How much space is really available on my HD?

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Level 1

8 points

How much space is really available on my HD?

I just upgraded from my MacBookPro running Mojave to a new iMac.

My MacBookPro has a 1TB SSD drive and if I select "Get Info" for the Macintosh HD I see 600 gb used with 400 gb free. However, if double click the Hard Drive, double click Users, my username is showing 735 GB. It doesn't make sense to me that "Get Info" shows 600 GB used and 400 free but my user account shows 735GB used. Within my user directory the Library shows 376 GB used with 241GB taken up by Mobile Documents, almost all of which appear to be photos. But since this is cloud storage, it doesn't really take up any space on my hard drive correct? These items are already on my hard drive and this window is just telling me what is on iCloud and how much space I am using.

So if I want to determine the actual unused space on my hard drive, the Get Info information should be accurate and the information shown in the Mobile Documents is stored on the cloud as well as my MacBookPro indicating how much space on iCloud I am using. But this 241 gb is not stored again on my local machine but on the cloud.

Am I basically correct in this line of thinking?

Greg

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 10.14

Posted on May 25, 2021 4:50 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

brbo

Level 8

36,041 points

May 25, 2021 5:42 PM in response to Numbereater

Hi Numbereater,

Welcome to the Apple Community where some of us do our best to help each other.

Seems various factors influence the amount of storage shown in different areas of Mac.

I understand the most accurate place to check on storage is:

Click the black apple icon in the top menu bar.

Choose "About this Mac" at the top of the list that opens.

Click "Storage" from the top menu of the small window that opens.

Apple support has articles to help optimise storage:

(You would need to choose "Mojave" at the top for the most accurate info.)

https://support.apple.com/en-au/guide/system-information/sysp4ee93ca4/10.14/mac/10.14

The difference between your device and iCloud storage,

ways to manage your space, and where to buy more if you run out.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206504

Hope this helps you :)

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Answer 2

brbo

Level 8

36,041 points

May 31, 2021 5:01 PM in response to BDAqua

Thank you for the feedback, Greg.

If you ever want more understanding on "Other" storage files, and why they are necessary,

there is a discussion thread with some great info:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252753257

All the best :)

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Answer 3

Numbereater Author

Level 1

8 points

May 31, 2021 11:51 AM in response to BDAqua

Thanks folks.

It has been a week and the user accounts on my MacBookPro and new iMac are pretty close to storage utilized if I look at their grand total. It is around 735 gigs on each account. However, the MacBookPro Get Info still shows 600 gigs used of 1 Tb in total with 400 gigs available. The new iMac STILL shows 800 gigs used with 1.2 Tb available. Somehow there is still 200gb being duplicated in some way. The HD storage window shows similar numbers for everything except "Other." The MacBookPro has about 6gb whereas the new iMac shows 200+.

I went down that rabbit hole exactly one week ago and spend four hours on the phone and nothing got resolved. At this point it isn't worth screwing around with. If four Apple tech's couldn't help me out then I am wasting my time on my own.

Time to actually start using my iMac.

Greg

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Answer 4

etresoft

Level 9

51,436 points

May 31, 2021 5:51 PM in response to Numbereater

In most places, the operating system isn't telling you the amount of "free space" available. It is saying "available space". People just interpret that to mean "free", but it is entirely different. "Free space" is the unused storage space. "Available space" is the sum of actual "free space" and "purgeable" space that could be make "available" if you really needed it. Of course, it is the operating system that is going to decide whether or not you really need it.

One of the few places you can easily see actual "free space" is in Disk Utility.

For iCloud, you will have to review your iCloud settings. Both iCloud Drive and Photos have options to "optimize" your storage. If this setting is turned on, then your local usage of these services will be less than what is stored in iCloud. Don't let yourself get confused by the wording of this "optimize". It looks like it says that optimization only happens if you are low on hard drive space. This is not true. If "optimize" is turned on then your storage will be optimized even if you have lots of storage available.

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