SputnikSweetheart
Level 1 (8 points)
iTunes

Q: Can't figure out why audio files are still taking up so much space on my macbook

Hi everyone, I apologize if this has been asked before, I've been going cross-eyed trying to find an answer.

 

I stupidly did not realize that using iCloud DID NOT mean that all of my music and photos would be stored on the cloud and NOT take up space on my macbook. I found out the hard way. So I'm in the process of moving all of my photos and music to an external drive. All well and dandy. EXCEPT that since I've moved my iTunes library and all my music files, when I look at my storage, it still shows 154GB allocated to audio. (Meanwhile there is now 140GB of audio on my seagate so SOMETHING that was supposed to happen happened.) I have searched everywhere, I cannot figure out why there is still 154GB worth of audio on my laptop. Any suggestions or advice is greatly appreciated. Please be kind, I was on a pc for a couple of decades and finally made the leap last year but I'm still confounded by all this Cloud stuff and finding my way around on a mac. (I am on OS X Yosemite). I am assuming this is an iTunes thing but I could be way off.

 

Thank you in advance.

Posted on Sep 6, 2016 8:15 PM

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SputnikSweetheart

Q: Can't figure out why audio files are still taking up so much space on my macbook

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Rysz,Helpful

    Rysz Rysz Sep 6, 2016 9:03 PM in response to SputnikSweetheart
    Level 6 (19,670 points)
    iTunes
    Sep 6, 2016 9:03 PM in response to SputnikSweetheart

    I'm assuming that after you copied the iTunes folder to the external drive, you checked if everything is there, then deleted the iTunes folder on your Mac's drive.

     

    If NO, then you know what to do.

     

    If YES, force Spotlight to reindex the drive.

    Rebuild the Spotlight index on your Mac - Apple Support

     

    ---------

    iTunes: Linking to new or external HD library:

    * Open iTunes while holding down the Option key (Mac) or Shift key (Windows).

    * In the resulting dialog, click the Choose Library button.


    * Select the iTunes folder you moved to the external hard drive.

    * Click Choose (Mac OS X) or Open (Windows) and then choose the iTunes Library file inside .

  • by SputnikSweetheart,

    SputnikSweetheart SputnikSweetheart Sep 6, 2016 8:37 PM in response to Rysz
    Level 1 (8 points)
    iTunes
    Sep 6, 2016 8:37 PM in response to Rysz

    Yes, I did do that and had found instructions to link to a new external library. But I don't know anything about reindexing the drive - I will try that now!! Thank you.

     

    ETA: Just tried and it didn't change that massive 154GB of audio still on my hard drive. (But thank you for the quick response and suggestion.) And actually, as I'm looking at it again, the storage for photos is also really high on my hard drive versus the external. But I've checked and double checked and triple checked and everything is set to point at the external drive. I'm sure there's something really obvious I must be missing.

  • by Rysz,Helpful

    Rysz Rysz Sep 6, 2016 9:03 PM in response to SputnikSweetheart
    Level 6 (19,670 points)
    iTunes
    Sep 6, 2016 9:03 PM in response to SputnikSweetheart

    I'm sure there's something really obvious I must be missing.

    Emptied Trash?

     

    Sorry

  • by SputnikSweetheart,

    SputnikSweetheart SputnikSweetheart Sep 6, 2016 9:00 PM in response to Rysz
    Level 1 (8 points)
    iTunes
    Sep 6, 2016 9:00 PM in response to Rysz

    LOL No sorry needed, that could have been entirely possible!! But unfortunately I've emptied the trash a zillion times.

     

    Things just go weirder, I may take the thing to an apple store because I'll wind up destroying something. I attempted disabling local backup disk with " sudo tmutil disablelocal " which got rid of the mysterious audio & photo space on my hard drive (but everything is intact on my external and cloud). But now I have a mysterious "other" taking up 482.12GB of space where before it was... well, I don't remember but it was MUCH MUCH less than that.

     

    I should just stop touching things and back away slowly now, right?

  • by Rysz,

    Rysz Rysz Sep 6, 2016 9:05 PM in response to SputnikSweetheart
    Level 6 (19,670 points)
    iTunes
    Sep 6, 2016 9:05 PM in response to SputnikSweetheart

    Yeah, counting to ten first might be good.

     

    THE "Bible" about Other.

    What is "Other" and What Can I Do About It?