com.apple.mediaanalysisd files filling drive in macOS 15.1

I am please to say that Apple seem to have "fixed" the mediaanalysisd problems.

At least I am now at 15.5 & my Library/Containers/com.apple.mediaanalysisd

directory seems to stay mostly under 200M with relatively rare rises.

So it would seem that the problem is if not fixed at least mitigated.

Congratulation Apple, BUT it would be nice if you would communicate here & at

least show that you are listening!

Library/Containers/com.apple.mediaanalysisd/Data/Library/Caches

This is almost 80GB and I have no disk space free to run applications.

rm -rf com.apple.mediaanalysisd/ resolved this for me

I am observing a similar anomalous problem with the mediaanalysisd process. I have an empty library of photos, but when I have a closed mac (I use aldente so it doesn't go to sleep) this process starts to load 1 core of the CPU completely for almost the whole period of the closed lid, in previous versions of OC this problem didn't happen at all, but support just said to erase SSD and reinstall macos =) (I don't think it will help)

I just want to know what process or event is causing this behavior, but support also couldn't tell me how to see it.

The problem spreads even in safe mode if you specify

sudo pmset -disablesleep 1

Below I attach a log file that was kept with a bash script (just recording the 5 most used processes every 10 seconds) all night long (only fit half)

Here's what I did:

Using an M1 Air 2020 running Sequoia 15.2, I was getting "out of space" messages about my 256GB SSD internal.

I connected a 1TB external SSD and offloaded as much as I could, copying apps and things to the external SSD and replacing them with aliases. I tested each app for rudimentary functionality. Everything seemed to be working for a while.

I was still running out of space. I was down to 5GB.

Then I found com.apple.mediaanalysisd was occupying 74GB! I Googled the name and, after reading this thread, I copied com.apple.mediaanalysisd to my external, replaced it with an alias, and emptied the Trash. One folder containing subfolders to five levels would not go away, but I saw no data, so I rebooted and emptied the Trash again.

My internal SSD now has 88 GB available. I have noticed no abnormalities.

Is there any way to test for a possible loss in function?

--Gil

LO AND BEHOLD!

Today, after updating to 15.3 and working on the machine (I don't set it to never sleep, but I work on it during the day), com.apple.mediaanalysisd is down to 8 GB!

I do not know if 15.3 solved this issue, or if the process to do whatever it is doing took so long …

It's a Miracle!

Apple have descended from the Ivory tower & fixed it!

Albeit days after an update to 15.3

It gets better!

They have even fixed (for a while I'd expect - but don't bet on it!) df & du to show more

accurate data about space usage. The person in Apple that actually did this deserves

accolades!

df...

Filesystem Size Used Avail Capacity Mounted on

/dev/disk3s1s1245G 11G 174G 7% /

/dev/disk3s5 245G 52G 174G 23% /System/Volumes/Data

/dev/disk8s1 1000G 769G 231G 77% /Volumes/MyHome

/dev/disk7s2 2000G 993G 1007G 50% /Volumes/MyMacMiniBackup

du -shx WhatImInterestedIn...

23G /Volumes/MyHome/me/Library/Containers/com.apple.mediaanalysisd

9.0G /Volumes/MyHome/me/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/

Those are not unreasonable numbers - at least I'm happy with them for now!

Please convey my congratulations to the person in Apple that fixed these problems

that should never have happened & we look forward to better communication with

Apple & improvement in their technical support...

Who have 2 options for all problems,

Reboot

Log off removing all iCloud sync, then log back in.

Sorry there's a third now, total reinstall!

They really do not work!

Good programming does!

Analysis of all cache files is required - please get the software engineers (another name for

programmers) on to it, it's called appropriate maintenance!

Do not assume that 3rd party stuff & community user advice will solve bad programming

practice!

Thanks for listening (at last)

BTW the...

