Filed under: Software, Leopard
Easy visualization with Daisy Disk
Daisy Disk is the perfect example of one of those tools that should be built right into OS X.
It's the latest in disk visualization utilities -- software that scans your hard drive and lets you know which files are being hard drive hogs (in my case, World of Warcraft - no big surprise there). But, it's the added features that turn this from basic to "wow, why didn't Apple develop something like this?"
Once you initiate the software, you'll see a list of mounted drives on your network that you can scan. I scanned my main drive. It took less than four minutes for it to go through the 120GB drive and display everything in a circular graphic that does remind you of a daisy wheel.
Each section of your drive is color-coded for its specific purpose. The closest parts to the center of the graphic are the root levels. Going further out will net you very specific details on file sizes. Clicking on one section move it to the forefront and let you see everything on that level. When you get down to the files themselves, tap the space bar to preview the file. Then, right click to expose those files in the Finder, then do what you wish with them. Then, click on the inner circle to go back out to the level above. For smaller files and folders, it's better to use the list on the side rather than try to pick things out of the wheel.
Doing this enabled me to find large files that I hadn't seen in years, including a folder of old backups from 2006 that got carried over from my iBook. Deleting those netted me 7GB of space. The only feature really not working properly is the preview portion. When I tried playing .M4V video sources, I was rewarded with a grey screen. Regular .AVIs were fine.
DaisyDisk costs $19.95USD and requires OS X 10.5 or higher. You can do a full-featured download for free, which gives you a great taste of what it has to offer. For those wanting the same sort of tools, but for free, give OmniDiskSweeper or GrandPerspective a try.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
screech said 8:50AM on 7-14-2009
DiskInventory X is a lot better and free
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George Matook said 8:51AM on 7-14-2009
Cute, but why pay $20 when you can get much of the same functionality by usign the free Grand Perspective?
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Megan Lavey said 9:04AM on 7-14-2009
Note the end of the article. I did give a nod to GrandPerspective.
perspixe said 9:10AM on 7-14-2009
http://www.derlien.com/
screech you're right, DiskInventory X is much better, been using it for long time.
Despite not being recent, it is faster than any other you mentioned to scan a drive, has for me the most complete information about files, and has a contextual menu that lets you scan a folder from the finder.
Works with 10.5.7
Scan of a 4.44TB volume (Raid0 5 drives) with 1.8TB used, 202000 items:
OmniDiskSweeper: 60s
GrandPerspective: 32s
DiskInventory X: 26s
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artifex said 12:23AM on 7-15-2009
Glad you put up a speed chart, because DIX (lol) has always been really slow for me, and I was curious whether the other utilities are faster.
Speaking of visual representation of files, this seems like as good a place as any to ask if anyone has a good Mac port of fsv (clone of fsn, the IRIX file manager seen in Jurassic Park)...
ymajik said 9:21AM on 7-14-2009
It would be nice if someone could port Boabab from Gnome to OSX. Much like Daisy Disk but open source..
http://library.gnome.org/users/baobab/2.26/baobab-usage.html.en
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bump said 2:47PM on 7-14-2009
There is also the open-source FileLight that has very similar pie wheel, but DaisyDisk is so much faster, cleaner, and more appealing to use. As well, the developer is very responsive. I'm very happy with my purchase so far.
BuddyBoy said 9:24AM on 7-14-2009
Didn't mention what size, which has a very similar pie chart interface.
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Oleg Krupnov (DaisyDisk Team) said 9:43AM on 7-14-2009
Hi everyone! I am Oleg, the developer behind DaisyDisk.
Thanks for the review, Megan! I just wanted to mention that the preview of files in DaisyDisk is backed by the QuickLook technology (part of the Leopard OS). In other words, if you can preview those .M4V video files in Finder, you can also preview them in DaisyDisk, and vice versa. There are many plugins for QuickLook from different vendors that extend it to support more files formats, such as videos, flash files etc.
