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Who are the mysterious Other Users?

We have a brand new MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2017, Two Thunderbolt 3 ports) running MacOS Sierra 10.12.6.


After two months' use by just the two of us, it is now reporting that we are "out of free space" or "disk low on space"!


A look within About This Mac reveals a mysterious entry under Manage Storage of Other Users reporting over 110GB of used space.


User uploaded file


I tried a chat with Apple, however, they just told me to clear browsers and cache, even though our own usage is under 7GB each!


What is using this 110GB that shows up in aqua on the Storage overview?


User uploaded file


Any suggestions please?

MacBook Pro, macOS Sierra (10.12.6)

Posted on Nov 15, 2017 12:11 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Nov 16, 2017 10:30 AM

I am happy to report that I have finally managed to solve this issue.


As expected, the data was being held in a file that was being hidden from view yet still counted in the usage.


After two stints with Apple Chat were unsuccessful, despite their best efforts (and I must say they were very helpful and patient), I managed to work out that the issue was not with Apple, but Third Party software.


Basically, when I purchased my MacBook Pro from Currys, I also got a TP cloud storage package with TKH (Team KnowHow). Now I still don't know the WHY, but the software was storing over 110GB of data on both user accounts, meaning 223GB of the drive was being used unnecessarily.


I found them in the Library within a folder called Livewire.


So, if anyone else is unfortunate enough to experience this, check for that hidden folder first.


It could save you hours of stress.


Thank you to Apple staff for their efforts and to Kappy as well, who I reckon was on the right lines, it was just down to me to find that rogue folder.

7 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Nov 16, 2017 10:30 AM in response to mikealphacharlieuk

I am happy to report that I have finally managed to solve this issue.


As expected, the data was being held in a file that was being hidden from view yet still counted in the usage.


After two stints with Apple Chat were unsuccessful, despite their best efforts (and I must say they were very helpful and patient), I managed to work out that the issue was not with Apple, but Third Party software.


Basically, when I purchased my MacBook Pro from Currys, I also got a TP cloud storage package with TKH (Team KnowHow). Now I still don't know the WHY, but the software was storing over 110GB of data on both user accounts, meaning 223GB of the drive was being used unnecessarily.


I found them in the Library within a folder called Livewire.


So, if anyone else is unfortunate enough to experience this, check for that hidden folder first.


It could save you hours of stress.


Thank you to Apple staff for their efforts and to Kappy as well, who I reckon was on the right lines, it was just down to me to find that rogue folder.

Nov 15, 2017 2:34 PM in response to mikealphacharlieuk

Open Users & Groups. Check you don't have but one user account other than Guest and/or Other. Verify that the user folders for these last two contain no files. If you have multiple users, then the information relates to those other users. If the startup volume is using APFS then this may relate to multiple snapshots APFS makes of the drive. Their space will be purged as needed and outside of user control.

Nov 16, 2017 12:26 AM in response to Kappy

Hi Kappy. Thank you for your support with this issue.


We have already checked Users and Groups and we have visible accounts for my wife and I only, with a Guest user turned off as no-one else is likely to be using our MacBook.


Despite this, there is still a massive chunk of our drive devoted to this Other User/s.


I find it frustrating that there is no simple fix as would have been the case with Windows, as I much prefer my MacBook over my former Windows laptop.


Trouble is, at the moment, the MacBook is offering no more storage to each of us than an early iPad!!!

Who are the mysterious Other Users?

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