"Other" confusion - Catalina brand new iMac

[dadders6]

I get confusing results from the internet. My new iMac, which I've barely loaded anything onto, has an 'other' area taking up 40 gigs, which is a lot on a machine that 'only' has 256g.(about this Mac > storage > manage) I tried a chat with apple care, they just kept referring me to vague articles about APFS file structure blah blah. I'm not computer savvy enough for all that, typing in command codes etc. I just want to know how to VIEW what's in the 'other' and if it's possible to delete at least SOME of it. Or can someone even explain why 'other' exists? - Thanks

 

[dsemf]

I get confusing results from the internet. My new iMac, which I've barely loaded anything onto, has an 'other' area taking up 40 gigs, which is a lot on a machine that 'only' has 256g.(about this Mac > storage > manage) I tried a chat with apple care, they just kept referring me to vague articles about APFS file structure blah blah. I'm not computer savvy enough for all that, typing in command codes etc. I just want to know how to VIEW what's in the 'other' and if it's possible to delete at least SOME of it. Or can someone even explain why 'other' exists? - Thanks

The "Other" is the data volume: Macintosh HD - Data. Starting with Catalina, the user data is in a separate APFS volume. This contains all of the user data, such as music, photos, documents, desktop, etc.

DS

 

[dadders6]

The "Other" is the data volume: Macintosh HD - Data. Starting with Catalina, the user data is in a separate APFS volume. This contains all of the user data, such as music, photos, documents, desktop, etc.

DS

Do you mean, like "meta data" or the actual files of music, photos etc? Because those have their own separate folders.

 

[dsemf]

Do you mean, like "meta data" or the actual files of music, photos etc? Because those have their own separate folders.

Prior to Catalina, there was one volume that contained the operating system and all of the user data. Starting with Catalina, the operating system is in one volume and the user data is in a different volume.

Your configuration has the operating system in Macintosh HD and the user data is in Macintosh HD - Data.

If you click on the Macintosh HD - Data line, the bar graph will show approximately 47 GB in Used and 12 GB in Other.

If you click on the Container line, you will get a bar graph that will show the usage for each volume and Free space at the end. For example:



DS

 

[dadders6]

I'm still lost. All I want to do is SEE what's in other, perhaps clear some space up. Is 'other' just a term for photos, music, videos and documents? 57 GIGS is a lot, when I don't know what it represents. Might be time to go back to windows....

 

[dsemf]

I'm still lost. All I want to do is SEE what's in other, perhaps clear some space up. Is 'other' just a term for photos, music, videos and documents? 57 GIGS is a lot, when I don't know what it represents. Might be time to go back to windows....

The 57 GB mostly consists of data that you have stored in your user account. 24 GB are files that appear to be documents and 2.3 GB of music related files. The are 19 GB of other files that can't be classified.

If you use Go => Home in Finder you can see the top level user directories. A top level directory called Library is hidden by default. To see its contents use Go => Library while holding the Option key. Now you can investigate the directory structure and see where you have large files.

DS

 

[dadders6]

When I GO > Library, it shows all the folders that look like 'nuts and bolts' of computer inner workings. I don't feel comfortable messing with that, but I appreciate your posts. I'll just keep most large stuff off loaded on ext Hard Drives.