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Disc filling up
#55654 08/13/20 12:36 AM
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We've talked about this before but my disc space (125 gb) - system files, is filling up again and I don't know why. I looked at the Activity Monitor and there doesn't eem to be that much in use.

Is it safe to eliminate all caches and log files? If I check each one, I wouldn't know what I am looking at anyway.

If I get a program to do it (even if I have to pay), will it expect me to look at everything before I delete it? If so, I might as well do it manually and save the money.

I saw this online: Path to find caches:
~/Library/Caches

Paths to delete logs:
/Library/Logs
~/Library/Logs

I went there to the first one (caches) but didn't know what was safe to delete when I got there. Same will be for logs unless they can all go.


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Re: Disc filling up
plantsower #55655 08/13/20 01:03 AM
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DAMN! I lost my post.

Hi, Rita.

First, you're confusing your HDD/SSD with your RAM. Activity Monitor shows RAM usage and has nothing to do with what's going on on your drive...UNLESS, of course, you see something in there that you don't think should be there.

I follow the same two paths to delete logs. I suggest trashing only the Diagnostic Reports folder you'll find in each location. What's left will probably be inconsequential, but check how much space it's taking up.

Depending upon your settings, the browser caches in ~/Library/Caches may clear automatically when you quit your browsers, and the rest are too cryptic for me to deal with, but again, check how much space they're taking up. You can clear both your Safari and Firefox caches from within the apps, so there's no need to bother with ~/Library/Caches as respects them.

As far as disk space goes, I suggest that you d/l GrandPerspective for Mac. (Donationware) It may show you something helpful about your disk usage.

Last edited by artie505; 08/13/20 01:31 AM. Reason: Expand

The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

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Re: Disc filling up
plantsower #55656 08/13/20 03:16 AM
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Artie: I went to Grand Perspective and your review wasn't good! LOL!

I am still wondering even if it shows what's using all the space, do I still have to go through everything? That takes a lot of time. Would it ever show me something I shouldn't touch? Since I don't know the difference except for old downloads and documents, I wouldn't know what to delete anyway.

When I trash the diagnostics, do I trash the whole folder or just the insides?

R...


I went to
Originally Posted By: plantsower
We've talked about this before but my disc space (125 gb) - system files, is filling up again and I don't know why. I looked at the Activity Monitor and there doesn't eem to be that much in use.

Is it safe to eliminate all caches and log files? If I check each one, I wouldn't know what I am looking at anyway.

If I get a program to do it (even if I have to pay), will it expect me to look at everything before I delete it? If so, I might as well do it manually and save the money.

I saw this online: Path to find caches:
~/Library/Caches

Paths to delete logs:
/Library/Logs
~/Library/Logs

I went there to the first one (caches) but didn't know what was safe to delete when I got there. Same will be for logs unless they can all go.


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Re: Disc filling up
plantsower #55659 08/13/20 06:22 AM
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Originally Posted By: plantsower
Artie: I went to Grand Perspective and your review wasn't good! LOL!

I am still wondering even if it shows what's using all the space, do I still have to go through everything? That takes a lot of time. Would it ever show me something I shouldn't touch? Since I don't know the difference except for old downloads and documents, I wouldn't know what to delete anyway.

When I trash the diagnostics, do I trash the whole folder or just the insides?

Hah! I thought I had posted about GP, but I missed it when I looked. My post dealt with a problem that APFS has introduced in a number of apps I run and isn't an indictment of GP itself.

If you select your Macintosh HD (or whatever its called) you'll get results that look something like this, and after a few runs you'll know what the major space users are without even hovering over them. The results don't show the hidden parts of your OS, but they'll give you an idea of what you've got. You'll know by their names if the major space users need to be investigated or not, so just run and post anything that comes up that seems unusual to you BEFORE you delete anything.

You can trash either the Diagnostic Reports folder or its contents. If you trash the folder it will grow back.

