Whats taking up storage?

[mjohansen]

Hi

I am trying to figure out whats taking up disk space on my Mac. In "About this Mac" under "Storage" it says that photos takes up 171 GB (seems right) and documents 146 GB (way to high). How do I figure out whats taking up all my storage?

If I press "Manage", "Reduce clutter" and "File Browser" it says that the folder "Pictures" is taking up 146 GB of space. So it seems like photos are counted double?

Hopefully someone can help me figure it out.

 

[jpn]

hi

i would recommend that you first verify that the storage values you see in apple/About This Mac/Storage are correct by actually using Finder on each folder you want data on and doing a Get Info on it.

then, use mac free app found in app store Free Disk Space Analyzer to identify the folders and files that are taking up your space and then manually delete them.

Free Disk Space Analyzer is made by TweakNow.

 

[mjohansen]

hi

i would recommend that you first verify that the storage values you see in apple/About This Mac/Storage are correct by actually using Finder on each folder you want data on and doing a Get Info on it.

then, use mac free app found in app store Free Disk Space Analyzer to identify the folders and files that are taking up your space and then manually delete them.

Free Disk Space Analyzer is made by TweakNow.

I can't really get the numbers to add up. I've tried "Get Info" and "Free Disk Space Analyzer," and I can't replicate the disk space usage when looking at Pictures and Documents. Maybe there's a bug in "About this Mac" - have anyone else experienced anything?

 

[Weaselboy]

Maybe there's a bug in "About this Mac" - have anyone else experienced anything?

There is. That readout gets data from the Spotlight index, and when the Spotlight index is corrupt, that storage readout will be all wrong. Try running the command below in Terminal to reindex Spotlight then see if the readings change. Give it a half hour or so to finish the reindex.

sudo mdutil -E /

 

[mjohansen]

There is. That readout gets data from the Spotlight index, and when the Spotlight index is corrupt, that storage readout will be all wrong. Try running the command below in Terminal to reindex Spotlight then see if the readings change. Give it a half hour or so to finish the reindex.

sudo mdutil -E /

I have entered the command in Terminal. Can I see any indication if the reindexing has started?

 

[Weaselboy]

I have entered the command in Terminal. Can I see any indication if the reindexing has started?

It will start right away when you enter that command. If you hit command-space to activate a Spotlight search then start typing something you will see a little blue progress bar at the bottom like in this screenshot.

 

[mjohansen]

It will start right away when you enter that command. If you hit command-space to activate a Spotlight search then start typing something you will see a little blue progress bar at the bottom like in this screenshot.

View attachment 685069

Thanks Weaselboy.

Storage in "About this Mac" is still pretty bugged. My total storage usage is 254GB (195GB free on a partition of 449GB) and Photos and Documents alone is said to occupy 171GB+146GB = 317GB. That just doesn't add up... Hmm...

 

[Weaselboy]

Thanks Weaselboy.

Storage in "About this Mac" is still pretty bugged. My total storage usage is 254GB (195GB free on a partition of 449GB) and Photos and Documents alone is said to occupy 171GB+146GB = 317GB. That just doesn't add up... Hmm...

Ignoring those subtotals, does the total disk space used sound about right?

How large is your user Documents folder and your user Pictures folder in Finder?

 

[mjohansen]

Ignoring those subtotals, does the total disk space used sound about right?

How large is your user Documents folder and your user Pictures folder in Finder?

Ignoring subtotals, then yes I think so (maybe a bit higher than what I would think).

Documents is 2,6GB and Pictures 146 GB.

 

[Weaselboy]

Ignoring subtotals, then yes I think so (maybe a bit higher than what I would think).

Documents is 2,6GB and Pictures 146 GB.

Photos includes all the images that are part of the OS, so that is always off some.

Under Sierra it includes all kinds of weird junk under Documents. If you go to that same screen then click Manage then select Documents you will all kinds of things in there that are not documents. Mine shows all the iOS apps stored in iTunes as well and any ZIP files and app DMG installers I have saved.

 

[cynics]

In About this Macs storage under manage when you click Documents under the Large Files button is there anything that stands out?

Something I noticed not really related under manage it doesn't show the system, and for reasons unknown it sorts my Movies I keep in iTunes (ripped myself) under system which is over a terabyte so it throughs everything off. I believe Messages would be sorted under System as well because in finder it says I'm using 5gb for messages but I can't find it in about this mac manage area.

It needs some work. I've never felt so disconnected from my data when using About my Mac.
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There is. That readout gets data from the Spotlight index, and when the Spotlight index is corrupt, that storage readout will be all wrong. Try running the command below in Terminal to reindex Spotlight then see if the readings change. Give it a half hour or so to finish the reindex.

sudo mdutil -E /

Has that always worked for you? I would typically delete it by turning it off, then back on and rebuild. Never tried to just rebuild it.

 

[mjohansen]

Photos includes all the images that are part of the OS, so that is always off some.

Under Sierra it includes all kinds of weird junk under Documents. If you go to that same screen then click Manage then select Documents you will all kinds of things in there that are not documents. Mine shows all the iOS apps stored in iTunes as well and any ZIP files and app DMG installers I have saved.

Pictures is like 25gb off...

If I click on "Documents" in "Manage", there are no "Large Files"