How to free up space on My MacBook Pro

Question

Level 1

15 points

How to free up space on My MacBook Pro

I have a Mac Book Pro 2013 I think 500GB. OS X Yosemite 10.10.5 . I have asked this before and still haven't been able to free up space. Right now it says 25GB free. I have tried deleting or backing up on an external pictures and videos. I have lot of pictures on my Photos folder. But when I open to check It shows Movies 40.29GB, Photos 28.52, Apps 22.7GB, Audio 10.3GB . That is 101.81 GB . Then my problem has always been "Other" 372.45GB !!! Somebody explained me once what was the Other file but I can't still get it. I don't know how I have 40.29GB in Movies (Im thinking the shows and music videos on my iTunes). But how the "Other" grows to 372 GB ??? How can I get some space? I tried backing up my computer with an external hard drive but didn't let me because It says I need some free space to do it?? -I use My Passport for Mac 1TB-

Any help would be appreciate.

Oscar

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7)

Posted on Dec 11, 2017 4:13 PM

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Answer 1

chris_g1

Community Specialist

Dec 12, 2017 12:48 PM in response to obarillas

Hi obarillas,

I understand that you'd like to know more about "Other" shown when looking at the storage usage on your MacBook Pro. I'm happy to provide some help for this.

Check out the description of this in the article below:

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

In OS X El Capitan or earlier, “Other” files are those that your Mac doesn't recognize as belonging to any other category. These include files within disk images or archives, data stored by apps such as Contacts or Calendar, and app plug-ins or extensions. When your Mac is in Safe Mode, all files are categorized as Other.

The following article provides some advice for freeing up storage space on your Mac:

How to free up storage space on your Mac - Apple Support
Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities. Cheers!

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Answer 2

dwb

Level 7

32,920 points

Dec 13, 2017 7:29 AM in response to obarillas

The storage bar that supposedly shows how much space is taken up by photos, movies, music etc has a huge bug that makes it all but worthless. Ignore it. Forget about Other. To determine how much drive space you have, select the hard drive icon and select Get Information from the File menu of Finder. To determine how much space a folder is taking up, select it and the select Get Information. Doing this will give you accurate information. The storage bar will not.

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Answer 3

obarillas Author

Level 1

15 points

Dec 12, 2017 6:55 PM in response to chris_g1

Still don't know how to reduce or eliminate those "other" files. I cant find them!

The second article about free up storage, Its not for Yosemite. so it doesnt work for me either 😟

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