iMac storage constantly changing?

[trentklein]

My imacs storage always seems to be flip flopping from ~100gbs free to only a few mbs. When I go to find what I need to delete, there is nothing if substantial size. Does the OS hide files? What's the issue?

[HanZie82]

Maybe an automated backup system doing its thing?
(All i could think of i don't know anything about Apple stuff, ill back out gently )

[trentklein]

Just now, HanZie82 said:

Maybe an automated backup system doing its thing?
(All i could think of i don't know anything about Apple stuff, ill back out gently )

Haha! I guess I dont either, clearly. But it's really getting to the point to where I want to throw the computer out the window

[harryk]

Are you getting notifications that the hard disk is full? That can happen if you're doing something memory intensive, as it exceeds the available memory it will start using the hard disk for swap filling it up in the process. Once you quit the program or stop the process everything returns to normal.

 

If you're suspicious that something is taking up space but can't find it I suggest downloading Omni Disk Sweeper to see everything on the hard disk.

[vorticalbox]

10 hours ago, harryk said:

That can happen if you're doing something memory intensive, as it exceeds the available memory it will start using the hard disk for swap filling it up in the process.

Even using swap isn't going to eat 100GB of disk space

[harryk]

2 hours ago, vorticalbox said:

Even using swap isn't going to eat 100GB of disk space

I do pretty regularly with Photoshop and Final Cut

[HanZie82]

On 12/21/2019 at 5:45 PM, trentklein said:

Haha! I guess I dont either, clearly. But it's really getting to the point to where I want to throw the computer out the window

Please dont, even tho im not an Apple fan its such a waste of money.

 

[trentklein]

4 hours ago, vorticalbox said:

Even using swap isn't going to eat 100GB of disk space

 

2 hours ago, harryk said:

I do pretty regularly with Photoshop and Final Cut

 

15 hours ago, harryk said:

Are you getting notifications that the hard disk is full? That can happen if you're doing something memory intensive, as it exceeds the available memory it will start using the hard disk for swap filling it up in the process. Once you quit the program or stop the process everything returns to normal.

 

If you're suspicious that something is taking up space but can't find it I suggest downloading Omni Disk Sweeper to see everything on the hard disk.

Sorry I have been MIA,I forgot to check this thread Haha That COULD be it because I work with imovie and logic pro a lot, but I delete large files (couple of gigs) right away. If I'm understanding it right, if the memory cant handle something it throws it to the hard drive? How? Haha

[HanZie82]

7 minutes ago, trentklein said:

 

 

Sorry I have been MIA,I forgot to check this thread Haha That COULD be it because I work with imovie and logic pro a lot, but I delete large files (couple of gigs) right away. If I'm understanding it right, if the memory cant handle something it throws it to the hard drive? How? Haha

Most OS's do that so the program will not crash, just be a bit slower as HDD's are slower then RAM.
It has a file on the harddrive (dynamically sized, altho i know in windows you can set the size) and fills that file with stuff from the RAM overtime. Usually less frequent used stuff. Not really a thing a user should worry about in normal cases. But now, i dont know. But isnt there a thing like Treesize (for windows afaik) for the mac, so you can see what uses up the space on  your harddrive a bit easier?

[trentklein]

1 hour ago, HanZie82 said:

Most OS's do that so the program will not crash, just be a bit slower as HDD's are slower then RAM.
It has a file on the harddrive (dynamically sized, altho i know in windows you can set the size) and fills that file with stuff from the RAM overtime. Usually less frequent used stuff. Not really a thing a user should worry about in normal cases. But now, i dont know. But isnt there a thing like Treesize (for windows afaik) for the mac, so you can see what uses up the space on  your harddrive a bit easier?

Thanks for explaining! Still seems super annoying Haha yeah I use an application to find what's using space but nothing comes up. When it says it's full I can't even do anything ie import export.