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iNode files: Can they go?


Abram K-J

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I just ran the free Disk Inventory X app to show me what all is on my hard drive. 10 GB (!) is two iNode files in a hidden "Lost+Found" folder. They're stored as TextEdit documents (iNode32137092 and iNode 19210586, to be exact), from October 2013 and July 2012, respectively.

 

I Googled a bit to an Apple support thread that suggested they may be leftover from previous OSX installs.

 

But as they're hidden, I didn't want to take the chance, and I couldn't find a Disk Image app or anything like that (which was also recommended on some other forum) to confirm.

Anyone here have any ideas if I can safely delete these to free up the space? Or know how/where I could find more info?

 

Those two dates on the files, by the way, correspond exactly to release dates of Mountain Lion and Mavericks, so I'm thinking I might be safe in deleting them, but wanted to ask some trusted experts here first!

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Delete away! I've done it with no ill effects.

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Lost+Found, or lost+found normally, is the product of filesystem recovery. The files are those found by fsck recovery, which is invoked whenever a filesystem is not cleanly dismounted, say when the system crashes. They could be any file that was found to be in a questionable state (yes I would be pushed to really explain that bit) during recovery as a consequence of being in flux at the time of the crash. But suffice it to say that the filesystem is ok and these files are placed in lost+found with names derived I believe from the inodes (inodes are a filesystem entity uniquely identifying each file or directory) in this case (not sure if its always so). You can then examine the files and see if they are things that you really want to keep in which case you move them away to some sensible location and name. If not you delete them. Either way the system is fine. Given the size and the times you mention my guess is these are the actually OX upgrade installs which are about 5GB a piece for Mavericks and Yosemite, so I would guess Mountain Lion was not much different. As such you can always get them again from the App store if you need them, which you very likely don't.

 

thx

D

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Thanks, Graham and Daniel! To the trash they shall go, with a trash-emptying to follow.

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