Topic: How to clear 'Other' Mac files (Read 17122 times)

MarkJohnson · « **on:** May 21, 2015, 04:30:43 am »

On my Mac Pro (Mavericks), my startup disk is a 120 Gb OWC SSD where I allowed for just application installations, which occupy 7.74 Gb. 'Other' files occupy 99.67 Gb!! I have Googled 'other' files and cleared trash, downloads, old app versions & associated library caches. I have had 'startup disc is almost full' and 'startup disc is full' alerts lately.
My image files, scratch disc, backups etc are on a RAID 1 pair of 3 Tb discs.
The amount and proportion of 'other' files seem inordinate.
I got the Terminal app to show hidden files and folders but there's not much doing there.
Is there anything I can do to reduce some of these files? Buying a new bigger startup disc and re-installing all apps would be a pain and a hassle.

D Fosse · « **Reply #1 on:** May 21, 2015, 04:45:06 am »

Look at caches. Bridge and Premiere in particular can build up huge caches over time.

On Windows these are hidden under user account > Program data, I assume something similar in OSX.

These caches go to the system drive/user account by default, but can be redirected in Preferences.

kers · « **Reply #2 on:** May 21, 2015, 11:20:10 am »

I use a nice little program called ONYX.

http://www.titanium.free.fr

it is gratis
It uses Apples own utilities to check and clean your mac.
in their own words: OnyX is a multifunction utility for OS X which you can use to verify the startup disk and the structure of its system files, to run miscellaneous tasks of cleaning and system maintenance, to configure some hidden parameters of many of Apple’s applications, and more.

it works well.

What works even better is making a system from scratch- but that is a lot of work.
i just did it for after some year of working your system gets polluted with all kind of installations- system updates etc. ( i have saved this new clean base system as a DMG file to use it again if i like)

MarkJohnson · « **Reply #3 on:** May 21, 2015, 01:57:19 pm »

Thank you both.
D Fosse: all caches are I think in the Library folder, which itself is only 5.82 Gb in size; I don't use Bridge or Premiere.
Kers: I ran all the Onyx processes at default settings. I still have 97.89 Gb of 'other' files in my 120 Gb startup disk - I've shed only about 2 Gb.
What are all these files? I would have bought at least a 250 Gb startup disk if I'd known how massively these files build up!

Manoli · « **Reply #4 on:** May 21, 2015, 02:23:24 pm »

Something is awry, somewhere.
I'm running a 250GB SSD with apps only (theoretically).
SysInfo gives me 26GB apps, 34GB other plus audio & backups ( < 1GB) Over 180GB free

Suggest you try CleanMyMac3, or similar, where you can scan for large and old files and preview search results before either deleting or alternatively 'move to folder' for review.

kers · « **Reply #5 on:** May 21, 2015, 02:58:10 pm »

hello Mark,

i always worked on a 100GB disk with Mavericks... and ran into these problems too...
about 15GB ( 15%) you need to have free otherwise your Harddisk will run less fast ...

your library is indeed small; you are talking about you -homemap library -right? if not listen up:

first make shure you library folder is always visible-
go to you homefolder - pres command+J and select library visible ( bottom- toon bibliotheekmap in Dutch) see image

Your iPhone backup ( if you have it) may take a lot of space too ... /Users/NAME USER/Library/Application Support/MobileSync
in the map application support you will find also the map adobe and adobe caches...that may be large..

your Mail folder can be very large ( mine is over 20GB) /NAME USER/pk/Library/Mail
then i do not know how much data LR stores for i do not use it...
----
You will have to check what makes up so much space...
I suppose you can put some things on other disks.. for instance music files.
I have a lot of music - over 100Gb and put it on my datadisk. you can redirect itunes to it in the preferences.
normally it is in your home folder in the music map
check how large the map downloads is..

succes PK

PS some cleaning programs can make a mess of your mac- I know Onyx doesn't- but make a backup first always
do not use any programs that rearrange all your stuff more tidier- it is not necessary anymore and might ruin your system

jjj · « **Reply #6 on:** May 21, 2015, 07:13:37 pm »

Daisy Disc is a handy app for finding out what sort of file is taking up space on your computer. I lost loads of space once to Time Machine files invisibly and without permission backing up to the same drive it was archiving until it was full. Doesn't make for a speedy computer.

