Hello,
I am having an odd issue. I only have 28GB of free space on my Mac 0S (Ventura 13.6). Wanting to free up space, I go to System Preferences, General and Storage. It tells me I have 104.02 GB worth of Documents on my computer - but when I go to the folder structure, I cannot find the culprit Documents! See below - what in the heck is going on here??:
iMac (2017 – 2020)
You may start by and refer to link below
Optimize storage space on your Mac
Then move on to enable Empty Trash Automatically after 30 Days
It is generally a good computer practice to alway keep at least 20% to 25% of the Total Drive Capacity’s as Empty Space. Allowing the computer to drop below these guidelines may eventually, cause unintended consequences.
There is Purgeable Space and there is Empty Space.
Purgeable Space which is Controlled by the Operating System. When the Operating Systems decides the computer needs additional Empty Space, it will move a portion of the Purgeable to Empty space
AFAIK - there is no User Actions to hasten this transition from Purgeable to Empty Space
It can day or longer before this will occur.
The links below will assist in identifying what is taking up space on the Internal Drive and provide possible ways to remove data that is under the direct control of the User ( Home Folder ) .
➡️ Rebuild the Spotlight index on your Mac. ⬅️
What is “Other” storage on a Mac, and how can I clean it out?
Free up storage space on your Mac
GrandPerspective
How to delete Time Machine snapshots on your Mac.
Often caused if the Time Machine Drive has not been attached to the computer and TM Backup is set to run on a Schedule.
TM Backup will make Snap Shot on the Internal Drive awaiting the TM Backup Drive to be attached.
Only then will the Snaps Shots be transferred to the External Drive and deleted the Internal Drive.
See used and available storage space on your Mac
Locate backups of your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch
Is there a Suite of Adobe Applications used on this computer ?
They may create some very large cache files that can be removed. Though, the Adobe cache files will be recreated as the Applications needs them.
https://helpx.adobe.com/ca/premiere-pro/kb/clear-cache.html
The final word from Apple on Managing the " Other/ System Data “ Category
Other / System Data: 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.
You may start by and refer to link below
Optimize storage space on your Mac
Then move on to enable Empty Trash Automatically after 30 Days
It is generally a good computer practice to alway keep at least 20% to 25% of the Total Drive Capacity’s as Empty Space. Allowing the computer to drop below these guidelines may eventually, cause unintended consequences.
There is Purgeable Space and there is Empty Space.
Purgeable Space which is Controlled by the Operating System. When the Operating Systems decides the computer needs additional Empty Space, it will move a portion of the Purgeable to Empty space
AFAIK - there is no User Actions to hasten this transition from Purgeable to Empty Space
It can day or longer before this will occur.
The links below will assist in identifying what is taking up space on the Internal Drive and provide possible ways to remove data that is under the direct control of the User ( Home Folder ) .
➡️ Rebuild the Spotlight index on your Mac. ⬅️
What is “Other” storage on a Mac, and how can I clean it out?
Free up storage space on your Mac
GrandPerspective
How to delete Time Machine snapshots on your Mac.
Often caused if the Time Machine Drive has not been attached to the computer and TM Backup is set to run on a Schedule.
TM Backup will make Snap Shot on the Internal Drive awaiting the TM Backup Drive to be attached.
Only then will the Snaps Shots be transferred to the External Drive and deleted the Internal Drive.
See used and available storage space on your Mac
Locate backups of your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch
Is there a Suite of Adobe Applications used on this computer ?
They may create some very large cache files that can be removed. Though, the Adobe cache files will be recreated as the Applications needs them.
https://helpx.adobe.com/ca/premiere-pro/kb/clear-cache.html
The final word from Apple on Managing the " Other/ System Data “ Category
Other / System Data: 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 third party apps which try to view your storage have a tough time working these days due to all the new macOS security features. You need to grant Grand Perspective "Full Disk Access" within the Security & Privacy System Settings. Even then, I'm not sure you will have full access. I was just experimenting with OmniDiskSweeper, and the developer mentions that even with Full Disk Access, there still may be areas that the app can scan.
Data can be hidden within the hidden Library within your home user folder. Some cloud based items may be stored there as well as backups of any iPhones or iPads you may have made.
In addition, the macOS storage management information details is known to be incorrect many times.
Plus these apps won't see any of the hidden APFS snapshots which can hold data you thought you deleted already. Normally these snapshots are automatically deleted within a day to a week, but some apps may configure the snapshots to be retained much longer. These APFS snapshots are usually associated with backup software like Apple's Time Machine or even third party backup software. Make sure you the backups have completely transferred to external media before deleting any APFS snapshots. Here is an Apple article with instructions for viewing & deleting APFS snapshots (you need to click on the volume group or the "Data" volume in order to reveal the "Show APFS snapshot" option on Disk Utility's "View" menu). Don't delete any of the "update" snapshots as they may be necessary for macOS...they usually won't be more than about 9GB anyway.
Click the "i" icon next to the size of "Documents". it will provide you with more informations.
Are there more than 1 User account on this computer ?
Have you removed a User Account from this computer ?
Having used the terminology System Preferences implies either an error or the computer is running an older version of macOS than Ventura
Starting in Ventura the System Preferences was renamed System Settings
Can you clear up that issue before moving forwards as well as the number of User Account Presently on this computer or Past
@P. Phillips Yes, it is System Settings, I am on Ventura 13.6.
There is only one user account on this computer.
My only last thought is that I recently moved almost every file off of my computer into a One Drive cloud storage. I have checked all the settings with that cloud system, and the files are not stored on my computer anymore - only available online in this OneDrive cloud environment. However, when I moved everything I did not see a dramatic free space allowance occur.
@6x6 - Yes, that is what my second screenshot shows. You can see that Docuemnts take up 104.2 GB but there is no sign of anything that takes up that much space.
Thank you @P. Phillips. I have tried everything in these links with no success in clearing up this 104.2 GB of space taken up in my Documents.
Then it is suggested to return to an earlier posting on Managing Storage - above
good suggestion on the Snap Shoots
will incorporate into the Blurb in the future
Mac 0S Scratch Disk Almost Full - Cannot find large files
