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BigSur. Thousands of Duplicate Files on my mac that reappear after deleting locally, on iCloud and emptying trash

I have 1000's of duplicate files that are showing up on my Mac. Eventually these duplicate files fill up my back-up drive and iCloud bringing my computer to a grinding halt.


I've reinstalled my OS twice to try and solve the problem.

I've purchased a new back-up drive to solve the problem.

I've deleted the files from my mac and from the trash

I've deleted the files from iCloud


All of these problems started witih BigSur.


They just keep coming back. I'm super frustrated. A multi-$1000 dollar computer that cannot figure out file management.


The thing that is super garbage is that Apple is telling my iCloud is full and to upgrade my storage. Amazing marketing plan! Overload a computer then charge for it.


I've attached a photo showing up to 29 duplicate files, all of which are trying to upload to the cloud!

iMac 21.5″, macOS 11.2

Posted on Feb 23, 2021 6:08 PM

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Posted on Mar 3, 2021 9:40 AM

I have been helping my 85 hear old mother install Big Sur on her iMac and what a freaking mess. We are having the same problem. Trash can is full of files that I cannot get rid of. This was after installing Big Sur and of course ran out of disk space. Time to sell Apple stock!

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4 replies

Mar 3, 2021 12:24 PM in response to Petesza

I did have some luck by doing:

1) go to iCloud. Com and delete the duplicate files from iCloud.com

1a) I found the duplicates by going to finder type ‘command+f’ then change kind to name. Change marches to ends with or contains then in the entry field enter ‘ 2’ or ‘ 3’ or ‘ 4’ etc. literally space and the number or space number . Then delete from the web iCloud.com. Not the Mac itself.

2) Let the deletions sync to the mac and the backup drive and delete what is need from the trash.

3) Unplug the backup drive

4) Completely delete everything from the mac

5) reinstall the OS

6) only reinstall the data, ie don’t bring apps or settings back

7) manually get all needed apps from App Store or

8) download what you need from the internet

9) get a new backup drive and put backups on the new backup drive.


I still cannot get 1 file out of the trash. It always comes back. I don’t know how to find the trash on iCloud, if the trash is there.


I ended up doing the above except (9) twice.


My machine “seems” OK now other than the unremovable trash item. I can delete the trash item using the terminal, but it always comes back.





Feb 23, 2021 6:27 PM in response to toysbyjacksonsox

I had a similar problem, I installed Big Sur on an external drive to set up my computer so I could erase my internal hard drive and get rid of junk. When I enabled iCloud on desktop, it downloaded every file that had ever been on my desktop in the past couple months even though I had moved or deleted all of them. So I said screw it and never finished setting up.

BigSur. Thousands of Duplicate Files on my mac that reappear after deleting locally, on iCloud and emptying trash

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