Here I can see it says the Application folder has taken up 400GB of the storage
But I don't see any app taking that much space
I also here you can see the biggest space has been taken by docker which is 12GB and total token storage is 59GB
Here again, we can see no folder has taken that much space which the storage says
[Edited by Moderator]
MacBook Pro 16″
➡️ Understanding iCloud Drive - Apple Community. ⬅️
EDITED - adding an important link regarding iCloud and what it does and does Not Do
I can not see any good explanations for that amount of Disk Usage.
At this point, I can only suggest that you backup to an external SSD, erase, reinstall and then reload your data from the backup.
The fastest and easiest backup to work with, would be a Clone on an external SSD using CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper.
The 'punchline' for the excellent detailed information that Owl-53 wrote just above could be:
DO THIS >> Connect your external drive and allow time machine to make a disk-based copy, and that could allow the system to remove (over the next few hours) a lot of local snapshots.
If snapshots is what is clogging things up, you will get some relief.
I concur with @den.thed
For Apple Silicon computer >> Use Disk Utility to erase a Mac with Apple silicon.
For Apple Intel computers >> Use Disk Utility to erase an Intel-based Mac followed by How to reinstall macOS
Always make a Time Machine Backup before proceeding
Emphasis on User Account Only
Then there is Purgeable Space which is controlled by the operating system.
When the system needs more empty space, it moves some purgeable space to empty space.
There’s no user action to hasten this transition. It can take days or longer.
From another contributor @etresoft regarding Free Space and Available Space
Free vs available disk space huge differe… - Apple Community
Quote >> “ The "available" storage is the amount of used storage that the operating system could automatically delete if it felt that it was really necessary. The "free" storage is the amount that you can actually use for something.
There are system processes that run in the background and automatically delete some of the "available" storage and convert it to "free".
If you completely run out of storage, then those system processes will try a little harder. When you "delete" files you are just hinting to the operating system that you don't need those files anymore. The operating system will eventually remove them, but on its own schedule.
Certain tools will allow you to force the issue and manually clean up some of this storage and manually delete local snapshots. But that is only temporary. " << End Quote
Click on the letter "I" arrowed to see in detail what is taking up all the space.
foad77 wrote:
I recently purchased a MacBook Pro with 512 GB of internal storage, and I expect it to manage that capacity properly. For example, if I download 400 GB of data and then move it to iCloud (I have a 2 TB iCloud plan), those files should be removed from my local SSD to free up space.
That statement is starting to shed some light on the problem. iCloud is not a Repository for Archived files, it is for sharing Files between Devices.
An Archive or Repository, is best done on a local external drive. That external drive can be a slower HDD or a faster SSD.
After you move the Archive file(s) to the Repository, then you can delete it from the Mac to free up that space.
"On the cloud" is great for sharing photos, but is not a viable backup solution for everything you have. The stuff is not under your control, and is subject to sloppy handling, arbitrary changes in policy, theft, accidental deletion, data loss [are they making frequent backups using best practices?], and discontinuation or throttling of the service. It can easily take three days to restore it at ordinary Internet speeds.
If you do not have a recent local, disk-based backup, your computer is like a ticking Time bomb. You are only one disk failure, one mainboard failure, one crazy software, or one "oops" away from losing EVERYTHING! Drives do not last forever. It is not a question of IF it will fail, only WHEN it will fail. In addition, you never know when crazy software or Pilot Error throws away far more than you intended.
If you are using another direct-to-disk backup method that you prefer, and you currently have a recent disk-based backup, that is great. If not, you should consider using Built-in Time Machine. Take steps to acquire an external drive as soon as possible. If you buy one, a drive 2 to 3 times or larger than your boot drive is preferable for long term trouble-free operation. Do not pay extra for a drive that is fast. (You can get by for a while with a "found" smaller drive if necessary, but it will eventually become annoying).
Attach your external drive and use
Settings > General > Time machine ...
