fsCachedData folder...Is it safe to empty?

[tresmith]

The stuff in this folder is taking up so much space thats i'm running out of disc space.

Is it safe to empty?

---update---

Apparently it is safe to delete. I deleted that folder a day ago with no real issues. The system just recreates the folder and starts filling it up again. It's not a permanent solution but atleast I know how to get my space back.

---update---

Hazaaa! I found the problem or at the very least the source of those files. That folder has to do with Comcast. I watch tv online and it's comcast's website that is filling up that folder with tons of stuff.

I had the folder open and noticed that I had no new files then I started watching online tv and immediately safari started writing to that folder.

 

[KALLT]

Go to Safari settings → Advanced and enable the Developer menu. From there you click on ‘Empty Caches’.

 

[tresmith]

Go to Safari settings → Advanced and enable the Developer menu. From there you click on ‘Empty Caches’.

Thanks.

I just did that and it did not clear out anything. Does it need a computer reboot to take effect?

 

[DeltaMac]

That folder in ~/Library/Caches/Safari folder is completely disposable.
Drag it to the trash.
QUIT Safari. Empty the trash.
You should not need to reboot, but no harm in a restart..
You will see the fsCachedData folder again, but it should (on my system anyway) now show only a single file, after clearing out like that.
That may bring that folder back under control.

 

[JohnDS]

Did you mean ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari ?

There is no ~/Library/Caches/Safari folder on my computer (El Capitan)

 

[DeltaMac]

Yes, I was wrong. The path is what you say. ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari

And, nothing prevents you from dragging that complete com.apple.Safari folder to the trash.
Not necessary, but I like to restart at that point.
Empty the trash. That com.apple.Safari folder will be recreated automatically as it is needed when launching Safari.

 

[KALLT]

I just did that and it did not clear out anything. Does it need a computer reboot to take effect?

My mistake, I immediately thought of Safari, but I should have asked first. It is probably a different application. Can you tell me the exact location of the folder?

I prefer to clear caches with built-in functions of the respective application, but sometimes it can be necessary to clear them manually. In that case, you have to close the application, empty the folder and then your trash. Then restart the application.

 

[tresmith]

The path is...

/private/var/folders/0v/khnlgt457kv9__t01psv1m880000gn/C/com.apple.WebKit.Plugin.64/fsCachedData

This folder contains something like 134 gigs

 

[KALLT]

Have you rebooted since? Some of the data in that location is cleared upon reboots.

Usually that location is also cleared periodically, but I suppose it is alright to clear it manually. If a reboot has not worked, you should move the ‘com.apple.WebKit.Plugin.64’ folder to trash, reboot, then empty trash.

 

[JohnDS]

This link http://osxdaily.com/2016/01/13/delete-temporary-items-private-var-folders-mac-os-x/ suggests rebooting into safe mode (by holding down the shift key) and then doing a second reboot. This should clear the caches.

If not, you could use a tool like the freeware Onxy: http://www.titanium.free.fr/onyx.html to clear the caches and run maintenance scripts.

 

[KALLT]

Use the safe mode as last resort only, it will clear all kernel and system caches as well, which is unnecessarily destructive (as it will take days for the system to rebuild all of them).

 

[tresmith]

Have you rebooted since? Some of the data in that location is cleared upon reboots.

Usually that location is also cleared periodically, but I suppose it is alright to clear it manually. If a reboot has not worked, you should move the ‘com.apple.WebKit.Plugin.64’ folder to trash, reboot, then empty trash.

I've rebooted several times and nothing clears that out. And it keeps on growing.

Here's the weirdest thing...I've delete and cleared gigs of data only to have the system gobble it up instantly. I'm like wtf is going. I just cleared 10 gigs only to see it disappear in a matter of a day.

update...

I did as you say except I put the fsCachedData folder in the trash and rebooted. The system booted up normally and recreated that folder. So it felt safe to permanently delete the old folder. I now have 151 gigs free and my system is only taking up 33 gigs. Huge difference.

So far so good. Even though I'm happy to have found a solution but I feel that this is a temporary fix. And that this problem will keep coming up. I need to find out what application is stuffing that folder and why it's not automatically clearing it out.
[doublepost=1479666425][/doublepost]another update...

It's been about 15 minutes since I cleared that folder and my system has grown 3 gigs. All from that one folder. What gives?

 

[JohnDS]

What do the files look like in that folder? Can you double click on one and see if it is readable? That might give a clue as to how it is being generated. Can you post a screenshot of the contents of the folder?

Also, I wonder if it is a log process run amok. Are there a lot of repeated error messages in your console logs?

 

[tresmith]

What do the files look like in that folder? Can you double click on one and see if it is readable? That might give a clue as to how it is being generated. Can you post a screenshot of the contents of the folder?

