From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

I've always been a bit tight on storage on my MacBook, at 500GB.

Lately though something has guzzled an extra ~40GB, and it's hard to know
what.

OmniDiskSweeper, which has always been useful, isn't able to peer into /var, and I suspect it's there (36 GB for Multipasss!), or in logs somewhere, that the storage is being consumed.

A restart can claw back a few GB, but they disappear again soon.

It's a bit rubbish to have to go on a file hunt in 2025, but what do you recommend?

Daniele
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From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

On 28/08/2025 09:44, D.M. Procida wrote:

I've always been a bit tight on storage on my MacBook, at 500GB.

Lately though something has guzzled an extra ~40GB, and it's hard to know what.

OmniDiskSweeper, which has always been useful, isn't able to peer into /var, and I suspect it's there (36 GB for Multipasss!), or in logs somewhere, that the storage is being consumed.

A restart can claw back a few GB, but they disappear again soon.

It's a bit rubbish to have to go on a file hunt in 2025, but what do you recommend?

Daniele

I've always stuck to Daisy Disk when investigating that sort of thing...

And they do a free trial.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac


On 28/08/2025 09:44, D.M. Procida wrote:

I've always been a bit tight on storage on my MacBook, at 500GB.

Lately though something has guzzled an extra ~40GB, and it's hard to know what.

OmniDiskSweeper, which has always been useful, isn't able to peer into
/var,
and I suspect it's there (36 GB for Multipasss!), or in logs
somewhere, that
the storage is being consumed.

A restart can claw back a few GB, but they disappear again soon.

It's a bit rubbish to have to go on a file hunt in 2025, but what do you recommend?

Daniele

EfA+ Warning: Your Mac Is Secretly Hoarding Gigabytes!

Hey Daniele,

Before you dive into the steps below, know this: your Mac has been
quietly stockpiling 36rC>GB of Multipass VMs, logs, and caches, like a
digital squirrel hoarding nuts. EfE+N+A

Read on carefully rCo these tips will help you rescue all that lost space
and stop your Mac from silently guzzling storage like itrCOs a
never-ending buffet.

https://chatgpt.com/share/68b035ba-2778-8013-a88c-626d8761688f

EfAe Mission Accomplished (Hopefully!)

Congrats, Daniele! If your disk space starts looking healthy again, you
can pat yourself on the back. If notrCa well, at least your Mac isnrCOt secretly hoarding any more rCLdigital snacksrCY without your permission. EfyA --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

On 28 Aug 2025 at 9:44:49rC>am BST, "D.M. Procida" <daniele-at-vurt-dot-org@invalid.com> wrote:

I've always been a bit tight on storage on my MacBook, at 500GB.

Lately though something has guzzled an extra ~40GB, and it's hard to know what.

OmniDiskSweeper, which has always been useful, isn't able to peer into /var, and I suspect it's there (36 GB for Multipasss!), or in logs somewhere, that the storage is being consumed.

A restart can claw back a few GB, but they disappear again soon.

It's a bit rubbish to have to go on a file hunt in 2025, but what do you recommend?

GrandPerspective is still going, and works fine for me.

https://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net/
--
TimH
pull tooth to reply by email
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

On 28/08/2025 14:01, David B. tried helping Daniele!

On 28/08/2025 09:44, D.M. Procida wrote:

I've always been a bit tight on storage on my MacBook, at 500GB.

Lately though something has guzzled an extra ~40GB, and it's hard to know
what.

OmniDiskSweeper, which has always been useful, isn't able to peer
into /var,
and I suspect it's there (36 GB for Multipasss!), or in logs
somewhere, that
the storage is being consumed.

A restart can claw back a few GB, but they disappear again soon.

It's a bit rubbish to have to go on a file hunt in 2025, but what do you
recommend?

Daniele

EfA+ Warning: Your Mac Is Secretly Hoarding Gigabytes!

