"Other Storage" Taking Up More Than 50% of Hard Drive Space

A lot of these answers are like asking for directions to get somewhere and everyone answering with a description of how maps are made.

I just hit this issue this morning. 1TB dive, about 400GB of data and suddenly another 500GB of 'other' space gumming up the works. Where did it come from? What is it? Who knows? I don't know and Apple won't let you know either.

Random pdfs and cache files! Just random stuff the system doesn't know how to label! They helpfully tell you. Right 500GBs of them. Come on. Empty the trash they say! Sheesh- seriously? And always someone suggest omnisweep. Well I downloaded that for kicks and it told me there is around 400GB on data on my drive. It can't even see the 'other' files and doesn't tell you much more than the About file already gives you.

So what is it? Well, best I can tell it's something completely separate. Not your files, photos, trash or pdfs. Nothing like that.

In my case is was something to do with Carbon Copy Cloner. I deleted all but the most recent snapshots one by one (and I did not have that many). Nothing changed for the first few but when I deleted one of the very first ones I did- just about all the space came back. Now keep in mind that CCC made the original full backup copy on my NAS (which is still there), and only saves the snapshots of changes on the OSX hard drive. So no way that one snapshot was 500GBs. But for some reason it used up all that 'other' space.

So from that I say look to time machine backups if you have them. Or any cloning backup systems. If you are connected to a NAS check those settings. Anything over a network could be the culprit. But you will not be able to fix this though file searching and trying to delete videos.

My 'other' is now at 119.73 GB. It's still bigger than any other category and I still have no clue what it is, but that at least is a manageable number on a 1TB drive.

But seriously why the secrecy? This would be a non-issue if the system would simply allow you to see what 'other' actually is.

OmniDiskSweeper Trusted Developer may provide insights of files under your direct control that are occupying space on the drive.

• See used and available storage space on your Mac >> Other: Contains files that don’t fall into the categories listed here. This category primarily includes files and data used by the system, such as log files, caches, VM files, and other runtime system resources. Also included are temporary files, fonts, app support files, and plug-ins. You can't manage the contents of this category. The contents are managed by macOS, and the category varies in size depending on the current state of your Mac.

Finally called Apple.

Turns out I had 780 gigs worth of mail log. The tech gal had me delete them and my problem is solved. For now at least.

Unfortunately I can't recall how I got there. Library, then Containers, then ?

What is Other on Mac Storage?

“Other” storage on Mac is files that don’t easily fall into the clearer category labels like “Audio" or “Photos”. The types of "Other" files would include: 

• Cache files like user cache, browser cache, and system cache.

• Documents like PDF, .psd, .doc, etc.

• Disk images and archives like .zip and .dmg.

• macOS system and temporary files.

• App plugins and extensions.

• Everything else that doesn’t fit into the main macOS categories.

You can't manage the contents of this category. The contents are managed by macOS, and the category varies in size depending on the current state of your Mac.

What you can do...

• Make sure you have emptied the trash.

• Empty the trash in the Photos app.

• Delete unused and unneeded installers that may be cluttering up your downloads folder and desktop.

I also have this issue - I have a MacBook Pro with a 250 GB hard disk. 164 GB of that space is occupied by files categorised as "other". That's over 65% of my hard drive space taken up by files that I have no control over - that surely can't be right? There must be something I can do to clear some of this space?

Yeah. There was another Q on here somewhere that gave me the answer. I keep having this issue but I don't know if or where I saved it. Luckily I don't use the terminal often and could look back through my history. You may have found the answer by now, but if not, you need to run omnidisksweeper with root access and then it can find where your massive hidden 'other files' are. Hope this helps!

sudo /Applications/OmniDiskSweeper.app/Contents/MacOS/OmniDiskSweeper

I found the " tmutil listlocalsnapshots /" comment in terminal to be MOST helpful. Why, it pointed out that MicroMat had generated a massive backup snapshot after a big file deletion for TechTool Pro. If you're using TTP and have their TTP Tools installed, you're probably not aware the tool is backing up the HD directory. You have the ability to manage and delete it through their tools. If you're running some other tool similar to TTP, that might be your culprit!!! Thanks Luis!

Hello and thanks for your reply.

Running that command in Terminal returns this:

com.apple.TimeMachine.2021-08-27-133639.local

com.apple.TimeMachine.2021-09-06-190535.local

I'm guessing that's not very much but I could be wrong.

SkinsMcMinnie wrote:

Hello and thanks for your reply.

Running that command in Terminal returns this:

com.apple.TimeMachine.2021-08-27-133639.local

com.apple.TimeMachine.2021-09-06-190535.local

I'm guessing that's not very much but I could be wrong.

It does not seem like a lot, but you can try deleting the oldest snapshot and see how much space that gets you back:

sudo tmutil deletelocalsnapshots 2021-08-27-133639

Type your password when requested (there is no feedback while you type the password, not bullets, nor asterisks; type it blindly and then press enter).

Thanks - I deleted both snapshots and it freed up nearly 1GB.

I also installed and ran OmniDiskSweeper, as suggested in another reply. It revealed that my caches take up a huge amount of storage space; After Effects cache had 24GB on it's own. I am now working my way through some of the bigger files and seeing what I can get rid of.

I have the same problem - 694 gb of 1 Terrabyte drive is 'other.'

It has taken me 2 weeks to dump enough files to have 5 gigs available to work. It seemed like I would dump a lot of files or move them to an external hard drive, then by the next day, I would be out of room again.

I take a lot of screenshots. Could that be a contributor?

This is so frustrating!

There is an Application called DaisyDisk which allows you to drill down and identify EVERYTHING, including what specifically is in "Other" and Cache storage areas and snapshots from various sources. As you proceed it requires you to authenticate with an Administrator password for some of these areas, the equivalent of sudo, but it eventually will show you everything.

The application is not free (although there is a version you can download for free) but for those of you who are facing this problem, it might be worth it. I have never encountered the disk space issues that some of you are reporting here, but I obtained it because I am obsessive about understanding everything on my system.

DaisyDisk also allows you to delete things that it finds but that option should be exercised with caution.

There are other similar utilities which are free (Grand Perspective is one) but they do not provide the functionality that the paid applications do.

Having similar issues on the iMac ! Large file (565 Gb) called "Documents" Totally inaccessible

Same here