... to turn on Time Machine and specify what drive to store your Backups on. It may ask to initialize the new drive, and that is as expected. APFS format is default format if running MacOS 11 Big Sur or later.
Time machine works quietly and automatically in the background, without interrupting your regular work, and only saves the incremental changes (after the first full backup). Time machine backs up your machine — including every connected drive that is in a Mac compatible format. it can not back up Windows format drives.
Time Machine's "claim to fame" is that it is the backup that gets done. It does not ruin performance of the rest of the computer while doing its backup operations. You do not have to set aside a "Special Time" when you only do backups. When you need it, your Time machine Backup is much more likely to be there.
How to use Time Machine to Backup or Restore your Mac:
Back up your Mac with Time Machine - Apple Support
Thanks everybody, this was indeed the issue.
Now i see the storage is slowly being freed (Some Mb per second)
So, in short, this is the summary for people who see this in the feature:
Thanks to @Owl-53 and @Grant Bennet-Alder and @den.thed
The macOS eye-candy Storage can be incorrect and misleading.
I'm not familiar enough with GrandPerspective's patch work to assess usage.
What does OmniDiskSweeper tell us about your Users, System and Applications usage.
https://www.omnigroup.com/more/
As has been mentioned by @ Ian R. Brown and thank you for this
Then there is the " Developers " 1.97 GB category, plus " Documents " 7.85 GB
Added to this is Music Creation category = 2.38 GB
Depending on if this machine is Apple Silicon and Apple Intelligence is enabled ( It is by default ) add an addition about 10.64 GB or more , onto top of the Operating System usages
Add them up and presto about 22 GB
<< if I download 400 GB of data and then move it to iCloud (I have a 2 TB iCloud plan), those files should be removed from my local SSD to free up space. >>
You are cutting the sizes of things far too closely.
Including Xcode, you need nearly 100 GB for MacOS files, plus an additional about 20 percent of total drive size free space for miscellaneous uses, Virtual memory, and keeping drive write speeds appropriately FAST at all times.
As others have pointed out, iCloud Drive space is not an extension of your drive, it is a Share-able space that can be called upon in a pinch. You should think of relying on iCloud Drive space as strongly addictive. Heavy use of iCloud Drive gets less and less convenient over time.
If you have indeed Added about 400 GB of files to your 500 GB drive, that drive is 'overflowing onto the floor' FULL. The real solution is to obtain an external drive on which to store some of your files. Over the long haul, iCloud Drive can not adequately do this job for you, and does not guarantee adequate backups of those files.
if portability is needed, there are now some lightweight portable drives that can do the trick AND provide portability:
For long-term desktop use only, a drive with its own power supply tends to be slightly more widely dependable and solid.
I can imagine it should be a logical explanation for this!
As the storage shows full, the data should be stored somewhere.
As there is no data, the storage should be released.
If not, some data should be stored somewhere.
It does not make sense to erase the SSD just to free up the space.
I have a lot of important information and apps, which will take me hours to back up them
Thanks, but shouldn't we find the issue? As it might happen for other users, erasing the SSD does not sound like the greatest solution to me.
I think it's somewhere hidden, might be in a hidden folder. or a bug on the OS which does not free up memory after uploading data into shared i cloud
Follow on
Not something some people what to the told and I sure would not what to be told either
Generally when this issue is discovered by the User ( you in this case )
It is because the Internal Drive Capacity of this computer maybe on the small size
Meaning, the computer does present as having 512 GB Drive Capacity
Unfortunately, the users' needs for Storage may have grown since the time it was originally purchased
The implications being that on your next purchase
Spend the Extra Money Up Front on a Larger Drive Capacity Drive and add more RAM
This may just Future Proof the computer for your growing needs
Take into account when or if purchasing
After macOS 26 Tahoe to be released sometime this year
All newer versions of macOS after Tahoe, will not support Intel Computers to upGrade beyond macOS 26 Tahoe
My Mac storage is full, And i can not free the storage