Also, I wonder if it is a log process run amok. Are there a lot of repeated error messages in your console logs?

It's all a bunch of TextEdit Documents. I opened one and it's unreadable.

 

[JohnDS]

Can you upload one of the files here as an attachment?

 

[tresmith]

Can you upload one of the files here as an attachment?

I opened one of the files and copied a portion of the text below. I'm not going to upload a file just in case it contains personal/private information.



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[KALLT]

WebKit is Safari's engine and it is used by many other applications that present web content. Do you have an application running that would fall under that? Is there any unusual activity in Activity Monitor?

 

[tresmith]

WebKit is Safari's engine and it is used by many other applications that present web content. Do you have an application running that would fall under that? Is there any unusual activity in Activity Monitor?

I don't think so. I just have Opera and safari running. Do you think it has something to do with Flash?

Also in the Activity Monitor, I see a process called kernel_task and it takes a good amount of cpu and writes alot to my disk.

 

[KALLT]

kernel_task is simply the mother of all processes, that is normal. I cannot say whether it has anything to do with Flash, but I am guessing that the ‘com.apple.WebKit.plugin.64.xpc’ process could indeed be spawned by Flash. This cache does not exist on my system at least and I am using neither Opera nor Flash.

 

[tresmith]

kernel_task is simply the mother of all processes, that is normal. I cannot say whether it has anything to do with Flash, but I am guessing that the ‘com.apple.WebKit.plugin.64.xpc’ process could indeed be spawned by Flash. This cache does not exist on my system at least and I am using neither Opera nor Flash.

How do you not use flash? If you don't use it many sites don't work properly.

BTW, I just updated my flash player hopefully that will improve things.
[doublepost=1479766194][/doublepost]Hazaaa! I found the problem. Or at the very least the source of those files. That folder has to do with Comcast. I watch tv online and it's comcast's website that is filling up that folder with tons of stuff.

I had the folder open and noticed that I had no new files then I started watching online tv and immediately safari started writing to that folder.

Can I limit the size of this particular folder?

 

[KALLT]

I have not been using any Flash sites for years now. Many websites that do insist on Flash, and I don’t encounter these often, have a fallback for iPad/iPhone that you can access by changing the user agent temporarily.

 

[Leisure.Pixie]

The stuff in this folder is taking up so much space thats i'm running out of disc space.

Is it safe to empty?

---update---

Apparently it is safe to delete. I deleted that folder a day ago with no real issues. The system just recreates the folder and starts filling it up again. It's not a permanent solution but atleast I know how to get my space back.

---update---

Hazaaa! I found the problem or at the very least the source of those files. That folder has to do with Comcast. I watch tv online and it's comcast's website that is filling up that folder with tons of stuff.

I had the folder open and noticed that I had no new files then I started watching online tv and immediately safari started writing to that folder.

[doublepost=1484619904][/doublepost]this is what I have been looking for for 6 months! I finally have 100GB of my MacBook back are relief for my frustration ... and the Comcast TV watching explains it! glad I ran into your exchange of knowledge. Mille Grazie!!!!

 

[waldo1308]

The stuff in this folder is taking up so much space thats i'm running out of disc space.

Is it safe to empty?

---update---

Apparently it is safe to delete. I deleted that folder a day ago with no real issues. The system just recreates the folder and starts filling it up again. It's not a permanent solution but atleast I know how to get my space back.

---update---

Hazaaa! I found the problem or at the very least the source of those files. That folder has to do with Comcast. I watch tv online and it's comcast's website that is filling up that folder with tons of stuff.

I had the folder open and noticed that I had no new files then I started watching online tv and immediately safari started writing to that folder.

[doublepost=1484970443][/doublepost]treshmith,

Thanks for your update. I had the same problem and deleted the folder and now i am good. The problem is Comcast like you said. Did you get permanent solution?

 

[eklinck]

The stuff in this folder is taking up so much space thats i'm running out of disc space.

Is it safe to empty?

---update---

Apparently it is safe to delete. I deleted that folder a day ago with no real issues. The system just recreates the folder and starts filling it up again. It's not a permanent solution but atleast I know how to get my space back.

---update---

Hazaaa! I found the problem or at the very least the source of those files. That folder has to do with Comcast. I watch tv online and it's comcast's website that is filling up that folder with tons of stuff.

I had the folder open and noticed that I had no new files then I started watching online tv and immediately safari started writing to that folder.

You're the best! I called Apple Support a number of times and they didn't know how to resolve the problem. They kept telling me it's data from all my files and even told me to call Microsoft, saying that Microsoft Office for Mac was taking up all that storage. Funny!