Help needed! Recovering disk space on a Macbook..

CleanMyMacX by MacPaw ;-) I think I've been using it for a decade now.

Shapes of Elle said

Hey there!

You might be able to find what's taking all the space by:

1. Apple Menu -> About This Mac

2. Click the Storage Tab then click Manage

Look down the left side of the screen that pops up. It'll show applications, bin, books, documents etc and show how much each of those take up on your disk. If you go into applications you can find if any applications are taking up a lot of space also. I found that Chrome went a bit wild on mine, taking up like 60GB. I've switched over to Edge now instead. Also, anything in your 'bin' still takes up diskspace until you empty the bin.

Hope this helps a bit!

xx Elle

Thanks Elle.. yeah I got that up.. most of my used storage is images (believe it or not, ha!) I can see how much space is being used and how it's divided but I don't understand how I can continuously delete stuff and it not make a difference to my disk space.. yep, I empty the bin!

HunterT said

On the pc there is a tool cleaner...see if there is a Mac equivalent. Also...not sure if macs does this.

But Google defragment drive, also a handy tool, as it analyses your hard drive, and in essence, restructures it...to make free space available.

I'm having a lil google, thanks..! I already have a Disk Cleaner installed and that's already maxed out on what I want cleaned up!

travismcfly said

Have you tried switching it off and on again?

(I'm going to quickly run away after saying that, but on the off chance you've not done a full restart recently as you've been busy with trying other things to tidy it up it's worth a go)

I have, but I'm willing to do it as many times as it might take, heh.. I do always have a million tabs open so I'll admit I don't often (never) turn it off unless there's a problem!

OriginalSin said

I use an App called Cleaner One Pro to clean the clag from my MacBook and also DaisyDisk to monitor what files I have on the SSD. Seems to do the trick of keeping thins ticking over nicely. Mine's a 2015 model so a bit long in the tooth. 

I'll have a little look, thanks!

Alan Walker ( AWimagez ) said

Ring apple support, I have a 2015 iMac and they have been very helpful in the past and its no cost if its support. They can look at it online and advise.

Does that still apply if you never had Apple Support? I know, I'm a rebel. I will look into it, thanks

Danny. said

Apple don't always give you the space back when you delete stuff. It flags the space as unused, but not available. Very annoying. Run a backup through Time Machine and they usually give you the space back.

I found that my disk space was all being used by render files in Final Cut Pro (you say no video so probably not that) and also backups of iPhones and iPads in iTunes. If you back these devices up manually in iTunes they'll use a load of space.

For finding out where space is used, DaisyDisk is your friend. Costs a tenner I think, but it's something I use all the time. Graphical user interface. Nice clickable pretty pie charts showing where the disk is being used. We all love pie.

https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/daisydisk/id411643860

ADWsPhotos said

When you delete stuff (and empty the bin) you don’t immediately get all the space back. I’m not by my Mac, and I’ve forgotten the term MacOs uses but you can see it identified when you look at the details sourced from ‘about this Mac’ I generally find a couple of reboots releases that space.

I bloody knew it! I knew I wasn't going mad. Well how ridiculous is that!

Really helpful comments, thanks guys.. especially about running a backup through time machine! Cheers! And I'll do a couple more reboots.. 

ADWsPhotos said

Another thought. If you have few apps on it, how about reinstalling it and load what you need from scratch?

Oh that seems so complicated.. I worry about getting my Photoshop back to exactly how I want it and silly stuff like that because I've tailored it so much to how I like it.. actions, presets, etc. eeeeek. I'm sure it's easy for some, but feels overwhelming for me.. but yes it's something I'll consider doing if nothing else helps!

ANDY00 said

MY imac had this issue years ago but i was always adding images which takes space plus every images retouched generates more files, plus photoshop grows exponentially with every update, i chose to install a bigger SSD for storage and a smaller one just for software and OS, made a massive difference to both speed and space.

That's a good idea.. I'm not sure I want to do that just yet though when I might look at getting a new (second hand) macbook instead. Mine is so old and creaky now..

Sandra Blu said

2014 MacBook is an old one, its hardware system is probably outdated. The first signs that your laptop is too old is that it starts to go very very slow and starts having all sorts of unexplainable issues with them (just like old people, really).

Yeah.. I'm on the last iOS update, and it's nowhere near the most recent, ha! I'm well aware I might need to just bite the bullet and upgrade, but can't just yet, eek!

Unfocussed Mike said

OriginalSin said

I use an App called Cleaner One Pro to clean the clag from my MacBook and also DaisyDisk to monitor what files I have on the SSD. Seems to do the trick of keeping thins ticking over nicely. Mine's a 2015 model so a bit long in the tooth. 

Right. There are some "disk space analyser" apps out there like this -- DaisyDisk is an interesting one. Stick to very popular ones you can get from the App Store for safety, and you might find one of those helpful.