But BINGO! Maybe you just hit the nail on the head by mentioning old downloads. I've seen Macs whose users never cull ~/Downloads, which can get AWFULLY large, and considering that your HDD/SSD has got only 125GB, it may be your problem with no further looking.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Disc filling up
plantsower #55663 08/13/20 09:38 AM
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You could try WhatSize to see what is hogging all that space.


Jon

macOS 11.7.10, iMac Retina 5K 27-inch, late 2014, 3.5 GHz Intel Core i5, 1 TB fusion drive, 16 GB RAM, Epson SureColor P600, Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC, MS Office 365
Re: Disc filling up
jchuzi #55664 08/13/20 10:18 AM
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Originally Posted By: jchuzi
You could try WhatSize to see what is hogging all that space.

DAMN! Second post I"ve lost tonight...first ones in MANY months. mad

I'm willing to bet the farm that Rita isn't interested in investing $30 in this project, Jon.

DaisyDisk ($10), which all of a sudden just began working as expected for me, is a good alternative, but its GUI isn't at all easy to navigate.

GrandPerspective (Donationware) is Rita's best bet because its visual output is really easy to make sense of. I'm not certain that it shows all of /System- I think var is missing - but it should show enough for Rita's purposes.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Disc filling up
plantsower #55665 08/13/20 01:30 PM
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Rita just some clarification about cache files and log files.
  • Both are created by the system and both will be rebuilt/re-populated rapidly as part of the normal operation of MacOS
  • There are routine system tasks that automatically prune and condense the log files every night to keep them in control
  • Sometimes an application can start spitting out a stream of log messages that can cause the log files to grow out of control and eat up disk space. Even if you don't understand the messages, and few do, if you launch Console and look at the System log. If you find lots of repeated messages or repeated groups of messages, copy a group of and post them here. We may be able to figure out what, if anything, is going on.
  • Cache files are used by the system and various applications to speed loading. If you delete them they will be recreated the next time you launch the application or boot your computer.
  • Sometimes cache files can become corrupted and cause an inexplicable application error that can be solved by deleting the cache files. But that is rare.

FOR WHAT IT IS WORTH: Artie finds Grand Perspective more informative and I greatly prefer DaisyDisk. Both provide essentially the same information and the difference is in how the data is displayed. Which is preferred depends on how your mind visualizes the information. Daisy Disk does have one feature you might find useful. It specifically identifies "purgeable" files on the drive and provides a mechanism for deleting them.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Disc filling up
joemikeb #55670 08/13/20 03:38 PM
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Because it's free, I probably will try Grand Perspective first, but I do like the idea of purgeables being pointed out. When I look at Disk Utility, it shows purgeable as zero, but that is after I got rid of some stuff. It had a number before that. But, it doesn't delineate what is purgeable, or does it? I don't know how to access that if it does show it somewhere. That would be nice.



Originally Posted By: joemikeb
Rita just some clarification about cache files and log files.
  • Both are created by the system and both will be rebuilt/re-populated rapidly as part of the normal operation of MacOS
  • There are routine system tasks that automatically prune and condense the log files every night to keep them in control
  • Sometimes an application can start spitting out a stream of log messages that can cause the log files to grow out of control and eat up disk space. Even if you don't understand the messages, and few do, if you launch Console and look at the System log. If you find lots of repeated messages or repeated groups of messages, copy a group of and post them here. We may be able to figure out what, if anything, is going on.
  • Cache files are used by the system and various applications to speed loading. If you delete them they will be recreated the next time you launch the application or boot your computer.
  • Sometimes cache files can become corrupted and cause an inexplicable application error that can be solved by deleting the cache files. But that is rare.

FOR WHAT IT IS WORTH: Artie finds Grand Perspective more informative and I greatly prefer DaisyDisk. Both provide essentially the same information and the difference is in how the data is displayed. Which is preferred depends on how your mind visualizes the information. Daisy Disk does have one feature you might find useful. It specifically identifies "purgeable" files on the drive and provides a mechanism for deleting them.


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Re: Disc filling up
jchuzi #55671 08/13/20 03:43 PM
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Thank you. Something to think about also. Good to have a choice.


Originally Posted By: jchuzi
You could try WhatSize to see what is hogging all that space.


