Questions tagged [hard-drive]
A hard drive is a device for permanent or long-term storage in computers.
2,782
questions
117
votes
6answers
376k views
Is it safe to delete ~/Library/Caches?
Is it safe to delete the file Caches, in the Library of the Mac OS X Hard Drive?
It's a pretty big file, 3.56 GB, Caches reminds me of logs i don't need or browser cookies.
Is it safe to delete the ...
69
votes
6answers
102k views
How do I get detailed SMART disk information on OS X (Mavericks or later)
I'm trying to get a detailed SMART status report on the drives in my Mac. I'm not talking about "Verified," I'm talking about the detailed report that's about 100 lines long listing all the vital ...
60
votes
2answers
82k views
What is com.apple.bird? Why does it grow so big?
When trying to clean up their hard disk, some users discover ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.bird is pretty big, sometimes in the order of many gigabytes. What is it?
55
votes
9answers
58k views
Time Machine ridiculously slow after El Capitan upgrade
I recently updated to El Capitan, and told Time Machine to backup. It got stuck on Preparing Backup for hours, so I stopped it, deleted the InProgress file, rebooted and tried again. After ~30 mins, ...
54
votes
7answers
10k views
Do Macs need to be defragmented?
I don't see any application to defragment my Mac (running OS X).
Is defragmenting not necessary for Mac OS X? If so, why not?
51
votes
8answers
76k views
How to check if my HD is case sensitive or not?
How can I get information if my HD format is case sensitive or case insensitive?
I want to make sure my Mac running Mountain Lion has a case sensitive file system.
41
votes
3answers
34k views
What are the differences between journaling HFS+ and non-journaling HFS+?
I'm about to format an external hard disk drive (HDD).
What are the key differences between journaling HFS+ and non-journaling HFS+? Apart from the fact that one has journaling and the other does not,...
40
votes
9answers
140k views
How to eject my external drive when my Mac refuses because of Spotlight?
I have plugged an external disk to my Mac. Now, I want to eject it. But my Mac stubbornly refuses and says that an application may be using the disk.
I have not launched any app neither opened any ...
40
votes
2answers
25k views
What is the difference between a “sparse disk image” and a “sparse bundle disk image”?
What are the differences between sparse and sparse bundle disk images?
34
votes
4answers
277k views
How do I make the hard drive visible in the Finder?
On OS X Lion I don't see the hard drive in the Finder and I seem to have no permission to create a folder under / from terminal.
I know I can do this if I activate the root user, but I need to be ...
29
votes
9answers
109k views
External Hard Drive Won't Mount
I've searched and tried a lot of stuff but still can't get it to work.
I was able to use my seagate HDD properly last week but now it doesn't mount. I tried plugging it to a PC & another mac, it ...
28
votes
3answers
148k views
USB Drive Will Not Mount, Not Listed in Disk Utilities, but Found In System Profiler
I have a Seagate FreeAgent Go drive with the optional docking station. I use it to keep files that I don't access on a regular basis and as a place to do "quick backups" of things like my Paperless ...
26
votes
7answers
95k views
What is the best way to clone a disk between two Macs?
What is the best way to clone a disk between two Macs? I ask this every couple years or so and every time I get the same answer. "Use Carbon Copy Cloner", they say. But the unfortunate fact is that ...
25
votes
3answers
13k views
How do I eject the Time Machine backup drive automatically after each backup?
How do I set Time Machine to eject my external Time Machine backup drive automatically after each backup?
25
votes
4answers
24k views
MBP SSD upgrade - which settings to change?
After replacing the harddisk drive in MacBook Pro with a Solid State Disk I am wondering which settings I should change and how.
Thinking of things that are supposed to protect the SSD like
...
24
votes
8answers
148k views
Disk Utility won't Unmount HD for formatting
I have two internal drives in my 27" iMac (10.8.5). An SSD system disk and a 1TB SATA drive.
The HDD has been acting up recently, very slow performance, bad behavior etc. Tech Tool Pro and Disk ...
24
votes
9answers
231k views
Unable to format / erase hard drive
I have an external HD that died on me a while ago and I'm trying to see if I can format / erase it to start using it again.
The disk does not show up in Finder but I can see it in Disk Utility. When ...
23
votes
3answers
129k views
What are next steps when fsck reports “could not be repaired after 3 attempts”?
