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From: SKG102@psuvm.psu.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac,comp.sys.mac.hardware,comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject: Re: VANISHED! 12 Mb on a 80 Mb Hard Disk
Message-ID: <90208.112559SKG102@psuvm.psu.edu>
Date: 27 Jul 90 15:25:59 GMT
References: <1990Jul24.202754.13288@usenet.ins.cwru.edu>
 <3022@medusa.informatik.uni-erlangen.de>
 <1990Jul26.133922.17987@cec1.wustl.edu>
Organization: Penn State University
Lines: 22

I had a similar problem when someone unpluuged my Mac during a multiple file
transfer. I was downloading 2 Megs. of files when the machine was unplugged
and it was almost finished. Anyway, when the Mac was restarted the finder
showed only 2 Megs. of space left on the hard disk, which is about what should
have been left had the transfer completed but none of the files that I
downloaded were anywhere to be found on the disk. I believe the problem is that
the volume bitmap which shows which sectors are used and which are not is
updated at the same time the sector is used but the directory is only updated
at certain times, like the way a file may not be completely written to disk
until certain routines are called. I had 2 Megs. of disk space missing.

What I did was this. I have a tape backup so I made a total backup of the disk.
I didn't pay much attention to the file sizes during the backup. After the
backup completed, I reformatted the disk and restored all the files. After the
restoration was complete I had over 10 Megs. of free space on the hard disk.
Not only did I get the 2 Megs. I knew I was missing plus another 6 I didn't.
I know do this about once a month to keep from losing the space and to keep
fragmentation down

                                        Scott George
                                        SKG102@psuvm.psu.edu
                                        SKG102@psuvm.BITNET