Late-2013 MacBook Pro System Storage Issue

First uninstall both Kaspersky and CMM since neither one is needed on a Mac and they usually cause more problems than they solve plus they impact system performance. They also clutter up the EtreCheck report making it hard to see other items.

From the picture of the "fsck" output it appears the APFS file system has some issues. Backup or clone the system, then erase the whole physical drive as GUID partition and APFS (top option) --- select the "Apple SSD...." item. Since Disk Utility now hides the physical drives from view you will need to click on "View" within Disk Utility and select "Show All Devices" so that the physical drive appears in the left pane of Disk Utility. After creating a new clean file system either restore from the clone or reinstall macOS and restore from backup. Since you have very little free space left this may be preventing Time Machine from being able to make a snapshot (in addition to all the APFS errors). Carbon Copy Cloner is a good utility for cloning a drive since you can use it while booted to the same drive you want to clone.

FYI, when you delete files they still may remain in the APFS snapshots until a backup completes. Most APFS snapshots are supposed to automatically remove themselves after a few days or a week.

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

LeucadianJoe wrote:

A couple of questions:

Happy to delete Kaspersky and CMM.

You can also check the apps themselves to see if there is an uninstall option on one of the menus. Other times the uninstaller may be located within the app's folder itself. Check the Kaspersky & CMM web sites for the instructions.

Is there ANY value to Kaspersky for online activity?

No. Just practice safe computing habits such as being careful with which web sites you visit, the links you click on, both on web sites and within e-mails and text messages (even when sent from trusted friends & family). If you ever believe you have been infected with malware, then just use MalwareBytes (no need to run the real time scanning option). I've worked on malware infested Macs before and the standard AV products don't do anything. Only MalwareBytes was able to identify & removed the Mac malware.

I typically use Chrome and Firefox (work and play, respectively) and it seems like a lot of downloads get blocked.

Most likely Kaspersky was blocking some advertisements or adware. Some web browsers such as Vivaldi include a built-in ad blocker that can be configured plus you can install the browser add-on uBlock Origin for blocking ads and/or trackers.

Plus web browsers are starting to include warnings when you visit a potentially unsafe web site. Never just rely on these tools alone since safe computing habits are the best defense.

What do I need to do to avoid this in the future? Once I transfer essential files back to my laptop, I'll make a fresh Time Machine backup and try to keep it fresher than the 2 year gap from my last one. I am grateful for the assistance and am willing to change practices to avoid needing to be rescued again.

There is nothing you can do to prevent APFS file system errors. Just make sure to always have frequent and regular backups. The more important the data the more backups and copies of the data you should have.

FYI, it is impossible to recover accidentally deleted data from an SSD plus an SSD can fail at anytime without any warning signs. This is even more important on the USB-C Macs which have their SSDs integrated into the Logic Board so if the laptop has a hardware failure you will likely need to use an expensive data recovery service to attempt to recover the data.