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Re: Disc filling up
artie505 #55672 08/13/20 03:46 PM
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Wow, that Grand Perspective graphic is PURDY!! LOL!

Last night, after I deleted a bunch of downloads, that Disk Message disappeared. It must have been those for the most part. I used to delete them regularly and then forgot about doing that type of thing.

I will trash the diagnostic reports now. Thank you!



Originally Posted By: artie505
Originally Posted By: plantsower
Artie: I went to Grand Perspective and your review wasn't good! LOL!

I am still wondering even if it shows what's using all the space, do I still have to go through everything? That takes a lot of time. Would it ever show me something I shouldn't touch? Since I don't know the difference except for old downloads and documents, I wouldn't know what to delete anyway.

When I trash the diagnostics, do I trash the whole folder or just the insides?

Hah! I thought I had posted about GP, but I missed it when I looked. My post dealt with a problem that APFS has introduced in a number of apps I run and isn't an indictment of GP itself.

If you select your Macintosh HD (or whatever its called) you'll get results that look something like this, and after a few runs you'll know what the major space users are without even hovering over them. The results don't show the hidden parts of your OS, but they'll give you an idea of what you've got. You'll know by their names if the major space users need to be investigated or not, so just run and post anything that comes up that seems unusual to you BEFORE you delete anything.

You can trash either the Diagnostic Reports folder or its contents. If you trash the folder it will grow back.

But BINGO! Maybe you just hit the nail on the head by mentioning old downloads. I've seen Macs whose users never cull ~/Downloads, which can get AWFULLY large, and considering that your HDD/SSD has got only 125GB, it may be your problem with no further looking.


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Re: Disc filling up
joemikeb #55673 08/13/20 04:11 PM
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Originally Posted By: joemikeb
Artie finds Grand Perspective more informative and I greatly prefer DaisyDisk.

Clarification: I find GrandPerspective more informative than DaisyDisk for less sophisticated users like Rita, because its visual output is far easier to understand than DaisyDisk's, which requires digging rather than putting its complete output right in your face.

It takes some in-depth knowledge of the OS to get an answer from DD, while all you need is eyes to understand GP's output. (Except, as I said, GP doesn't show your entire OS, and I think it's var that's missing.)

Should I ever need such an app, DD is the one I"d go to, because IN THE END, it paints a more complete picture than GP does, even if it is less clear.

Note: The diagnostic reports I suggested deleting don't seem to ever clear on their own, and if they do, it's faaar less frequently than every night. I've looked at their folders at week's and month's ends on many occasions, and I"ve never once found them looking as if they had been cleared recently.

I didn't suggest that Rita, nor would I, myself, mess with any other logs (unless they were associated with an app I was trashing), and I always allow caches other than Safari's to clear on their own (unless I've got an issue that smells like cache clearing would be fruitful).


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Disc filling up
plantsower #55674 08/13/20 04:39 PM
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Originally Posted By: plantsower
Last night, after I deleted a bunch of downloads, that Disk Message disappeared. It must have been those for the most part.

Bet on it!

Particularly with a small drive such as yours, that ~/Downloads folder is kinda like a time bomb.

It can grow to a very large size very easily, very quickly, and totally without your being aware of it.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Disc filling up
artie505 #55675 08/13/20 04:52 PM
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I downloaded Grand Perspective and, as per usual, nothing works smoothly for me. After I downloaded it, it opened a window with the Grand Perspective icon and some readme files, etc., but never asked to be put into the application file. So, it is not there. I clicked on the GP icon and it opened op the squares but I couldn't figure out how to use them. I am also still getting the Disk is Filling up message again, so I don't know what to do. I am looking at all my files manually, and don't know of anything that I needs to be purged. confused Going on vacation Saturday and would really like to get this fixed. I don't want that message to continue popping up as I take my Mac with me to keep up on things.



Originally Posted By: artie505
Originally Posted By: plantsower
Last night, after I deleted a bunch of downloads, that Disk Message disappeared. It must have been those for the most part.

Bet on it!

