iCloud Storage, Finder, and About This Mac storage discrepancies

Question

iCloud Storage, Finder, and About This Mac storage discrepancies

According to Apple, Mac storage are given in metric units, so 1 GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes, while iCloud storage is given by IEC (binary) definition 1 GiB = 1024^3 bytes. So, figuring out my local and cloud storage usage should be quite straightforward, but it’s not.

I have a MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015) with a nominal storage of 128 GB. I really don’t mind the limited storage, because it’s a working computer, and the biggest hog I have on storage is my photo library. The trouble is, the range I have on some measurements are quite widespread.

According to Finder, my Photos Library is 38.55 GB (on disk), with the home videos. According to About This Mac, I have 44.34 GB of photos in my Mac (all my photos are in the Photos Library—but I don’t know if this includes my home videos or not, but I’m assuming it does). iCloud says I have 33 GiB of photos and videos on my Photos Library, which translates to 35.43 GB on the metric system.

So, I have 35.43, 38.55, and 44.34 GB sizes for the same thing. A range of 8.91 GB which can translate to an percentual error of 20.09–25.15 % (depending on which value is true). All other classes of files that are measured by About This Mac have discrepancies, but lesser ones (from 5 to 10 %).

Maybe it’s my engineering training, but I’m betting I’m not the only person who thinks 20 to 25 % tolerances indicates some shoddy work?

About This Mac also counts the whole contents of my Images folder as a Document. So, just like that, the biggest storage hog I have (of which I have no dependable size estimate) is double counted. How can I, with any measure of trust, even remotely know how much space I have left on my SSD? Finder says it’s 21 GB, but About This Mac says it’s 27 GB, and there is no arithmetic combination that account for any of the results!

I thought that with the High Sierra upgrade (and the filesystem reconstruction to AFPS) the problem would be solved, but no. Even re-indexing Spotlight and repairing the volume in Disk Utility could not bring this to a close.

So for the great souls who beared with me until now, any ideas?

MacBook Pro with Retina display, macOS High Sierra (10.13)

Posted on Sep 25, 2017 8:05 PM

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Answer 1

leroydouglas

Level 10

200,178 points

Sep 25, 2017 9:26 PM in response to osmartormenajr

osmartormenajr wrote:

I still get a discrepancy of about 3 GB (8,8 %) between iCloud and Finder for my photos and videos. Info that is not reliable have simply no use.

Spoken like an engineer 😉

With your same Apple ID you can sign up for a free Developers Account and start a conversation with Apple engineers by filing a Bug Report.

Bug Reporter https://bugreport.apple.com/

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Answer 2

leroydouglas

Level 10

200,178 points

Sep 25, 2017 8:32 PM in response to osmartormenajr

osmartormenajr wrote:

I thought that with the High Sierra upgrade (and the filesystem reconstruction to AFPS) the problem would be solved, but no. Even re-indexing Spotlight and repairing the volume in Disk Utility could not bring this to a close.

So for the great souls who beared with me until now, any ideas?

My best advice is use the Mac for a while and give the macOS a chance to sort it out over time.

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Answer 3

Sep 25, 2017 9:00 PM in response to leroydouglas

Thanks for the answer Leroy,

I don't remember this problem with El Capitan (which doesn't mean it wasn't there), but I do remember having it, and trying to solve it with Sierra. I have used the Mac daily for the last 18 months, so I don't think time alone will solve it.

I do know that About This Mac has some major problems when measuring storage. My iTunes Library is in a external drive (500 GB). The only way I could get it to NOT count as used local storage (on my 128 GB Mac) was to set the iTunes Media folder to the external drive, instead of just adding the media (a lot of old DVDs I've ripped ages ago) to iTunes.

So, when the system can say I'm using about 600 GB of my 120 GB SSD, I'm sure there is a coding error. But even if I disregard About This Mac info. I still get a discrepancy of about 3 GB (8,8 %) between iCloud and Finder for my photos and videos. Info that is not reliable have simply no use.

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