Mac HD Storage getting full, Help!

[dreammaker23]

Why is this!

Whats in Other on my Mac HD? Never been this full & BackUps are at 76GB.

I use my external 1 TB WD for back ups and everything else.

Can someone help me out with this..I always Secure Delete my Trash and
this is the first time I see it this full..How can I remove the Backups from my Mac's HD
& the "Other"

I hardly have anything on my Mac HD.

Mostly on my External.

Thanks

 

[jmxp69]

Search for Disk Inventory X. That'll help you find the culprit.

I'm not 100% sure, but I think Time Machine local snapshots can eat some space. Try tmutil disablelocal and see if you get any of that back. You can reverse with tmutil enablelocal but you'll lose any local snapshots.

J

 

[nednarm]

Take a look in Library/ApplicationSupport/MobileSync/Backup I had iPhone backups dating back to 2011 taking up over 35GB of space.

 

[dreammaker23]

Search for Disk Inventory X. That'll help you find the culprit.

I'm not 100% sure, but I think Time Machine local snapshots can eat some space. Try tmutil disablelocal and see if you get any of that back. You can reverse with tmutil enablelocal but you'll lose any local snapshots.

J

Thanks! But I'm a noob here with Mac Machines...What is "tmutil disablelocal"

Can you guide me to the right directions?

Take a look in Library/ApplicationSupport/MobileSync/Backup I had iPhone backups dating back to 2011 taking up over 35GB of space.

Thanks! Will try this...Even though I don't backup iPhones on here...Unless, ummm...

 

[e²Studios]

Could be old Time Machine data that was cleaned up but not reported. Go in to disk manager and verify the SSD, that cleared it up for me. I had the same exact issue this weekend.

 

[GGJstudios]

Thanks! But I'm a noob here with Mac Machines...What is "tmutil disablelocal"

If you're wondering what "Other" category in the Lion/ML storage tab is about, this may help explain:

What is this "Other" in the storage tab? What is eating my space​

For space issues not explained by the above, there are a few things you can try, some of which may or may not apply:

• Begin by restarting your computer as a first step. This sometimes resolves issues.
  
  
• For Time Machine users on notebooks running Lion or later, space may be consumed by Time Machine local snapshots, which can be disabled.
  
  OS X: About Time Machine's "local snapshots" on portable Macs​
  
  
• Check to see if some of the space is being used by your sleepimage file.
  
  
• Check the System Memory tab in Activity Monitor to check page outs and swap used. If swap used is significant, restart your computer and track that value under your normal workload. If you have significant page outs under normal use, you could benefit from more RAM.
  
  
• Search with Finder to see if the space is being consumed by a very large file or several large files. Adjust the 50GB in the illustration to whatever size you deem appropriate.
  
  
• Use OmniDiskSweeper, JDisk Report, Disk Inventory X, DaisyDisk or GrandPerspective to see how space is being used on your drive. Some of these apps may show more detail than others, so try several.
  
  
• Check your drive with Disk Utility: Using Disk Utility to verify or repair disks
  
  
• Try re-indexing your drive: Spotlight: How to re-index folders or volumes

Here are a few resolutions found by others with the same question:

• Encrypted drive
• Time Machine backup files and needed disk repair
• App filling log file
• App or file was 89GB
• Drive needed to be re-indexed
• Time Machine backup file
• Large app cache file
• Garageband files and video podcasts
• Oversized email being duplicated
• Another email issue

Freeing up space in Mac OS X

How OS X and iOS report storage capacity

 

[Weaselboy]

Whats in Other on my Mac HD? Never been this full & BackUps are at 76GB.

Other is everything that does not fall into one of those other categories shown. So it includes the OS itself for example. Your 38GB in Other is about normal, so don't worry about it.

The space in that purple Backups section is Time Machine's local snapshots, and is also normal. You can just ignore it and if you need the space for storage, OS X will shrink the local backup (snapshots) space used on its own. If it is bothering you, just turn Time Machine off then back on and the space will be zeroed out.

I would not use the Terminal commands mentioned to disable this. It can be a useful feature to access versioned documents when you are away from the Time Machine backup destination.