Don't just go deleting stuff it suggests willy-nilly but it might help you find stuff you can ask us about. Anything in your home directory is worth investigating.

Also worth noting that some apps are incredibly large because of their sample data. So if you have truly unused apps lying around -- that you installed yourself! -- getting rid of them can help. I use an app called AppCleaner for that. (Well actually, I rarely use it because I install my apps another way, but it is a good choice for general iusers).

Thanks Mike.. my problem is images, not apps.. my apps hardly take up any space..!

Ted Smith Photography said

You could also try a factory reset which will sort your disk space issue but you’ll need to reinstall applications.

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/102664

HFS+ (the older Apple File System prior to APFS) as has been said, holds on to certain aspects of deleted files but the key point is to ensure the “deleted items” folders are actually also emptied, which can also be achieved via the storage manager.

Edited by Ted Smith Photography

Thanks.. I think that's a last resort for me.. but yes, good suggestion, thanks Ted

Lauraanne (Photographer) said

I had this with a Mac of mine of a similar age. It is due to the face that it needs its operating system updating and as it is an older Mac you may not be able to do that. I had to bite the bullet and get a new Mac. Sorry not really what you want to hear.........

Yes.. that's exactly that! I'm on Big Sur.. I don't think I can update anymore, eeeek! I thought as much.. thanks lovely

BridgeSHOOTS said

silly question first
but do you use one LR Catalogue for your whole LR Archive?
&
do you have your LR catalogue on your Mac's internal drive?

i had this issue on my old PC and it was also an Adobe issue as after some updates it would auto-default my LR Cache and LR generic Catalogue to my OS drive ( at the time it was 256GB )

Yeah.. one catalogue on the internal drive, yes.. it's absolutely enormous.. multiple exernal drives of my modelling (remotes) and photography and retouch work dating back to 2016..! I have two backups saved which don't take up much room actually, but my catalogue is ridiculous..

Ray Middleton said

There is a very good video on you tube how to reduce your disk drive.  It is how to repair your scratch disk in photoshop.  I can't remember all of the options but for starters go into finder, select the Go option, pressooption key down and it reveals library, select application support, select adobe, select coomon and in there you should find a folder with cache files (1000's of them).  If you delete these files, it will give you space.  The files are like temp int files so no damage is done and you don't lose any images.  Find the you tube video first though, it is very helpful.

I will have a google, thanks Ray.. really helpful advice, appreciate it!

The Ghost said

CleanMyMacX by MacPaw ;-) I think I've been using it for a decade now.

Thank yooou!

Your issue is your LR catalogue

As you open LR it will create a backup point increasing the file size, when you start working in the catalogue it's writing to that file too, that's why your drive is never decreasing in capacity

Mac cleaner won't touch fines in a system folder and as they have a unique file extension they are I believe invisible to the program

My suggestion is to move the entire catalogue off your system to another drive

My own solution in using LR catalogue is to

create the shoot folder first on a secondary drive

>>>

move raw files to that folder

>>>

open Lightroom/preferences/general

Dropdown box "when starting up use this catalogue" select from the menu "prompt me when starting LR"

Quit and restart LR

It will start up with a option to choose a catalogue or create one

Creating one is the best option

I do mine by date with a keyword to simplify things

Hope this helps DM me if you have any troubles 😊

Did you right click the bin and select empty bin (sorry couldn't help it ;-) ? 

Some good tools mentioned above, try the first first, that's excellent for finding large files, after that you can also try a slightly tedious job of hunting down large folders. Open up your finder and go to your home directory, you should see "Documents", "Downloads", "Pictures", maybe "Dropbox", and others and others, right click each folder and select "get info". If a particular folder is large open that, and repeat the exercise on the subfolders. 

♥ Chiara Elisabetta said

Alan Walker ( AWimagez ) said

Ring apple support, I have a 2015 iMac and they have been very helpful in the past and its no cost if its support. They can look at it online and advise.

Does that still apply if you never had Apple Support? I know, I'm a rebel. I will look into it, thanks

♥ Chiara Elisabetta said

Alan Walker ( AWimagez ) said

Ring apple support, I have a 2015 iMac and they have been very helpful in the past and its no cost if its support. They can look at it online and advise.

Does that still apply if you never had Apple Support? I know, I'm a rebel. I will look into it, thanks

♥ Chiara Elisabetta said

Alan Walker ( AWimagez ) said

Ring apple support, I have a 2015 iMac and they have been very helpful in the past and its no cost if its support. They can look at it online and advise.

Does that still apply if you never had Apple Support? I know, I'm a rebel. I will look into it, thanks

♥ Chiara Elisabetta said

Alan Walker ( AWimagez ) said

Ring apple support, I have a 2015 iMac and they have been very helpful in the past and its no cost if its support. They can look at it online and advise.