You’ve exceeded the posting limits. Please try again in a few minutes.

error message is really frustrating when you answer 2 threads in quick succession!

I installed 15.3.1 a few weeks ago. My internal SSD has 87GB free, so that's fine.

com.apple.mediaanalysisd is still occupying 74GB, but it's on an external 1TB disk (linked by an alias) so it's not hurting anything.

According to ⌘-I, it hasn't been modified since I moved it six weeks ago, so I guess the alias isn't working. However, no new folder with that name has appeared.

--Gil

Try running Drive DX to check the health of your Drives.

I've read that 15.3 did fix something my friend, best of luck...

I too have been having a similar problem. However, I am using M1 2020 Air.

Since I updated my software to Sequoia 15.2, the system data on my drive suddenly bloated to 110GB (previously, it did not exceed 25GB).

I tried cleaning my device using CleanMyMac, however, it temporarily reduced the space (to ~60GB). I hadn't used my laptop in more than 24 hours and when I picked it up - it was warm. As soon I logged in, it told me it was running out of space again. I checked CleanMyMac and could see that com.apple.mediaanalysisd is eating up 22.2GB and increasing.

What is this process? Is it a temporary indexing of my images? If so, does deleting it keep resetting the indexing and it would keep trying to run? My photos aren't even on my laptop so what on earth is it doing?

It should not require a 3rd party app to ensure that Apple software does not put a device in a critical

(full disk) state.

Software like mediaanalysisd should be looking at space levels where it is saving stuff & stop doing so

at 90% disk full! Anything else is really dangerous!

However one thing has gotten better with, ($ sw_vers)

ProductName: macOS

ProductVersion: 15.2

BuildVersion: 24C101

& that is that df at least seems to actually show correct usage & free space.

Sadly in my case a "du -shx" on,

/Volumes/MyMountedSSD/MyUserName/Library/Containers/com.apple.mediaanalysisd

is right now,

239G /Volumes/MyMountedSSD/MyUserName/Library/Containers/com.apple.mediaanalysisd

which is my home dir.

& it shows in "df" as,

/dev/disk8s1 1000G 1000G 0B 100% /Volumes/MyMountedSSD/

(names changed to protect the guilty)

15.3 is now available so here goes a reboot & hope that someone in Apple has actually

fixed a few more things!

Sadly my home disk is still full after upgrade to 15.3

/dev/disk8s1 1000G 1000G 3506k 100% /Volumes/MyMountedSSD

% du -shx /Volumes/MyMountedSSD/MyUserName/Library/Containers/com.apple.mediaanalysisd

239G /Volumes/MyMountedSSD/MyUserName//Library/Containers/com.apple.mediaanalysisd

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.

I have a hunch that these bundle files are the photos that are being uploaded to iCloud if you have the Optimize setting enabled. I could be very wrong, but I did not seem to have this issue until I changed that setting.

Now, even more odd, is that when I go to Settings > Storage, my Photos app claims it takes up 6.47gb with 342GB remaining free space.

When I go to Disk Utility, I have 33GB of free space. So that means theres about 309GB of floating storage being used up somewhere right?

I check my iCloud storage and lo and behold, Photos is taking up 304GB

I am trying to edit a video, so I began importing some videos from an SSD. 50gb required and it says I only have 30GB of available space.

My guess:

Apple is converting the original files to the bundles and uploading to icloud, doing so earmarks the photos app to appear smaller than the space it's actually taking. I am ASSUMING that the bundles are being uploaded in the background, however activity monitor is showing 0 packets sent or received for mediaanalysisid.

Can anyone confirm if they have the same discrepancies going on?

I'm on 15.3, have a MacMini M1 and can't keep up with cleaning this thing out. It just keeps filling and filling. Super frustrating. This is obviously something Apple needs to address. I don't think there is anything we can do here except throw it in the trash, empty the trash, click "me too," and send feedback to Apple via apple.com/feedback. Do you part! Report, report, report!