As to comparing DaisyDisk to Disk Inventory, Grand Perspective etc., just compare them side by side. In our opinion, the difference is obvious BTW, here's a video that demonstrates DaisyDisk in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs9D26VG7Uk
@perspixe if you compare scan time of DaisyDisk to the other applications (don't forget to restart/clean memory to make measurements more correct) you'll find that DaisyDisk outperforms most of competition in terms of speed. Our result is comparable to that of Baseline (sometimes a little faster, sometimes a little slower).
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Megan Lavey said 9:58AM on 7-14-2009
Thanks for the feedback, Oleg! I did go and try the .M4Vs in regular Finder and was getting the same error. It's odd because these are files that are in my iTunes Library and purchased from the iTunes Store.
Oleg Krupnov (DaisyDisk Team) said 9:53AM on 7-14-2009
BTW, some while back I wrote a small note about how we performed our scanning speed tests in comparison to other apps, if you are interested:
http://daisy-disk.en.softonic.com/mac/opinion/scanning-speed-measurement-2071
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Nick from DC said 9:53AM on 7-14-2009
Looks pretty, but hardly worth $20.
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Scott said 9:57AM on 7-14-2009
The animation is very nice, and it may actually be faster than Grand Perspective or DiskInventory X. And the QuickView is a nice plus. But for $20, I'll stick to the free tools. In general, if a free tool can do most of what I want, I won't spend money on a paid app. You're entering a market where 2 other programs are well-established, have a broad base of users, and are free. I don't think Daisy Disk provides enough additional value to compete against them and charge $20.
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bward74 said 10:17AM on 7-14-2009
I agree. If I can get another app that is donation-ware instead, I will go down that route, so long as it does its job well- which DiskInventory X does (thanks for the tip Screech). And I often to donate if I find an app worthy.
This may be a good app, but $20 is too high I'm afraid.
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Oleg Krupnov (DaisyDisk Team) said 10:17AM on 7-14-2009
@Megan: I have this issue with some video files purchased from iTunes as well, and I suspect it may be by design, because of the DR protection. QuickLook may not be allowed to play protected media, because it may not have access to the key. Unprotected files play just fine.
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nicleT said 10:45AM on 7-14-2009
Hi, I'm a long time DiskInventory X user. I tried the DaisyDisk demo and it's quite impressive. Aesthetically, it is very well done, not only all the animation but also the HUI interface style. It do the job correctly and the QuickView integration is very handy. It could be greater if it could also print the analysis redraw charts. Visually, I think I'm even more comfortable than with DiskInventory X but, as other said, 20$ is too much for this kind of utility. I'll pass.
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Marcelo Rodrigues said 10:48AM on 7-14-2009
Folks, $20 is very little money. On the other hand, $20 is more than 20% of a new 500GB laptop hard drive or a 1TB internal for a desktop ( e.g., at newegg.) I'd get a new drive and stick with the free tools for occasional cleanup -- less worry, more bang for the buck.
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Oomu said 10:54AM on 7-14-2009
I disagree,
if the software is nice, elegant, nicer to use and much easier to read, I will pay for it, even if there are some free software.
Here, Maybe if baobab was available on os x I could hesitate. but no. That sunburst visualisation is very efficient.
20$ I can afford, for good utilities.
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peejavery said 11:47AM on 7-14-2009
I will admit that your app is visually appealing. But, personally, I cannot justify $20 for an app which does the exact same thing that another free one (DiskInventoryX) does. I have used it for years. And honestly, I do find the generated map just as, if not more, helpful in DiskInventoryX.
I don't include speed in my mind because what is 10 seconds when scanning a whole hard disk? Absolutely nothing!
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The Iron Giant said 12:38PM on 7-14-2009
The wheel/pie idea has been done before:
JDiskReport
http://www.jgoodies.com/freeware/jdiskreport/
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