Lost storage in macOS 10.15

[m.g.mcc]

I installed macOS Catalina 10.15 in my 2018 MacBook Air when it was released without a problem. When I tried to install the update to 10.15.1 it failed due to insufficient disk space. Going into "About This Mac", the Storage tab indicates that I have a huge 70.4 GB of "other" which isn't anything I have installed, I can't find anything or any large files that would use this amount of space and need to find a way to recover the space.

I also have a 2017 MacBook Pro with macOS 10.15 and, although I haven't tried to update this, it has similarly built up 56 GB of "other" storage. A MacMini that I have updated to 10.15.1 has a more reasonable "other" figure of 16.8GB and all three computers have essentially the same files and apps installed in them.

Any help to resolve this would be appreciated.

 

[pigoo3]

The "Other" category basically is a catch-all term for things that don't necessarily fit into other categories easily. It's really difficult to say what the differences are between your computers...you need to research what's up between them "files-wise" (we don't know what's on each drive to be able to suggest anything specific).

Here's an article that explains "Other"...hopefully it helps:

What is Other on Mac Storage and How to Delete it – 6 Steps Guide

- Nick

 

[m.g.mcc]

Thanks for the reply. I had a look at that article and ran the suggested CleanMyMac X program. It seems the culprit was iTunes / TV App which has been automatically downloading films which I have bought. Removing these downloads has got the storage back to sensible levels and I've updated the MacBook Air to 10.15.1

 

[pigoo3]

Thanks for the reply. I had a look at that article and ran the suggested CleanMyMac X program. It seems the culprit was iTunes / TV App which has been automatically downloading films which I have bought. Removing these downloads has got the storage back to sensible levels and I've updated the MacBook Air to 10.15.1

Awesome that the issue was found.

Also wanted to apologize for linking that particular article. When I linked it...I did not at first realize that it was a blog article for "MacPaw" (the developers of "CleanMyMac X"). Generally speaking...we do not endorse "cleaning apps"...since members over time have had mixed results with them (usually more negative than positive).

But it looks like CleanMyMac X did what you needed it to do...so good deal.

Congrats again,

- Nick