Files taking up storage and how to get rid of them?

[kat.hayes]

When looking at the Storage tab on my Mac I see:

System: 191.75GB Is this correct? Does Sierra take this much space on my SSD?

iOS Files: 15.62GB Are these just iOS device backups? Are these the same backups that might be getting
backed up to iCloud if I have that turned on also? Is there a way to back up my devices to an external drive instead? If I delete these is it like deleting a Time Machine backup, where I am just going to no longer have that backup in case I need to restore my device?

Purgeable: 3.47GB What does it mean to be purgeable? What type of files are they? Any potential harm in deleting them and how do I do it?

Thanks.

 

[jbarley]

When looking at the Storage tab on my Mac I see:
System: 191.75GB Is this correct? Does Sierra take this much space on my SSD?

Just as a comparison this is my Sierra installation...
So to answer your question "Does Sierra take this much space on my SSD?"
I'd wager a guess, and say it shouldn't.

 

[kat.hayes]

wow
[doublepost=1531157414][/doublepost]I just tried it again and now it is saying 25.38GB....

So now I do not believe anything this is telling me.

 

[jbarley]

wow
[doublepost=1531157414][/doublepost]I just tried it again and now it is saying 25.38GB....

So now I do not believe anything this is telling me.

25 could be correct, my system is kept very minimal by choice, and would not be even close to the norm.

 

[Fishrrman]

The "Storage" tab is very unreliable.

If you want to see what's taking up space, I'd suggest either DiskWave:
DiskWave Homepage

or use Pathfinder.

 

[jbarley]

I still use "Disk Inventory X", still does a good job of showing a visual picture of your larger files, with options for locating, deleting etc.