Does that still apply if you never had Apple Support? I know, I'm a rebel. I will look into it, thanks

♥ Chiara Elisabetta said

Alan Walker ( AWimagez ) said

Ring apple support, I have a 2015 iMac and they have been very helpful in the past and its no cost if its support. They can look at it online and advise.

Does that still apply if you never had Apple Support? I know, I'm a rebel. I will look into it, thanks

♥ Chiara Elisabetta said

Alan Walker ( AWimagez ) said

Ring apple support, I have a 2015 iMac and they have been very helpful in the past and its no cost if its support. They can look at it online and advise.

Does that still apply if you never had Apple Support? I know, I'm a rebel. I will look into it, thanks

♥ Chiara Elisabetta said

Shapes of Elle said

Hey there!

You might be able to find what's taking all the space by:

1. Apple Menu -> About This Mac

2. Click the Storage Tab then click Manage

Look down the left side of the screen that pops up. It'll show applications, bin, books, documents etc and show how much each of those take up on your disk. If you go into applications you can find if any applications are taking up a lot of space also. I found that Chrome went a bit wild on mine, taking up like 60GB. I've switched over to Edge now instead. Also, anything in your 'bin' still takes up diskspace until you empty the bin.

Hope this helps a bit!

xx Elle

Thanks Elle.. yeah I got that up.. most of my used storage is images (believe it or not, ha!) I can see how much space is being used and how it's divided but I don't understand how I can continuously delete stuff and it not make a difference to my disk space.. yep, I empty the bin!

HunterT said

On the pc there is a tool cleaner...see if there is a Mac equivalent. Also...not sure if macs does this.

But Google defragment drive, also a handy tool, as it analyses your hard drive, and in essence, restructures it...to make free space available.

I'm having a lil google, thanks..! I already have a Disk Cleaner installed and that's already maxed out on what I want cleaned up!

travismcfly said

Have you tried switching it off and on again?

(I'm going to quickly run away after saying that, but on the off chance you've not done a full restart recently as you've been busy with trying other things to tidy it up it's worth a go)

I have, but I'm willing to do it as many times as it might take, heh.. I do always have a million tabs open so I'll admit I don't often (never) turn it off unless there's a problem!

OriginalSin said

I use an App called Cleaner One Pro to clean the clag from my MacBook and also DaisyDisk to monitor what files I have on the SSD. Seems to do the trick of keeping thins ticking over nicely. Mine's a 2015 model so a bit long in the tooth. 

I'll have a little look, thanks!

♥ Chiara Elisabetta said

Alan Walker ( AWimagez ) said

Ring apple support, I have a 2015 iMac and they have been very helpful in the past and its no cost if its support. They can look at it online and advise.

Does that still apply if you never had Apple Support? I know, I'm a rebel. I will look into it, thanks

I think so, mine expired ages ago, I just ring them, tell them my problem, they ask for your serial number and they can share your computer and place an arrow for you to click so they can see what is going on. They get you to do the work and blank the screen when putting in passwords.  its worth try and its free and nothing to loose.

Completely unrelated and can’t help you with your problem as I’m not very tech savvy.. but does anyone know why I can’t get PurplePort up on my Mac, it is older like 2008 and the website comes up but it’s not the website if that makes sense, just a load of words over the screen, adultfolio and model folio work,

If that made any sense I’m not sure but if anyone would have any idea would be appreciated

Do you use icloud? That can create problems which are complex because it holds storage and won't release it...

Edited by sepiashots

sepiashots said

Do you use icloud? That can create problems which are complex because it holds storage and won't release it...

Edited by sepiashots

This is a good point and I've had issues with the size of the iCloud folder before and especially if you keep a lot of files in iCloud. Also check logs and caches as I've had those balloon up to > 100Gb before.

Sandra Blu said

2014 MacBook is an old one, its hardware system is probably outdated. The first signs that your laptop is too old is that it starts to go very very slow and starts having all sorts of unexplainable issues with them (just like old people, really).

i have heard but don't know whether that is true that apple design the system to need replacing in five years.
whether that was phones or all or some items of kit i dont know or remember.  knowing apple's repair policy as i dont personally
but have watched too many youtube vids about it,  i would not be surprised that apple play that game with computers as well
as phones ?

any corrections more than welcome if i'm uttering forth rubbish, thanks. 

Sandra Blu said

2014 MacBook is an old one, its hardware system is probably outdated. The first signs that your laptop is too old is that it starts to go very very slow and starts having all sorts of unexplainable issues with them (just like old people, really).

That may be true, but I don't see how it would affect the disk space issue?

I use LEMON CLEANER LITE for keeping my drive clean and neat. It‘s free and works well. I use it every time I empty the bin and before I close my macbook. It cleans more than 500megabytes every day.

I also keep all my LR catalogue, PS files and Raw files on my external drives. I make back-up of those instead of my laptop files.