j.melv
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: Why do I have 44GB of "other" storage

I have been trawling the internet for weeks trying to find out why I have 44GB of "other" storage on my mac, before we start I KNOW what "other" storage is and I don't want someone "answering" my question with a link to something that tells me what it is. My mac is a MacBook Air (early 2014 model) 4gb ram, 1.4 GHz Intel Core i5 and I'm running yosemite 10.10.2. I have been on with apple support (not the phone or in store because i'm sure they will try and make me pay for something somewhere however if a fix can't be found i will take it in) furthermore as I said i've read many many articles and forum post that say they have a "fix" and they don't fix anything. Its been a problem for about two months now, I can't remember exactly when it happened because i never used to check my hard drive space until it told me I was "low", since then I've uninstalled a game or two to free up space which I didnt want to do but with a 128GB HD what can you do?

 

If anyone can tell me a way to cut down this storage without using an app I have to pay for or without using an app at all it would be great

MacBook Air, OS X Yosemite (10.10.2)

Posted on Mar 20, 2015 10:42 AM

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j.melv

Q: Why do I have 44GB of "other" storage

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  • by OGELTHORPE,

    OGELTHORPE OGELTHORPE Mar 20, 2015 11:09 AM in response to j.melv
    Level 9 (52,793 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 20, 2015 11:09 AM in response to j.melv

    This should answer what OTHER is:

     

    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202867

     

    Ciao.

  • by OGELTHORPE,

    OGELTHORPE OGELTHORPE Mar 20, 2015 11:13 AM in response to j.melv
    Level 9 (52,793 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 20, 2015 11:13 AM in response to j.melv

    Your 'problem' is not OTHER but the files that you have on your MBA.  I recommend that you download from the Internet OmniDiskSweeper and Grand Perspective (both free) and open them.  They will show all of your files and the respective sizes.  With these tools you may determine what you wish to keep on your MBA, delete or store on an external HDD.

     

    Ciao.

  • by j.melv,

    j.melv j.melv Apr 2, 2015 7:59 AM in response to OGELTHORPE
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 2, 2015 7:59 AM in response to OGELTHORPE

    Thanks for the help they both helped a bit but didnt manage to delete much space, after a lot of searching I got annoyed and deleted a steam game. I then checked my storage later and found that the "other" had halved, seems as though macs don't categorise which i guess isnt suprising.

  • by OGELTHORPE,

    OGELTHORPE OGELTHORPE Apr 2, 2015 8:08 AM in response to j.melv
    Level 9 (52,793 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 2, 2015 8:08 AM in response to j.melv

    OmniDiskSweeper and Grand perspective do not delete files.  They simply are tools to show what you have on your MBA and you have to take action if you want to delete data or transfer the data to an external HDD.

     

    The title OTHER is not very descriptive and some people get nervous as a result.  One should not focus on the title of the category, but the actual files that may be included by the OSX in that category.  Based on your last post, the game that you deleted was vied by the OSX as an OTHER file.

     

    Ciao.