Comparing size of back up to computer HD

[johngrussell]

I just did a BU (smart update) from my computer HD to a BU HD. I went to Disk Utility and noticed a difference in size and files between the two. Computer HD is bigger and has more files. is this normal etc.
Thanks,
John

[dnanian]

Indeed, normal: see the "What's going to happen?" section of the main window...

[EdV]

How big of a differnce is "normal"?

After using Smart Backup, all files (except what Apple recommends), bootable, I get much smaller backup disk usage than my iMac internal drive. That is...

Backup disk, data used = 86.89 GB
iMac disk, data used = 155.57 GB

Is this amount of difference ok?

Ed

[dnanian]

That would imply you have a dead folder in /Volumes, Ed. Use Finder's "Go To Folder" menu to open

/Volumes

And look for a folder in there. If found, delete and empty your trash. (Only delete any folders, not links/aliases.)

[EdV]

Thank you very much, Dave. I did find a folder in /Volumes that had the name of my backup disk, "iMac Clone 2." I was able to delete it, though it had the "red circle with minus sign" no-access icon on it, and apparently contained invisible files (about 72 GB in 260,000 files). This folder was created and last modified about 8 hours apart in December of 2008. I don't know what those invisible files were. I assume and hope they were just "backup copies" of files that have existed on my main drive in the iMac. By deleting this "iMac Clone 2" folder, was I just deleting unnecessary extra old backup files that were meant for a SuperDuper backup in December 2008? If that's all I did then it's now good to have the 72 GB more space on the iMac drive.

Ed

[dnanian]

That's exactly what you did - the backup drive must have failed unusually at some point in the past.