Hard drive full with 200GB of used space that I can’t find

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All of a sudden I've run out of space. On my 250GB hard drive, 236GB is used up with only 13GB free.

I used Finder to find big files. Nothing significant.

I used tools like Disk Inventory X, OmniDiskSweeper and Purple Tree, but according to them I've only used up 40GB.

So somehow 200GB is used up, but I can't see where.

Time Machine isn't running (and never has). The disk has no partitions.

Screenshot of Disk Utility

Screenshot of Disk Inventory X

Screenshot of OmniSweeper

Screenshot of Purple Tree

Best Answer

I scanned my drive with DaisyDisk, and as an administrator. (Instructions) I found 187GB in the hidden ".DocumentsRevisons-V100" folder. These are document versions which the OS autosaves (more info). It appears to be from documents primarily from the app Sketch.

Screenshot of DaisyDisk scan

Here's how I removed the files.

  • Open Terminal
  • Paste defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles YES (This makes all hidden files visible)
  • Relaunch Finder. You can hold down "Option" and then right click Finder. Click Relaunch.
  • Look within the folder Macintosh HD/.DocumentRevisions-V100/ (For me there were a number of underlining folders with lots of files within.)
  • Delete the folders and files within.
  • Empty the Trash
  • In Terminal paste defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles NO . This makes hidden files hidden again.
  • Relaunch Finder again. Click the System Apple top left, then "About this Mac" and then "Storage." Breathe a sigh of relief.

Screenshot of hard drive storage

Here's some articles I referred to:

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