Huge amount of hidden files and showing extremly large SSD

Febbe wrote:

My SDD is 1TB on my MacBook Pro. I constantly run out of space and checked why. It seems like I use about 270GB of space for files when checking with DaisyDisk and other programs. But the hidden section is about 650GB leaving me with about 60GB free space.

When checking info on ssd it show some really weird numbers. 563 TB on disk !!!!

I have reindexed spotlight. I have use several "find the largest files" programs like DaisyDisk etc. I have run EtreCheckPro. No problems.

I have restarted in recovery mode and run FirstAid. I get some inconsistency warnings, but it don't fix anything.

I have ordered a new M1 chip MacBookPro, but until delivery I don't want to reinstall everything. Right now I have to delete more and more less used files and applications to stay working.

Please help!

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/9d3d4540-9b9f-462e-b47a-d4038bd08402

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/c7863609-49f6-4e60-aa3f-d5dfe66fd9f4

You do not speak to how fast this accumulates over time...

Mail Logs can accumulate in your Macintosh HD - Data

f you are collecting Mail trouble shooting logs check there...

From Mail>Window>Connection Doctor>Show Logs

From there in Finder, you can see if you have large .txt files there;

you can safely delete these .txt files && uncheck the Log Connection Activity

I have seen anywhere from 12 GB to 700 GB of logs built up here.

You would be safe to delete all those logs/ .txt files.

File size, and missing GB— list the items in the home folder with the sizes, including invisible items,

You can see this itemized list of your user files from the command line in Terminal.app copy and paste:

sudo du -h -d 1 ~/

You can try your Disk Utility>First Aid from Internet Recovery and see if it sorts any differently...

see Internet Recovery (both M1 and Intel) — https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904

Febbe wrote:

Thank you for helping!

The free space is shrinking with 10s of GB a day. If i restart the computer I get some space back.

the sudo du.. command showed no big folders. the biggest is my home folder at 174GB I assume that is including all child folders.

Already done the Disk Utility First Aid with no success.

Verify your software is up to date currently macOS 12.1

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/get-macos-updates-mchlpx1065/mac

initially there were known issue 12.0.1 with memory leaks— these bugs were addressed in the update

ex

If you made changes to customize your mouse pointer and specifically the color choice—restore the defaults and compare your results.

Change Pointer preferences for accessibility on Mac - Apple ...

ref: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253316109?answerId=256220598022#256220598022

FaceTime—ref: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253350620