The storage space on my MacBook Pro does't add up

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The storage space on my MacBook Pro does't add up

I am running out of space on my MacBook Pro, so I decided to look and see where all my storage is going. I found the space on my hard drive (250 GB) and then manually checked each directory for the space it is using. It comes up to around 10 GB less than what it should be. I took my free space into consideration. This seemed strange, but within reason.

I then decided to check my user directory which shows 126.08 GB used. My ID uses 125.6 of this, so I checked every folder and file in this directory. I can only find around 50 GB of files in this directory which means that around 70 GB is missing. The amounts for each subdirectory seem about right if I look at its contents.

I keep my iTunes and pictures on an external drive, so my hard drive should be pretty small. Does anyone have a clue what is going on?

Mac Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.2)

Posted on Dec 9, 2017 9:28 AM

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Answer 1

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macjack

Level 10

111,168 points

Dec 10, 2017 12:35 PM in response to abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzab

The Storage tab does not always report correctly. Look in About this Mac > System Report > Storage. Also check by choosing your Mac HD and "Get Info" (command-i). It may be different. Try rebuilding Spotlight index.

How to rebuild the Spotlight index on your Mac - Apple Support

Some of the space may also be from Time Machine Snapshots if you are using a laptop.

About Time Machine local snapshots - Apple Support

After you've freed up some space download Omni DiskSweeper. It can give you a more accurate read of disk space than Finder or Storage Tab of About this Mac. Itcan also show you the precise size and location of all your files..It can also give you a more accurate read of disk space than Finder or Storage Tab of About this Mac. Itcan 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.

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

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

Also, 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

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Answer 2

Dec 10, 2017 12:42 PM in response to macjack

I found the culprit. Once I displayed my hidden folders, I found a lot of my 'missing' storage in my Library directory. After scrolling though that, I found that my iPad, phone backups were taking up 50 GB of space. I have deleted them and create new backups, so I don't have so much data in there.

I am having trouble opening omnisweeper, but will look into using it as it should be a useful tool in the future.

Thanks for the help.

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