virtualbox.org

Hi guys,

I had Win7 hosted on my MacBook Air (10.7.5). I've attempted to run a program that I didn't really like the Mac version of, that was the only reason behind setting the VM up. Long story short I ended up with two VDIs, one of which was 12Gb, while the other 16GB and I needed to reinstall the VM, so wanted to remove both VDIs and create a new one for the fresh install. Didn't paying maximal attention to what I was doing I deleted the actual file of the 12Gb one without removing it via VB. After that the 12 Gb disk space is still being taken up, even though I uninstalled VirtualBox, restarted the system several times, cleaned up using Onyx. I used Disk Inventory to try and identify where on the hard drive the space is being taken up. If I scan my whole drive with it the same result come up as in Finder: 44Gb taken 15Gb free. However if I scan each main directory and add the numbers together it will be exactly 12Gb less.

Could anyone give me any advice?

Thank you in advance.

Miso

The same question was asked and answered a couple of days ago:

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=53561

Join the club!

Similar issue here and has turned me right off using VB ever again!

NOT HAPPY!

@RJW1979: Since the only issue documented above - and in your own thread - is user ignorance of how to delete files on a Mac host, I'm not sure how you can blame VirtualBox for that.

Miso31 wrote:Hi guys,

I had Win7 hosted on my MacBook Air (10.7.5).
...
However if I scan each main directory and add the numbers together it will be exactly 12Gb less.

You do realize that since 10.7 (Lion) Apple has hidden (made invisible) the Library folder where VirtualBox stores the VDI files? While in the Finder hold down the option key and click on the Go menu to see the Library folder. Select the Library folder from the Go menu and then when it opens you should see a VirtualBox folder which will contain all the VMs you created. If you've already removed the VM from the VirtualBox Manager you could just go into the VirtualBox VMs folder and trash the folder for that VM.

mpack wrote:The same question was asked and answered a couple of days ago:

It's not quite the same, as I have found and deleted the file... This is what makes the whole thing really strange.

rpmurray wrote:

Miso31 wrote:Hi guys,

I had Win7 hosted on my MacBook Air (10.7.5).
...
However if I scan each main directory and add the numbers together it will be exactly 12Gb less.

You do realize that since 10.7 (Lion) Apple has hidden (made invisible) the Library folder where VirtualBox stores the VDI files? While in the Finder hold down the option key and click on the Go menu to see the Library folder. Select the Library folder from the Go menu and then when it opens you should see a VirtualBox folder which will contain all the VMs you created. If you've already removed the VM from the VirtualBox Manager you could just go into the VirtualBox VMs folder and trash the folder for that VM.

I have found the file and deleted it. The disk space is still missing though. That's what makes me feel like chasing a ghost on my computer. According to all the disk utilities I tried, I have 12 Gigs more space used than I actually use (and than I had before installing the VM). If I add together the sizes of Applications, System, Useres and Library that is 12 less than what it says when I check my drive as a whole. And there is nothing else showing on it...

Still, those folders are only the visible ones you see on the hard drive. There are also several hidden folders on the drive, some (if not all) of that 12GB will be in files stored there. The fact that it's adds up to 12GB doesn't mean that it's the ghost of your deleted VM haunting your Mac. Try downloading TinkerTool and enabling the "Show hidden and system files" setting for the Finder, there may be all kinds of stuff lurking in those hidden folders, although you could do some serious damage to your OS if you start trashing any of it without understanding what's there.

What do you mean when you say you "found the file and deleted it"? Which file and how did you delete it? If you pitched it into the Trash did you also remember to empty the trash?

I would check that the trash has been empied myself.