 

[dreammaker23]

If you're wondering what "Other" category in the Lion/ML storage tab is about, this may help explain:

What is this "Other" in the storage tab? What is eating my space​

For space issues not explained by the above, there are a few things you can try, some of which may or may not apply:

• Begin by restarting your computer as a first step. This sometimes resolves issues.

• 
  
  Thank you GGJstudios for taking the time to reply..Really helpful intel here!
  It's a lot of info to take use of..A good experience!
  
  Thanks again!
  
  
  
  

  Other is everything that does not fall into one of those other categories shown. So it includes the OS itself for example. Your 38GB in Other is about normal, so don't worry about it.
  
  The space in that purple Backups section is Time Machine's local snapshots, and is also normal. You can just ignore it and if you need the space for storage, OS X will shrink the local backup (snapshots) space used on its own. If it is bothering you, just turn Time Machine off then back on and the space will be zeroed out.
  
  I would not use the Terminal commands mentioned to disable this. It can be a useful feature to access versioned documents when you are away from the Time Machine backup destination.

  
  
  So in other words...I'm good! But yea, it does bother me because I was use to seeing at least 120GB free or more from my HDD. Plus it did felt like my rMBP ran smoother. hehe...
  
  I think I would turn Time Machine off. But not disable them!
  
  Hey do you know of a way I can protect my Mac if it ever gets stolen!?
  Yea, just jumped to another subject but all this tech talk got me thinking about
  what if?
  I know password protecting it is not a full service wrap around a theft.
  But how can I come around or should I say track my Machine if it ever does
  come across that scenario?
  
  Thanks!

 

[yusukeaoki]

The backups are suppose to delete automatically and make space if you need it.
But this also annoys me that it shows "backup" in your SSD/HDD.
Mine is only 128GB and I know it deletes automatically but still annoys to see it fill 1/3 of my drive.
I wonder if there is a way to disable this.

 

[Weaselboy]

Hey do you know of a way I can protect my Mac if it ever gets stolen!?

Yea, just jumped to another subject but all this tech talk got me thinking about what if?

I know password protecting it is not a full service wrap around a theft.
But how can I come around or should I say track my Machine if it ever does
come across that scenario?

Two things you can do to help with this. Go in to System Prefs and in the Security & Privacy tab turn on Filevault full disk encryption. This encrypts the entire drive and if someone steals it they will not be able to access your data at all. Also sign up for a free Apple iCloud account and turn on Find My Mac. With Find My Mac turned on, if the thief gets on the Internet with your stolen machine you will be able to see where they are and also lock down the machine.

The backups are suppose to delete automatically and make space if you need it.
But this also annoys me that it shows "backup" in your SSD/HDD.
Mine is only 128GB and I know it deletes automatically but still annoys to see it fill 1/3 of my drive.
I wonder if there is a way to disable this.

You can run the command below in Terminal to disable it.

sudo tmutil disablelocal

This command will turn it back on.

sudo tmutil enablelocal

 

[yusukeaoki]

Two things you can do to help with this. Go in to System Prefs and in the Security & Privacy tab turn on Filevault full disk encryption. This encrypts the entire drive and if someone steals it they will not be able to access your data at all. Also sign up for a free Apple iCloud account and turn on Find My Mac. With Find My Mac turned on, if the thief gets on the Internet with your stolen machine you will be able to see where they are and also lock down the machine.



You can run the command below in Terminal to disable it.

sudo tmutil disablelocal

This command will turn it back on.

sudo tmutil enablelocal

Holy crap, thank you.
Now I dont have to disable TM every time after I do a backup.

 

[dreammaker23]

Two things you can do to help with this. Go in to System Prefs and in the Security & Privacy tab turn on Filevault full disk encryption. This encrypts the entire drive and if someone steals it they will not be able to access your data at all. Also sign up for a free Apple iCloud account and turn on Find My Mac. With Find My Mac turned on, if the thief gets on the Internet with your stolen machine you will be able to see where they are and also lock down the machine.



You can run the command below in Terminal to disable it.

sudo tmutil disablelocal

This command will turn it back on.

sudo tmutil enablelocal

Thanks very much for all your Help! THUMBS UP