Why is my Mac endlessly calculating storage space?

Michelle Lyons wrote:

I forgot to add the ... I did check the "test" user account. It hasn't been used for anything else. This is what I get with that account. As you can see, there are options on the top (optomize storage and empty trash) that don't even show up in my regular user account.

You only see those in your test account because that account hasn't been fully set yet and probably isn't logged in to iCloud.

After reinstalling everything

Everything? You mean you wiped the hard drive and then reinstalled everything from backup? Or did you just reinstall the operating system.

The operating system is stored on a cryptographically sealed volume and then accessed via a read-only snapshot. Reinstalling is a 100% no-op. No bytes on disk are changed.

If you reinstalled using Time Machine, then you will have restored the entire system exactly the way it was before - bugs and all.

In the future, please be precise about exactly what you are doing. Otherwise, any suggestion has to branch off into 2 or more divergent paths of possible actions you should take, based on what you actually did in the past. As you might expect, that only serves to confuse everyone.

I got a message that the dropbox app was damaged and should be trashed, which I did but the problems remain.

The rest of your system runtime is probably damaged too. Maybe dropbox caused that. Maybe some other app caused it. Maybe dropbox is gone, probably it actually isn't.

I'm afraid that your problem will continue until you remove it. Replacing the read-only, unchanging, and unchangeable operating system will not help. Randomly deleting one component of some system modification, likely leaving other components still installed, and perhaps running 24/7, out of control, will not help. Turning Spotlight indexing on and off will not help. Repeating all of the above any number of times will not help.

It might be helpful for you to download Etrecheck (free, open source diagnostic software) which will produce a report that has a generic (no identifying info) information report about how your Mac is configured.

Using EtreCheck - Apple Community

You can read the report before posting it here, using the instructions in the link above, basically using the Additional text button below. You can confirm it provides no identifying info about you or your Mac.

However the listing it provides may enable one of the many experts reading here to identify what is causing your issue. Something is causing it, because the vast majority of users do not see that issue. You will ultimately be better off if the cause can be identified and removed.

Michelle Lyons wrote:

Don't use the interface?

Using the storage setting is a bit important when you have limited hard drive space.

I did provide feedback directly through Apple Support/AppleCare.

My mac is up to date. I always run the updates and this problem seems to have started after the last update.

I also am not a fan of third party apps and downloaded OnyX ONLY because I found someone else in a reddit post who had the same issue and that solved the problem. I don't have any other apps on my Mac that are Cleaners/optimizers/VPN/Anti-Virus. I'm hoping the Sequoia will come out soon and fix the problem.

if it is mission critical to your success there are many options for a GUI apps to assist you:

ex. Try something like OmniDiskSweeper for a GUI to get a good look at itemized file size and location:

OmniDiskSweeper http://www.omnigroup.com/more

From your Terminal.app you can see itemized details/ File size— list the items in the home folder with the sizes, including invisible items, copy & paste:

sudo du -h -d 1 ~/ | sort -k 1nr  

(note: your psswd will not echo on screen type it in anyway, use the enter\return key to proceed.)

let it run to its conclusion; you can ignore all “Operation not permitted”

for your issue you can try Rebuild the Spotlight index on your Mac

Rebuild the Spotlight index on your Mac - Apple Support

As you know, the "calculating" should take only a few seconds, maybe five or so (my HD is 4TB). So in your case it appears the calculation is stuck somewhere in the routine, cannot get access to something to finish. Your HD is not so large that indexing is a benefit and the current OS 14.6.1 is good. For now, have you gone to Finder and clicked on the Macintosh HD and then Command-i (the get info for that icon) and does it calculate available space? It won't tell you what uses the space, but will tell you what is available.

Michelle Lyons wrote:

In settings>general>storage my mac is calculating endlessly. I've reindexed the drive, reinstalled the OS, started in safe mode...nothing helps.

I downloaded and used OnyX maintenance mode only with the basic settings. Nothing seems to fix this.

It seems as if there are also buttons missing for emptying the trash and one other one.



If I start in safe mode, some of the items will fill in but if I click on any of the buttons (such as open music) or try to delete any files nothing happens. Apple support says it's "cosmetic" and they're working on it but I don't see anyone on this support board with the same issue.

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Well, don't use the interface if there is an issue.

To be proactive you can file a bug report / submit your Apple Feedback here: Product Feedback - Apple

The current stable release of Sonoma including bug fixes, security updates is macOS 14.6.1

Keep your Mac up to date - Apple Support

Keep your Mac up to date - Apple Support

I will say I am not a fan of third party app trying to sort macOS issues...it can distort the resolve.

Uninstall all third party apps that are Cleaners/Optimizers/VPN/Anti-Virus

all known to cause issues on the macOS

Michelle Lyons wrote:

Yes, I mentioned in my original post that I had reindexed the hard drive. Apple support had me do that when I called to ask about this problem. They also told me that it was a "known issue" that engineers were working on and suggested that the "upcoming update" would likely fix it. I'm going to reindex it again just to double check. Thanks for your input.

It could be something stopping the index. There have been some random problems with some system third-party metadata importers freezing things up. The command line interface to Spotlight can erase the entire Spotlight index and start again. I tried it once and had to restart for it to begin indexing again (I was not getting any Application hits and that's how I start apps).

The update did not fix this issue unfortunately.

It never does because the issue isn't caused by the OS. If that was a problem with the OS, there would be 10s of thousands of posts and me too's.

All of that is calculated by Spotlight. There is likely something wrong with your Spotlight index. Did you ever update it as suggested by leroydouglas?

Michelle Lyons wrote:

Again...thank you for TRYING to help a somewhat confused lady! I obviously did not understand what you were trying to explain the first time but having done it now I see what you meant.

I'm glad you got it sorted out in the end. It's unfortunate that you were sent so many mixed messages.

To a large extent, Apple essentially ignores the existence of 3rd party software. That's why so many people have so many problems with new releases. 3rd party developers have months, and sometimes years, to improve compatibility with their apps. End users usually can't identify which 3rd party app is causing the problem, so Apple bears most of the support costs for software that Apple didn't even write. That leads Apple to make even bigger changes in hopes that the more recalcitrant developers will just go out of business.

This all leaves individual people stuck in the middle, as big companies measure market size in the millions or billions.