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How can I delete "Other" data from my SSD?

Using Catalina on a Mac Mini - About This Mac - Storage shows over half my 500GB SSD is being taken up by "Other." Since I'm running out of room on the drive, how do I remove the "Other" data?

Mac mini, macOS 10.15

Posted on Jul 19, 2021 8:23 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jul 19, 2021 8:59 AM

If things are otherwise running well on your Mac, then I consider wiping it a very last resort.

There is something about Time Machine called Local Snapshots that seems to cause a lot of concern. These snapshots live on the startup drive and do take up space, but Apple says they are automatically deleted as space is required on the drive. There is a way to force their deletion and maybe that's something that will help in your situation. Details about that are here:

About TIme Machine local snapshots - Apple Support:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204015


From the above doc...

"If you want to delete local snapshots manually, turn off Time Machine temporarily:

  1. Open Time Machine preferences from the Time Machine menu  in the menu bar. Or choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, then click Time Machine.
  2. Deselect ”Back Up Automatically” or click the Off/On switch, depending on what you see in Time Machine preferences.
  3. Wait a few minutes to allow the local snapshots to be deleted. Then turn on Time Machine again. It remembers your backup disks."


4 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jul 19, 2021 8:59 AM in response to MichaelJonas

If things are otherwise running well on your Mac, then I consider wiping it a very last resort.

There is something about Time Machine called Local Snapshots that seems to cause a lot of concern. These snapshots live on the startup drive and do take up space, but Apple says they are automatically deleted as space is required on the drive. There is a way to force their deletion and maybe that's something that will help in your situation. Details about that are here:

About TIme Machine local snapshots - Apple Support:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204015


From the above doc...

"If you want to delete local snapshots manually, turn off Time Machine temporarily:

  1. Open Time Machine preferences from the Time Machine menu  in the menu bar. Or choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, then click Time Machine.
  2. Deselect ”Back Up Automatically” or click the Off/On switch, depending on what you see in Time Machine preferences.
  3. Wait a few minutes to allow the local snapshots to be deleted. Then turn on Time Machine again. It remembers your backup disks."


Jul 19, 2021 8:49 AM in response to MichaelJonas

Hello, MichaelJonas.


“Other” storage on Mac is files that don’t easily fall into the clearer category labels like “Audio" or “Photos”. The types of "Other" files would include: 

• Cache files like user cache, browser cache, and system cache.

• Documents like PDF, .psd, .doc, etc.

• Disk images and archives like .zip and .dmg.

• macOS system and temporary files.

• App plugins and extensions.

• Everything else that doesn’t fit into the main macOS categories.

• Things that Spotlight doesn’t recognize as belonging to other labeled categories.


You can't manage the contents of this category. The contents are managed by macOS, and the category varies in size depending on the current state of your Mac.

What you can do...

• Make sure you have emptied the trash.

• Empty the trash in the Photos app.

• Delete unused and unneeded installers from your downloads folder and desktop.

• Try reindexing Spotlight. That may help it recategorize the document types.


How can I delete "Other" data from my SSD?

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