. I'm completely cool with my disk space etc. No problem whatsoever. Instead of quitting the disk utiluity program like some others did who are complaining about lost capacity, when it hung I just clicked "skip" and everything was fine after it ran the skip routine.

I just think this whole process seems to be useless.
 

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