Purgeable issues

[Scoobie Newbie]

I am having purgeable issues again and have done what I did in the past but I'm not having the same luck.
This is what comes up when I request the volumes using sudo tmutil listlocalsnapshots /Volumes/

Macintosh-001ff34e9923:~ robertgater$ sudo tmutil listlocalsnapshots /Volumes/
Password:
com.apple.TimeMachine.2019-02-06-062955 (dataless)
com.apple.TimeMachine.2019-02-07-211236 (dataless)
com.apple.TimeMachine.2019-02-27-081749
Macintosh-001ff34e9923:~ robertgater$

Disk utility says I have 115.89 GB available (100.19 GB purgeable).

I've tried using: tmutil listlocalsnapshotdates / |grep 20|while read f; do tmutil deletelocalsnapshots $f; done

but I'm getting no where. Any help would be great. Thanks.

 

[Scoobie Newbie]

As a side note I would also add, my MBP won't restart anymore, only physical power down and I can't back up my drive because FileVault is activated and I can't turn it off.

 

[pm-r]

FileVault is activated and I can't turn it off

Have you tried this suggestion to disabling the encryption:
https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/74803/turn-off-encryption-on-filevault2-second-hdd


Or anything useful here:
FileVault is activated but I can't turn it off
https://www.google.com/search?q=Fil...ome..69i57.20342j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

And maybe have a look at this, just in case it helps:
Secure Token and FileVault on Apple File System
https://derflounder.wordpress.com/2018/01/20/secure-token-and-filevault-on-apple-file-system/



- Patrick
======

 

[Rod]

I'm not aiming this directly at you Scoobie Newbie but at anyone else that might read this thread. DONT ENCRYPT YOUR DRIVE. This is a case in point, I'm always at a loss to think of examples of why not but there you go. It only complicates issues, it is totally unnecessary (unless you are a spy or engaged is industrial espionage).
I don't mean to be harsh, I'm sure you thought it seemed like a good idea at the time and unit doesn't come with any real warnings.
Having said all that it sounds like you have other problems. How much storage do you have empty according to the storage tab under About This Mac under the Apple menu?

 

[Rod]

Regardless of the above result are you able to boot into the Recovery Partition holding Command and R keys down at startup?

 

[pm-r]

I'm not aiming this directly at you Scoobie Newbie but at anyone else that might read this thread. DONT ENCRYPT YOUR DRIVE.

I dare say Rod, that your excellent advice may only reach a limited audience, especially with Apple's gung-** attitude on privacy and security and especially for new Mac users that come across their warnings and advice messages to make sure that they have Turned on FileVault and to provide encrypted-storage capabilities. It's often a default setting for heaven's sake!!!

Yeah right, Apple. Screw up an innocent user's Mac why not.


- Patrick
======

 

[Rod]

Well I live in hope that it will reach a few. The previous thread by Scoobie Newbie had 5,878 views. Admittedly this one has only had 18 views but who knows?
Anyway, back to topic.
SN, the fact that your device won't restart concerns me more than the storage issue unless they are connected in some way. My recent problem with my wife's MBP led me to do a bit of research and it seemed to me that from what I read Purge able space gets used by the system as it's required so unless you need to load a really big file there is no need to erase it. On the other hand functional problems like not restarting from the Apple menu would seem to indicate a bigger problem.
So if you have a Time Machine backup as I had for my wife's device you might like to consider doing what I did. Plug in your TM backup, boot into the Recovery Partition and restore the device.
That should solve any software issues you may have as well as removing any purgable data.
You might like to open Disk Utility first from the same menu and run First Aid first just to see if any repairs can be done but this won't fix your storage issues.

PS. If you want to try the restore issue reply and I'll give you step by step instructions for what I did.

 

[pm-r]

I hope that Scoobie Newbie will be able to reply back to some of the questions already posted here fairly soon, especially with some of the basic functions not working properly with their Mac.

It sounds like it needs a new and normally working macOS re-installed.



- Patrick
======

 

[Rod]

My thought too.


Sent from my iPad using Mac-Forums

 

[Scoobie Newbie]

I have 124.94 GB of storage left (with 103.35 GB that is purgeable).

I'm not aiming this directly at you Scoobie Newbie but at anyone else that might read this thread. DONT ENCRYPT YOUR DRIVE. This is a case in point, I'm always at a loss to think of examples of why not but there you go. It only complicates issues, it is totally unnecessary (unless you are a spy or engaged is industrial espionage).
I don't mean to be harsh, I'm sure you thought it seemed like a good idea at the time and unit doesn't come with any real warnings.
Having said all that it sounds like you have other problems. How much storage do you have empty according to the storage tab under About This Mac under the Apple menu?

 

[Scoobie Newbie]

I used the Command R function and used Time Machine to go back and restore. File Vault is no longer in use and things seem to be running well. I have 124.8 GB of memory with 701 MB purgeable.

 

[Rod]

Fantastic. We like to call this "Nuke an Pave" but honestly sometimes it's the easiest and best method. I spent nearly a week researching my wife's disappearing storage before resorting to the same strategy. Yes I learnt a lot about Daisy Disk and storage under APFS and DMG files created by TM and cloning software but it did not solve her problem. Reinstalling the OS and restoring from TM did. Well done you.


Sent from my iPhone

 

[chscag]

Rod and Scoobie:

You would be surprised how much accumulated junk stores up on your machine and is hidden. I use a handy File Manager called "Path Finder" that can unhide files, folders, and subfolders. The other day I went thru my System Library and made several hidden folders visible. I was amazed at some of the junk that had built up from past installs and old versions of files. I removed over 4GB of stuff that I was not even aware was there. Of course you do need to be careful what you delete in that you do not want to delete something that's needed. You can always do a google search to make sure you know what you're removing.

 

[Rod]

Yes Charlie, that was my impression as well. Over time junk and unnecessary files build up but I have never need confident enough to do a selective clean up on my wife's MBP. Mine on the other hand is a different story. So as Anbie never wanted to tackle a "clean install" her devices have always been clones of her previous device. So lots of accumulated baggage, a lot of which may be unnecessary. Using the storage management option under the Apple menu I cleared a lot of old iOS files that I knew she didn't use any more but that is limited.

For myself on my latest MBP I just updated the macOS set up as new then moved the files, folders, libraries and apps that I wanted by drag and drop from my CCC backup. Obviously that means more time setting up preferences and entering activation keys and passwords but it sure clears out the cobwebs.
I'd advise that method to anyone who wants to a really good spring clean.

 

[Rod]

I should add that in some cases it was easier to download the apps I wanted afresh that way the installer puts all the various bits in the right places. Other apps were self contained like Menu Meters.