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I'm having trouble with my space on iMac, it's rather full, where's the best place for checking where the majority of space is taken up, thanks for help.
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
iMac 27″, macOS 11.7
In addition, for most users what takes up large amounts of storage are:
If that sounds like you then it would be wise to purchase an external HD or SSD and move those libraries to the external storage. This is very simple to do, Apple explains how to move a photo library in Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac. The process is virtually the same for Movies and Music libraries. If you need to buy external storage, I strongly recommend the OWC Mercury Elite Pro due to it's reasonable costs, high reliability and the service provided by the vendor.
denise CLARK wrote:
I have loads of iCloud space, and HD Data 2 on my iMac of 18 GB. thanks for help!
I see two possible concerns here.
One is the "HD Data 2". Is this just a custom name or do you actually have two volumes on the internal boot drive containing "Data" in them? If you have a "Macintosh HD - Data" volume and "Macintosh HD - Data - Data" volume, then it means you may have two copies of your data on the internal boot drive usually caused by improperly reinstalling macOS.
Two and even more concerning is the reference to 18GB on the iMac. Do you only have 18GB of Free storage space on the iMac (or is it 18GB of Available storage)? There can be a huge difference here and even 18GB of Free storage space is below the absolute minimum of 20GB that should always be Free for the normal operation of macOS. Depending on your workloads, you may need to keep even more than 20GB of Free space at all times since if you run out of Free storage space, bad things can happen. FYI, ignore the "Available" storage space designation as it is very misleading and does not mean what you think it does (very unfortunate that Apple chose that term & uses it almost everywhere within macOS to represent storage space).
Besides the command line utility already offered to locate the large folders, you can also use the free third party app OmniDiskSweeper.
None of these options to locate how all storage is used will show data stored in hidden APFS snapshots usually associated with backup software such as Time Machine, nor will it show data stored on another APFS volume if you inadvertently ended up with two "Data" volumes unless you select that other APFS volume.
It certainly looks like you have two "Data" volumes there on the boot drive since they are showing the same amount of Free storage space typical of APFS volumes within the same APFS Container. It appears that the "Macintosh HD 3 - Data" is the "Data" volume currently associated with macOS boot volume. The "Macintosh HD - Data 2" volume is now just wasted space assuming it contains another copy of your data. The tricky part is trying to determine if you have any unique files on the "Data 2" volume which are not on the "Data 3" volume. Once you know you do not need to keep any located on the "Data 2" volume, then you can use Disk Utility to delete that "Data 2" volume in order to free up some more storage space.
Just make sure you have a good backup of your data before you make any changes just to be safe.
FYI, the iPhone & iPad tend to rotate pictures due to the position of the device when the photo is taken and is very annoying. You can easily fix the rotation of the pictures on your iPhone/iPad using the instructions in this article (I'm sure Android devices would have a similar method as well):
Edit photos and videos on iPhone - Apple Support
How much exactly is loads of iCloud space?
> System Preferences, click Apple ID, then click iCloud.Quickest way to see what is using space on the Mac...
Thanks to Bob Harris file sizes, Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal:...
sudo du -hx | sort -h
sudo will prompt for admin password but not reflect what you type, so hit enter after carefully tying the PW. :)
"I like the convenience of having what I use a lot on my iMac. "
Please don't confuse if a large library (like photos, movies, music) that is stored on external storage is not conveniently accessible. If they are setup correctly (again extremely simple to do) then you cannot tell they are on external storage when you launch the app. For example if you move your music library to an external drive after you move it simply double click the library on the external media and that will tell the app (Music app for example) where the library is located. You only need to do that once. IF you have large libraries of media then play what you want to sync across your devices in iCloud, leave the balance on EHD's.
In addition, note that iCloud is NOT a backup plan it is a method of syncing your data (music, photos etc..) across multiple devices! Yes, if you load your complete libraries on your iCloud account your data is safe if you have a hardware failure but realize it is not intended to be a source for backup!!!!!!!
Regarding your Time Machine issue, that is another problem. What you are describing can be caused by many things, one being a failing Time Machine External Hard Disk! If your Time Machine External Hard Disk is over 5 years old, consider replacing it, why because ALL HD's die the question is when. 5 years is a good life for an External Hard Disk, yes it could last another 5 years or it could fail in the next 10 seconds too so replacing them periodically is wise especially if Time Machine is your only backup plan!
A good place to start is at > Free up storage space - Apple Support
The pictures confirm my previous analysis regarding the drive layout. Deleting the "Data 2" volume should be all you need to do. Afterwards I would then make sure to rename the Volume Group so that the remaining APFS volumes in that Volume Group have the same base name "Macintosh HD". The Volume Group will be "Macintosh HD" as will the root system volume while the "Data" volume will be either "Macintosh HD - Data" or just "Data" (it seems to vary between different versions of macOS and/or Intel/M-series Macs, I haven't really paid a lot of attention to the details). If after deleting the "Data 2" volume you take a screenshot of Disk Utility with all of the internal drive's structure expanded, then I should be able to tell you how to get their names to be uniform.
