I have about 200GB in Apps, Photos, Documents and everything else listed under my user file--most of which are photos. "Other" comes in at a whopping 600GB, leaving my storage almost full. My cache is only taking maybe 2-3GB. What could be taking all this space? Thanks
MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.15
The Other category is a potpourri of files which include:
• System temporary files
• macOS system folders
• Archives and disk images (.zip, .iso, etc. - often found in the Downloads folder)
• Personal user data
• Files from the user’s library (Application Support, iCloud files, screensavers, etc.)
• Cache files
• Fonts, plugins, extensions
• Other files that are not recognized by a Spotlight search
• Media files that cannot be classified by Spotlight as a media file because they are located inside of a package
They can be located anywhere on your hard drive. The files that you have control over are located in the Documents, Downloads, Pictures, Music and Movies folders. You can use either of these two free apps, GrandPerspective or OmniDiscSweeper, to find the largest files on your drive so you can determine if they can be deleted or moved to an external HD for storage.
Note: you can empty the Downloads folder after the apps and/or updates that were downloaded have been installed or applied. Many users have found a couple of Gigabytes of files in their Downloads folder which are no longer needed.
The Other category is a potpourri of files which include:
• System temporary files
• macOS system folders
• Archives and disk images (.zip, .iso, etc. - often found in the Downloads folder)
• Personal user data
• Files from the user’s library (Application Support, iCloud files, screensavers, etc.)
• Cache files
• Fonts, plugins, extensions
• Other files that are not recognized by a Spotlight search
• Media files that cannot be classified by Spotlight as a media file because they are located inside of a package
They can be located anywhere on your hard drive. The files that you have control over are located in the Documents, Downloads, Pictures, Music and Movies folders. You can use either of these two free apps, GrandPerspective or OmniDiscSweeper, to find the largest files on your drive so you can determine if they can be deleted or moved to an external HD for storage.
Note: you can empty the Downloads folder after the apps and/or updates that were downloaded have been installed or applied. Many users have found a couple of Gigabytes of files in their Downloads folder which are no longer needed.
Thank you! I was having difficulty finding any files too large and it turns out, I have two Home folders, one of which I can't access (even after granting myself access) and is using almost all of that 600GB. I didn't even know this other home folder was there. It may have appeared when I set the computer up. I talked with support and they said I need to try rebooting in Recovery mode and using First Aid to see if it will fix the folder and allow me access so that I can delete the files.
Two home folders?It sounds like you have another user account on your mac. Can you tell us where these folders are and what they are named?
Why is my Other storage 600GB?