My Mac Book Pro 13.-" doesn´t get past the grey booting screen with the apple and the spinning wheel (The loading bar appears but when it´s done nothing happens)
I have 220 GB in one single ...
22
votes
3answers
41k views
How do I clear the purgeable area on my disk?
I cleared space on my disk by deleting files and emptying trash. But, I am unable to make use of the space that I freed up. That is, as you can see the disk reports 142 GB as Available with 83 GB of ...
21
votes
7answers
57k views
What format for my external drive allows use with Mac and Windows?
How can I use my external hard drive on Mac OS so I can modify/edit files on both OS's: Mac and Windows? How should I format it?
21
votes
3answers
46k views
How to get the “securely erase” function of Disk Utility on El Capitan & Sierra
Up to Yosemite I regularly used Disk Utility with Erase > Security Options... > writes a single pass of zeros over the entire disk...
as a simple method to fully check that a disk is fully safe before ...
20
votes
4answers
31k views
How can I merge primary APFS partition with other empty APFS partition?
Using the latest Macbook Pro with currently High Sierra 10.13.1, I was using bootcamp for a year, and I decided to get rid of the Bootcamp partition this morning. The Bootcamp utility would not let me ...
18
votes
5answers
49k views
OS X can't unmount disk
My 1TB LaCie Rugged THB decided it was a good idea to stop working all of a sudden.
If I open it in disk util I sometimes see an actual name of a partition, but most likely it's not the real name.
In ...
18
votes
4answers
40k views
Why is a secure erase 'not necessary' for SSD's?
I'm about to trade in a 2010 MacBook Pro with an SSD. However, I'm unable to do a Secure Erase from the recovery disk (as I used to do with mechanical hard drives before selling or giving away a ...
18
votes
5answers
2k views
Does the use of SSD give one a dramatic performance boost?
I use Mac book pro 15", and it's time to buy a new one.
For HDD, now I see a new option of SSD, which is pretty expensive.
I can expect shorter boot-up time and faster access of files, but I'm not ...
17
votes
7answers
5k views
If I delete photos/files why aren't they actually deleted? How come they can be recovered?
I am trying to delete some photos from my daughter's Photos Library/Hard Drive. What I have done so far is that I have moved the photos to the trash and emptied it.
Now the problem is, deleted files/...
17
votes
9answers
102k views
USB HDD can’t be opened because the original item can’t be found
When I try to access my 2Tb Transcend StoreJet External Hard Drive in Finder, I always get the following error:
However, 16Gb USB Flash Drive can be accessed without any problems.
I cannot also see ...
17
votes
4answers
8k views
FAT or exFAT or NTFS
I recently brought Western Digital's Passport Essential, and will be using with my MacBook (running Snow Leopard), MacBook Air (running Lion) and Windows 7 Desktop. I should be able to read-write data ...
16
votes
9answers
391k views
How do I get an operating system onto a new hard drive?
I will be installing a new 500GB hard drive in my macbook. It is a late 2008, aluminum, 13-inch screen. Once I install it, how do I get an operating system that's 10.7 or newer (downloaded from the ...
16
votes
4answers
47k views
How can I mount an encrypted disk from the command line?
When I type diskutil mount disk3 in the terminal, it says Volume(s) mounted successfully. However, the disk is not mounted and I can confirm this by opening the GUI of Disk Utility.app and also the ...
16
votes
3answers
44k views
Can there be two separate Time Machine Backups on the same external drive?
I'm interested in buying an external hard drive. I'd like to know whether if it's possible (and simple if so) to have two separate Time Machine Backups from two different MacBooks at the same time?
15
votes
5answers
27k views
What are the sector sizes on Mac OS X?
I read on the HFS Plus Wikipedia page that the default sector size on a Mac is 512 b. However, I also read that Macs support 4kb sectors. How can I determine which I have, 512 b or 4 kb sectors? I ...
15
votes
3answers
120k views
Error: “The operation can’t be completed because one or more required items can’t be found. (Error code -43)”
I accidentally pulled an NTFS hard drive out of my Mac OS X Mavericks machine several times and realized that I accidentally created multiple entries of many different names in my /Volumes/ folder. ...
15
votes
3answers
27k views
Is it necessary to eject external drives before logging out, restarting, or shutting down?
