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what's "other" in storage

My iMac storage is almost full. Its a new machine that I bought for my 10 year old. the bulk of the storage is occupied by "other". I dont know what that means and how to view it or delete. Any help would be appreciated.


Thanks


iMac 24″, macOS 11.6

Posted on Jul 30, 2022 11:36 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jul 31, 2022 4:03 AM

Apple has an article: See used and available storage space on your Mac - Apple Support


In particular:




3 replies

Jul 31, 2022 11:43 AM in response to rishika007

The Other category is a potpourri of files which can include:


• System temporary files

• macOS system folders

• Archives and disk images (.zip, .iso, etc. - often found in the Downloads folder)

• Personal user data

• Files from the user’s library (Application Support, iCloud files, screensavers, etc.)

• Cache files: browser, Mail

• Mail messages & attachments

• Fonts, plugins, extensions

• Safari reading list

• iTunes backups

• Crud resulting from jailbreaking your iDevice

• Game data

• Saved data files

• Call history

• Notes

• Media

• Voice memos

• Other files that are not recognized by a Spotlight search

• Media files that cannot be classified by Spotlight as a media file because they are located inside of a package

• Files created and modified by other user accounts on your Mac.


They can be located anywhere on your hard drive.


The files that you have control over are located in the Documents, Downloads, Pictures, Music and Movies folders.  You can use either of these two free apps, GrandPerspective  or OmniDiscSweeper, to find the largest files on your drive so you can determine if they can be deleted or moved to an external HD for storage.  


Note: you can empty the Downloads folder after the apps and/or updates that were downloaded have been installed or applied.  Many users have found a couple of Gigabytes of files in their Downloads folder which are no longer needed. 


what's "other" in storage

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