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"Other" Category "About this Mac" Storage is taking up over 100 GB and cannot be deleted

Other Storage is taking up too much disk space. Its over 100 gigabytes

of unknown data.



Deleting large files only seems to add to the amount of space in this category. If I delete a 1 gigabyte file, I have 1 GB more in "Other".


I have also attempted to clean up any "Snapshots"… and unfortunately, this did not help.



Here is the data from a Etrecheck session:


EtreCheck version: 6.1.4 (6B028) Report generated: 2019-11-11 14:51:23 Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com Runtime: 2:24 Performance: Excellent Problem: Other problem Description: Other Storage on the boot volume is taking up too much disk space. Its over 100 gigabytes of unknown data. Major Issues: Anything that appears on this list needs immediate attention. Security updates disabled - Security updates are disabled. This computer is at risk of malware infection. Minor Issues: These issues do not need immediate attention but they may indicate future problems or opportunities for improvement. Time Machine auto backup disabled - Time Machine auto backups are disabled. Heavy RAM usage - Apps are using a large amount of RAM. Apps with heavy CPU usage - There have been numerous cases of apps with heavy CPU usage. Clean up - There are orphan files that could be removed. Unsigned files - There are unsigned software files installed. They appear to be legitimate but should be reviewed. 32-bit Apps - This machine has 32-bits apps will not work on macOS 10.15 “Catalina”. Hardware Information: iMac (Retina 4K, 21.5-inch, 2017) iMac Model: iMac18,2 1 3.4 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5 (i5-7500) CPU: 4-core 16 RAM - Upgradeable by an Apple Authorized Service Provider BANK 0/DIMM0 - 8 GB DDR4 SO-DIMM 2400  BANK 1/DIMM0 - 8 GB DDR4 SO-DIMM 2400  Video Information: Radeon Pro 560 - VRAM: 4 GB iMac 4096 x 2304 Drives: disk0 - APPLE SSD SM0256L 251.00 GB (Solid State - TRIM: Yes) Internal PCI-Express 8.0 GT/s x4 NVM Express disk0s1 - EFI [EFI] 315 MB disk0s2 [APFS Container] 250.69 GB disk1 [APFS Virtual drive] 250.69 GB (Shared by 5 volumes) disk1s1 - A************** Data (APFS) [APFS Virtual drive] (Shared - 216.34 GB used) disk1s2 - Preboot (APFS) [APFS Preboot] (Shared - 81 MB used) disk1s3 - Recovery (APFS) [Recovery] (Shared - 529 MB used) disk1s4 - VM (APFS) [APFS VM] (Shared - 2.15 GB used) disk1s5 - A************D (APFS) (Shared - 11.00 GB used) disk2 - Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500G 500.11 GB (Solid State - TRIM: No) External USB 10 Gbit/s+ USB disk2s1 - EFI (MS-DOS FAT32) [EFI] 210 MB disk2s2 [APFS Container] 499.90 GB disk3 [APFS Virtual drive] 499.90 GB (Shared by 1 volumes) disk3s1 - H*******D (APFS) (Shared - 156.27 GB used) disk4 - Generic Flash Disk 8.05 GB External USB 480 Mbit/s USB disk4s1 - R*****R (MS-DOS FAT32) 8.05 GB (42 MB used) disk5 - Generic Flash Disk 4.01 GB External USB 480 Mbit/s USB disk5s1 - EFI (MS-DOS FAT32) [EFI] 210 MB disk5s2 [APFS Container] 3.80 GB disk6 [APFS Virtual drive] 3.80 GB (Shared by 1 volumes) disk6s1 - R*****2 (APFS) (Shared - 1 MB used) Mounted Volumes: disk1s1 - A************** Data [APFS Virtual drive] 250.69 GB (Shared - 216.34 GB used - 20.45 GB free) APFS Mount point: /System/Volumes/Data disk1s4 - VM [APFS VM] 250.69 GB (Shared - 2.15 GB used - 20.45 GB free) APFS Mount point: /private/var/vm disk1s5 - A************D 250.69 GB (Shared - 11.00 GB used - 20.45 GB free) APFS Mount point: / Read-only: Yes disk3s1 - H*******D 499.90 GB (Shared - 156.27 GB used - 343.47 GB free) APFS Mount point: /Volumes/H*******D Owners enabled: No disk4s1 - R*****R 8.05 GB (42 MB used - 8.00 GB free) MS-DOS FAT32 Mount point: /Volumes/R*****R disk6s1 - R*****2 3.80 GB (Shared - 1 MB used - 3.78 GB free) APFS Mount point: /Volumes/R*****2 Owners enabled: No Network: Interface en0: Ethernet Interface en6: USB3.0 5K Graphic Docking Interface en5: iPhone Interface en1: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Interface en7: iPhone 2 Interface en4: Bluetooth PAN Interface bridge0: Thunderbolt Bridge iCloud Quota: 144.29 GB available System Software: macOS Catalina 10.15.1 (19B88) Time since boot: About an hour Notifications: /Applications/EtreCheckPro.app one notification (Deleted) one notification (one scheduled) /Applications/DaisyDisk.app 4 notifications Security: System Status Gatekeeper: App Store and identified developers System Integrity Protection: Enabled Security Updates: Disabled Antivirus software: Avast Unsigned Files: Launchd: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.avast.update.plist Executable: /Applications/Avast.app/Contents/Backend/scripts/update/update.sh Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK Launchd: /Library/Application Support/AvastHUB/com.avast.hub.app/Contents/scripts/com.avast.hub.schedule.plist Executable: /Library/Application Support/AvastHUB/com.avast.hub.app/Contents/scripts/schedule.sh --ttl 14400 Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK Launchd: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.avast.hub.schedule.plist Executable: /Library/Application Support/AvastHUB/com.avast.hub.app/Contents/scripts/schedule.sh --ttl 14400 Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK Launchd: ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.amazon.music.plist Executable: /Applications/Amazon Music.app/Contents/MacOS/Amazon Music Helper Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK Launchd: /Library/LaunchAgents/com.avast.userinit.plist Executable: /Applications/Avast.app/Contents/Backend/hub/userinit.sh Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK Launchd: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.PlantronicsUpdateService.plist Executable: /usr/local/libexec/SpokesUpdateService Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK Launchd: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.avast.init.plist Executable: /Applications/Avast.app/Contents/Backend/hub/init.sh Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK Launchd: /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.virtualbox.startup.plist Executable: /Library/Application Support/VirtualBox/LaunchDaemons/VirtualBoxStartup.sh restart Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK Launchd: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.citrix.ctxusbd.plist Executable: /Library/Application Support/Citrix Receiver/ctxusbd Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK Launchd: /Library/LaunchAgents/com.citrix.ReceiverHelper.plist Executable: /usr/local/libexec/ReceiverHelper.app/Contents/MacOS/ReceiverHelper Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK Launchd: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.avast.uninstall.plist Executable: /Library/Application Support/Avast/autouninstall/autouninstall.sh Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK Launchd: /Library/LaunchAgents/com.citrix.AuthManager_Mac.plist Executable: /usr/local/libexec/AuthManager_Mac.app/Contents/MacOS/AuthManager_Mac Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK Launchd: /Library/LaunchAgents/com.citrix.ServiceRecords.plist Executable: /usr/local/libexec/ServiceRecords.app/Contents/MacOS/ServiceRecords Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK 32-bit Applications: 10 32-bit apps Kernel Extensions: /Library/Application Support/Citrix Receiver [Not Loaded] CitrixGUSB.kext (12.9.0 - SDK 10.9) /Library/Application Support/VirtualBox [Not Loaded] VBoxDrv.kext (5.2.10) [Not Loaded] VBoxNetAdp.kext (5.2.10) [Not Loaded] VBoxNetFlt.kext (5.2.10) [Not Loaded] VBoxUSB.kext (5.2.10) /Library/Extensions [Loaded] DisplayLinkDriver.kext (5.1 (40) - SDK 10.14) [Loaded] SATSMARTDriver.kext (0.8.1 - SDK 10.6) System Launch Agents: [Not Loaded] 16 Apple tasks [Loaded] 164 Apple tasks [Running] 130 Apple tasks System Launch Daemons: [Not Loaded] 35 Apple tasks [Loaded] 180 Apple tasks [Running] 122 Apple tasks Launch Agents: [Other] com.adobe.ARMDCHelper.cc24aef4a1b90ed56a725c38014c95072f92651fb65e1bf9c8e43c37a23d420d.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2019-08-09) [Not Loaded] com.avast.hub.plist (AVAST Software a.s. - installed 2019-09-18) [Loaded] com.avast.userinit.plist (? 4b9d47d7 - installed 2019-10-04) [Loaded] com.citrix.AuthManager_Mac.plist (? b095ca60 - installed 2018-03-16) [Running] com.citrix.ReceiverHelper.plist (? 369731a0 - installed 2018-03-16) [Running] com.citrix.ServiceRecords.plist (? 8e6543d - installed 2018-03-16) [Not Loaded] com.displaylink.useragent-prelogin.plist (DisplayLink Corp - installed 2019-04-12) [Running] com.displaylink.useragent.plist (DisplayLink Corp - installed 2019-04-12) [Loaded] com.microsoft.update.agent.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2019-09-12) Launch Daemons: [Running] com.PlantronicsUpdateService.plist (? 7a26c68 - installed 2019-09-17) [Loaded] com.adobe.ARMDC.Communicator.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2019-08-09) [Loaded] com.adobe.ARMDC.SMJobBlessHelper.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2019-08-09) [Other] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (? 2afb3af7 - installed 2018-02-01) [Loaded] com.apple.installer.osmessagetracing.plist (Apple - installed 2019-07-25) [Not Loaded] com.avast.hub.schedule.plist (? a59f71fd - installed 2019-09-18) [Not Loaded] com.avast.hub.xpc.plist (AVAST Software a.s. - installed 2019-09-18) [Loaded] com.avast.init.plist (? fe750b9b - installed 2019-10-04) [Loaded] com.avast.uninstall.plist (? 1d68eef4 - installed 2019-10-04) [Loaded] com.avast.update.plist (? f4a2548f - installed 2019-10-04) [Loaded] com.citrix.ctxusbd.plist (? 44dc9c9f - installed 2018-03-16) [Running] com.displaylink.displaylinkmanager.plist (DisplayLink Corp - installed 2019-04-12) [Loaded] com.github.IngmarStein.Monolingual.Helper.plist (Ingmar Stein - installed 2018-06-11) [Loaded] com.microsoft.autoupdate.helper.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2019-09-12) [Loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensingV2.helper.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2017-10-10) [Not Loaded] org.virtualbox.startup.plist (? 700b9385 - installed 2018-04-18) User Launch Agents: [Running] com.amazon.music.plist (? 0 - installed 2019-10-04) [Not Loaded] com.amazon.music.startup.plist (? 0 - installed 2019-10-04) [Other] com.epicgames.launcher.plist (? 0 - installed 2019-02-14) [Loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2019-11-07) [Loaded] com.google.keystone.xpcservice.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2019-11-07) [Loaded] com.valvesoftware.steamclean.plist (Valve Corporation - installed 2019-10-14) [Not Loaded] org.virtualbox.vboxwebsrv.plist (? 