How clean up "Other" folder

krisztina259 wrote:

• Hi All, I need help with clearing up the "Other folder". It gets full all the time and despite I am doing the below steps to clean up space, I never manage to clean up more than 1-3 Gb and I am going crazy now.

I do these steps fairly regularly:

delete .dmg files and installation packages

• delete caches

• I have no time machine activated so I hae no backups for it stored either (not a problem)

• delete Ios backus

• delete language files

• delete tempfiles

• delete log files

• delete mail attachments (if any)

• sort out any application support file

I currently have the CleanMyMac x installed (I know it's not recommended by many of you), and ̶I̶ ̶k̶e̶e̶p̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶a̶ ̶l̶a̶s̶t̶ ̶r̶e̶s̶o̶r̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶c̶l̶e̶a̶n̶ ̶u̶p̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶y̶s̶e̶m̶ ̶j̶u̶n̶k̶ ̶f̶i̶l̶e̶s̶, but I havent' provided with full access to my computer (at least not that I am aware).

I am suspicious now that this app may do something in the background though/ maybe not.

Any tips that I could check ?

I am not a tech person just a girl who is managing her laptop alone, so please if you can give advice in layman terms, I would appreciate it!

Thanks a lot for any help in this!

How to free up storage space on your Mac - Apple Support

Free up storage space on your Mac - Apple Support

See used and available storage space on your Mac

See used and available storage space on your Mac - Apple Support

User tip: "Other and What Can I Do About It ?"

What is "Other" and What Can I Do About I… - Apple Community

Try something like OmniDiskSweeper for a GUI to get a good look at itemized file size and location:

OmniDiskSweeper http://www.omnigroup.com/more

free up storage Apple support video:

I will add CleanMyMacX is known to cause issues on the macOS and not recommended.

Look for a official uninstaller to get rid of this some consider malware.

If in doubt refer to the developers website, search: Support/Help/FAQ/known issues/compatibility/updates

I understand people frequently encounter low disk space due to excessive "Other", but I have never encountered that situation with any of my Macs. Although I have suspicions (garbage like "CleanMyMac" for instance) I can only speculate as to its cause.

I believe that TM snapshots are one of the suspects; from what I understand they have never "just" worked because they seem to take up far more space than advertised. I do not have the problem, but then I do not use TM and am running 10.13.6 on my go-to iMac; my testing machine is running Monterey but there is nothing on it besides the factory installeed OS/system/apps. Another suspect may be the new filing system (APFS).

In any case, I am getting more than frustrated seeing post after post of other or system data taking up most of the drive space, so I finally took the time this afternoon and filed a somewhat stern bug report with Apple asking for either a clear explanation and ways to manage it or make changes to take care of the problem. No idea if anything will come of it, but I feel better having tried.

To add to previous suggestion above

GrandPerspective 

How to delete Time Machine snapshots on your Mac

Locate backups of your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

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.

The sarcasm is not lost on me and see where this might be going ?

The suggestions below have been put forth on a volunteer basis, in good faith and in the best interests of the computer.

Taking the high road and only dealing with Technical Apple Issues.

Since the user appears to not accept the Official Apple Support Documentation on Managing the " Other" Category as acceptable for their needs.

The next suggestion is drastic and non-reversable action.

This will clean up the " Other " Category and everything else too.

Scorched Earth Method 

This method will WIPE ALL Data and there is No Recovery - Period.

To perform this action will require booting from a Bootable Installer. 

The Bootable Installer can only be performed from an Apple Computer

This will have to be performed from a Qualifying Computer to run the version of macOS to be made on the Bootable Installer.

Example : Bootable Installer of Big Sur would have to be done on a computer that Qualifies to run Big Sur.

Notation: If the computer being used to perform this action is Too New or Too Old to qualify to run the version of macOS - this computer can not be used.

Alternative is, to gain access to a Qualifying Apple Computer from a family member, friend or associate.

Once that is done read on for preparing the Destination computer  >> Only works on Intel Based Apple Computers.

Extra Special Notation regarding the Touch ID equipped Apple Computer.

About Startup Security Utility and Must Enable from Recovery Mode the ability to boot from External Drive Before Attempting 

1 - Shutdown computer and disconnect all external drive Except the newly created Bootable Installer.

2- Restart and immediately hold the OPTION key until the Startup Manager appears and choose the USB Drive. 

3 - It will present options >> Disk Utilities >> View >> View ALL attached Drives. 

4 - Choose the Upper Most Drive ( not the volumes indented and list below ).

5 - The drive normally is called Apple Media or Apple SSD - that is the drive to Erase and format as APFS with the GUID Partition Map. . 

6 - Once that is done >> backup out of Disk Utilities and choose install macOS. 

7 - Follow the prompts and it may automatically reboot several time. 

8 - Upon a final reboot - Setup Assist will present with the newer version of macOS.

The point is this:

what was called "other" is now designated as "system data". That does NOT include the files mentioned by marcus_sean

"The 'Other' storage on a Mac consists of different types of files that don't fall into any particular storage category (like videos, photos, music, apps, or mail). The ‘Other’ category also includes junk files and personal files such as .pdf, .psd, .doc, browser caches, voice files, message media files stored locally, system caches, archive files like .zip and .dmg disk images, fonts, extensions, app plugins, etc"

Here is Apple's official statement and explanation on it:

See used and available storage space on your Mac - Apple Support

Note the "Systems Data" category notes. If you are running an earlier OS, you can choose it at the top.

I am not a tech person just a girl who is managing her laptop alone, so please if you can give advice in layman terms, I would appreciate it!

Do not use non-Apple "cleaning" products. It doesn't get any simpler than that.

I understand people frequently encounter low disk space due to excessive "Other", but I have never encountered that situation with any of my Macs. Although I have suspicions (garbage like "CleanMyMac" for instance) I can only speculate as to its cause.

Since I don't have that problem I recommend as follows.

Don't do most of what you wrote you do "fairly regularly". Specifically,

• delete caches
• delete Ios backus
• delete language files
• delete tempfiles
• delete log files

None of those actions are recommended and can easily result in corruption or poor performance. Yes, even log files. macOS automatically deletes them, and will accelerate that deletion when disk space becomes low. Deleting log and other files that macOS expects to be present will result in unexpected effects I have personally observed.

Do use Time Machine. If you do not back up your Mac, by definition you have no concern about the prospect of permanently losing all of its contents. Time Machine manages "local snapshots" and I can find no justifiable reason for attempting to manage them.

• delete .dmg files and installation packages

Good idea, but macOS often asks to do that for you.

• sort out any application support file

Also a good idea, just use caution to not delete anything you require. If you make a mistake, Time Machine is your safety net.

Starting in Safe Mode to test does no harm. However, since you cannot control what is in this other or system data category, I don't know that it would help. But, there is no harm doing it - it may clear up other stuff.

If you read Apple's information, you now know that the OS controls the category - and that is it. You cannot. Why they did that, I do not know. And, since the OS controls it, there is no way for us to tell why it is "wasting" (my humble opinion) so many GB of space. All we know is that the amount will change all the time.

Again, the problem is that the user cannot control that category - the OS does. If this was my problem, I'd get an apointment at my nearest Genius Bar and haul it in to let them deal with it. All suggestions from us are just guesses.

No, the Application in question is not mine nor do I Develop Applications.

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