200GB of “Hidden” Files

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Level 1

9 points

200GB of “Hidden” Files

I just completed migrating my wife’s old iMac to a new M1 Mac Mini. Migration went fine with Migration Assistant, however, I uncovered a problem that I’ve now been researching for several days, including one call to Apple Support.

In a nutshell I seem to have around 200GB of storage taken up by something that I can’t locate. The screen capture from the original iMac shows the issue. All the files in the 5 main folders on the drive add up to roughly 100 GB. But if you look at the disk storage used, it’s about 300 GB, which leaves around 200 GB used by something. This end up migrating over to the new Mac mini and I’d really like to free this space up.

I know there are hidden files so there probably is maybe 10 to 15 GB not accounted for, but not double what’s shown in the directories in Finder.

The only thing I’ve seen to resolve this is the nuclear option of erasing the drive and reinstalling everything from either time machine back up or manually. I saw one post in this forum (2018) that was pretty close to the same problem and their solution was to erase and restore from time machine. Any ideas what this possibly could be? And better yet how to fix it.

Mac mini 2018 or later

Posted on Nov 20, 2021 8:01 AM

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Answer 1

PRP_53

Level 10

92,503 points

Nov 20, 2021 8:23 AM in response to Geffel

The Migration from Intel Computer to Apple Silicon M1 may have brought over may unneeded things including any pre-existing unresolved issues existing on the Intel Computer.

What is “Other” storage on a Mac, and how can I clean it out?

Free up storage space on your Mac

OmniDiskSweeper Safe to use

How to delete Time Machine snapshots on your Mac

Suggest using Go64 to find 32 bit application before attempting the upGrade. Some or many of the Application already installed may required update or upGrades to 64 Bit Versions

See used and available storage space on your Mac

The final word from Apple on Managing the " Other " Category

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.

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Answer 2

Geffel Author

Level 1

9 points

Nov 21, 2021 8:41 AM in response to Geffel

Mystery solved. Thanks for your tip about the Scan as Administrator. The version sold in the App Store doesn’t have this feature, but Daisy provides a free upgrade license to get it. When I rescanned as Admin here is what I found:

Somehow I had an “orphaned” user called “Cindy” that has 225 GB of data in it. Not sure how it got there, but I believe if I delete it with Daisy, I’ll recover the space. This user didn’t show up in the list of users or in the log in area. I did see it however in the Finder but thought it didn’t have anything in it.

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Answer 3

Geffel Author

Level 1

9 points

Nov 20, 2021 1:49 PM in response to steve626

Thanks for the suggestions and guidance. I did purchase Daisy and discovered, after giving the program full access rights to my data, that there is 180 GB in hidden files that Daisy is telling me it can’t access because it doesn’t have rights to them because they might be another user’s privileges… there is only two users on the system, an admin and my wife’s user. Whatever it is, is getting backed up by Time Machine, so it’s odd that Daisy can’t access it.

The mystery deepens…

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Answer 4

steve626

Level 6

11,657 points

Nov 20, 2021 7:17 PM in response to Geffel

(1) Did you run Daisy Disk logged in as an administrator?

(2) In Daisy Disk did you click on and Preferences and did you specify Full Disk Access?

The computer I am running Daisy Disk on actually is on Catalina not Big Sur so it is possible that Big Sur is different. But this is what I see, I can see everything running as an administrator with Full Disk Access active, and when I click on Users it shows what is in ALL the User accounts, not just mine. I recall having to authenticate a few times to get access to all the system, private, and other user areas. Every thing on the disk is accounted for.

Also -- when you scan, be sure to "Scan as an administrator" see below, with the drop down menu

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Answer 5

steve626

Level 6

11,657 points

Nov 20, 2021 9:08 AM in response to Geffel

P. Phillips provides some good suggestions. In addition, you should be aware that when you look at Get Info on the Users folder, it does not include information about the other users versus the user logged in. For instance, there could be users A and B, logged in as user A you will not see the space taken by user B when you do Get Info on the Users folder. If user B has a 100 GB photos library and 20 GB music library, and 30 GB email, that 150 GB won't show up in your Get Info. Because user A does not have access to the info for user B.

You might consider obtaining DaisyDisk, it will allow you to enter an administrator password and drill down to see where EVERYTHING is taking up space on your drive, including hidden system files, other users, etc. It will reveal everything and then you can decide how to proceed. I do not think erasing everything and starting over is needed here, in fact that's basically how your new M1 Mac Mini started out before you migrated accounts over. DaisyDisk will also enable you to delete files but that option should be exercised carefully, system files should not be deleted.

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Answer 6

steve626

Level 6

11,657 points

Nov 21, 2021 8:57 AM in response to Geffel

Geffel wrote:

Mystery solved. Thanks for your tip about the Scan as Administrator. The version sold in the App Store doesn’t have this feature, but Daisy provides a free upgrade license to get it. When I rescanned as Admin here is what I found:

Somehow I had an “orphaned” user called “Cindy” that has 225 GB of data in it. Not sure how it got there, but I believe if I delete it with Daisy, I’ll recover the space. This user didn’t show up in the list of users or in the log in area. I did see it however in the Finder but thought it didn’t have anything in it.

I had purchased the non-App Store version of Daisy Disk myself because I had read it had more features than the App Store version. There are endless posts in these discussions about mysterious loss of disk space, I think Daisy Disk can probably solve them all. It's a lot cheaper than buying a new computer (or replacing the internal drive)! I don't know the history of your Mac, but if someone else owned or used it before you, that previous user might have been disabled under an earlier MacOS but the files were never deleted. You might want to inspect the files before deleting them, this might require use of Terminal. But I think it's pretty safe to delete the entire user if indeed it is just that, another user.

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