Hi all Well.
I reran disk inventory and had a closer look. For some reason, there was , a few days ago, a file from the computer called: david brooks prevoius idisk: I deleted it, and thought no more. it was 11 gig. I deleted my trash, and firevauly ran for quite some and now i have my 11 gig back. PLEASE may i thank Godfrey, computer geek and Paul S , for being on my side,. Folks, i know i panic, but thanks Dave On Fri, Nov 14, 2008 at 2:10 PM, Godfrey DiGiorgi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > CheekyGeek: > > Disk Inventory X is a great tool! I have several other tools that attempt a > similar task but this one is much more accessible and easier to understand. > Thanks for posting the link! > > Dave: > > The most important question, given what you found, is whether you have > FileVault turned on. I think you do. It's a question I only rarely think to > ask ... (thanks again, cheekygeek!). You can find this out by looking at > the settings ... In Mac OS X v10.5.x, the FileVault setting is in System > Prefs -> Security panel, FileVault tab. I seem to recall that the switch to > turn it on and off was elsewhere in Tiger, so check around system > preferences if you don't see it in the Security panel. It would most likely > be in the Accounts panel if it's not in the Security panel. > > If FileVault is turned on, that explains the 'sparse image files' in the > Users directory and where your disk space is going. When you are running > FileVault, all of your account's directory tree (including all your files > and folders) is encrypted into a sparse image file (a form of virtual volume > file like a disk image) which is opened and mounted every time you login on > the system. When you hard-quit the system using the power button, FileVault > cannot cleanly close that file and ensure that it is properly safeguarded, > so the next time you start up it recreates the sparse image file, increments > the number you're seeing (davebrooks.N, where N is the copy number) and > opens that. Each one of those files takes up however much space on disk, > even though the older versions are no longer being used. > > So the last time you forced power off, it recreated that sparse image again > ... > > To fix this: > > - Be sure you BACK UP all your account's data files to an external drive > first. Preferably to a freshly formatted, empty external drive. > > - Turn FileVault off. > > - Once you do that, and FileVault finishes the job of returning your account > to an unencrypted tree of folders and files, you can safely delete all the > sparse image files named "davebrooks.N". > > - If you then feel you need the security of FileVault, turn it back on. It > will recreate a sparse image file but there will be only one of them. > Personally, I would only use FileVault if you had data that needed to be > secure on a laptop that you used for a lot of travel, but others have > different ideas ... > > This should regain all that lost disk space for you. > > Godfrey > -- Equine Photography www.caughtinmotion.com http://brooksinthecountry.blogspot.com/ Ontario Canada -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
