I'm using a MacBook Pro M1 2020 8GB storage. I'm trying to free up storage space and could use advice on how to best do that. When I go to Storage Settings it says I have 243 GB out of 245.11 GB storage used. The top storage user is said to be Applications at 96 GB. However, when I click on info there is only about 15 GB represented. Why is this?
MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 14.1
The information in the macOS storage management area is known to be incorrect at times. Unless you have installed a lot of apps which you don't use, then you probably don't want to uninstall the apps.
Most storage space will be taken up by your own personal data which is stored within your home user folder. Make sure the Trash has been emptied...very easy to overlook or forget this. Next best place to look for items to move or delete is the Downloads folder.
With the use of APFS file systems, storage has gotten more complicated. People may find a lot of storage may be tied up in hidden APFS snapshots. So make sure all backups have successfully completed transferring to external media. Usually these backup snapshots will be automatically deleted after a day or so, but sometimes a snapshot may be retained for longer. You can view and delete APFS snapshots by using the instructions in this Apple article:
View APFS snapshots in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support
You can also use an app like OmniDiskSweeper to locate the larger files/folders, but even with this utility some areas may not be visible due to the new macOS security settings with later versions of macOS (even when launching the app from the command line to run with root access), but it should work Ok to identify items in the main folders of your home user folder (Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Music, Photos, etc.).
FYI, you should always have at least 20GB+ of Free storage space at all times. Ignore the "Available" amount since it may not be immediately usable. The only place macOS actually lists the real Free space is within Disk Utility when clicking on the "Data" volume on the left pane of Disk Utility....the Free space value will be shown on the right pane just beneath the storage bar graph. Some workloads require having even more Free space. If you completely run out of Free storage space, then it will become impossible to delete any items due to how the APFS file system works.
People should always have frequent and regular backups of their computer since there are so many new ways to permanently lose access to your data with all the changes to the newer hardware, macOS, and security features.
The information in the macOS storage management area is known to be incorrect at times. Unless you have installed a lot of apps which you don't use, then you probably don't want to uninstall the apps.
Most storage space will be taken up by your own personal data which is stored within your home user folder. Make sure the Trash has been emptied...very easy to overlook or forget this. Next best place to look for items to move or delete is the Downloads folder.
With the use of APFS file systems, storage has gotten more complicated. People may find a lot of storage may be tied up in hidden APFS snapshots. So make sure all backups have successfully completed transferring to external media. Usually these backup snapshots will be automatically deleted after a day or so, but sometimes a snapshot may be retained for longer. You can view and delete APFS snapshots by using the instructions in this Apple article:
View APFS snapshots in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support
You can also use an app like OmniDiskSweeper to locate the larger files/folders, but even with this utility some areas may not be visible due to the new macOS security settings with later versions of macOS (even when launching the app from the command line to run with root access), but it should work Ok to identify items in the main folders of your home user folder (Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Music, Photos, etc.).
FYI, you should always have at least 20GB+ of Free storage space at all times. Ignore the "Available" amount since it may not be immediately usable. The only place macOS actually lists the real Free space is within Disk Utility when clicking on the "Data" volume on the left pane of Disk Utility....the Free space value will be shown on the right pane just beneath the storage bar graph. Some workloads require having even more Free space. If you completely run out of Free storage space, then it will become impossible to delete any items due to how the APFS file system works.
People should always have frequent and regular backups of their computer since there are so many new ways to permanently lose access to your data with all the changes to the newer hardware, macOS, and security features.
MacBook Pro over-reporting storage used by Applications
