What is 'Other' on my SSD and how can I get rid of it?

[FlickCM]

Hey guys,

So I am hoping someone on here can explain to me and help me out with something.

I run two HDD's in my macbook pro, choosing to remove my cd drive in favour of having an SSD and the regular one. The SSD launches my OS and has all my apps on it. I don't install apps regularly so it seemed like the best move. Now, I have noticed when I check my disk storage it shows that a huge amount of space is taken up by 'other'.

As shown in the above image, I would love to know how I could clean that up. I have used third party apps like Clean My mac 2 and Main Menu but they don't clean it up. It keeps growing and I understand that at some point, I might just have to format the drive and start over. Is there a way around this?

Also I should note that my swap files have been relocated to my regular HDD, so it's not them and my sleepimage is only 9gb.

Cheers.

 

[hammo123]

I use "Whatsize" when i want to weed out something that's hogging space if i can't remember or find it the normal way..
I think you can still download the demo /trial & check it out..

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[FlickCM]

Thanks for your help Hammo. I installed the app and was able to reclaim some space but now this has happened:

I am not sure where those backups up, but I would like them gone. I have timemachine but I backup once a week, so I don't really know what those are.

 

[jav6454]

I am not sure where those backups up, but I would like them gone. I have timemachine but I backup once a week, so I don't really know what those are.

Did you set TimeMachine to be within the same HDD as your Mac or on a different drive?

 

[FlickCM]

Did you set TimeMachine to be within the same HDD as your Mac or on a different drive?

Time Machine backs up to an external HDD. It's not even plugged in right now.

 

[jav6454]

Time Machine backs up to an external HDD. It's not even plugged in right now.

Check other apps, remember Time Machine also works for documents being worked on. Example, a Pages document or iPhoto project. All of those get timed backups.

 

[maflynn]

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

I like that better then whatsize.

Apple lumps a bunch of crap in the other category so it difficult to peel back what it is.

possible causes larger Other space category
1. Swap space
2, Sleep image file
3. Time Machine local snapshots

 

[FlickCM]

Thanks for your help guys.

It appears space is taken mostly by application support files and I am not sure whether or not I should delete them. The huge ones are for Adobe apps which I need.

 

[ValSalva]

Thanks for your help guys.

It appears space is taken mostly by application support files and I am not sure whether or not I should delete them. The huge ones are for Adobe apps which I need.

Are you on Creative Cloud by any chance?

 

[overanalyzer]

Thanks for your help Hammo. I installed the app and was able to reclaim some space but now this has happened:

Image

I am not sure where those backups up, but I would like them gone. I have timemachine but I backup once a week, so I don't really know what those are.

I think this may be of relevance:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4878

The "Backups" appear to be local snapshots made by Time Machine in that KB article. It also says it will automatically delete the files to make space as the drive fills, so I think you could just ignore them.

 

[FlickCM]

Are you on Creative Cloud by any chance?

No, I have regular installs of Adobe Indesign, Photoshop and Illustrator for...financial reasons.

I think this may be of relevance:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4878

The "Backups" appear to be local snapshots made by Time Machine in that KB article. It also says it will automatically delete the files to make space as the drive fills, so I think you could just ignore them.

Yup, I have gone and done that. So strange, after coming back to my laptop which was not off, I have now reclaimed at least 60gb of space. Thanks for all your help and suggestions guys.

 

[ValSalva]

No, I have regular installs of Adobe Indesign, Photoshop and Illustrator for...financial reasons.

Just wondering if CC left anything extra on your computer. As for your financial reasons, you are definitely not alone.