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Wando64

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jul 11, 2013
2,327
3,090
I've just set up this new Mac mini M1 and the disk appear to be almost full when it shouldn't be.
Looking at the Info for my home folder this is what I see:
Screenshot 2022-06-23 at 17.00.03.png


It doesn't make any sense.
What on earth is going on?

I have iCloud Drive switched on and normally I would expect to see the size (which includes everything that is on iCloud Drive) to be bigger than the size on disk (which includes only what is downloaded), and this is what I have on my mbp.
Why is the Mini showing everything the wrong way around? About this Mac shows the disk almost full, when it should not be.
 

usagora

macrumors 601
Nov 17, 2017
4,869
4,456
What does Disk Utility say? Also, what is your disk size? 1TB? Are you sure you haven't inadvertently downloaded all your OneDrive files (or at least more than you intended to) to your Mac Mini? Maybe you accidentally selected "Always Keep on This Device" for one or more folders in OneDrive?
 

Wando64

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jul 11, 2013
2,327
3,090
What does Disk Utility say? Also, what is your disk size? 1TB? Are you sure you haven't inadvertently downloaded all your OneDrive files (or at least more than you intended to) to your Mac Mini? Maybe you accidentally selected "Always Keep on This Device" for one or more folders in OneDrive?

I don’t use OneDrive. I use iCloud Drive.
Yes I intentionally downloaded all of the data, but that does not account for the space used.
The disk size is 1TB.
Disk utility tells me that the disk is now full (when it shouldn’t be).

Something really odd is going on and I am about to reboot and see if that makes any difference. (It didn’t)
Next think is going to be to turn off and on iCloud Drive and see if that shakes the tree somehow.

Full restore to factory after that, unless someone offers some better advice.
 

Wando64

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jul 11, 2013
2,327
3,090
I've turned off iCloud Drive and it has freed a bunch of space, but still kept 200GB unaccounted for.
In any case, what the heck is this all about:
Screenshot 2022-06-23 at 21.40.29.png

Screenshot 2022-06-23 at 21.41.05.png




I've been using Macs for about 20 years and I've never seen such nonsense.
 

DeltaMac

macrumors G5
Jul 30, 2003
13,751
4,574
Delaware
You have an enormous amount of "purgeable" at the moment.
Could be that your Mac is still building the Spotlight database, which can take several hours for first build from new.
You might also see a large drop in purgeable with a simple restart of your Mac. (I prefer doing a full shut down, so your Mac turns off completely, then start from off, not just a simple restart)

You have FileVault turned on...

One other way that should clear out purgeable files is the go into Manage Storage (About this Mac, Storage tab, click on Manage... - follow the recommendations (if you don't want to do that, you can cancel out, but DO check what that will show to you.)
 

Wando64

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jul 11, 2013
2,327
3,090
Thanks for the help but in the end I just went for the nuclear option and restored to factory.
Everything looks lovely now, but I haven't switched on iCloud Drive yet. I think that's were my problems started.

This time I'll try not to rush through the process and do a few reboots in between steps.
 

Wando64

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jul 11, 2013
2,327
3,090
By the way, regarding the Purgeable data, this would be the iCloud Drive data, which of course could reside on the Cloud only if I set Manage this Mac to ON.
However, the reality is that the amount is 2x what I actually have on iCloud Drive, plus it doesn't really explain the conflicting data with Disk Utility.
Whichever way I looked at it, it was just a huge mess.
 

Wando64

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jul 11, 2013
2,327
3,090
Everything looks much healthier now, however I still have a minor (?) problem.

The Document folder is populated and I can see its contents from the Finder, however if I drag it to the Sidebar and I click on it (on the Decuments folder in the Sidebar) nothing is displayed.
When I say nothing is displayed, I mean that the Finder continues to show the content of whatever folder I was looking at.

Any idea as to why this might happen?
It is a minor inconvenience, but I am bothered that it might be indicative of some issue that might rear its ugly head later on.
 
Last edited:

StandingGoose

macrumors member
Mar 24, 2017
85
80
The Document folder is populated and I can see its contents from the Finder, however if I drag it to the Sidebar and I click on it (in the Sidebar) nothing is displayed.
The Documents folder is one of the special folders to MacOS. Do you have it "checked" in the Finder/Sidebar preferences?
 

Wando64

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jul 11, 2013
2,327
3,090
The Documents folder is one of the special folders to MacOS. Do you have it "checked" in the Finder/Sidebar preferences?

Yes.

I think it is time for an Apple Support call.
I doubt this has anything to do with the AS architecture, but I’ve never had any issue before with my other three Intel Macs (Two on Monterey and one on Catalina).
 

Wando64

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jul 11, 2013
2,327
3,090
Actually, before making the call I switched off the Mac and unplugged it for a minute or so.
Upon reboot everything is now working as expected.
 
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