Internal storage issue

[Ximenez_Kin]

Hi all, I'm running macOS Catalina version 10.15.6 on a 2018 13" MacBook Pro with 250 GB of internal storage. I also have a portable hard drive for backups.

For a while now, my MacBook has been stating that it is out of free storage when that can't be true. According to System Information, I have 104.2 GB occupied by documents, 13.08 GB by apps, 5.29 by Mail, 1.81 GB by iCloud Drive, a negligible amount by music, Messages and Photos, and 11.27 GB by the System.

But somehow, "Other" occupies 107.69 GB of internal storage? This leaves me with just 6.48 GB offer space.

There are no other users on this computer, so it can't be from there. Can anyone suggest what the "Other" content is, and how I can free up space on my internal storage? It is now impossible to update macOS and apps.

I had thought it was a OneDrive problem; I use this to store my documents, which takes up space on my hard drive and in the cloud. I have turned on Files On-Demand and only synced the folders that I actually need day-to-day (69.0 GB out of 282 GB of cloud storage). This seemed to work before to free up internal storage, but no longer. I'm storing my photos in iCloud Drive and all my music and videos are on my portable hard drive.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[mikzn]

Have you tried the manage storage option in the "about this mac" menu < Storage < Manage < reduce clutter / review files

Sometmes there can be large files duplicated or video files you may not need etc. this can be a quick way to see any large files

 

[Taz Mangus]

How to clear System Data on Mac - iGeeksBlog

To clear System Data on Mac, 1. Delete DMG files and old downloads, 2. Uninstall browser extensions and plug-ins, 3. Remove cache files, 4. Delete Application Support files...

www.igeeksblog.com

 

[Ximenez_Kin]

Have you tried the manage storage option in the "about this mac" menu < Storage < Manage < reduce clutter / review files

Sometmes there can be large files duplicated or video files you may not need etc. this can be a quick way to see any large files

There are a couple of duplicates, but nothing on the scale of ~100 GB, thanks. ?
[automerge]1597478311[/automerge]

How to clear System Data on Mac - iGeeksBlog

To clear System Data on Mac, 1. Delete DMG files and old downloads, 2. Uninstall browser extensions and plug-ins, 3. Remove cache files, 4. Delete Application Support files...

www.igeeksblog.com

Thanks, it seems that the Library folder was full of junk from messaging apps. ?

 

[mikzn]

Glad you figured it out

100g of messages is a lot of messages

The user library has a lot files hidden in there - I have 10 years of emails (outlook) that amount to about 40g - that is just one app - about 120g of files in my library total