Questions tagged [hard-drive]
A hard drive is a device for permanent or long-term storage in computers.
3,414
questions
163
votes
6
answers
601k
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 ...
- 2,773
102
votes
8
answers
167k
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 ...
- 1,123
66
votes
8
answers
92k
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.
- 2,698
65
votes
2
answers
97k
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?
- 801
57
votes
9
answers
61k
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, ...
- 1,440
56
votes
7
answers
11k
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?
- 2,005
53
votes
6
answers
73k
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 ...
- 967
53
votes
10
answers
154k
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 ...
- 2,262
52
votes
11
answers
172k
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 ...
- 683
49
votes
2
answers
31k
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?
user588
43
votes
4
answers
350k
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 ...
- 543
43
votes
3
answers
38k
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,...
- 7,720
37
votes
9
answers
273k
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 ...
- 572
33
votes
7
answers
114k
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 ...
- 4,579
33
votes
3
answers
170k
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 ...
- 81.1k
30
votes
8
answers
186k
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 ...
- 303
30
votes
3
answers
61k
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 ...
- 11.2k
29
votes
4
answers
17k
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?
- 423
26
votes
12
answers
64k
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 ...
- 363
26
votes
4
answers
66k
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 ...
- 581
26
votes
4
answers
26k
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
...
- 836
24
votes
4
answers
45k
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 ...
- 433
24
votes
5
answers
60k
views
Mac OS Sierra - Disk Utility will not let me partition an external hard drive
Within disk utility, the partition icon is grayed out. If I mouse over it, it reads: "Disks with Master Boot Record Partition Maps cannot be partitioned". The history on this drive: It is a 2 TB ...
- 415
24
votes
3
answers
144k
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 ...
- 241
22
votes
7
answers
67k
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?
- 379
22
votes
10
answers
135k
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 ...
- 321
21
votes
3
answers
63k
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?
- 471
21
votes
1
answer
24k
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 ...
- 439
20
votes
9
answers
440k
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 ...
- 201
20
votes
6
answers
76k
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 ...
- 303
19
votes
4
answers
59k
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 ...
- 311
19
votes
1
answer
124k
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 ...
- 441
18
votes
5
answers
35k
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 ...
- 282
18
votes
5
answers
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 ...
- 5,444
18
votes
5
answers
66k
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:
...
- 181
17
votes
7
answers
6k
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/...
- 173
17
votes
3
answers
152k
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. ...
- 273
17
votes
4
answers
10k
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 ...
- 1,456
16
votes
1
answer
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.
- 1,371
15
votes
5
answers
13k
views
Prevent Spotlight from indexing external drive
Sometimes I use an external drive with macOS on it. This is in conjunction to my current internal drive which also is running macOS.
I find it annoying that, whenever I search for something (such as ...
- 7,425
15
votes
3
answers
33k
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 ...
- 681
15
votes
4
answers
5k
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 ...
- 161
15
votes
2
answers
35k
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 ...
- 719
15
votes
3
answers
105k
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 ...
- 451
15
votes
5
answers
96k
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 ...
- 253
15
votes
3
answers
12k
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 ...
- 527
14
votes
10
answers
135k
views
I can't write to my flash drive, and it is already in the MS-DOS (FAT) Format. Why?
This is my first question on this website. I am using a Mac Air, and I have a flash drive in which I can read from. I am able to copy files from this onto my Desktop, or anywhere on my computer for ...
- 255
14
votes
2
answers
23k
views
How to copy all files with extension/filetype in terminal?
I want to copy all files in ~/Desktop with the extension .jpeg to my flash drive.
How can I do this in the terminal?
- 421
14
votes
7
answers
45k
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 ...
- 143
14
votes
5
answers
44k
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 ...
- 1,371