My Laptop shows too much HDD used!

[IL TRIVELLA]

Hello everyone,

I've been trying to free up some space on my laptop, a MacBook Pro 13" from 2012, at the moment when I go on Disk Utility I see that I'm using 217,13GB on a total of 498,89GB available space, even if I already transferred so much files on my external HDD, the thing is that I have no idea where all this occupied space come from, because what I can see is this:

Applications: 9,73GB
Desktop: 115,49GB
Documents: 711,2MB
Downloads: 1,97GB
Music: 16,19GB
Pictures: 11,4GB
Movies: 12,28GB

Which is a total of more or less 167GB that I'm using... but when I go on About this Mac -> Storage -> Manage I see this:

System 215,12GB

Can please someone help me out with this issue?

Thanks in advance.

 

[maflynn]

Download and use OmniDiskSweeper. It will provide a sorted list of what's consuming your space.

If you run it with sudo (As shown below), it will include some system files that it woud not normally have access to scan. That is a more accurate representation of what's consuming your drive.

sudo /Applications/OmniDiskSweeper.app/Contents/MacOS/OmniDiskSweeper

Another option is to use this terminal command
sudo du -d 1 -x -c -g /

I prefer to redirect it to a text file (this puts it in your Documents folder
sudo du -d 1 -x -c -g / > ~/Documents/du.txt

Like the sudo /Applications/OmniDiskSweeper.app/Contents/MacOS/OmniDiskSweeper command, it will scan all directories, but produce a text file as opposed to showing the results in a window

 

[IL TRIVELLA]

Last login: Mon Feb  6 15:56:49 on console
Alessandros-MBP:~ alessandrocalello$ sudo /Applications/OmniDiskSweeper.app/Contents/MacOS/OmniDiskSweeper
Password:
sudo: /Applications/OmniDiskSweeper.app/Contents/MacOS/OmniDiskSweeper: command not found
Alessandros-MBP:~ alessandrocalello$

Last login: Wed Feb  8 12:50:57 on ttys000
Alessandros-MBP:~ alessandrocalello$ sudo du -d 1 -x -c -g /
Password:
1    /.DocumentRevisions-V100
1    /.fseventsd
0    /.PKInstallSandboxManager
1    /.PKInstallSandboxManager-SystemSoftware
1    /.Spotlight-V100
0    /.Trashes
0    /.vol

And for the last command I did it but nothing happened, no documents at all...

 

[maflynn]

And for the last command I did it but nothing happened, no documents at all...

sudo du -d 1 -x -c -g / > ~/Documents/du.txt
If you ran du command with the > ~/Documents/du.txt the du.txt file will have been created in your Documents folder in your home folder, i.e.,

As for what you posted after ./vol, I don't think you gave it enough time my du command paused ./vol for a period of time and then moved on.

 

[IL TRIVELLA]

oh I see sorry... here you go:

Last login: Wed Feb  8 12:50:57 on ttys000
Alessandros-MBP:~ alessandrocalello$ sudo du -d 1 -x -c -g /
Password:
1    /.DocumentRevisions-V100
1    /.fseventsd
0    /.PKInstallSandboxManager
1    /.PKInstallSandboxManager-SystemSoftware
1    /.Spotlight-V100
0    /.Trashes
0    /.vol
10    /Applications
1    /bin
0    /cores
1    /dev
1    /home
6    /Library
1    /net
0    /Network
5    /private
1    /sbin
8    /System
176    /Users
1    /usr
1    /Volumes
204    /
204    total
Alessandros-MBP:~ alessandrocalello$

And for the document du.txt that's what's inside:

1    /.DocumentRevisions-V100
1    /.fseventsd
0    /.PKInstallSandboxManager
1    /.PKInstallSandboxManager-SystemSoftware
1    /.Spotlight-V100
0    /.Trashes
0    /.vol
10    /Applications
1    /bin
0    /cores
1    /dev
1    /home
6    /Library
1    /net
0    /Network
5    /private
1    /sbin
8    /System
176    /Users
1    /usr
1    /Volumes
204    /
204    total

 

[maflynn]

