System Software is 53GB out of 250 GB HD

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System Software is 53GB out of 250 GB HD

I took over a 2012 MB Pro, 15" Retina from someone who upgraded to a new 16" MB Pro.

I booted up in Recovery mode, erased the HD, installed a fresh copy of Mojave and migrated my data from a clone of my old MB pro.

However, even after installing a fresh copy of Mojave today, when I do an About this Mac > Storage > and hover my cursor over the gray section of the bar, it show: System 54.05 GB.

Checking my folders individually,I discovered that:

The /System folder contains 6.76 GB of data.

The /Library folder has 6.67 GB of data.

The /Applications folder has 6.32 GB.

All told these = 19.75 GB of data

It just doesn’t make sense. Why does About this Mac show the System software taking up 54.05 GB of data?

QUESTION: When Storage reports that the System is X size, what folders are used to arrive at this sum? If I know that for sure, I can go in and add them up and come up with an accurate size. Is it /System folder plus /Libray folder. These total 13 GB on this MB pro and would seem to be correct.

MacBook Pro 15", macOS 10.14

Posted on Dec 14, 2019 7:36 AM

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Answer 1

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macjack

Level 10

111,216 points

Dec 14, 2019 7:42 AM in response to Room101A

You're not taking into account all the invisibles. To see those in Finder choose your Mac HD and press command-shift-period.

If it still doesn't add up download Omni DiskSweeper:

https://www.omnigroup.com/more

DiskSweeper can give you a more accurate read of disk space than Finder or Storage Tab of About this Mac. It can also show you the precise size and location of all your files. It will inventory your disk starting from the files that take up the most space. If you want you can even delete files from OmniDisk Sweeper. But be careful some of the items may be important to your system.

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