Hard drive space missing after uninstalling VMware Fusion 6

[aNico44432]

Hello,

I tried out a trial of VMware Fusion but it didn't quite meet my needs so I've uninstalled it using the instructions from http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=101783...

I've also deleted the folder where I had my VM stored.

It seems I have not gotten back the hard-drive space from the VM however.  Prior to the trial I had ~320GB of 500 free, now I have ~120GB free... and using a tool such as Disk Inventory X, only shows ~180GB of used space... so it seems like ~200GB of space has completely disappeared.

Has anyone else experienced this, any suggestions on fixes?  I have done the usual stuff such as making sure I've emptied the trash bin and have restarted my Mac.

I am hoping I don't have to resort to doing a clean install just because I trialed this software!

[wila]

Hi,

We can start guessing where the lost disk space has gone, but it is probably easier for you to use a tool like GrandPerspective in order to find the big files that are still using up your disk space. It might be similar to your "Disk Inventory X" though as I'm not familiar with that particular tool.

If that doesn't help then try a repair disk in Disk Utility.

--

Wil

edit: I now see Disk Inventory X is exactly a tool like Grandperspective. So forget that and try to troubleshoot the disk, verify Disk Permissions etc.. as you say it doesn't add up and normally a disk size equals to used space + free space.

[aNico44432]

Thanks, I downloaded GrandPerspective and noticed that a lot of "miscellaneous used space" was showing up, ran it and Disk Inventory X as root so that all hidden files would be displayed and turns out that for some reason there were a bunch of copies of my VM in my time machine mobile backups volume.

Ran "sudo tmutil disablelocal" as per this thread http://www.mactalk.com.au/11/107659-my-mobilebackups-volume-taking-up-200-gigabytes.html and all my space is back!

[aNico44432 · Accepted solution]

Thanks, I downloaded GrandPerspective and noticed that a lot of "miscellaneous used space" was showing up, ran it and Disk Inventory X as root so that all hidden files would be displayed and turns out that for some reason there were a bunch of copies of my VM in my time machine mobile backups volume.

Ran "sudo tmutil disablelocal" as per this thread http://www.mactalk.com.au/11/107659-my-mobilebackups-volume-taking-up-200-gigabytes.html and all my space is back!

[wila]

Ah OK, that makes sense. Didn't think about the local cache copy of Time Machine.

Glad to hear you resolved it.

PS: If you do ever get back to using Virtual Machines (whatever product) then remember to exclude virtual machines from Time Machine. The reason for that is that time machine cannot make reliable backups of a virtual machine and will use a lot of disk space regardless. TM can only make a good backup of a VM if it is shutdown before running TM and even then it will take a full copy every time.

--

Wil

[aNico44432]

Thanks for you help, this was a positive experience in that I learned that:

1. Time machine stores local copies, I never knew that.
2. I need to run disk inventory x as root in order for it to see all files, again another thing I was unaware of.

I might still give VMware another go... the allure of using a nice laptop at work is strong!