0 - installed 2018-04-18) User Login Items: Magnet.app (App Store - installed 2019-10-25) (Application - /Applications/Magnet.app) SystemMonitorMenu (App Store - installed 2019-10-17) (Modern Login Item - /Applications/SystemMonitor.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/SystemMonitorMenu.app) Calendar.app (Apple - installed 2019-11-03) (Application - /System/Applications/Calendar.app) Internet Plug-ins: Silverlight: 5.1.50901.0 (? - installed 2018-06-11) AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: 17.012.20098 (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2019-10-26) AdobePDFViewer: 19.021.20049 (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2019-10-26) CitrixICAClientPlugIn: 12.9.0 (? - installed 2018-06-11) npDDRia: 0.0.14.3 (? - installed 2018-06-11) Safari Extensions: Ghostery Lite Content Blocker - App Store (installed 2019-04-26) Ghostery Lite UI - App Store (installed 2019-04-26) Honey.safariextz - Honey Science Corporation - https://www.joinhoney.com (installed 2019-02-01) Ka-Block!.safariextz - David Graham & Josh Peek - http://kablock.com (installed 2018-02-06) TrafficLight.safariextz - Bitdefender SRL - http://trafficlight.bitdefender.com/ (installed 2018-06-16) Wikibuy from Capital One - App Store (installed 2019-10-26) Time Machine: Auto backup: No Volumes being backed up: A************D: Disk size: 250.69 GB - Disk used: 230.23 GB Destinations: D**********U [Local] (Last used) Total size: 499.87 GB Total number of backups: 11 Oldest backup: 2019-08-18 08:27:08 Last backup: 2019-11-10 16:02:13 Performance: System Load: 2.17 (1 min ago) 2.51 (5 min ago) 2.61 (15 min ago) Nominal I/O speed: 5.00 MB/s File system: 18.02 seconds Write speed: 491 MB/s Read speed: 2695 MB/s CPU Usage Snapshot: Type Overall System 6 % User 17 % Idle 77 % Top Processes Snapshot by CPU: Process (count) CPU (Source - Location) com.apple.SpeechRecognitionCore.speechrecognitiond 31.56 % (Apple) WindowServer 15.04 % (Apple) com.apple.WebKit.WebContent (45) 7.08 % (Apple) EtreCheckPro 6.00 % (Etresoft, Inc.) System Information 4.62 % (Apple) Top Processes Snapshot by Memory: Process (count) RAM usage (Source - Location) com.apple.WebKit.WebContent (45) 3.31 GB (Apple) EtreCheckPro 697 MB (Etresoft, Inc.) Cleaner-App 468 MB (App Store) Finder 322 MB (Apple) com.apple.SpeechRecognitionCore.speechrecognitiond 304 MB (Apple) Top Processes Snapshot by Network Use: Process (count) Input / Output (Source - Location) com.avast.proxy 36 MB / 64 KB (AVAST Software a.s.) mDNSResponder 999 KB / 182 KB (Apple) apsd 194 KB / 114 KB (Apple) usbmuxd 136 KB / 99 KB (Apple) com.apple.WebKit.Networking 46 KB / 46 KB (Apple) Top Processes Snapshot by Energy Use: Process (count) Energy (0-100) (Source - Location) com.apple.SpeechRecognitionCore.speechrecognitiond 10 (Apple) Mail 8 (Apple) WindowServer 7 (Apple) com.apple.WebKit.WebContent (45) 5 (Apple) Safari 3 (Apple) Virtual Memory Information: Physical RAM: 16 GB Free RAM: 251 MB Used RAM: 12.47 GB Cached files: 3.28 GB Available RAM: 3.53 GB Swap Used: 0 B Software Installs (past 30 days): Install Date Name (Version) 2019-10-16 Microsoft Excel for Mac (16.16.19101400) 2019-10-16 Microsoft Word for Mac (16.16.19101400) 2019-10-16 Microsoft OneNote for Mac (16.16.19101400) 2019-10-16 Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (19.021.20047) (19.021.20047) 2019-10-17 System Monitor (2.6) 2019-10-19 Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (19.021.20048) (19.021.20048) 2019-10-25 Magnet (2.4.5) 2019-10-26 Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (19.021.20049) (19.021.20049) 2019-10-26 Wikibuy from Capital One (1.0.2) 2019-10-28 Cleaner-App (8.0.1) 2019-11-03 Polarr Photo Editor (5.10.3) 2019-11-08 Speedtest (1.7) 2019-11-08 Mimeo Photos (3.8.4) 2019-11-11 DisplayLinkDriver (5.1.40) Clean up: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.adobe.fpsaud.plist /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Flash Player Install Manager/fpsaud Executable not found ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.epicgames.launcher.plist '/Applications/Games/Epic Games Launcher.app' Executable not found ~/Library/LaunchAgents/org.virtualbox.vboxwebsrv.plist /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/vboxwebsrv Executable not found Diagnostics Information (past 7 days): 2019-11-11 14:32:19 Cleaner-App.app High CPU Use Executable: /Applications/User Utilities/Cleaner-App.app 2019-11-11 13:42:55 DisplayLinkManager Crash Executable: /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/*/DisplayLinkManager Details: abort() called DisplayLinkManager(200,0x7000048b3000) malloc: *** error for object 0x 7fb347425fd0: pointer being freed was not allocated 2019-11-11 12:15:45 GhosteryLite.app High CPU Use Executable: /Applications/GhosteryLite.app 2019-11-10 20:24:04 signpost_reporter High CPU Use Executable: /usr/libexec/signpost_reporter 2019-11-10 18:56:40 Disk Map (Trial).app High CPU Use Executable: /private/var/folders/jw/v4431dld6tvfkwz_vvn3g98c0000gn/T/AppTranslocation/47394BB2-743C-47DD-87C0-4C598B397018/d/Disk Map (Trial).app 2019-11-10 14:36:04 backupd High CPU Use Executable: /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd.bundle/Contents/Resources/backupd End of report


