ckbh

Q: what is storage "other" and how big should it be?

Please see the image below... this has come about since I upgraded to Lion.  It appears my drive is nearly full, and my Aperture 3 is running so slow it has become virtually non-functional.  What do the yellow bars consist of, and why has this changed just recently?  When I search help forums they all say the "other" should never be more than one-third of the rest of the information on your hard drive.  I have run disk repair, and it comes back saying my drive is fine.  Is this a "lion thing"?

 

 

 

Screen Shot 2011-08-28 at 5.40.21 PM.png

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on Aug 28, 2011 5:01 PM

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Q: what is storage "other" and how big should it be?

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  • by PlotinusVeritas,

    PlotinusVeritas PlotinusVeritas Sep 17, 2013 1:05 PM in response to Pondini
    Level 6 (14,806 points)
    Sep 17, 2013 1:05 PM in response to Pondini

    I'd be the first to agree that Apple's documentation, in general, is skimpy at best.

     

     

     

    Pondini, ...wonderful posts in this thread,...keep it up with informative "documentation obesity"

  • by Asem Nangoi,

    Asem Nangoi Asem Nangoi Feb 18, 2014 8:50 AM in response to ckbh
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 18, 2014 8:50 AM in response to ckbh

    I was just cleaning up my Mac...and faced this issue (yellow bar "other" that takes up still a lot of space). Anyways, after reading this long discussion....i just went to my TRASH can and EMPTied it. Now my storage has much more available space. OTHERs also can be your TRASH can. Just click on it and EMPTY it.

     

    That should help!

  • by OnErksteRed,

    OnErksteRed OnErksteRed Mar 6, 2014 9:59 PM in response to ckbh
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 6, 2014 9:59 PM in response to ckbh

    I also downloaded OmniDisk and it turns out 190 GB were being used up by my rendering files from Final Cut Pro, being an editor and all, i should've seen that coming, so yeah just try downloading OmniDisk and its great!

  • by Tigervision,

    Tigervision Tigervision Mar 7, 2014 7:21 AM in response to OnErksteRed
    Level 1 (14 points)
    iTunes
    Mar 7, 2014 7:21 AM in response to OnErksteRed

    Did you clear and recover those 190g? Or did it just provide the info for you so that you know what that space was being used for?

     

    Thanks.

  • by bluejaybkk,

    bluejaybkk bluejaybkk Apr 27, 2016 8:44 PM in response to ckbh
    Level 1 (12 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 27, 2016 8:44 PM in response to ckbh

    Follow instructions from these links:

    http://osxdaily.com/2012/11/11/tips-free-up-disk-space-mac-os-x/

    http://www.chriswrites.com/10-tips-to-free-up-hard-drive-space-in-mac-os-x/

     

    if Disk Utility still reports Other size as "surprisingly" large

    Use Terminal.app

    Enter (type in) these commands

    1. du -sh *

        Note: you might want to pay attention to Library directory

        CAUTION: you may lose some important data if you don't pay close attention to what you do here!

    2. cd Library

    3. du -sh *

    Note: check output and see which directory is disproportionately large e.g. over 1 G(igabyte)

    Note: repeat 3 as you move into subdirectories that are large

    5. CAUTION: you may lose important data in this step, it cannot be recovered from any "Trash" !

       rm <file>

     

    Even more Deep Dive   

    if Disk Utility still reports Other size as "surprisingly" large

    CAUTION: your system can be rendered unbootable or you may lose some important data if you don't pay close attention to what you do here!

    1. sudo i

         Note: enter password to become "root" user

    2. cd /

        Note: best to cd into /Applications, /System, /Library

    3. du -sh *

         Note: check output and see which directory is disproportionately large e.g. over 1 G(igabyte)

    4. repeat 3 as you move into subdirectories that are large

    5. CAUTION: you may lose important data in this step, it cannot be recovered from any "Trash" !

       rm <file>

  • by bluejaybkk,

    bluejaybkk bluejaybkk Apr 28, 2016 7:17 PM in response to ckbh
    Level 1 (12 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 28, 2016 7:17 PM in response to ckbh

    small typo above...

     

    should be "sudo -i"..."sudo i" will not work.

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