Disk space mystery

Today I resolved the disk space mystery on my work computer, the latest generation Mac Book Pro. This has bothered me for few months.

A few months ago I noticed that there is only about 45 GB of free space in my Mac. This is on a 500 GB hard disk. This did not sound correct. I keep my computer organized. I certainly did not overload the computer with 450 GB worth of files and programs. The largest file is the Windows VM sized about 200 GB. The rest of the files just don’t add up. 

This problem in no way is stopping me from doing anything I do on the computer. But mysteries bother me. More so, if they involve technology.

I can’t recall the specifics but when I first noticed this anomaly, I ran my usual drill. I googled, found and installed Disk Inventory X and tried to troubleshoot. But I couldn’t figure it. I eventually gave up.

Today, after several months, for some irrelevant reason, I decided to troubleshoot this mystery again. I googled, found a post titled 5 Ways To Free Up Disk Space on Your OS X Mac on How To Geek, found a section titled Analyze Disk Space in it and ended up on Disk Inventory X – the same tool I tried last time. I installed it, let it analyze my disk and voilà!

I noticed an abandoned Windows VM holding 200 GB of disk space. I must have created it when I moved the VM around in the early days of getting used to OS X.

Now my free disk space is a realistic 290 GB.

What a relief!  Only a few things are more gratifying for a keen troubleshooter than resolved mysteries.