Particularly with a small drive such as yours, that ~/Downloads folder is kinda like a time bomb.

It can grow to a very large size very easily, very quickly, and totally without your being aware of it.


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Re: Disc filling up
plantsower #55677 08/13/20 05:08 PM
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Now I am getting the message: The document “Untitled” could not be autosaved. The volume “Macintosh HD” is out of space.

I think there must be a glitch. I don't have that much stuff on my Mac! Even when I had a lot more Gigabites, I never used more than 50.


Originally Posted By: plantsower
I downloaded Grand Perspective and, as per usual, nothing works smoothly for me. After I downloaded it, it opened a window with the Grand Perspective icon and some readme files, etc., but never asked to be put into the application file. So, it is not there. I clicked on the GP icon and it opened op the squares but I couldn't figure out how to use them. I am also still getting the Disk is Filling up message again, so I don't know what to do. I am looking at all my files manually, and don't know of anything that I needs to be purged. confused Going on vacation Saturday and would really like to get this fixed. I don't want that message to continue popping up as I take my Mac with me to keep up on things.



Originally Posted By: artie505
Originally Posted By: plantsower
Last night, after I deleted a bunch of downloads, that Disk Message disappeared. It must have been those for the most part.

Bet on it!

Particularly with a small drive such as yours, that ~/Downloads folder is kinda like a time bomb.

It can grow to a very large size very easily, very quickly, and totally without your being aware of it.


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Re: Disc filling up
plantsower #55678 08/13/20 05:13 PM
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Originally Posted By: plantsower
I downloaded Grand Perspective and, as per usual, nothing works smoothly for me. After I downloaded it, it opened a window with the Grand Perspective icon and some readme files, etc., but never asked to be put into the application file. So, it is not there. I clicked on the GP icon and it opened op the squares but I couldn't figure out how to use them. I am also still getting the Disk is Filling up message again, so I don't know what to do.

GrandPerspective isn't as intuitive a d/l as many others. You've got to either copy & paste or drag & drop it from the open .dmg (d/l) file to your desired location.

When you finally install and launch it, hit "Scan," and select your HD. (It's supposed to remember history, but I've never seen that happen.)

Your getting the "Full" message again may be no more than a function of your having added GP to your Downloads folder. In your situation, I'd offload that entire folder to my external, and you've certainly got enough space and, maybe, partitions to do it. (How big is it, anyway?)


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Disc filling up
plantsower #55679 08/13/20 05:17 PM
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Originally Posted By: plantsower
Now I am getting the message: The document “Untitled” could not be autosaved. The volume “Macintosh HD” is out of space.

I think there must be a glitch. I don't have that much stuff on my Mac! Even when I had a lot more Gigabites, I never used more than 50.

Try to run GrandPerspective and post a screenshot.

It sounds as if something is out of whack, and maybe GP's output will help clear it up.

Too bad we can't screen-share.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Disc filling up
artie505 #55681 08/13/20 05:22 PM
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In the previous post you asked how big it was. If you are talking about GP, it's 3.1 mg. My external drive is 1 terabyte minus what I have saved on it which isn't that much.I don't know how much it is now.

Also, I re downloaded GP after I deleted it, and when I went to Finder so I could transfer it to my apps, finder just showed the GP window with it's icon and readme files, etc. I can't get to the regular finder window now unless I delete GP. There's no back arrow or anything so I can browse around my Finder like normal. I think I'd better ditch GP. But I still can't find the fill up disk problem. I did have quite a few windows open in Safari and since I closed them, I don't get that message. Also, I shut down ad rebooted

As far as screen sharing, we have an app for that on our Macs. Is it only for Macs on the same network?




Originally Posted By: artie505
Originally Posted By: plantsower
Now I am getting the message: The document “Untitled” could not be autosaved. The volume “Macintosh HD” is out of space.

I think there must be a glitch. I don't have that much stuff on my Mac! Even when I had a lot more Gigabites, I never used more than 50.

Try to run GrandPerspective and post a screenshot.

It sounds as if something is out of whack, and maybe GP's output will help clear it up.