As for TM, it should be able to restore your documents if a mistake is made. However, the more important the data, then the more backup copies of that data you should have. I have seen people on this forum report a bad turn of events where their computer encountered a problem where their data became inaccessible for one reason or another, then discovered that their backup drive also encountered a failure. A 3-2-1 backup strategy is the recommended strategy.
macOS Backup Strategy - Apple Community
Good point & good catch on the 2 Data volumes.:)
Thank you so much, rkaufmann87 for your enlightening answers to my questions!
Looks like I need to buy a few new external hard drives. What would you recommend? I use a 2TB LaCie for my Time Machine. Do you think that 2TB is big enough?
I'm sending you some photos I took of my Mac's drive usage if that helps, (sorry, they seem to have loaded on the wrong way round - I don't know why). My iMac is about 6 years old as is the LaCie hard drive I use for Time machine.
The word 'purgeable' sounds slightly alarming - is it anything to be concerned about?
BTW I have just tried copying a large iMovie library to an external drive and it seems to be working! Just as you suggested.
Hi HWTech,
I used the link you included in your last reply to me to explore my drive a bit more. I took some photos, and if you wouldn't mind I would be very keen to see what you make of my drives condition. I'll include the photos and if you would like to take a look you that would be great!
Best wishes
Denise
I have an important video that is on my phone but has not appeared on iCloud or in 'Photos' this is worrying, why is this happening, the video is 8GB and apparently I have loads of iCloud space, and HD Data 2 on my iMac of 18 GB. thanks for help!
Thanks for your reply. I have a few external drives, and I use them all. I like the convenience of having what I use a lot on my iMac.
I thought photo library, (mine is large), is backed up on iCloud, so not all on my Mac. I have loads of space left in my iCloud - I have used 463 GB and have 2 TB in total. I have a lot of files in 'movies' basically I don't really understand what I need to be doing to use my iMac to get the best from it. I back up to time machine and it's taking an age to back up each time, it's then 'freeing space 'for hours! I think I need some direction to good articles on space and how best to use it on an iMac. I have 'Purgable' 2.47 GB.thanks for help!
Hi Thanks for your reply HWTech,
That is my concern also re the HD Data volume ( I have included some photos of my system and space available. When my iMac was updated last I had Apple do it with me, only because of a virus scare I had, (it turned out that it wasn't a virus) I didn't want to update, I was happy with my iMac, but Apple suggested I jump over a couple of running systems, and update straight to what I have now (Big Sur 11.7.10)
When I updated my computer wouldn't even turn on again, so totally due to Apple's 'help'!
I was assured it would be fine to update that way, even though I questioned the jumping over 2 running systems straight to Big Sur. I have always read you should never miss out the next running system step.
Since then this 2 drive thing appeared after Apple helped me get my Mac turned back on and running, (this took 3 different people at Apple in Ireland, it took about a week to get it going again). This two drive thing was a result of getting my Mac running, I suppose it was a way of backing it up if it stopped working again. Apple said they would help me with that aspect when I was sure it was all working ok.
To be honest I just left it as it was because it was working and I didn't want to mess it up.
I haven't ever considered updating the running sytem since because Im worried it will stop working again.
So yes I reckon you could be right about the 2 drive thing? but I also have read here on Apple discussions that others also have a 2 drive thing with 'Big Sur'.
Maybe you could help me check the 2 drive thing, I'm not sure where to look, I had a MacBook Pro and had no trouble finding things on there! You will see I have included some photos of my disc space when I checked a couple of days ago. Since then I have taken a lot of files of my Mac to make some space. What are your thoughts on the word 'Purgeable" ? I really can only think it means stuff I need to get off my iMac ?
thanks for your help!
Hi BDAqua,
Thanks for your reply. I have I.54 TB of iCloud space available. Most of the space is taken up with 'photos',that includes lots of videos. Total space taken up with my photos is 424.3 GB and then next down the list is 'Other documents' taking up 37.1 GB.
Thanks again for your help.
Thanks for all that info. I will look into it all and try and free up some space. I’m going to get another drive to back up my Mac using the Time Machine , so I’ll have 2 drives just for Time Machine. Wouldn’t Time Machine save all important data and so give protection if I did lose any when I use disk utility to delete the drive. ? Thanks again for your time and help. I did save all important data before that disastrous upgrade with Apple on their advice.
How to check which folder is taking more space on my Mac?
