h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I was checking my Happy Meal aka MacBookPro (2016) this week, getting ready for my new 24" iMac (2Tb HD and 32Gb RAM) when I noticed a huge discrepancy on HD storage.

According to installed software I only had 121Gb of HD space left of 1Tb, but according to the 'about this ' information I had 818Gb of storage. That is aver 700Gb of storage discrepancy. Thankfully there is one very good thing about Macs, and that is they offer free support for around 10 years of the life of the Mac. I was getting support on my 2010 Mac only recently but was informed it was about to stop.

After a visit to the store, i was advised how to check what was using up memory, so tried that when I came home, which is when I discovered the discrepancy.

Yesterday, out of frustration in not being able to find out where the discrepancy was, I contacted support chat. The first talked me through a number of diagnostics, but ended up scratching his head. I had to cut the chat short after two hours, and called back half an hour later. The new spent another hour going through further diagnostics, still with no solution, or explanation. After 75 minutes or so, again I had to leave the chat, only for a third attempt around an hour later. The third tried safe boot, Terminal etc. but finally indicated that their level of expertise couldn't solve the problem, and to book a call for today, so that is what I did.

At lunchtime today I got a call from a senior who went through a number of new diagnostic tests but had to admit, after an hour and a half, he could not fathom what was wrong. What he could say is that the storage info was correct, and I did have over 800Gb of storage space on the HD, but where the discrepancy lay was difficult to identify.

Next Wednesday I have an appointment at the Genius Bar to see if the hands-on can solve the conundrum. I think what will end up happening is a full operating system reset, to factory settings, then restore the operating system up to the capacity of this Happy Meal, which is OS 13.7.2 or Monterey. This will probably take some time, but will mean I will have the use of it, while my new Mac is set up (by me), and my old one has a full memory purge, which involves seven full memory erase scans, known as a N.A.S.A. level scan, so the memory is fully erased and back to factory settings, so any info n there is totally corrupted or removed. then I can dispose of it.

It is a pity I don't have the means to take it back to to be recycled, but it is around 30lbso or nearly 14kgs, too much to carry on the .

Hopefully by next weekend the new Big Mac will be set up, and the situation on the Happy Meal sorted.



MMF

That is a weird mystery... Good luck with it all

Techno computer side stuff etc is like me being in the "twilight zone"

I wish you well

It's very strange. s don't understand it. I've not the same problem on the Big Mac (aka iMac). I've not found anything where anyone else has experienced it. It was concerning as I didn't know which was correct, so deleted all my photos and music off it, after backing it up, in case it was those, although it is my back-up/holiday computer, so wasn't that much on it.
Prof, to a degree, I'm with you. I can get my head around some stuff, but quite a bit leaves me

MMF

F1926355?thread=2184872

My problem is post 1 memory!
If I don't "use" computer techno stuff often enoughI forget HOW to
I took a course years ago, to learn microsoft officeI was allowed extra time. co's I'd forget part of the previous weeks course

within 1 month of finishing the course I couldn't even do the basics I'm glad the course was free!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So an update. I took the Happy Meal to the Apple Store, after spending 7.5 hours with Mac support who couldn't resolve the issue. As expected, a full restore was needed. Unfortunately, the keyboard has reverted to a German keyboard, so what should be the @ key (usually number 2) is a German SS which looks like a B, and the Y is a Z. I've gone into the system settings and set th Keyboard up as English (British) and it is still in German, so another session with Mac Support.

On a more positive note, the new Big Mac (Should that be a Big Cheesy Mac? Or a Quarter Pounder as it is smaller than my previous Mac, being a 24" not a 27"?) has arrived. Took almost two hours to open the box then reduce the packaging to a small enough size to recycle. Why do Apple insist on using superglue double-sided tape? However they have got rid of the industrial polystyrene protective packaging. Auto-migration initially stated over 24 hours (There was just over 1Tb of 'stuff' on the big Mac, reducing, over two hours, to 35 minutes, which stayed at that for over an hour and was still transferring when I went to bed. I reckon it was probably my RAW photos, which is most of them.
Yesterday morning I switched it on, only to realise I could not remember my password. It was on autosave previously, from 13 years ago, so no wonder I couldn't remember it. What is it with me and passwords?Back to Mac Support, who sorts it in 15 minutes. 30 minutes afterwards, tinkering with software upgrades, syncing etc. and fully operational. Hopefully good for another 13 years.

Phew!!!

MMF

If life was just "egg and chips" with added sausage/baked beans etc