Too bad we can't screen-share.


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Re: Disc filling up
plantsower #55683 08/13/20 05:34 PM
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Originally Posted By: plantsower
In the previous post you asked how big it was. If you are talking about GP, it's 3.1 mg. My external drive is 1 terabyte minus what I have saved on it which isn't that much.I don't know how much it is now.

Also, I re downloaded GP after I deleted it, and when I went to Finder so I could transfer it to my apps, finder just showed the GP window with it's icon and readme files, etc. I can't get to the regular finder window now unless I delete GP. There's no back arrow or anything so I can browse around my Finder like normal. I think I'd better ditch GP. But I still can't find the fill up disk problem. I did have quite a few windows open in Safari and since I closed them, I don't get that message. Also, I shut down ad rebooted

As far as screen sharing, we have an app for that on our Macs. Is it only for Macs on the same network?

Nope, I asked how big your entire ~/Downloads folder is.

Yep, we'd have to be on the same network.

The GP .dmg window is already a Finder window. With it open, hit command-N to open a second Finder window in which you can navigate to your desired home for GP. I'd install it by copying it in the first window and pasting it in the second one, but you can drag & drop it too.

Safari tabs can grow to large sizes, but unless you've got a million of then open at the same time I wouldn't expect them to be problematic.

Something's up, and maybe we'll see it when you post a GP screenshot.

Last edited by artie505; 08/13/20 06:27 PM. Reason: Expand

The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

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Re: Disc filling up
artie505 #55684 08/13/20 06:50 PM
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Thanks for the tip for opening up the Finder. It worked. I would have never figured that out. I may do a screen shot of GP when I get a chance. I am in the middle of another nightmare of trying to restore an iPhone my husband bought on eBay. It wouldn't accept his new password. Called Apple and my carrier and they both said the phone was clean and unlocked. Why does it show a locked icon on top? Oh well, I am tired of trying to fix this so don't bother trying to help me there. After countless hours trying everything suggested online, iTunes is finally doing something. Fingers crossed. Otherwise, it's going back to eBay and he will buy a new, cheap Samsung he has his eye on.



quote=artie505]
Originally Posted By: plantsower
In the previous post you asked how big it was. If you are talking about GP, it's 3.1 mg. My external drive is 1 terabyte minus what I have saved on it which isn't that much.I don't know how much it is now.

Also, I re downloaded GP after I deleted it, and when I went to Finder so I could transfer it to my apps, finder just showed the GP window with it's icon and readme files, etc. I can't get to the regular finder window now unless I delete GP. There's no back arrow or anything so I can browse around my Finder like normal. I think I'd better ditch GP. But I still can't find the fill up disk problem. I did have quite a few windows open in Safari and since I closed them, I don't get that message. Also, I shut down ad rebooted

As far as screen sharing, we have an app for that on our Macs. Is it only for Macs on the same network?

Nope, I asked how big your entire ~/Downloads folder is.

Yep, we'd have to be on the same network.

The GP .dmg window is already a Finder window. With it open, hit command-N to open a second Finder window in which you can navigate to your desired home for GP. I'd install it by copying it in the first window and pasting it in the second one, but you can drag & drop it too.

Safari tabs can grow to large sizes, but unless you've got a million of then open at the same time I wouldn't expect them to be problematic.

Something's up, and maybe we'll see it when you post a GP screenshot. [/quote]


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Re: Disc filling up
plantsower #55687 08/14/20 12:38 AM
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Originally Posted By: plantsower
I am in the middle of another nightmare of trying to restore an iPhone my husband bought on eBay. It wouldn't accept his new password. Called Apple and my carrier and they both said the phone was clean and unlocked. Why does it show a locked icon on top? Oh well, I am tired of trying to fix this so don't bother trying to help me there. After countless hours trying everything suggested online, iTunes is finally doing something. Fingers crossed. Otherwise, it's going back to eBay and he will buy a new, cheap Samsung he has his eye on.

I'll suggest that you quit playing with the iPhone and send it back forthwith.

