Huge ~Library Folder

[Labhras]

Hi all,
while doing some summer cleaning, I noticed a huge Library folder in my User part, a whooping 85GB one. Considering I have a 256GB SSD, it's taking up quite the space.
The "small" stuff is Safari as 1,3GB and Mail with 9GB, what do you think these are?
Then I have Caches for 15GB, Group Containers with 17GB, Containers with another 17Gb and Application Support with 25Gb. I know Support contains old iPhone backups - can I move them to another disk and move them back if/when needed?
For all the other folders, what do you suggest? Can I delete something or are all these useful?

I'm on a 2014 MBA running 10.11, and considering the upgrade to 10.12, hence the summer cleaning.
Btw, do you think the update to Sierra would be useful?

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

Mail is just that: Mail. How many accounts do you have? Do you have older ones you no longer use?

iPhone backups can certainly be moved off.

 

[Labhras]

Mail is just that: Mail. How many accounts do you have? Do you have older ones you no longer use?

iPhone backups can certainly be moved off.

I have 4 accounts and I don't have any old ones. So to reduce that folder I should delete old emails?
What about the other folders?

 

[ritmomundo]

Try DaisyDisk to analyze what's taking up that space. I found I had several old OS X installers sitting there taking up about 6-7GB each.

Edit: There's a free trial version if you go on their website. Otherwise $9.99 if you buy it through the Mac App Store.

 

[Labhras]

Try DaisyDisk to analyze what's taking up that space. I found I had several old OS X installers sitting there taking up about 6-7GB each.

Caches is made of folders like com.spotify.client, com.nebula3, com.apple.bird - I imagine they're app caches that reform if deleted?
Containers has the same com. prefix with apps like Telegram, Evernote,Pocket...
And Group Containers has a 17GB folder of com.telegram.
What on earth are these??

Application support has like 18GB of MobileSync which I think is made of iPhone backups, planning on moving them and deleting older ones.

 

[ritmomundo]

I think it should be safe to empty the ~/Library/Caches folder.

I personally wouldn't mess with the Containers or Group Containers folders though, but restarting your mac might clear up some of that space.

Is Telegram a messaging app?
[doublepost=1501779659][/doublepost]More information on the "orphaned" OS X installer files that DaisyDisk found on my system... They were in my "lost+found" folder.
https://apple.stackexchange.com/que...ete-inode-file-or-how-to-inspect-its-contents

 

[Labhras]

I think it should be safe to empty the ~/Library/Caches folder.

I personally wouldn't mess with the Containers or Group Containers folders though, but restarting your mac might clear up some of that space.

Is Telegram a messaging app?
[doublepost=1501779659][/doublepost]More information on the "orphaned" OS X installer files that DaisyDisk found on my system... They were in my "lost+found" folder.
https://apple.stackexchange.com/que...ete-inode-file-or-how-to-inspect-its-contents

Just restarted my mac and the folder is maybe less than 2gb lighter, at 84GB now.
Yeah, it's the Mac version of a iOS app

Do you think that by upgrading to Sierra I'd gain some of that space back?

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

http://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net

do you use telegram?

 

[Labhras]

http://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net

do you use telegram?

I use DaisyDisk which I think is pretty much the same?
Yeah, why?

 

[Labhras]

Anyone else?

 

[SteveJobzniak]

OmniDiskSweeper visualizes the disk in a great way: https://www.omnigroup.com/more

Find the largest folders and research them. Google will know if they can be deleted.

The ~/Library/Caches folder is safe to empty because it can all be re-built, although some applications rely on it so they'll possibly lose some settings. Nothing important though.

 

[Labhras]

OmniDiskSweeper visualizes the disk in a great way: https://www.omnigroup.com/more

Find the largest folders and research them. Google will know if they can be deleted.

The ~/Library/Caches folder is safe to empty because it can all be re-built, although some applications rely on it so they'll possibly lose some settings. Nothing important though.

As I'm currently using DaisyDisk - do they display things in the same way or are there differences?
I'm dealing with caches, what about Containers?
Btw - what do you think of the Sierra update?

 

[SteveJobzniak]

As I'm currently using DaisyDisk - do they display things in the same way or are there differences?
I'm dealing with caches, what about Containers?
Btw - what do you think of the Sierra update?

OmniDiskSweeper is much more detailed and easier to see. Google screenshots of it.

MobileSync is iOS backups.

Containers and Group Containers are the macOS sandboxing, mainly used by apps from the Mac App Store but others can use it too. Each container holds the settings and data for an app, and deleting the container loses everything. If a particular container is huge, then you've found an app with tons of data in it. You should then research if you can clear some of it.

I see above that your Telegram folder has 17GB in it. You have had lots of conversations with photo transfers, I guess. I would suggest researching how to clear that.

And yes I love Sierra. Best macOS to date.

 

[Labhras]

OmniDiskSweeper is much more detailed and easier to see. Google screenshots of it.

Containers is the macOS sandboxing, mainly used by apps from the Mac App Store but others can use it too. Each container holds the settings and data for an app, and deleting the container loses everything. If a particular container is huge, then you've found an app with tons of data in it. You should then research if you can clear some of it.

And yes I love Sierra. Best macOS to date.

I'll check it out
Deleting containers of a messaging app - i.e. Telegram, will delete the messages as well?
Cool. Do you think it'll help with saving space?

 

[SteveJobzniak]

Deleting containers of a messaging app - i.e. Telegram, will delete the messages as well?

Doing that would get rid of the entire app storage for it, and would most likely delete all of your messages, login and settings. You need to Google how to safely delete just the big message files.