Help! My macOS Hard Drive Shows Full, But It Doesn't Make Sense! (Storage Full, Apps Unresponsive)

[DonChoudhry]

I'm facing a critical issue with my Mac's storage that's impacting my workflow. My hard drive has a capacity of 256GB, but it constantly shows as full, no matter how much data I delete.

Here's the even more concerning part: applications are showing as taking up 612.11GB of space, which is exceeding the total capacity of my hard drive. This leads me to believe there might be hidden or unaccounted-for data consuming the storage.

This issue has resulted in:

• Difficulty opening apps: Due to the "full storage" state, I'm experiencing difficulties opening some applications, hindering my ability to work effectively.
• Inability to edit existing documents: I'm also unable to save changes or add new content to existing documents, further hampering my productivity.

I've already tried several troubleshooting steps, including:

• Emptying the trash: I've ensured that the trash is empty and doesn't hold any deleted files.
• Identifying large files: I've used built-in tools like "Storage Management" and third-party applications to locate and remove any large files or applications that might be taking up a significant amount of space.
• Restarting the Mac: I've tried restarting my Mac multiple times, hoping it might refresh the storage information.

Unfortunately, none of these steps have resolved the issue.

I'm hoping the experts here can help me with the following:

• Understanding the discrepancy: Why are applications showing as using more space than the total capacity of the hard drive?
• Identifying hidden storage: Are there any potential hidden storage locations I might be overlooking?
• Reclaiming wasted space: What additional steps can I take to identify and remove unnecessary files or data that might be contributing to the storage issue?

I'm attaching a screenshot of my "Storage Management" and "About This Mac" window (Notice available space in Macintosh HD at the bottom) if it provides any additional information.

Any suggestions or advice on how to troubleshoot this problem would be greatly appreciated!

 

[lclev]

You do not say what model of mac you have, what year is it, and what version of OS it is running. As for what is happening, you do have a dilemma. Without more information I can only give generic advice.

You could check to see if Time Machine is turned on. If there is no backup drive for Time Machine to move backed up data to it will accumulate on your drive waiting to be moved.
The best way of making sure TM Local snapshots are not the issue is in Disk Utility > View > Show APFS Snapshots
The snapshots appear on the right hand side and can be deleted. Select All > Right click > Delete
If it is greyed out then that is not the issue.

If that does not fix anything I would backup all my data using SuperDuper - if you can get it installed - then wipe and reinstall the OS. Something is not playing nice and it looks like it is potentially an app.

Hopefully some others will chime in with some ideas too.

Lisa

 

[MacInWin]

Can you boot from an external drive? If you could, you might be able to run Disk Utility on the boot drive to see if there are any issues with it that First Aid can fix.

I see you have an M1 Mac, running Sonoma. The issue with seeing "impossible" amounts of storage may be related to either a problem with the integrity of the drive, or with the way macOS handles data. Unfortunately, if it's an integrity issue your options may be very limited as the storage is integrated with the M1 chip and there is no way to replace it without a new logic board or new Mac.

Do you have "Optimize Storage on this Mac" turned on? Do you have backups? Are you open to setting it back to factory-new state and restoring what you need, one at a time?

 

[Randy B. Singer]

I'm facing a critical issue with my Mac's storage that's impacting my workflow. My hard drive has a capacity of 256GB, but it constantly shows as full, no matter how much data I delete.

This is a common problem, and it's easy to fix.

You have a log or a cache file that is out-of-control and it is ballooning to fill up all of your drive's space.
Running this free utility, using the default settings, fixes it (at least in the short term):

Maintenance (free)
https://www.titanium-software.fr/en/maintenance.html

Some very useful references:

Why Is My Mac System Storage So Big?
Why Is My Mac System Storage So Big?

How To Fix When macOS System Data Is Huge
How to Fix When macOS System Data is Huge/Large

 

[Rod]

No screen shot? We would like to see that and the other information requested on post #2.

 

[Jimmysb]

No screen shot? We would like to see that and the other information requested on post #2.

Follow the link in post #1

 

[pm-r]

Follow the link in post #1

That's an interesting and very easy to read screenshots at the "Temp Page for Mac Support" and much better than many posted screenshots but I have no idea how they got there to create it.

Maybe someone could Supply a permanent link to generate such a page.



- Patrick
=======

 

[MacInWin]

That's an interesting and very easy to read screenshots at the "Temp Page for Mac Support" and much better than many posted screenshots but I have no idea how they got there to create it.

Maybe someone could Supply a permanent link to generate such a page.



- Patrick
=======

I would be opposed to that. I rarely click on links I am unfamiliar with ('net safety). I only followed that one in a sandbox virtual machine, which was a bit of an annoyance. Just upload the screenshots here, please. That's the best way, IMHO.

 

[Jimmysb]

That's an interesting and very easy to read screenshots at the "Temp Page for Mac Support" and much better than many posted screenshots but I have no idea how they got there to create it.

Maybe someone could Supply a permanent link to generate such a page.



- Patrick
=======

I would be opposed to that. I rarely click on links I am unfamiliar with ('net safety). I only followed that one in a sandbox virtual machine, which was a bit of an annoyance. Just upload the screenshots here, please. That's the best way, IMHO.

I can see both points to this, and have to admit I did miss the link screenshot first time around, and quarantined when I did click. So even though easier to read, I think I come down of screenshots on the site, and not remote.

 

[Rod]

Ah, missed it amongst the text, strange, it comes out like a web page on my iPhone.
It's definitely weird, I've never seen 612GB of applications on anything yet there's still storage space free.
Could this be a Spotlight issue, that is, something to do with indexing?

 

[Rod]

Worth re-indexing the HD?

 

[MacInWin]

Ah, missed it amongst the text, strange, it comes out like a web page on my iPhone.
It's definitely weird, I've never seen 612GB of applications on anything yet there's still storage space free.
Could this be a Spotlight issue, that is, something to do with indexing?

Rod, it could be anything. macOS Sonoma compresses everything really tightly, but reports the full file size to things like Finder. In addition, if the OP has Optimize turned on, a lot of those apps could be in iCloud. The dataless files left behind still have the metadata about the file, so they still look large.

The OP hasn't come back, so we don't know.

Could also be a troll. It's happened before.

 

[Rod]

True, and that screenshot was odd to say the least. Glad I only opened in Brave on my iPhone. I guess we'll find out.