As long as your husband didn't buy an "AS IS," based upon your story so far, you should have no trouble returning it as defective.

At the very least, contact the seller and ask what's up.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Disc filling up
artie505 #55689 08/14/20 04:40 AM
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Edit: Here is an image I took from Finder. I erased Catalina and Mojave but they are still taking up a lot of space apparently. I looked at the old post by JoeMike on how to really get rid of those partitions, but I found it very confusing. I hope there is a more simple way. I don't want to deal with my external HD to do this. imgur



Maybe it's a blessing in disguise that I keep getting that message that my disk is almost full because iTunes won't restore the new iPhone because of my lack of disk space.

When I went to the storage management window it says I have 5.14 gb available out of 46.31 gb. How come it shows that I only have 46.31 total gigs? I thought I had 120 gigs. Is it because the system and Safari and other huge apps take up the gigabytes just because they are on my Mac? Something is still screwy. I ran Malwarebytes but nothing seems amiss.

Originally Posted By: artie505
Originally Posted By: plantsower
I am in the middle of another nightmare of trying to restore an iPhone my husband bought on eBay. It wouldn't accept his new password. Called Apple and my carrier and they both said the phone was clean and unlocked. Why does it show a locked icon on top? Oh well, I am tired of trying to fix this so don't bother trying to help me there. After countless hours trying everything suggested online, iTunes is finally doing something. Fingers crossed. Otherwise, it's going back to eBay and he will buy a new, cheap Samsung he has his eye on.

I'll suggest that you quit playing with the iPhone and send it back forthwith.

As long as your husband didn't buy an "AS IS," based upon your story so far, you should have no trouble returning it as defective.

At the very least, contact the seller and ask what's up.

Last edited by plantsower; 08/14/20 05:04 AM.

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Re: Disc filling up
plantsower #55690 08/14/20 06:21 AM
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Originally Posted By: plantsower
Edit: Here is an image I took from Finder. I erased Catalina and Mojave but they are still taking up a lot of space apparently. I looked at the old post by JoeMike on how to really get rid of those partitions, but I found it very confusing. I hope there is a more simple way. I don't want to deal with my external HD to do this. imgur



Maybe it's a blessing in disguise that I keep getting that message that my disk is almost full because iTunes won't restore the new iPhone because of my lack of disk space.

When I went to the storage management window it says I have 5.14 gb available out of 46.31 gb. How come it shows that I only have 46.31 total gigs? I thought I had 120 gigs. Is it because the system and Safari and other huge apps take up the gigabytes just because they are on my Mac? Something is still screwy. I ran Malwarebytes but nothing seems amiss.

BINGO! Really. (Finally wink ) That screenshot shows that you've been asking the wrong question all along.

Your problem is NOT that your 120 GB drive is filled up, it's that the 46.31 GB Macintosh HD partition into which you're booted is filled up.

So, yes, you've got to get rid of those Mojave and Catalina partitions, but NOT just erase them. You've got to entirely eliminate them from your drive, which, not to beat a dead horse, would be a snap if it were formatted APFS but will be more difficult if not impossible with your HFS+ format.

I'm going to yield the floor to joemike now, because he's far better versed with dealing with partitions than I am, but before I go, I'll suggest that you launch Disk Utility, select the TOP item (not one of the partitions), hit "Partition," take a screenshot of your current partition pie chart, then hit cancel without going any further, and follow that by posting the screenshot. The pie chart will give joemike a better idea of what you're dealing with, and the placement of the various partitions will dictate what you can and can't do with them.

Personally, I advise cloning Macintosh HD to your external, wiping your internal, and cloning Macintosh HD back to it, but without partitioning it. Your 120 GB drive is simply not big enough to support three separate OS's. It MAAAY be big enough for two, but I don't advise even that. If you want to experiment with a new version of macOS, install it on a partition on your external (which gets back to why I advised your dividing it into many small partitions lo, these many moons ago).

And as far as your not wanting to deal with your external goes, I can guarantee that joemike will advise you to clone Macintosh HD to it before you do anything about deleting partitions, because there's ALWAYS a risk of data loss when you deal with partitions.

