Storage Used by Other Users

There are a few possible reasons for the "Other Users" category to take up space on your MacBook, even if you don't have any other user accounts:

1. System files: Some system files and temporary files are not associated with any user account and are classified as "Other."

2. Cache files: Applications can create cache files that aren't associated with any user account.

3. Time Machine backups: If you have Time Machine enabled, it may be creating backups that are classified as "Other."

4. Leftover files from a previous installation: If your MacBook was restored from an old MacBook, there may be leftover files from the previous installation taking up space.

To reclaim space, you can try the following:

1. Use a disk space analyzer tool to identify what types of files are taking up space in the "Other Users" category. DaisyDisk and GrandPerspective are popular options.

3. Disable Time Machine backups or adjust the settings to limit the amount of space it can use.

4. Check for leftover files from the previous installation and delete them if they're no longer needed.

It's always a good idea to make sure you have a backup of your important files before making any changes to your system.

[Edited by Moderator]

kristofrk wrote:

About 7GB of my storage is used by 'Other Users'.

That isn't unusual.

I have no other user accounts on my MacBook

You have over 100 other users. 😄 Virtually all of them are system users that run one specific background task for service. These files are most likely owned by the "root" or "super user". They aren't really. It is just a quirk of how permissions and ownership work.

If you are actually running low on storage, then you may need to take some action to recover storage. If 7 GB makes a difference, then you are alway way past critical levels. If it was 700 GB, then that would be worth looking for. But if you aren't having any problems, you are more likely to cause damage and unlikely to have any impact on any storage used by "other users".

Don't follow instructions from a chat bot. Chat bots don't care if you lose all of your data.

kristofrk wrote:

Thanks. DaisyDisk shows that it's 'previously relocated' files..

Sorry, but that doesn't have any meaning. Unless you know exactly what those files are, you shouldn't touch them. Most of those disk tools don't make any differentiation between important data files that you shouldn't delete, files that you can't delete, and files that don't matter.

kristofrk wrote:

Agreed. It seems to be a previous installation of Anaconda2...But I am just going to let it be...

If it is something that you installed and understand, then you can delete it.

It's just that storage problems can be tricky. If you aren't already having out of disk space errors, then you probably don't need to do anything.

Out of interest was this "other user data" or "other users' data"?