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Can anyone tell me how this is possible? The files in these two folders are exactly the same, but the file size reported for the folders is different. Any ideas?

Edit: fullsize image @ http://i41.tinypic.com/6435ah.jpg

imac:untitled folder Wesley$ ls -la Working/ NotWorking/
NotWorking/:
total 0
drwxr-xr-x  3 Wesley  staff  102 31 mei 17:33 .
drwxr-xr-x  5 Wesley  staff  170  3 nov 22:08 ..
drwxr-xr-x@ 5 Wesley  staff  170  3 nov 22:08 Contents

Working/:
total 16
drwxr-xr-x  4 Wesley  staff   136  3 nov 11:59 .
drwxr-xr-x  5 Wesley  staff   170  3 nov 22:08 ..
-rw-r--r--@ 1 Wesley  staff  6148  3 nov 11:57 .DS_Store
drwxr-xr-x  5 Wesley  staff   170  3 nov 11:59 Contents

imac:untitled folder Wesley$ du -sh Working/ NotWorking/
 92K    Working/
 76K    NotWorking/

Folder Size Difference

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2
  • are they on different versions of operating systems?
    – user14522
    Commented Dec 4, 2011 at 5:02
  • The folder may contain some hidden files that could make the difference.
    – Hanai
    Commented Dec 4, 2011 at 5:31

1 Answer 1

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1

Are you certain that the folders do not contain any hidden files? If you have anything beginning with a period (.) then this will not be reported in the Finder but will still be contributing to the size of the folder.

Try looking in at the folders in Terminal with ls -la to see the file contents. You can check the disk usage with du -sh

Open Terminal

cd /Users/Wesley/Desktop/untitled\ folder
ls -la Working NotWorking
du -sh Working NotWorking
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2
  • OK, added output above, seems that there is no .DS_Store in the one. Is that the difference? Why is it not being created btw?
    – Wesley
    Commented Nov 3, 2011 at 21:42
  • 1
    The .DS_Store is apparently generated when a folder is modified in some way by the Finder (even just moving the window) Wikipedia Article
    – Kevin
    Commented Nov 3, 2011 at 21:51

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