Everything has now fallen into place, and nope, NOTHING is screwy!


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Disc filling up
artie505 #55691 08/14/20 09:23 AM
Joined: Aug 2009
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Artie is dead right on. You still have 120 GB on your drive, but you have cut it up into three partitions.. You are trying to run three operating systems on a drive that is big enough for one.

It is time to fish or cut bait. You need to either move on to Catalina, or make the decision to stick with Sierra until you buy a new Mac. Artie said to clone Macintosh HD to your external drive. My recommendation is to make a choice between Sierra or Catalina, (I strongly encourage Catalina). Tell me what your decision is and I can give you specific step-by-sep instructions from there, that will minimize any risk in the process of eliminating the other two operating systems, as well as th disk full error.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Disc filling up
joemikeb #55693 08/14/20 09:35 AM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 15
Online

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 15
Wow! You're up early. smile

If it needs clarification, my suggested Macintosh HD IS Sierra, but I 100% agree with you that Rita should move up to Catalina. Other than kevs, who's a literal cornucopia of issues, nobody here has ever reported any problems either with the learning curve or the OS itself, and, as you've said on numerous occasions, the curve is only going to get steeper with each new OS release.

Perish the thought that Rita ever needs to buy a new Mac.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Disc filling up
artie505 #55698 08/14/20 06:44 PM
Joined: Sep 2009
Likes: 3
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Joined: Sep 2009
Likes: 3
Thanks, Artie, now onto JoeMike.


Originally Posted By: artie505
Originally Posted By: plantsower
Edit: Here is an image I took from Finder. I erased Catalina and Mojave but they are still taking up a lot of space apparently. I looked at the old post by JoeMike on how to really get rid of those partitions, but I found it very confusing. I hope there is a more simple way. I don't want to deal with my external HD to do this. imgur



Maybe it's a blessing in disguise that I keep getting that message that my disk is almost full because iTunes won't restore the new iPhone because of my lack of disk space.

When I went to the storage management window it says I have 5.14 gb available out of 46.31 gb. How come it shows that I only have 46.31 total gigs? I thought I had 120 gigs. Is it because the system and Safari and other huge apps take up the gigabytes just because they are on my Mac? Something is still screwy. I ran Malwarebytes but nothing seems amiss.

BINGO! Really. (Finally wink ) That screenshot shows that you've been asking the wrong question all along.

Your problem is NOT that your 120 GB drive is filled up, it's that the 46.31 GB Macintosh HD partition into which you're booted is filled up.

So, yes, you've got to get rid of those Mojave and Catalina partitions, but NOT just erase them. You've got to entirely eliminate them from your drive, which, not to beat a dead horse, would be a snap if it were formatted APFS but will be more difficult if not impossible with your HFS+ format.

I'm going to yield the floor to joemike now, because he's far better versed with dealing with partitions than I am, but before I go, I'll suggest that you launch Disk Utility, select the TOP item (not one of the partitions), hit "Partition," take a screenshot of your current partition pie chart, then hit cancel without going any further, and follow that by posting the screenshot. The pie chart will give joemike a better idea of what you're dealing with, and the placement of the various partitions will dictate what you can and can't do with them.

Personally, I advise cloning Macintosh HD to your external, wiping your internal, and cloning Macintosh HD back to it, but without partitioning it. Your 120 GB drive is simply not big enough to support three separate OS's. It MAAAY be big enough for two, but I don't advise even that. If you want to experiment with a new version of macOS, install it on a partition on your external (which gets back to why I advised your dividing it into many small partitions lo, these many moons ago).

And as far as your not wanting to deal with your external goes, I can guarantee that joemike will advise you to clone Macintosh HD to it before you do anything about deleting partitions, because there's ALWAYS a risk of data loss when you deal with partitions.

Everything has now fallen into place, and nope, NOTHING is screwy!


MacBook Pro - M2, Ventura 13.6
Safari Tech Prev 17.0
Safari 16.6
Firefox 116.0.2
iPhone 7 Version 15.8




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