Thanks for any help you can provide!

iMac Line (2012 and Later)

Posted on Nov 11, 2019 1:25 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Nov 11, 2019 3:25 PM

"Other" is a pseudo-helpful way of grouping files that are not in the named categories together. Some will be files you want, some will be files you do not want.


Have a look in Downloads. Files there are often candidates for Other.


Sometimes the disk free space seems to take a while to catch up when you delete files (do not forget to empty the trash). This may be a lag in (eg) Spotlight reindexing the files. You can force a reindex if you really want to

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Nov 11, 2019 3:25 PM in response to Mikeylogs

"Other" is a pseudo-helpful way of grouping files that are not in the named categories together. Some will be files you want, some will be files you do not want.


Have a look in Downloads. Files there are often candidates for Other.


Sometimes the disk free space seems to take a while to catch up when you delete files (do not forget to empty the trash). This may be a lag in (eg) Spotlight reindexing the files. You can force a reindex if you really want to

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Nov 11, 2019 3:15 PM in response to Mikeylogs

The Other in that image is not a physical folder location on your drive. It is all files, folders, or objects that do not fit into documents, music, or apps categories and is comprised of things both in your home directory, or within the operating system itself. You have control over third-party applications, their data, and media files stored in your home folder. The Catalina operating system is stored on a read-only partition and you have no control over that content.

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"Other" Category "About this Mac" Storage is taking up over 100 GB and cannot be deleted

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