“Other” tab in storage management

[Moemen Eryani]

Hi guys. This is my first post, but I’ll try to be quick and precise about my problem. On my Mac, it says that I have around 38gb of used space for “other” and I tried to delete everything that I can but this tab is not getting any smaller. I used to have parallels but I’ve uninstalled it. Is there any way I can delete these “other” files without harm to my computer? Thanks!

 

[gilby101]

Storage management presents usage in a 'friendly' manner designed for those who do not understand folders. You need to use a tool which explores storage based on the folder structures on your disk. Examples are DaisyDisk, GrandPerspective, and OmniDiskSweeper. Those are deliberately in descending order of completeness (and price).

 

[Moemen Eryani]

Storage management presents usage in a 'friendly' manner designed for those who do not understand folders. You need to use a tool which explores storage based on the folder structures on your disk. Examples are DaisyDisk, GrandPerspective, and OmniDiskSweeper. Those are deliberately in descending order of completeness (and price).

I tried downloading all different applications, but they can all index every file but the "Other" tab. Ive also granted access to my full drive.

 

[benthewraith]

Hi guys. This is my first post, but I’ll try to be quick and precise about my problem. On my Mac, it says that I have around 38gb of used space for “other” and I tried to delete everything that I can but this tab is not getting any smaller. I used to have parallels but I’ve uninstalled it. Is there any way I can delete these “other” files without harm to my computer? Thanks!

While it would not account for the whole category, Time machine local backups fall under the "Other" tab.

 

[gilby101]

I tried downloading all different applications, but they can all index every file but the "Other" tab. Ive also granted access to my full drive.

I think you have misunderstood the differences.

The manage storage is an attempt to categorise every file and to present results based on that. So it tells you the amount of storage used by "photos" (to take an example) but tells you nothing about where they are located. The "other" category is just a catch all everything else bucket.

The apps I suggested look at the location (not category/type) of every file and present the results based on location. In that view, "other", "photo", etc. have has no meaning as there is no attempt to categorise files. "Other" files (like "photos") are included by location.

As you have discovered "other" is totally inadequate for finding files. The three apps are all focussed on finding where files are located and what their sizes are. That is what you need if you are looking for potential space saving.

 

[appltech]

As people above said, Other really is "other", stuff that doesn't fall into other categories.
Usually, it means you'll have to find that stuff manually (it can be anything: caches, old backups, documents, etc). I wouldn't go for an automated solution as there's too much variety.
And, I've never ever seen nothing in "Other", there's always something.
If you really need to clear that stuff, here are some tips that I find useful.