Disk Clean and reclaim storage space

[ssppss]

The most common cause of this sort of problem is that your OS is detecting a software error (which might be minor), and that error is being written to an error log over and over continuously, causing the log to balloon in size until your hard drive runs out of free space.
You can test to see if this is the problem, and in the process clear out the offending log, by downloading and running:

Maintenance (free)

Titanium Software | Operating System Utilities for Mac - Maintenance

Maintenance is an operating system maintenance and cleaning utility for macOS that you can use to perform miscellaneous computer maintenance tasks: run periodic scripts; rebuild the databases; delete application, font, and system caches; and more.

www.titanium-software.fr

I used OnyX and I believe the Maintenance is a subset of it. Where are the log files stored?

 

[Randy B. Singer]

I used OnyX and I believe the Maintenance is a subset of it.

Correct. Maintenance has exactly what you need, without all of the confusing additional features of OnyX

Where are the log files stored?

In several places, within areas that ordinary users aren't supposed to muck with. That's why you use a simple utility like Maintenance to clean them out. But, to be more specific, every user Library folder has a Logs folder, and the root Library folder has one as well. The user Library folder is invisible. You can access it by holding down the Option key while choosing the Go menu in the Finder. Log files are read by the Mac OS's Console program.

 

[ferrarr]

Which version of macOS are you using?

Is this a 27" or 21" iMac?

 

[MacInWin]

In that case I can't clean anything in the "Other" or "System" category like cache and application support and junk left programs.

Cache is cleaned by a cold boot. Application Support and "junk" is not typically very large. Have you deleted any programs recently that might make you think that there is debris left behind? OnyX, using the defaults, will clean out what you should. Don't go more aggressive that the defaults unless you know exactly what you are doing.

 

[ssppss]

Which version of macOS are you using?

Is this a 27" or 21" iMac?

The image of the Disk Utility is from the 27-inch Mac:

27-inch mid 2010 Mac. macOS High Sierra, version 10.13.6

1. Has Time Machine. But is indicated often to be full.
2. "System" is 300 GB. (I don't see any "Other")

 

[ssppss]

Cache is cleaned by a cold boot. Application Support and "junk" is not typically very large. Have you deleted any programs recently that might make you think that there is debris left behind? OnyX, using the defaults, will clean out what you should. Don't go more aggressive that the defaults unless you know exactly what you are doing.

How do I do a cold boot?

So one should only stick with the defaults in OnyX for file cleanup? (I am afraid I went most aggressive and chose all the options I saw )

I don't know if it is relevant or not, the 21-inch Mac has Adobe Creative Cloud apps like Photoshop on it. Could that be causing the problem?

 

[MacInWin]

How do I do a cold boot?

Shut down. You do that by clicking on the  in the upper left, then clicking on Shut down... and let it turn off completely. To reboot, press the power button briefly and it should reboot. Rebooting this way starts a new cache/scratch space.

So one should only stick with the defaults in OnyX for file cleanup? (I am afraid I went most aggressive and chose all the options I saw

OnyX is a great tool, but selecting everything is huge overkill and can damage how some programs work. The defaults are the best combination of options. Selecting more than that might cause some strange behavior. Not necessarily fatal, just annoying.

I don't know if it is relevant or not, the 21-inch Mac has Adobe Creative Cloud apps like Photoshop on it. Could that be causing the problem?

CC apps can preserve a "history" of the items being worked on. That history can take up a LOT of space. The history is only released when you save the file and quit the app. To quit the app you have to use the menu item to Quit, not just click on the red X. If you don't shut it down, the temporary files that hold the history are preserved. So, it COULD BE that the Adobe apps are contributing to the problem.

 

[ssppss]

Shut down. You do that by clicking on the  in the upper left, then clicking on Shut down... and let it turn off completely. To reboot, press the power button briefly and it should reboot. Rebooting this way starts a new cache/scratch space.

OnyX is a great tool, but selecting everything is huge overkill and can damage how some programs work. The defaults are the best combination of options. Selecting more than that might cause some strange behavior. Not necessarily fatal, just annoying.


CC apps can preserve a "history" of the items being worked on. That history can take up a LOT of space. The history is only released when you save the file and quit the app. To quit the app you have to use the menu item to Quit, not just click on the red X. If you don't shut it down, the temporary files that hold the history are preserved. So, it COULD BE that the Adobe apps are contributing to the problem.

So cold boot is just basic shut down and restart. I thought it was those special startups like safe mode or recovery mode.

In future I will do a full quit from Adobe CC. But now that Adobe CC has possible left files in the past, how can I clean up the past history it has saved?

 

[ssppss]

1. 27-inch mid 2010 Mac. macOS High Sierra, version 10.13.6
   1. Has Time Machine. But is indicated often to be full.
   2. "System" is 300 GB. (I don't see any "Other")

Is 300 GB for system OK?

 

[MacInWin]

So cold boot is just basic shut down and restart. I thought it was those special startups like safe mode or recovery mode.

In future I will do a full quit from Adobe CC. But now that Adobe CC has possible left files in the past, how can I clean up the past history it has saved?

Adobe CC does not save the history after the file is saved and closed. Saving the file commits to the changes and the history is released. How CC can take up space is if you have files still open and don't shut it down with the full quit, but just click the red X. All that does is push the app in the background, still running, with whatever was open still open and whatever history still in history. Fully quitting CC gets rid of all that history.

Just curious, is the trash empty? Space for things in the trashcan won't be released by the system until it needs space, unless you empty the trash.

System at 300 GB is large. That could mean there are Time Machine snapshots, or snapshots from any cloner software you may have running. Hard to tell from what you have shared so far.

 

[ssppss]

Adobe CC does not save the history after the file is saved and closed. Saving the file commits to the changes and the history is released. How CC can take up space is if you have files still open and don't shut it down with the full quit, but just click the red X. All that does is push the app in the background, still running, with whatever was open still open and whatever history still in history. Fully quitting CC gets rid of all that history.

If I open Adobe CC now and then close it properly, would it get rid of all the past history?

Just curious, is the trash empty? Space for things in the trashcan won't be released by the system until it needs space, unless you empty the trash.

System at 300 GB is large. That could mean there are Time Machine snapshots, or snapshots from any cloner software you may have running. Hard to tell from what you have shared so far.

Trash is empty. How do i dissect where the 300 GB is going? I cleaned ~/Library/Cache and most of the ~/Library/Application Support/ files. Where else can I look?

 

[MacInWin]

DaisyDisk, Disk Inventory, etc.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

Free up storage space on Mac - Apple Support

Learn what to do if your Mac startup disk is almost full, or you don't have enough storage space to download, install, or copy.

support.apple.com

Mac disk space - How to reclaim lost disk space on Mac OS X | alvinalexander.com

alvinalexander.com

How to Clear Disk Space on Mac and Recover Mac Data? - MiniTool

Do you know how to clear disk space on Mac? In this post, we will show you how to free up disk space on Mac automatically and manually.

www.minitool.com

 

[ferrarr]

If I open Adobe CC now and then close it properly, would it get rid of all the past history?

No, it won't.