What is consuming my storage?

Hi,


About his Mac --> Storage

Notice there are
1. Movies
2. Apps
3. Photos
4. Backups
5. Audio
6. OTHER

'Other' consumes 43 GB for my Macbook Air (256 GB). Does anyone know what this is? Could it be an aggregate of different types of files? E.g. Documents + iMovie Projects + Ghost files etc.

"Other" is anything that is NOT a movie, an app, a photo, a backup or an audio file. So documents, spreadsheets, data files, databases, logs, etc, are all "other."

Thanks

simonvee said:

Hi,


About his Mac --> Storage

Notice there are
1. Movies
2. Apps
3. Photos
4. Backups
5. Audio
6. OTHER

'Other' consumes 43 GB for my Macbook Air (256 GB). Does anyone know what this is? Could it be an aggregate of different types of files? E.g. Documents + iMovie Projects + Ghost files etc.

Click to expand...

Hello - as already explained by Jake and whether using iOS or OS X, the Other category in storage is basically what is not included in the 'defined' groups - these may include numerous options, such as caches, system items, logs, etc.

Now, the amount that is showing for your computer is not unusual, e.g. look at the image attached of my MBPro - the top shows that 'Other' is my largest division in that storage bar - I ran Onyx which brought back about 2.5 GBs (likely eliminated some caches & logs mainly - don't know) shown in the lower part of the image; SO, if you're not using Onyx, then click the link and download the version appropriate for your OS X, and do a comparison - might clear up more space than mine? Let us know - Dave
.

I just downloaded Onyx. Minor problem occurred when installing. It wasn't from an Apple developer so it restricted download. However, I have enabled it. Hope it is a secure app.

So just go into 'cleaning' and click execute right? On System, User, Internet etc?

I just use the Automation tab and leave everything checked under maintenance and cleaning.

If your Mac has a SSD, you shouldn't need to use Onyx near as often as with a HDD.
My use of Onyx dropped from once every 2-3 months to maybe once every 6-12 months.
I only run Onyx when I begin to notice some slow down - not as some regular maintenance like I use to in that other OS.
My wife only opens up Onyx about once a year even with using a HDD in her machine.

See the sticky - http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/switcher-hangout/291480-os-x-storage-other.html

Based on my About This Mac usage, apparently I have no operating system, mail, documents or anything on my Mac that doesn't fit into those categories - it's just a useless pile of garbage and worth nothing except maybe for a quick view of how much free space you have. Well, maybe it's counting the operating system as an app now - who knows?

.

Simon, Did you find a solution to this? I have the same problem and I just discovered that all of the missing space has been taken up by chunkstorage. This seems to be previous versions of any files that support multiple "revert to" versions. In my case, there is 274GB in there. However, I am not sure what I can delete as it is not itemized out.

David

Here is one discussion at Apple about chunk storage: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3797292?start=0&tstart=0

Maybe that solution will work for you, whiteoakart.