2018 15" MBP clean up.

[cheddar-caveman]

I currently run Onyx every week but my MBP is getting sluggish, especially photo editing in Photos.
I recently tried to recover some files from a SanDisk SD card using RescuePro Delux from SandIsk and it seems to have eaten half my remaining HD space, dropped from 48Gb down to 26Gb.
I have no idea where all this memory went so what's the best way to clean up my MBP, get rid of all this sort of rubbish and hopefully speed it up?

I'm 84 and still running Catalina, 10.15.7 as I don't like constantly changing and getting used to na new system🥴

Thanks

 

[Fishrrman]

When you do "data recovery", the recovery app will need "space" in which to save the recovered files.

So... it probably created some kind of "temporary volume" on your drive to serve as a repository for the rescued files.

How large was the SD card from which you were trying to recover?
Where are those rescued files now?

You need to get them "out of recovery" and somewhere else -- an external drive would do, either a platter-based hard drive or an SSD.
If you need an external drive, I'd suggest the Samsung t7 "shield", which is on sale right now at amazon. 1tb size is a good buy.

If you want an easy and FREE way to see what's eating up space on your internal boot drive, I recommend "DiskWave".
Download DiskWave from here:

DiskWave Homepage

It's small in size and free.

Open DiskWave and go to the preferences.
Put a checkmark in "show invisible files".
Close preferences.

The DiskWave window shows you all your volumes and drives in plain English (no ridiculous graphical formats).
Click on any item "on the left".
Now, you'll see what's ON the volume, listed in order of "largest to smallest".
You can easily locate what's eating up your space.

 

[cheddar-caveman]

Many thanks Fishrrm, most helpful.

Your comment: "Open DiskWave and go to the preferences. Put a checkmark in "show invisible files"

I don't see "preferences anywhere?

 

[Fishrrman]

"I don't see "preferences anywhere?"

Menu bar --> DiskWave --> preferences*

* on latest version of the OS, "preferences" is now called "settings".

Now, click on any item in the left-hand column.
You'll see what happens next.

 

[cheddar-caveman]

Umm, If I click on the DiskWave nothing happens. If I double click on it it just goes to full screen.
I presume by Menu Bar you mean the area along the top where DiskWave is and the other things, Trash, Quick look etc.

Maybe it doesn't like my old operating system .

 

[Fishrrman]

What OS are you using?
It works the same on older newer.

Start DiskWave.
Then go here:

Another way to invoke preferences.
Open DiskWave.
Then type "command-," (that's command + comma)

 

[cheddar-caveman]

My program looks nothing like that, see my post #3 above?

OS 10.15.7, Catalina.

Diskware is version 0.4

 

[DeltaMac]

I think you are in full-screen mode when you launch DiskWave.
Just to try something - open DiskWave, then press the Esc key to exit from full screen mode.
THEN, go to the DiskWave menu (at the top of the screen, immediately to the right of the Apple menu)
Then, open Preferences from that DiskWave menu. It may show as either Preferences, or Settings, depending on your version of macOS, but either will open Preferences. And, there you will see the setting "Show invisible files"

 

[Yebubbleman]

I'm 84 and still running Catalina, 10.15.7 as I don't like constantly changing and getting used to na new system🥴

Catalina is (a) crap and (b) not getting security updates support. I get the resistance to change, but it really isn't all that bad on the other side.

 

[Fishrrman]

DON'T use fullscreen.

The OP doesn't seem to know how to open an application's "preferences/settings".

Just launch DiskWave (this works the same for almost ALL apps).
Then hold down the command key and touch the comma key.
See if that works for you.

 

[0339327]

1. Go to your use folder and hit command+I to look at the size of your user files.
2. Hit command+shift+period which will show you hidden files. You can also check the sizes of some of these hidden files and see if they are too large and unnecessary.
3. If you go through the user folder, you are likely to find the problem.

4. Save all your photos to iCloud as the originals take up unnecessary space on your hard drive or get an external drive and move your Photos library off the boot drive.

5. See my attached list of easy Mac Fixes.

 

[cheddar-caveman]

DON'T use fullscreen.

The OP doesn't seem to know how to open an application's "preferences/settings".

Just launch DiskWave (this works the same for almost ALL apps).
Then hold down the command key and touch the comma key.
See if that works for you.

This did work, I think. When I did the Command/comma it opened a menu where I could select "hidden files". Thanks.

 

[cheddar-caveman]

Many thanks for all the help which I think has located the culprit. As expected it's to do with my photos.
See attached screen shot of the journey through DiskWave which ends with a whole load of "External Edit Sessions" each comprising some 17Gb of files.

So can I just delete these to recover that 17Gb and how do I do that?

 

[Fishrrman]

If it was me, I'd get an external drive of some sort (could be external HDD, SSD, flashdrive, etc.).

Then, I'd COPY that folder named "ExternalEditSessions" onto the drive, so that I had a copy of it.

THEN, I'd delete the folder from your Photos library (as shown above).

That way, if something goes wrong after the deletion, you have a way to "get the folder back".

Another way to do it: (no promises, try at your own risk)
1. Since you know where the "bad" folder is now, go there in the finder.
2. Note, you need to go to your home folder, open "pictures", then RIGHT CLICK (or control-click) on the "Photos library" icon and choose "show package contents".
3. Now, grab the offending folder and drag it to the trash, but DON'T EMPTY THE TRASH YET.
4. Next, open Photos and "take a careful look around". Are things the way they're supposed to be?

If so, then I'd delete the trash...

 

[cheddar-caveman]

Many thanks Fishrrman for all the help. I''l have a go via Finder but will also make a back-up on an external HD.

 

[cheddar-caveman]

Right, I've backed up all those files to my external HD and deleted them and nothing seems to have changed in Photos. Also, I now have another 17Gb disk space!
GREAT and many thanks.

 

[Fishrrman]

"I've backed up all those files to my external HD and deleted them and nothing seems to have changed in Photos. Also, I now have another 17Gb disk space!"

I don't use Photos much at all. Others can probably help more than I can.

I'm going to take a GUESS that Photos is set up to automatically import new items when a volume (such as a flash drive or hard drive) is connected.

This can be a pain, if you don't WANT it to happen all the time.
When you connect an external drive or card, there is a choice that appears that automatically launches Photos and offers to import new photos (that aren't already in the Photos library).
Can you uncheck this?

Also, there's a setting in Photos preferences that you can check/UNcheck if you don't want items copied into the Photos library. That is, if the pics are on an external drive, Photos will only copy thumbnail info WITHOUT actually importing the full pics. I have this UNchecked.

Not sure what's going on for you.
Could it be something to do with the Sandisk Rescue Pro software?

 

[cheddar-caveman]

Well thats when I lost all the space., I am in touch with SanDisk and they've come back giving the contact for the program developer so I'll contact trhem next.

Again, many thanks for all the help. At least I've got some working space again.
Cheers