Catalina file duplication?

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29 points

Catalina file duplication?

I have recently been running out of disk space, and I am trying frantically to see where it is going. I have 500GB on my Mac HD drive total. I have about 190GB of data in my User folder, 20GB in Applications, 10 in Library, System is another 16GB. Yet I have used 454GB of my 500GB space. The Manage Storage option in About this Mac shows 300GB in Other, which could cover a lot of sins. But in the Finder, System also has Volumes, including a Macintosh HD volume, of 454GB, including (if I open it) my 190GB in user data. I am seriously wondering whether some or most or all of that data is duplicated somehow. I cannot for the life of me figure out why 200 GB (figuring conservatively, backing out the User, Library, System, and Application space) is being sucked up for unknown purposes. I have yet to find a disk tool that can find or recover any of that space, but buying a new drive to replace one that has 40% of it going to some form of systems files seems to me ridiculous. Suggestions on how to understand what is going on here, or (more importantly) recover some of that apparently dead space?

MacBook Pro 13", macOS 10.15

Posted on Mar 31, 2020 3:11 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Mark LeBar Author

Level 1

29 points

Apr 3, 2020 9:16 AM in response to HWTech

That might have been it! It had to be something like that, and I will look for them next time. However, I just did a clean install, and my disk usage is back down to 240GB, where it ought to be. So for the time being, problem solved. I appreciate the tip for next time however!

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Answer 2

Old Toad

Level 10

208,445 points

Mar 31, 2020 3:29 PM in response to Mark LeBar

If your numbers are coming from the About This Mac/Storage feature don't relay on them. To determine the size of an item, i.e. drive, folder or file, Control (right) - click on the item and bring up the Info pane. That's the most accurate size of any item.

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Answer 3

Mark LeBar Author

Level 1

29 points

Apr 1, 2020 3:52 PM in response to Old Toad

It shows me the 300GB system file but doesn't indicate anything about where the duplicates are, if that is the problem. No large-scale individual files that could account for anything like that amount of space. That's where I noticed the replication of user files both within and without the "System." This is what OmniSweeper gives me now. You will notice the discrepancy I cannot figure out.

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Answer 4

Mark LeBar Author

Level 1

29 points

Apr 2, 2020 3:24 AM in response to Old Toad

It is, to be sure. But there is nothing to account for the 200+GB of space being used mysteriously on the drive. I can go folder by folder, Get Info, and none of those numbers is out of whack. Another screenshot, with sequential windows provided by Get Info, shows the problem another way: every way you slice it, I've got <200GB of space being used, but my drive has over 454GB of space being used. No tool I have disagrees on any of that, and none can indicate where half my drive is.

I'm planning to erase and do a clean install on it tomorrow, but I have no ideas other than that. Any other suggestions? Thanks for hanging in there with me on this!

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Answer 5

Old Toad

Level 10

208,445 points

Apr 1, 2020 10:40 AM in response to Mark LeBar

What the graphic says is the system is more than just what is in the System folder. It can include the Library folder and other system related files wherever they may be located. That representation has never make sense to me and many others.

An app that can scan your HD and show file sizes is OmniDiskSweeper. It can also show you where they are located so you can delete or move those that are not needed or used frequently. It's free.

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Answer 6

Old Toad

Level 10

208,445 points

Apr 1, 2020 5:43 PM in response to Mark LeBar

The only accurate size of the System folder is from the Info pane for that folder. The graphical view includes any file on the hard drive that might be associated with the system and not necessarily in the system folder. The OmniDiskSweeper shows that.

The users folder is the largest and in that probably your user folder is the biggest.

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Answer 7

HWTech

Level 9

56,900 points

Apr 2, 2020 7:08 PM in response to Mark LeBar

Check to see if you have any APFS snapshots. Use this article as a guide.

https://derflounder.wordpress.com/2018/04/07/reclaiming-drive-space-by-thinning-apple-file-system-snapshot-backups/

Even after deleting data, the data will still exist in older APFS snapshots until those snapshots are removed by the system or manually removed by a user.

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Answer 8

Mark LeBar Author

Level 1

29 points

Apr 1, 2020 3:36 AM in response to Old Toad

The numbers are in agreement. The disk usage numbers I am reporting are from the Info Pane. The numbers as to how it is being used I am getting from Manage Storage.

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Catalina file duplication?

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