What is using up all my memory

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Good day. I have 500 GB HD with 44 GB of free space. I have a folder on my Desk Top using another 40 GB so I am curious as to what is using up all my memory. Any tips on where to look and what I can do to gain more memory back I would appreciate it.
https://imgur.com/a/MAqZqB9
 
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OK for starters let's clear up two misunderstandings that you seem to have. Don't feel bad you're not the first to make these mistakes:
1. Judging from the screenshot that you provided it's not memory being used, it's disk space.
2. That 40 GB folder that you have on the desktop is included in the total space that is being used.

If you want to free up some disk space you're going to have to move some files to another drive. The prime candidate for this would be media files (music, movies, etc). You're going to need to find out what files are taking up the most space. Give Grand Perspective or DaisyDisk a try. Either program will show you the file sies and their locations. One caution: If you aren't sure what created a file don't delete it until you know what it is and what created it.

By the way, what kinds of files are in that folder on the Desktop? Perhaps that would be a good place to start.
 

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Hard drive space is not memory. It's space. :)

Are you using Time Machine or Carbon Copy Cloner to make your backups? Both of those programs will store "Local Snapshots" on your SSD. And according to the image of your SSD you provided, it shows that you have 62.5 GB of purgeable space. Very likely the space is being taken up by those "Local Snapshots". Post back and let us know and we will tell you how to purge the snapshots and get your space back.
 

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Good catch Charlie. I completely missed the amount of purgeable space. I should have mentioned the local snapshots issue. That occurred to me as I was posting.
 

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Those "Local Snapshots" created by Time Machine and\or CCC are a real pain. And unless you're aware of what's going on, it can eat up space fairly fast. CCC gives you the option of not creating those snapshots but Time Machine does not. Note though that it's only a problem on flash storage (APFS format) with High Sierra.
 
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Thank you for the education everyone. Yes I use Time Machine to make backups.

Hard drive space is not memory. It's space. :)

Are you using Time Machine or Carbon Copy Cloner to make your backups? Both of those programs will store "Local Snapshots" on your SSD. And according to the image of your SSD you provided, it shows that you have 62.5 GB of purgeable space. Very likely the space is being taken up by those "Local Snapshots". Post back and let us know and we will tell you how to purge the snapshots and get your space back.
 
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I'd appreciate some education on the purgeable files if anyone has the time. Thank you.
 
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Note though that it's only a problem on flash storage (APFS format) with High Sierra.


Really??? I wonder why???

But thanks for the heads-up info.




- Patrick
======
 

chscag

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I'd appreciate some education on the purgeable files if anyone has the time. Thank you.

Run this command in terminal and post the results here in your next reply:

Copy the command below and run it from terminal. (Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal.app)


sudo tmutil listlocalsnapshots /Volumes/
 
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The easiest way to get rid of the local snapshots is to do a TM backup. That clears the snapshots, although as long as TM is enabled, they will return. If you don't leave the TM drive attached, then go into System Preferences/Time Machine and un-check "Back Up Automatically." That will stop TM from making the snapshots. With that turned off, to make a TM backup you will have to launch TM and select Back Up Now.
 
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com.apple.TimeMachine.2018-05-25-181620
com.apple.TimeMachine.2018-05-25-200657
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Macintosh-001ff34e9923:~ robert
Run this command in terminal and post the results here in your next reply:

Copy the command below and run it from terminal. (Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal.app)


sudo tmutil listlocalsnapshots /Volumes/
 

chscag

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Wow! That's a lot of local snapshots!

OK, lets remove them: Follow my terminal command below. Copy it exactly, and run it from terminal. If it asks for your Admin password, go ahead and enter it. Your password will not appear. Let me know.....

This is the command: (Make sure you copy it exactly)

tmutil listlocalsnapshotdates / |grep 20|while read f; do tmutil deletelocalsnapshots $f; done

After running the command, exit the terminal, reboot, and then check your free space again. Let us know.
 
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Why the grep, Charlie? He could just delete them all (that's what your line will do). And if he did a TM backup they would go away anyway. Mucking with command line when he doesn't know much about it is more risky than I would recommend, frankly.
 

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Wow! That's a lot of local snapshots!

My sentiments exactly. You found a removal procedure before I did. Tucked away in that giant brain sumewhere no doubt.

@Scoobie Newbie How long do you typically go without your Time Machine drive connected to your Mac? That should give us an idea how many local snapshots should typically be there.
 

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By the way folks.....

Someone asked why doesn't running Time Machine remove those local snapshots when your Time Machine drive is attached? Apparently there is a glitch in the process when your drive (SSD) is formatted to APFS and you are running High Sierra. I recommend not running Time Machine at all if you currently have an SSD as your primary boot drive and you are running High Sierra. Instead run Carbon Copy Cloner and leave the option to create snapshots off, but leave the option to keep deleted files archived on. That will give you basically the same thing as Time Machine with a lot less headache.

Hopefully Apple will get this fixed before the next version of macOS. I understand they (Apple) are also working on getting APFS to work with Fusion drives.
 

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By the way folks.....


Hopefully Apple will get this fixed before the next version of macOS. I understand they (Apple) are also working on getting APFS to work with Fusion drives.
I'm of two minds about that Charlie. On the one hand, I noticed a pretty decent speed improvement when I ran APFS on my Fusion drive. Given the number of snags, such as this one, I might be inclined to wait a bit longer. Unless the next MacOS forces the issue somehow.
 
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Charlie, I have never had more than two snapshots on my system when I've run the command. I run TM with a scheduler twice a day, so I get a snapshot just as the backup ends, but then TM is turned off again and I get no more. But it DOES erase the older snapshots when the backup is done. You've mentioned this glitch before, but as i said, it's not happening here. I'm running HS with an SSD formatted APFS. I'm wondering if the glitch is in the "legend" category?
 
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I typically back up and then remove my drive until it prompts me that it's been X days since last back up
 
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And that's why the snapshots. So attach the backup, let TM run and it should then delete the snapshots and restore the space. Then before you disconnect the backup drive, open TM in System Preferences and un-check the "run automatically" box. Also check "Show Time Machine in menu bar" to get a TM icon in the top bar. Stopping automatic backups will stop new snapshots from forming. You will have to remember on your own to periodically backup, but you can use recurring reminders to remind you every X days to do a backup. When you want to do a backup, attach the drive, go to the TM icon on the top bar, click it and then "Back Up Now" and it will make a backup.
 

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That probably explains why there are so many of these "local snapshots' stored on the drive. The longer one goes without the backup drive attached the more of them that are created. Given your backup schedule, I think that is where your space is going.

Two things are supposed to be happening once the files are created.

1. If the system gets in a bind for storage the local snapshots are deleted. Not all of them are deleted at once. It's my understanding that the oldest ones are deleted first until enough space is created.
2. When your Time Machine backup is attached and a backup is run the local snapshots are deleted. I don't recall whether all of the snapshots are deleted at once or whether they are deleted gradually over time.

Were you experiencing performance issues with all those snapshots on the drive?

What Jake said I really must learn to type faster. lol
 

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