Is it normal for the System to occupy 319 GB?

Question

Is it normal for the System to occupy 319 GB?

MBP13 2017, 3.1 GHz i5, 8GB RAM, 500GB, running High Sierra 10.13.3.

I'm going to give as much info as I can, so please be kind if I've provided something irrelevant

During an upgrade I kept getting a screen saying "macOS cannot install because path [sorry, didn't write it down] is either missing or damaged." It told me to restart and try again. Didn't work.

Earlier convos suggested a safe boot, which I did. The Power On Self-Test result was "Passed". Other convos recommended installing the 10.13.3 Combo update, which I'm downloading as I write this.

I looked at the System Info > Storage and found the following: The System occupies 319GB. Other users (I assume the migration I did from my old MBP to this new one) = 130GB. It says there's 42GB available. Could this be part of the problem? Did it perhaps migrate the old System files to the new MBP so that the System occupies such as huge chunk of the hard drive?

And if so, I'll want to remove my migrated stuff (under a separate user), since I still have my old MBP and can be more selective. Can I just remove that user altogether, and everything that migrated will magically disappear?

Have I left out anything that would help you help me? Am I making sense?

Posted on Mar 5, 2018 11:06 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

macjack

Level 10

111,168 points

Mar 5, 2018 12:13 PM in response to GhettoSchoolMarm

I don't think space is the problem with the download, you have enough for that, but you really can't go by what is reported in Storage. More often than not it is wrong.

Also check by choosing your Mac HD and "Get Info" (command-i). It may be different. Try rebuilding Spotlight index.

If you want to free up space follow thee steps:

How to free up storage space on your Mac - Apple Support

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

If you want to create more space follow these steps:

Some of the space may also be from Time Machine Snapshots.

About Time Machine local snapshots - Apple Support

Download Omni DiskSweeper:

https://www.omnigroup.com/more

DiskSweeper 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

Let us know how it goes with the Combo. That might work, although the error message seems to be saying it can't find the path.

EDIT: And yes, you can remove the user and the user's data.

Reply

Answer 2

Mar 5, 2018 12:07 PM in response to macjack

Thanks for your quick and helpful response.

I've done everything except OmniDisk Sweeper.

I regularly empty my trash, so nothing there.

My question now is this: Do I run the install of Combo while I'm still in safe boot, or should I shut down and let it try to install from a normal boot?

Reply

Answer 3

Mar 5, 2018 1:22 PM in response to macjack

Sweet! After installing the Combo, it started right up in normal boot. Then the App Store said there was yet another supplemental update to 10.13.3. I dutifully installed it, and everything is fine.

Thanks, macjack!

Reply