Hard disk space taken up by "Other"

Anybody knows how to free up space on my hard drive? I have a 1TB HD partitioned into two, mainly using the half of it to store photos, music etc. I should have at least 250 GB to play with but the Finder says I have only 63 GB left. The five folders in the root directory add up to no more than 200 GB and I've already emptied my trash. Does anybody know what is the "Other" stuff that's taken up 382 GB of my HD space?

That category "Other" is any file that is not Audio, Photos, Movies, Applications, or Backups. I've used GrandPerspective but there's also WhatSizeMac, and OmniDisk Sweeper Give one of these a try and identify what the files are before you start deleting stuff.

will give one of them a shot and see how it goes. although i still don't think i use THAT much disk space unless some bot has been secretly downloading stuff behind my back. thanks!

Some of that space may be occupied by certain System files if I remember correctly. Files in the "Other" category could be anywhere on the drive including the System folder. Do be careful though. Although OS X kinda protects itself from deletions that could bork the system some things are still possible. My personal rule is to not delete a file unless one or both of the following are true:

1. You created the file and either have a backup or you're sure you don't need it.
2. You didn't create the file but know what it does/is used for.

oh my word...

time to start getting rid of some mobile apps and movies!

bambooze said:

time to start getting rid of some mobile apps and movies!

Click to expand...

Duh! Look at the "Time Machine" portion of the image in post #1!

- Nick

I think the OP was more concerned about the Macintosh HD disk since it only has 63 GB left. The Time Machine Disk has nothing labeled "Other".

Slydude said:

I think the OP was more concerned about the Macintosh HD disk since it only has 63 GB left. The Time Machine Disk has nothing labeled "Other".

Click to expand...

I agree...OP did initially seem to be mostly concerned about the internal HD. But then in post #5...OP mentioned "movies". Which from the photo in post #1...seems to be taking up about 90+% of the external drive. The internal drive has very little in the way of movies (deleting movies on the internal wouldn't free up much space)..

- Nick

The time machine is an external drive and it is where it backs up my stuff. If you look carefully it's light purple. Anyway that's not the point. My internal drive has a 1TB capacity and i've partitioned it 50-50, using half of it (Macintosh HD) for the OS and the other (HD2) as additional storage space.
My main concern is the "other" stuff that has taken up nearly 80% of the OS half of the drive. It's also taken up more than what is actually stored in the HD2 partition where I've put nothing but photos and home videos. I just want to know what on earth is "Other"??????

bambooze said:

I just want to know what on earth is "Other"??????

Click to expand...

A quick & easy 5 second Google search found this:

OS X: What is "other" space in About This Mac?

- Nick

Don't even need to google it - right here at mac-forums is this:

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/sw...rive-storage-other-os-x-10-7-10-8-10-9-a.html

cheers all.