I delete things but my my memory used doesn't change.

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I was watching district 9, and it was roughly 700 Mb and my memory left on my Mac was at 276.26 GB.... then after i was done with it I deleted the movie and my amount of memory left stayed exactly the same.

And yes, I emptied by garbage bin.
 
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Ok, terminology strikes again...

Files do not consume "memory" they consume hard drive space. Where do you see the 276.26 GB displayed? (The available space is displayed along the bottom of any Finder Window - in case you need the correct term for that.)

Not sure where you are, or if you are a recent Mac convert from windows, but you discard things by putting them in the Trash. (Windows calls the similar location the Recycle Bin, at least here in the U.S.) I'm guessing you're in Great Britiain. ;)
 

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Can anyone answer the poor guy's question?

P.S. a hard drive is Read Only Memory (ROM), so it is memory.
 
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It is not memory it is hard drive space and if you do a reboot you may see a difference.
 
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Looks like the guy simply hit delete without actually emptying the Trash.
 

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Looks like the guy simply hit delete without actually emptying the Trash.

That would probably be a very likely possibility. Deleting a 700 meg file (and emptying the trash) would certainly make a difference in the amount of hard drive capacity used.

Although the OP did mention that they did empty the "trash bin"...so my only other guess is...the OP could have two hard drives...and didn't check the correct drive where this 700 meg file was stored & deleted from.

Maybe the OP will "revisit" and let us know for sure.:)

- Nick
 
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Okay I'm back. Yes, I did empty the "Trash." No, I don't have to HDD's. Yes, I am reffering to the space at the bottom of the "Finder"

I did it again and this time it deleted some, but only about half of the space I was using.
 
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Sorry that I got ROM wrong. What on a modern Mac then, is ROM? I learned about RAM and ROM in the 8th grade lol and do not remember I guess.
 
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ROM is a non-rewriteable CD. That's about it. Most systems don't use ROM anymore, since things are always changing. You want to be able to rewrite things like firmware and system files as demand changes.
 
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... if you do a reboot you may see a difference.
Did you? (And, did you?)

Yes, I did empty the "Trash." No, I don't have to HDD's. Yes, I am reffering to the space at the bottom of the "Finder".
Second "did you" above is about the number at the bottom of the Finder Window. And, when you empty the Trash, do you open the Trash Finder Window and see if it shows 0 Items?

If no, then yes, then try repairing permissions with Disk Utility on your OS installation disc. You have to boot from the disc, not your hard drive. (Restarrt and hold down the 'C' key until the logo appears.) After doing that, check the amount of space.
 
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Okay I'm back. Yes, I did empty the "Trash." No, I don't have to HDD's. Yes, I am reffering to the space at the bottom of the "Finder"

I did it again and this time it deleted some, but only about half of the space I was using.

Maybe open finder, select OSX listed under "devices" and then select "size". A 700mb file should be listed at, or very near the top of that column I would think.

One other thing to try that only takes a couple seconds is to type the file or partial file name (example: "district") into "spotlight" (top right corner of screen) and see if anything comes up.


You may have deleted a reference to the file (like an icon or something) but not the "main" 700mb file.

Also, if the file you downloaded was a RAR or zip file that you expanded the original RAR or zip file might still be on the hard drive even if you did actually delete the "playable" movie file.
 

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