Mac OS Sierra iTunes storage showing incorrectly

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Level 1

10 points

Mac OS Sierra iTunes storage showing incorrectly

I have a 2016 15" MacBook Pro with touch bar. Running the most current and up to date versions of all apple products. I keep 1.35 TB of iTunes Movies and TV shows on an external drive. However my storage data shows that I have 1.35 TB of iTunes data on my 500 GB Macintosh HD (see attached image). I have tried hiding all files in finder and to reset the statistics and several other tricks that worked on previous OS versions to solve conflicting storage reporting. The iTunes data shows the same even if my external HD is not connected. Any ideas?

MacBook Pro TouchBar and Touch ID, iOS 10.3.1

Posted on Apr 10, 2017 8:24 AM

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Answer 1

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SiHancox

Level 5

4,953 points

Apr 10, 2017 9:09 AM in response to brennonj

This link The latest iTunes update (12.6.0.95) messed up my Mac's storage reporting also discusses this issue - you could try booting into Safe Mode (hold down Shift key on startup). Once booted, open up System Storage again and also click on "Manage..." and see if it corrects the reported capacity readings after a minute or so - then shut down and boot back normally.

I don't store music externally but it's possible the System Storage graph is getting it's info not from the actual files themselves but some other source, may be xml file in the iTunes folder which is on your main drive so it reports accordingly (just my guess) and if so will require Apple to fix.

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Answer 2

macjack

Level 10

111,180 points

Apr 10, 2017 9:11 AM in response to SiHancox

For information about the Other category in the Storage display, please see Apple Support Topic

What is 'Other' and 'Purgeable' in About This Mac? - Apple Support

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

Omni DiskSweeper can show you the precise size and location of all your files. It will inventory your disk starting from the files that take up the most space. It can also give you a more accurate read of disk space than Finder or Storage Tab of About this Mac. If you want you can even delete files from OmniDisk Sweeper. But be careful some of the items may be important to your system.

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Answer 3

brennonj Author

Level 1

10 points

Apr 10, 2017 9:11 AM in response to SiHancox

Thanks. I'm pretty sure that it is getting the information from the iTunes Library.itl file. I doesn't effect performance and it still shows the correct amount of space available. It's just annoying.

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Answer 4

SiHancox

Level 5

4,953 points

Apr 10, 2017 10:26 AM in response to brennonj

It will probably get sorted in a future point update but you could report it to Apple in either Bug Reporter or Feedback (just do a search to get the links) to push things alone a bit.

The System Storage graphical display is new and as such suppose a few bugs are expected - I had my music (all on drive mp3's) being shown under System, only Podcasts and iOS Apps were shown under the iTunes section, but that got fixed with the 10.12.4 update.

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