-
All replies
-
Helpful answers
-
-
Nov 9, 2015 10:11 AM in response to mark higgonby OGELTHORPE,Download from the Internet OmniDiskSweeper and Grand Perspective (both free) and open them. They will show all of your files and the respective sizes. Transfer to ab external HDD the files you do not want on your Mac or delete them.
Do not forget to empty trash. Only then is space allocated for additional data.
Ciao.
-
Nov 9, 2015 12:32 PM in response to mark higgonby Linc Davis,For information about the Other category in the Storage display, see this support article. If the display seems to be inaccurate, try rebuilding the Spotlight index.
Empty the Trash if you haven't already done so. If you use iPhoto, empty its internal Trash first:
iPhoto ▹ Empty Trash
In Photos:
File ▹ Show Recently Deleted ▹ Delete All
Do the same in other applications, such as Aperture, that have an internal Trash feature. Then restart the computer. That will temporarily free up some space.
According to Apple documentation, you need at least 9 GB of available space on the startup volume (as shown in the Finder Info window) for normal operation—not the mythical 10%, 15%, or any other percentage. You also need enough space left over to allow for growth of the data. There is little or no performance advantage to having more available space than the minimum Apple recommends. Available storage space that you'll never use is wasted space.
When Time Machine backs up a portable Mac, some of the free space will be used to make local snapshots, which are backup copies of recently deleted files. The space occupied by local snapshots is reported as available by the Finder, and should be considered as such. In the Storage display of System Information, local snapshots are shown as Backups. The snapshots are automatically deleted when they expire or when free space falls below a certain level. You ordinarily don't need to, and should not, delete local snapshots yourself. If you followed bad advice to disable local snapshots by running a shell command, you may have ended up with a lot of data in the Other category. Ask for instructions in that case.
See this support article for some simple ways to free up storage space. A common waste of space is old iTunes backups of mobile devices. As illustrated in this support article, select the Devices tab in the iTunes preferences window, select the backups you want to delete, and click Delete Backups. Keep at least one backup of each device that you still use.
You can more effectively use a tool such as OmniDiskSweeper (ODS) or GrandPerspective (GP) to explore the volume and find out what's taking up the space. You can also delete files with it, but don't do that unless you're sure that you know what you're deleting and that all data is safely backed up. That means you have multiple backups, not just one. Note that ODS only works with OS X 10.8 or later. If you're running an older OS version, use GP.
Deleting files inside a photo or iTunes library will corrupt the library. Changes to such a library must be made from within the application that created it. The same goes for Mail files.
Proceed further only if the problem isn't solved by the above steps.
ODS or GP can't see the whole filesystem when you run it just by double-clicking; it only sees files that you have permission to read. To see everything, you have to run it as root.
Back up all data now.
Install the app in the Applications folder as usual. Quit it if it's running.
Triple-click anywhere in the corresponding line of text below on this page to select it, then copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.
For ODS:
security execute-with-privileges /A*/OmniDiskSweeper.app/*/M*/* 2>&-
For GP:
security execute-with-privileges /A*/GrandPerspective.app/*/M*/* 2>&-
Launch the built-in Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad and start typing the name.
Paste into the Terminal window by pressing command-V. You'll be prompted for your login password.
The application window will open behind other open windows. When you scan a volume, the window will eventually show all files in all folders, sorted by size. It may take a few minutes for the app to finish scanning.
I don't recommend that you make a habit of doing this. Don't delete anything as root. If something needs to be deleted, make sure you know what it is and how it got there, and then delete it by other, safer, means. When in doubt, leave it alone or ask for guidance.
When you're done with the app, quit it and also quit Terminal.
-
Nov 10, 2015 2:15 AM in response to Linc Davisby mark higgon,Hi i have purchased OmniDiscSweeper, this done it's job and i have backed up and then deleted some stuff including all my FCP and iMovie stuff. This has decreased my Other but has added to the Backups (in light purple). I now have 312GB of backups showing in the storage graph so still have only 54Gb of free storage left.
I phoned Apple help and the guy explained to me that this is linked to the Time Machine backups creating small pictures of everything it backs ups (i didn't totally understand what he meant). He said there is nothing that can be done about this and that it would deplete over time, i told him that it is not depleting over time and that it is just getting bigger.
How do i over come this as it will eventually stop me from adding stuff (it has already stopped me from adding a very large file)?
Top screen shot is last nights before deleting movies from other, bottom screen shot is after deleting them. Also it is still showing 17GB of movies even though they are not there.
-
Nov 10, 2015 2:32 AM in response to Linc Davisby mark higgon,I have been sent this from the guy at Apple backup but only explains the problem and doesn't trouble shoot it.
-
Nov 10, 2015 2:35 AM in response to mark higgonby OGELTHORPE,This link will explain what Time Machine backups represent:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204015
Note that they will be deleted if space is required for other data so in effect the space that they use can be ignored.
Ciao.
-
Nov 10, 2015 6:26 AM in response to mark higgonby Linc Davis,it has already stopped me from adding a very large file
If you're trying to add a large amount of data all at once, and you get an alert of insufficient space, then from the menu bar, select
▹ System Preferences... ▹ Time Machine
If there is a closed padlock icon in the lower left corner of the preference pane, click it to unlock the settings and authenticate. Turn Time Machine OFF, then back ON. Close the window.
Restart the computer.