Is it necessary or recommended practice to eject external drives before logging out, restarting, or shutting down? (The drives are not being unplugged.)
BTW, I am aware that I need to eject my ...
15
votes
1answer
2k views
Is defragmenting an SSD drive a bad idea?
I have heard that defragmenting SSD drives will shorten the life span of a drive. Just wondering if there is any truth to this and if so could someone elaborate as to why this happens.
15
votes
4answers
4k views
Reformat Mac SSD drive so fast - did it really work?
I followed the directions here for erasing my 500 GB SSD drive on a MacBook Pro:
How to reinstall macOS
I chose the strongest erasing option under the security options. I hit the erase button, and ...
15
votes
3answers
96k views
How can I delete a partition (coreStorage logical volume?) from the Terminal?
I finally understood why Disk Utility will not change the partitions on my HDD, even though I added the most recent one myself (maybe significant: to test Yosemite DP) with it. Now I see it says it ...
15
votes
1answer
10k views
Disable the disk check when reconnecting an improperly disconnected disk to OS X
If you disconnect a removable drive without ejecting it first, the next time you connect it, Windows or Mac run an fsck check on the disk to ensure data integrity. Windows will ask if you want to ...
14
votes
5answers
86k views
What is filling up my hard drive so fast?
Last night (Because my hard drive was almost full) I freed about 4GB. Then I came back to my Macbook about 3hrs later (I left it idle) and Its was full again.
Is something is eating my mac?
If I go ...
14
votes
10answers
104k views
MacBook HD “Other” all of a sudden almost full
As you can see in the below image, my HD "Other" category is almost full. A couple of days ago, I randomly kept getting a popup saying that my disk was almost full. Then I went in and noticed the ...
14
votes
4answers
41k views
Disk Utility won't erase my USB flash drive (“Couldn't open device”)
I am willing to dual-boot my MacBook Pro (13-inch, Early 2011) macOS Sierra to install Ubuntu.
I am having some trouble with my USB flash drive when I try to erase it using Disk Utility. It says "...
14
votes
3answers
10k views
How can I disable the 2nd hard drive in my 27" iMac?
I have an 2010 27" iMac with an SSD and a regular hard drive. Now that I've been using the machine for some time and have not come close to filling the SSD, I'd like to disable the spinning hard drive ...
13
votes
7answers
41k views
How can I keep my fan from staying at full speed after replacing the hard drive?
I replaced a hard drive in a 2011 iMac (Core i7), though it was a standard hard drive and didn't have a location for the S.M.A.R.T. cord. (Or at least I think that's what it was.) Since then, the ...
13
votes
5answers
35k views
Is there a utility for mac that shows the information of an SSD like the health etc…?
I am wondering if there is a utility for the mac that allows you to see the details of an SSD like the health of the drive, TBW (total bites written), how many running hours etc... In researching for ...
13
votes
1answer
6k views
Replacing SuperDrive with secondary storage?
I'm familiar with the OWC Data Doubler, a kit which allows you to remove your Macbook's SuperDrive and replace it with secondary storage.
What alternatives exist for this product?
A complete answer ...
13
votes
1answer
62k views
Force mounting an external disk that is not recognized
I recently bought a 4 TB naked (no enclosure) external hard drive that I mount via a Newer Tech dock (the ones where you insert the naked drive like bread in a toaster) and is connected to my MacBook ...
12
votes
12answers
27k views
Error creating bootable USB
For two days my Mac has been "dead"; the hard drive crashed, so I reformatted (twice). I wanted to reinstall Mavericks via Recovery, but at the end of the process it shows nearly 1 million minutes ...
12
votes
2answers
30k views
How can I get Automator to mount a network volume?
I am writing an Automator "script" that rsyncs media on my 10.6.3 MacBook Pro to my Ubuntu 10.10 HTPC. I can make Automator run my shell script for rsync commands, but I can't make Automator mount the ...
12
votes
2answers
5k views
How do I not accidentally eject external drives?
I have a Mac Mini with a few external drives connected that I use as a home server. Normally the Eject buttons next to the drive icon are really handy as they let me eject an external drive very ...
12
votes
4answers
26k views
9GB com.apple.coresymbolicationd file in Caches
I'm trying to free up disk space, and I came across this:
I've read reports of a 600M file, or a 1GB file but never something like this.
Is it safe to delete or does rebooting frequently help clear ...
