MB Air losing functionality

Thank you, ku4hx, for keeping with my on this.

You need to uninstall MacKeeper using the developer's instructions and all helper, fixer, AV, speedup apps, optimizers and etc. They can, and often do, disrupt operations in unexpected ways.

Is there a better choice of utility? Most of MacKeeper's troubles are 10 years old by now, and get good reviews now. But it does use 18% of RAM, in my latest EtreCheck report. But I'd be willing to follow your recommendation on this.

Either I'm blind or the report is incomplete. There is no read/write speeds for the internal drive I can find. Did you allow full disk access if you were asked?

FDA was granted in my first run with it on 8/10. I bought the Pro version of it, and the "Performance" section now has complete details

You need to upgrade you OS to the latest available.

I promise to do this once I get Big Sur working. I see nothing to indicate that the "Other" bloating is an OS problem.

Again, thanks for staying with me.

ku4hx advised:

Click the Macintosh drive in Finder, select Get Info and look for the size of Purgeable. I use the paid version of Daisy Disk to safely reduce Purgeable.

That reports 138.1MB as purgeable, 1.4% of total "Other". I'm going to need more than that.

Based on your numbered points, I'd guess the drive is either failing or so full the OS cannot properly function. You need 15-20% of the drive totally unused at all times for proper functioning.

That's my aim, and that was the purpose of "MyBork". I won't be able to check RAM or internal drive deterioration until I get a successful install of TechTool Pro — thus far the reinstalls have not been functional. (Actually, they just drew the line as to what a support issue for them)

Let me just understand clearly:

1.) Are all these files like the "preference files" of yore: individual apps create them and if thy don't find them, will create replacements?

2.) While the entire category is not vital to the OS, can I trash the entire set without crippling the apps which may have been using the space?

3.) I've been studying the "Recovery mode" doc. In any case, I'll have to use a TM restore. But my current TM ** can't be verified by Disc Utility, and it can't be written to. Do I know that, at least, it capable of doing a restore?

BTW, I do have an etrecheck report but don't know how to read it.

Thanks, ku4hx. This was more good news than I expected, although questions will continue to arise.

Wooodmeister50 advised :

Try booting into Safe Mode.

It refused to boot up (10-12 attempts, and aborting at its furthest, 15% through the progress bar and most of the time not even getting started). Finally it did and concluded quickly that I needed to reinstall the OS. Unfortunately it would only install "Ventura".

This maybe a damaged-OS situation, but I have strong reason to think that if it was a clear case of this, such an OS 11.x SNAFU would be abundantly documented by Apple. (I did backtrack from 11.5.6 to 11.5.2, paying for it at an Apple service store. The SNAFU was there in the just in-stalled 11.5.2, but Big Sur ran beautifully for 10 months before the FU emerged). So if a reinstall of 11.5.x ( — I'd asked for 11.5.1) didn't fix it, why should I believe that 14.x would.

I should also admit that I don't upgrade OSs until I HAVE TO, ie. if it no longer works with my apps. I don't depend on the latest/greatest and if my apps work, I stick with the OS and the earlier app versions.

See if that reduces any of the

"other" category.

It never got the chance.

1.) Whenever the laptop wakes up from Sleep mode, it thinks that external storage devices have been improperly disconnected. (Laminate is the TM ** drive, MyBork is routine external HD storage for an undersize internal. Elements is a fresh-out-of-the-box HD.)

Sometimes when I shut down at the end of the day, the next morning it

greets me with a long list of these (41 is the record), indicating that

something invisible had messed with the shut-down. 

2.) this has happened enough with the TM ** HD, that the ** had to be trashed and a new TM ** started. Sometimes, Laminate doesn't even mount at boot-up. 

Disk Utility can't touch it. (DU can do First-Aid on MyBork, but can’t mount it automatically _ I have to dismount manually.) It looks like soon I’ll have to trash Laminate’s ** again.

3.) Whenever I log onto Apple Care + (the dealer gave me 3 years of it), Apple would insist that I was logging on, physically located in either NYC or Boston.

Then there's this disagreement between the listed space used on the internal HD (on the left), and the sum of the major folders inside that HD: 222.68 the former and 170.04 the latter. a 24% discrepancy.

Thank you for exploring this situation.

There may be other files you can safely delete, but the disk space they take up will be tiny in relations to your user data ... audio-visual being the primary space takers.

Tried that already. transferred 16GB to the external (and deleted it on the internal). The "Other" category didn't budge at all.

NEVER delete system files or suspected system data. It's just not worth the risk.

Agreed, we're only talking reducing the "Other" category. In "Application Support" therein, "com.apple" docs only number 14 and total 8.9MB.

If you think your current backups are not good, get a fresh HDD and make one now. A pair would be even better.

Agreed, I'd never depend on a TM restore from a TM ** I didn't trust. I tried duplicate TM BUs but it seemed a 2d one would only come into play if the 1st one were full. I'll try creating the duplicate with the 1st one not connected.

Here's the etrecheck text (most of which I can read). But at this point I know enough about the situation to be able to steer AppleCare+ away from useless and time-wasting ideas. I'd be very grateful if you could at at the etrecheck text.

I just did DU 1stAid on the internal HD, using Recovery mode: the drive passed completely.