Storage shows 200 GB in BACKUP but where and what is this?

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hfrehde
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Storage shows 200 GB in BACKUP but where and what is this?

Post by hfrehde » May 2nd, 2012, 2:22 am

I am new to MAC so probably a silly question: I have a Mac Book Pro with OS X 10.7.3. I connected an external HD with 2TB and loaded about 500gb of stuff from my PCs on there. Then I hooked up the Mac and time machine asked me if I wanted to use the External HD as back up. I agreed. After it was doing "it's thing" I moved an Itunes library from the external HD drive to the MAC (approx 400GB) but then I realized that I didnt want everything from itunes on there so i started deleting a lot and only left about 20gb (iTunes Media onMAC folder shows 20.1GB). When I look at Storage for my MAC HD it shows that 299 GB of 500GB are being used and that 195GB are under backup.... How can I see what that 195GB is and how can I free up that space on the MAC HD? Thanks.
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Turboladdade
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Re: Storage shows 200 GB in BACKUP but where and what is this?

Post by Turboladdade » May 2nd, 2012, 9:59 am

Firstly, if you use an external drive for Time Machine backup, then you aren't supposed to use it for anything else. You can of course partition it beforehand, but it'll have to use a GUID partition map and the Time Machine partition will have to be Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

I'm confused about where you're seeing this "'195GB are under backup" - can you post a screenshot?
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hfrehde
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Re: Storage shows 200 GB in BACKUP but where and what is this?

Post by hfrehde » May 2nd, 2012, 2:48 pm

I purchased an external hd drive that was MAC compatible with 2TB and when I set it up, it asked me if I wanted to split the HD, which I did: 500 GB for windows and the rest for MAC. My MAC recognizes it and this seems to cause no problem.

I have no clue how to send a print screen yet (told you I am new to MAC) but let me describe it: When I click on the Apple at the top left in the Finder bar, then click on ABOUT this MAC and then on More Info, the Storage, I see my Mac Hardriver and the different colors for the different types of data; Audio, Movies, Photos, Apps, Backups, Other. There, under backups I show 199 GB, so a huge part of the Bar and I have n idea what it is.
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Turboladdade
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Re: Storage shows 200 GB in BACKUP but where and what is this?

Post by Turboladdade » May 2nd, 2012, 5:48 pm

hfrehde wrote:I have no clue how to send a print screen yet (told you I am new to MAC)
You have several options:

Command + Shift + 3 will take a picture of your entire screen and save it to your desktop as a PNG file.

Command + Shift + 4 will allow you to drag out a portion of the screen using your mouse and save it to the desktop as a PNG file.

Command + Shift + 4, then Space will turn your mouse cursor into a camera icon, with which you can hover over any window and click, saving a perfect screenshot of that window including it's shadows with alpha transparency to your desktop as a PNG file.
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hfrehde
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Re: Storage shows 200 GB in BACKUP but where and what is this?

Post by hfrehde » May 3rd, 2012, 2:30 am

Ah..thanks. Here you go:
/Users/tiffanyfrehde/Desktop/Screen Shot 2012-05-03 at 8.27.08 AM.png
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Turboladdade
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Re: Storage shows 200 GB in BACKUP but where and what is this?

Post by Turboladdade » May 3rd, 2012, 11:27 am

You actually have to upload the file to Info-Mac for us to see it:
attachment.jpg
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hfrehde
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Re: Storage shows 200 GB in BACKUP but where and what is this?

Post by hfrehde » May 3rd, 2012, 3:25 pm

Screen Shot 2012-05-03 at 9.20.16 PM.png
ok lets try this again... sorry.
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Turboladdade
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Re: Storage shows 200 GB in BACKUP but where and what is this?

Post by Turboladdade » May 4th, 2012, 10:57 am

I think this article should explain everything: http://Pondini.org/TM/30.html - basically this seems to be local "convenience" backups made along with your Time Machine backups, and also possibly older "versions" of files (one of the new features of Lion).

Check your hard drive's information in Finder - is it reporting the same amount of free space or is it much greater? This is the amount of available space reported to other apps - I think the "backups" are dynamic based on how much free space you have -- not 100% sure as I don't use Time Machine. Would be nice to find out.
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