So your home folder is consuming a 176GB of storage

If you use this command sudo du -d 1 -x -c -g ~

You'll see which folders in your home folder that are the culprits

 

[IL TRIVELLA]

Last login: Wed Feb  8 14:18:46 on ttys000
Alessandros-MBP:~ alessandrocalello$ sudo du -d 1 -x -c -g ~
Password:
1    /Users/alessandrocalello/.bash_sessions
1    /Users/alessandrocalello/.cache
1    /Users/alessandrocalello/.config
1    /Users/alessandrocalello/.cups
1    /Users/alessandrocalello/.dropbox
1    /Users/alessandrocalello/.local
1    /Users/alessandrocalello/.openvr
1    /Users/alessandrocalello/.oracle_jre_usage
0    /Users/alessandrocalello/.Trash
1    /Users/alessandrocalello/Applications
108    /Users/alessandrocalello/Desktop
1    /Users/alessandrocalello/Documents
2    /Users/alessandrocalello/Downloads
2    /Users/alessandrocalello/Dropbox
28    /Users/alessandrocalello/Library
12    /Users/alessandrocalello/Movies
16    /Users/alessandrocalello/Music
11    /Users/alessandrocalello/Pictures
1    /Users/alessandrocalello/Public
176    /Users/alessandrocalello
176    total
Alessandros-MBP:~ alessandrocalello$

 

[maflynn]

You have 108 GB worth of files on your desktop - take a look and decide what you want to with them

 

[IL TRIVELLA]

My problem is that on Disk Utility it shows that I have much less space than I actually think to have...

Because after checking all the folders and after I transferred files on my external HDD I should have much more space...

Look the picture:

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

Download this free, small utility (DiskWave):
https://diskwave.barthe.ph

Just launch it.
You'll see what to do next.

TIP:
In preferences, set normally-invisible files to be VISIBLE.

It will show you where the largest files are, in plain English.

 

[IL TRIVELLA]

Thanks man, this app, is great... but there are some things which I'm not sure I can delete...

 

[Fishrrman]

Regarding the images posted above.

The 2.15gb "sleepimage" file DOES NOT have to be there. It exists to support the "hibernation" feature that preserves what's running on the desktop (from loss if the battery runs out).

If you're not concerned about this, here's how to correct it with terminal:

First, disable hibernation mode :
sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0

delete /private/var/vm/sleepimage :
sudo rm /private/var/vm/sleepimage

create an empty file and name it 'sleepimage' :
sudo touch /private/var/vm/sleepimage

change his flag to immuable :
sudo chflags uchg /private/var/vm/sleepimage

Now, OS X won't be able to rebuilt over your sleepimage file since it is locked.

USE THIS COMMAND TO CHECK SLEEP MODE:

pmset -g

A returned value of "0" for hibernate mode indicates it's off.



Second image:
Looks like "Steam" is using up A LOT of space -- almost 18gb in that folder alone.



Third image:
The "Frameworks" folder doesn't look particularly out-of-line.


Your biggest problem is in your "users" folder.
188gb being used !!!
For what ???

 

[IL TRIVELLA]

Last login: Wed Feb  8 16:29:48 on console
Alessandros-MBP:~ alessandrocalello$ sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0
Password:
Alessandros-MBP:~ alessandrocalello$ sudo rm /private/var/vm/sleepimage
Alessandros-MBP:~ alessandrocalello$ sudo touch /private/var/vm/sleepimage
Alessandros-MBP:~ alessandrocalello$ sudo chflags uchg /private/var/vm/sleepimage
Alessandros-MBP:~ alessandrocalello$ pmset -g
System-wide power settings:
Currently in use:
 standbydelay         4200
 standby              0
 halfdim              1
 sms                  1
 hibernatefile        /var/vm/sleepimage
 disksleep            10
 sleep                15 (sleep prevented by coreaudiod, coreaudiod)
 autopoweroffdelay    14400
 hibernatemode        0
 autopoweroff         1
 ttyskeepawake        1
 displaysleep         2 (display sleep prevented by Skype)
 acwake               0
 lidwake              1
Alessandros-MBP:~ alessandrocalello$

I'm not sure I did it correctly, because I don't understand very good what all those things you wrote are...