frank&wien

Q: disk getting full with 'other' and 'backup'

I installed a 500GB SSD 3 months ago. Now disk has 270GB 'other' and 150GB 'Backup' and is now full.

When I move films Imovie Events to backup/TC it doesn't make any room on SSD?

 

How do I find out what the 'other' (the blue first bar in 'about this mac') and 'backup' is; I can't find them in Finder, and want to get of them!!

 

Any tips on how to do this. What I have done so far only seems to load up the disk further....

 

thanks,

 

Frank

Posted on Jun 16, 2015 4:19 AM

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Q: disk getting full with 'other' and 'backup'

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  • by Cunnla,

    Cunnla Cunnla Jun 16, 2015 4:44 AM in response to frank&wien
    Level 4 (1,997 points)
    Desktops
    Jun 16, 2015 4:44 AM in response to frank&wien

    Hi,

    You may have a lot of backups for your devices. Go to iTunes Preferences > Devices and you can delete them there.

    Also, if you have a lot of media stored on your Mac, you could save space by moving your iTunes folder or Photos folder to an external hard drive and designate that as the location for the libraries.

  • by RIFerrarr,

    RIFerrarr RIFerrarr Jun 16, 2015 4:53 AM in response to frank&wien
    Level 3 (857 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 16, 2015 4:53 AM in response to frank&wien

    Hi Frank,

     

    Before moving on, you do understand that TC is only a backup solution, and not intended for file storage? You should have a separate external drive for storage. As all drives will fail, you need to have at least one good backup of all your valuable data/files. Are you using Time Machine along with your Time Capsule to make sure all your data/files are backed up? Now, if Time Machine is not associated with a backup device (Time Capsule), it will keep local snapshots on the hard drive until it is connected to a backup device. First, confirm TM is connected and backing up either to a connected hard drive or to Time Capsule. Second, confirm important files are backed up. 

  • by OGELTHORPE,

    OGELTHORPE OGELTHORPE Jun 16, 2015 5:31 AM in response to frank&wien
    Level 9 (52,313 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 16, 2015 5:31 AM in response to frank&wien

    First understand what OTHER comprises of:

     

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

     

    In regards to 'backups' read this:

     

    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204015

     

    The backups can be ignored since they will drop off if space is needed on the HDD for other data.  You can get rid of them by turning off Time Machine if they really bother you.

     

    As for OTHER, it can be argued as a poorly named category but it is NOT unimportant.  (The OSX is a part of it)  If you are having storage issues, consider installing a larger HDD.  They now are available up to 2 TB in capacity.

     

    Or you may download OmniDiskSweeper and Grand Perspective(both free) and open them.  They will show all of your files and the respective sizes.  Transfer to another HDD files you do not want on the MBP or delete them.  DO NOT forget to empty trash, only then is space allocated for new data.

     

    Also remember that any thing you move to an external HDD should have a backup as well if the data is of importance to you.

     

    Ciao.

  • by Linc Davis,Solvedanswer

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Jun 16, 2015 8:38 AM in response to frank&wien
    Level 10 (207,963 points)
    Applications
    Jun 16, 2015 8:38 AM in response to frank&wien

    For information about the Other category in the Storage display, see this support article. If the display seems to be inaccurate, try rebuilding the Spotlight index.

    Empty the Trash if you haven't already done so. If you use iPhoto, empty its internal Trash first:

              iPhoto ▹ Empty Trash

    In Photos:

              File Show Recently Deleted Delete All

    Do the same in other applications, such as Aperture, that have an internal Trash feature. Then restart the computer. That will temporarily free up some space.

    According to Apple documentation, you need at least 9 GB of available space on the startup volume (as shown in the Finder Info window) for normal operation—not the mythical 10%, 15%, or any other percentage. You also need enough space left over to allow for growth of the data. There is little or no performance advantage to having more available space than the minimum Apple recommends. Available storage space that you'll never use is wasted space.

    When Time Machine backs up a portable Mac, some of the free space will be used to make local snapshots, which are backup copies of recently deleted files. The space occupied by local snapshots is reported as available by the Finder, and should be considered as such. In the Storage display of System Information, local snapshots are shown as  Backups. The snapshots are automatically deleted when they expire or when free space falls below a certain level. You ordinarily don't need to, and should not, delete local snapshots yourself. If you followed bad advice to disable local snapshots by running a shell command, you may have ended up with a lot of data in the Other category. Ask for instructions in that case.

    See this support article for some simple ways to free up storage space.

    You can more effectively use a tool such as OmniDiskSweeper (ODS) or GrandPerspective (GP) to explore the volume and find out what's taking up the space. You can also delete files with it, but don't do that unless you're sure that you know what you're deleting and that all data is safely backed up. That means you have multiple backups, not just one. Note that ODS only works with OS X 10.8 or later. If you're running an older OS version, use GP.

    Deleting files inside a photo or iTunes library will corrupt the library. Changes to such a library must be made from within the application that created it. The same goes for Mail files.

    Proceed further only if the problem isn't solved by the above steps.

    ODS or GP can't see the whole filesystem when you run it just by double-clicking; it only sees files that you have permission to read. To see everything, you have to run it as root.

    Back up all data now.

    Install the app in the Applications folder as usual. Quit it if it's running.

    Triple-click anywhere in the corresponding line of text below on this page to select it, then copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.

    For ODS:

    security execute-with-privileges /A*/OmniDiskSweeper.app/*/M*/* 2>&-

    For GP:

    security execute-with-privileges /A*/GrandPerspective.app/*/M*/* 2>&-

    Launch the built-in Terminal application in any of the following ways:

    ☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

    ☞ In the Finder, select Go Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

    ☞ Open LaunchPad and start typing the name.

    Paste into the Terminal window by pressing command-V. You'll be prompted for your login password.

    The application window will open behind other open windows. When you scan a volume, the window will eventually show all files in all folders, sorted by size. It may take a few minutes for the app to finish scanning.

    I don't recommend that you make a habit of doing this. Don't delete anything as root. If something needs to be deleted, make sure you know what it is and how it got there, and then delete it by other, safer, means. When in doubt, leave it alone or ask for guidance.

    When you're done with the app, quit it and also quit Terminal.