Sometimes big, sometimes small, changing pleases me not at all
May 13, 2011 1:19 PM   Subscribe

Why does the size of my HD keep changing in the space of a minute?

I have a late 2009 iMac Intel Core 2, OS X 10.6.7, 1 TB HD + 4 TB external HDs. The internal HD should have about 200 GB free but I constantly get the message "Your start-up disk is full" and the size of the free space in Finder varies from 0 to 39 gb to 112 gb to 195 gb free within minutes (I am not adding or deleting files) The message "Your Start-up disk is full" pops up too and things sloooow down.

Of course, no Applecare (I've had Macs for 15 years without a problem) and the nearest computer shop is over an hour away so I was trying to solve it myself before losing a day hauling it down there.

I have run a programme called Onyx, I have deleted unnecessary files and uninstalled programmes (including one called Memeo that snuck in with my latest HD). It is just a hobby computer, no fancy programmes beyond iMovie and GarageBand. I have scoured the Console logs. Safari keeps coming up in the Console logs but I don't know enough about computers to know whether deleting Safari is a good idea or a waste of time (they seem to be about being unable to open images in the cache I recently cleared).

Please help. : (
posted by saucysault to Computers & Internet (3 answers total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: poster's request -- jessamyn

 
Best answer: Virtual memory, or scratch files?
posted by Admiral Haddock at 1:21 PM on May 13, 2011


Response by poster: Your comment on virtual memory lead me to the activity monitor which shows the finder taking up about 5-20% of the CPU (changes every second), safari at 1-3% and something called "smoke" that goes from 1-98% CPU. I am now off to investigate smoke. I have no idea what scratch files are though.
posted by saucysault at 1:31 PM on May 13, 2011


Sorry. Scratch files are sort of a temporary file created by some programs. If you're editing an image in Photoshop or Lightroom, the program will create temporary work files that can be, individually or in the aggregate, quite big. I don't know for sure, but iMovie and Garageband likely create scratch files. You may be able to tell in the preference panes--the Adobe programs let you choose a scratch folder (or scratch disk). You can also set the size of the scratch folder/disk--maybe reduce the size if you're running out of room? N.B.: you may take a performance hit.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 1:42 PM on May 13, 2011


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