"Other" section in the Storage Management is consuming a huge amount of storage

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"Other" section in the Storage Management is consuming a huge amount of storage

Hi, my Macbook Pro (2019, 250GB, Catalina) prompted that my storage is almost full.

I checked in the Storage Management and found that the "Other" section is consuming approximately 90GB of my storage. I wonder if there is any method to check what files are under that category so that I could decide which one I want to remove.

I have tried searching in the other posts and forums and so far only found the information about clearing cache, which I believe that it should not take up to 90GB. Are there any other things I should look for?

Thank you in advance!

MacBook Pro 13", macOS 10.15

Posted on Apr 24, 2020 12:54 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

leroydouglas

Community+ 2024

Level 10

183,636 points

Apr 24, 2020 6:23 AM in response to Waris_

How to free up storage space on your Mac - Apple Support

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206996

User tip: "Other and What Can I Do About It ?"

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-5142

ref: https://eclecticlight.co/2020/04/09/where-did-all-that-free-space-go-on-my-apfs-disk/

Try something like OmniDiskSweeper for a GUI to get a good look at itemized file size and location:

OmniDiskSweeper http://www.omnigroup.com/more

Or alternatively from the Terminal.app, more detail copy and paste the command line:

File size, and finding missing GB— list the items in the home folder with the sizes, including invisible items.

sudo du -h -d 1 ~/

File size, and finding missing GB —will list the items in root with the sizes, including invisible items.

sudo du -h -d 1 /

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Answer 2

Waris_ Author

Level 1

19 points

Apr 24, 2020 6:21 AM in response to xnav

Thank's for your reply!

However, I have tried that and found that the sum of the containers and application support folders are only 4GB. The sum of everything in the library folder is also only about 12GB. Do you have any further recommendation?

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Answer 3

Waris_ Author

Level 1

19 points

Apr 24, 2020 7:03 AM in response to leroydouglas

Thank you.

This help me find out where those 90GB are from. I have read all of them. What works for me is when I downloaded OmniDiskSweeper and it shows me many hidden large files in the library, which I couldn't see in finder at the first time.

What still made me hesitate is that I found another amount that takes up about 30GB in "/private/var/folders/_5/(long random alphabet name)/C/" and I am not sure if it is safe to mess with the files in there.

Could you suggest me if I should do something or leave it like that please?

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