MarkJohnson · « **Reply #7 on:** May 22, 2015, 05:38:54 am »

Thanks again for replies.
Manoli, I've already run Onyx - haven't bought CleanMyMac3 yet as it has varying reviews, but may need to try it.
Pieter, Library is visible, I don't have iPhone backup or Mail or Music files on this startup disc.
Jjj, DaisyDisk indeed gives more detail. The 'Private' folder has 83.9 Gb of files, Spool subfolder 80.5 Gb, then Cups subfolder of same size with multiple 1.8 Gb & smaller files, with names like d00300-001, d00286-001 etc etc. These look like the culprits but no idea what they are or where they come from or whether they can/should be deleted. DaisyDisk has a support facility which I'll contact.
For interest, DaisyDisk scan image is attached, plus scan of Cups subfolder.

jjj · « **Reply #8 on:** May 22, 2015, 08:03:04 am »

Useful info re private file and stuff re spool/cups here

kers · « **Reply #9 on:** May 22, 2015, 08:20:28 am »

Mark, as far as i know Cups are (old) print jobs...

in onyx you can delete them...

Manoli · « **Reply #10 on:** May 22, 2015, 10:43:14 am »

Mark, checked the alternatives and found OmniDiskSweeper and this review on MacAdvisor.

CleanMyMac has a free download/trial 'before you buy' so perhaps worth seeing what it finds under the Large & Old files option which will search and list the files before you decide whether or not to mark them for deletion.

MarkJohnson · « **Reply #11 on:** May 22, 2015, 10:45:03 am »

Thanks again Pieter & jjj. I cleared CUPS jobs in Onyx but it made no difference to size of 'Other' files fraction of the startup disc. However, the private/var/spool/cups folder has a 'no entry' symbol on the folder icon and you can't look inside, so were the CUPS jobs in fact deleted? Other strategies go into deeper water than I've thus far ventured with my Mac Pro.

Interestingly, I've done a lot of printing lately, but just from Lightroom 6. My LR catalogue files are not on the startup disc. Wouldn't it be great if LR Print module could do its work without such print job files being separately generated in OS X Mavericks? I'll email Adobe and see what they think.

Manoli, your post just appeared and I'll check out your links and suggestion with CleanMyMac.

Manoli · « **Reply #12 on:** May 22, 2015, 11:08:00 am »

Mark,
Our posts are crossing each other!
CMM is a free tryout but just checked Daisy Disk and bought it ( thanks to jjj for the heads up).

MarkJohnson · « **Reply #13 on:** May 22, 2015, 11:14:48 am »

Manoli, CleanMyMac 3 found only about 4 GB deletable files and the free trial version deleted I think about 500 MB of this. Haven't decided whether to spend £35 to clear out another few GB. OmniDiskSweeper only finds 22.6 GB of files on the disk (whereas Mac System Information reports 105.3 GB on the disc) although it does report nothing in the CUPS folder.

Both nature of problem and way forward seem unclear at the moment.

MarkJohnson · « **Reply #14 on:** May 22, 2015, 11:23:28 am »

DaisyDisk still reports 80.5 GB of files in private/var/spool/cups, each between 342.6 MB and 1.8 GB.

kers · « **Reply #15 on:** May 23, 2015, 02:48:06 pm »

can you go to private and Cups and get Info command i

like i did below...
as you can see Private = 3.25 GB and cups = 0KB

MarkJohnson · « **Reply #16 on:** May 24, 2015, 05:37:43 am »

Thanks for staying with the case Pieter! Had difficulty changing permissions of cups folder but I just resolved that and can now see all the cups files - see attachment. All the present cups files date from March this year. Total size of cups folder this morning is 80.95 Gb. The cups tmp subfolder is empty. I think I can now just delete all the cups files although I would like to know how they got there and stayed there. Maybe I need to go through Terminal app and maybe CUPS web interface (no idea how in either case) but I would have thought there could/should be an option for these files to be deleted at the end of a printing session, or not even created in the first place as Lightroom has its own catalogue with printing details. Am I wrong?

MarkJohnson · « **Reply #17 on:** May 24, 2015, 05:40:13 am »

Info window on a cups file also nnow attached.

kers · « **Reply #18 on:** May 24, 2015, 06:52:26 am »

Quote from: MarkJohnson on May 24, 2015, 05:40:13 am

Info window on a cups file also nnow attached.

I would not be surprised it is a LR mistake...
to my knowledge cup files are temporary printerfiles for the printer to understand and then deleted after use...

If you have made a backup you can delete them and see what problems you get

- i guess just a clean computer... with 80 GB more space...

cheers PK

Manoli · « **Reply #19 on:** May 24, 2015, 07:21:12 am »

Quote from: MarkJohnson on May 24, 2015, 05:40:13 am

Info window on a cups file also nnow attached.

Mark, permissions in the info window on the cups file is showing 'Everyone - no access'
Seems surprising and I suspect it may be the reason the files aren't being deleted after use.

Author Topic: How to clear 'Other' Mac files (Read 17122 times)

D Fosse