com.apple.mediaanalysisd files filling drive in macOS 15.1

Does mediaanalysisd cause that issue if you create a dummy new user and login to that account? If, that helps, you might try if moving the following preference file to the Desktop, and then rebooting helps (backup first, just in case):

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mediaanalysisd.plist

...there is another preference but handling it is more involved and I would not lightly fiddle that:

/System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.mediaanalysisd.plist

Me too... Is there anyone left in Apple that remembers how to program in 64K of memory?

If (iphone & no space while trying to upgrade)

offload Photos & reload later! - That would make it simpler!

Or is it apple policy to force people into buying a new phone &/or a real Mac?

If (df at 90%)

kill mediaanalysisd & do not restart it till space below 90%

Use space more efficiently!

Manage caches appropriately!

etc. etc.

Come on Apple are there any old & careful programmers left?

Having to poke around in plists is not a solution!

This is all really simp-le stuff you seem to have forgotten!

Anyone with this problem all have ICloud... I have ache files that are exeeding over 100 gbs. And Im not quite sure what to do, I have been struggiling with space for quite awhile now , and even got an 8TB to help out, however seemingly always end up having the same issue at the end of he day.

Has anyneremoed these files or copied them over? Does anyone know if removing them will cause my computer to malfunction?

All I am occasionally using a Check Point VPN, enabled in the browser, and DevCleaner. I doubt either of them does anything to impact this issue

I will check DiskUtility and EtreCheck, as well as update to 15.3, and get back …

Thanks, but it's not luck we need it's real action & admission of problems.

Also a "switch" to turn off mediaanalysisd & any other errant "new" software

would be useful!

Without playing in the plist swamp.

I was also experiencing this issue lately but I just updated to macOS Sequoia Version 15.3 and I went from less than 5GB of space left to under 63GB. It has ate up 10gigs as I write this reply. I tried deleting files and applications but that only helped so much.

for whatever reason, MacOS Sequoia eats up so much data. Especially the media analysis folder.

I wonder because Apple introduced "Apple Intelligence" that the system is reading data back and forth across everyone's files just in case the user request something on their Mac?

I think the temporary fix for now is to keep updating your Macs, close out tabs you are not using, fully close out apps, limit or optimize background activity, occasionally delete files or apps if necessary, and maybe restart your Mac every once in a while.

And if you guys have the money for one, buy a back-up SSD just in case.

Another 15.2 user(2021 iMac) with the experience of diminished hard drive space. For months, I have been diligently trying to manage larger files, even moving the Photos database to an external drive. When the recovered space was filled up in a matter of days, I knew something was wrong. GrandPerspective showed where the culprits were, all mediaanalysisd files, to the tune of ~70 GB, leaving less than 10 GB free.

There has been mention of a resolution by upgrading to 15.3. The upgrade just finished and, lo and behold, I'm up to over 80 GB of free disk space. YMMV

Had the same problem on my Mini with 256GB storage. i cleaned up several times deleting things that took 3GB or more and the drive kept filling up. Got on with Apple Tech Support and they had me delete the file, com.apple.mediaanalysisd file but that didn't work and after rebooting, i still didn't have any free space. I downloaded and used CleanMyMac from MacPaw and if found the file at 56GB. I used it to clean up the storage and that worked without seeming to cause any other problems. I too am unhappy with Apple for allowing a cache file to fill up my local hard drive!!!

I thought I'd replied to this... seems not...

Photos: 35432 items

Incl.

Videos: 2324

Selfies: 220 (Not necessarily of me!)

Live: 93

Panos: 207

Total: ~168G

Not a great number by the standards of others I know.

Also in iCloud...

iCloud drive: ~110G

Backups: 17G

+ various app storage.

Again, not high by some standards.

(& nowhere near as much as I have on linux machines)

That "apple" should run mediaanalysisd on a machine & fill it up causing me to lose data

is unforgivable, to continually tell people to reduce usage when the actual problem is "apple"

in unconscionable.

The same applies to iphones, ipads etc. (the system software for which is now "bloated" in the

style of MicroSloth Windoze) when an update is required & the device can only unload or remove

insignificant apps when "Photos" could be offloaded (as long as there is sufficient iCloud space).

I get that this is a problem for a 256G/512G iphone with 5G of iCloud, but the entire ecosystem is

seemingly geared to selling more iCloud space &/or bigger memory devices.

It is really a programming problem & an honesty issue that need to be resolved & tell the user the truth!

So let's encourage Apple to start being truthful about storage space, on machines, iphone/pad & iCloud.

Please Apple do not try to hide the bleeding obvious!

As I assume by your comment "BTW, Apple issued isn’t here" you mean that no one from Apple reads

these pages, I find that disappointing & feel that they should, they might learn something about their

products!

In any case that does indicate that we need a button that says "report this as a bug" that points people

in the right direction.

But then my experience at trying to report a bug to apple has been that it is generally ignored.

Thu Feb 20 10:50:01 AEDT 2025...

 83G /Volumes/MyHomesVol/MyHome/Library/Containers/com.apple.mediaanalysisd

/dev/disk8s1 1000G   841G   159G   85%   /Volumes/MyHomesVol

so it's taking 10% of my home dir.

Problem not really fixed Apple!!! Start reading these pages!

& MOST IMPORTANTLY, LEARN FROM THEM!

I'm still having this issue with 15.3.2! I deleted that whole folder just a few days ago (because it was eating up almost 250GB of space!), and it's already back up to almost 60GB! Anyone found a solution that doesn't require extensive IT knowledge? :) Because obviously Apple didn't fix anything...

80 GB for me, any solutions yet?

Hopefully that will happen. I noticed today I have only 88 MB of free space on my M1 MacMini. It turned out com.apple.mediaanalysisd is about 23 GB as of now.

OK.:)