Hey Daniele,

Before you dive into the steps below, know this: your Mac has been
quietly stockpiling 36rC>GB of Multipass VMs, logs, and caches, like a digital squirrel hoarding nuts. EfE+N+A

Read on carefully rCo these tips will help you rescue all that lost space
and stop your Mac from silently guzzling storage like itrCOs a never-
ending buffet.

https://chatgpt.com/share/68b035ba-2778-8013-a88c-626d8761688f

EfAe Mission Accomplished (Hopefully!)

Congrats, Daniele! If your disk space starts looking healthy again, you
can pat yourself on the back. If notrCa well, at least your Mac isnrCOt secretly hoarding any more rCLdigital snacksrCY without your permission. EfyA

ChatGPT was VERY helpful.

See for yourself by following the link.
--
David
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

On 28 Aug 2025 at 08:44:49 GMT, "D.M. Procida" <daniele-at-vurt-dot-org@invalid.com> wrote:

It's a bit rubbish to have to go on a file hunt in 2025, but what do you recommend?

I have often found the obscure 'System Data' to balloon to 80GB and more on
our MBPs. (You can check in System Settings >General >Storage.)

It seems to be a temporary storage for all sorts of things, TM snapshots etc., but it isn't user manageable. I once saw it drop dramatically as I was looking at the bar graphic :)

Another place to check is ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup
I think, it can contain iOS updates and device backups.
--
Martin
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From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

David B. <BD@hotmail.co.uk> wrote:

On 28/08/2025 09:44, D.M. Procida wrote:

I've always been a bit tight on storage on my MacBook, at 500GB.

Lately though something has guzzled an extra ~40GB, and it's hard to know what.

OmniDiskSweeper, which has always been useful, isn't able to peer into /var,
and I suspect it's there (36 GB for Multipasss!), or in logs
somewhere, that
the storage is being consumed.

A restart can claw back a few GB, but they disappear again soon.

It's a bit rubbish to have to go on a file hunt in 2025, but what do you recommend?

Daniele

May be Spotlight building its index files,
if you have -lots- of text files.
If you have an external volume those index files will be stored there,
but while they are being built they grow on your systems disk.

You can see in Activity Monitor if it is busy.
(it will also slow your Mac down, while doing its thing)

Jan
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From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

Martin-S <invalid@nomail.com> wrote:

On 28 Aug 2025 at 08:44:49 GMT, "D.M. Procida" <daniele-at-vurt-dot-org@invalid.com> wrote:

It's a bit rubbish to have to go on a file hunt in 2025, but what do you recommend?

I have often found the obscure 'System Data' to balloon to 80GB and more on our MBPs. (You can check in System Settings >General >Storage.)

It seems to be a temporary storage for all sorts of things, TM snapshots etc.,
but it isn't user manageable. I once saw it drop dramatically as I was looking
at the bar graphic :)

Another place to check is ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup
I think, it can contain iOS updates and device backups.

The amount of space given in the footer may be wildly unreliable.
(and fluctuating)
As for the System Data: A restart may liberate a lot
of god only knows what in system files,

Jan
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

On 29 Aug 2025 at 21:11:28 BST, J. J. Lodder wrote:

Martin-S <invalid@nomail.com> wrote:

On 28 Aug 2025 at 08:44:49 GMT, "D.M. Procida"
<daniele-at-vurt-dot-org@invalid.com> wrote:

It's a bit rubbish to have to go on a file hunt in 2025, but what do you >>> recommend?

I have often found the obscure 'System Data' to balloon to 80GB and more on >> our MBPs. (You can check in System Settings >General >Storage.)

It seems to be a temporary storage for all sorts of things, TM snapshots etc.,
but it isn't user manageable. I once saw it drop dramatically as I was looking
at the bar graphic :)

I had a situation where, reading from Disk Utility, the 500GB SSD (Apple SSD/Container disk1/Macintosh HD) on my 2020 Intel iMac was showing 25GB available, 470GB used.

In the Macintosh directory below was a volume (or partition?) called
'Macintosh
HD - Data' which showed 500GB capacity, 170GB available, 140GB purgeable,
460GB used.

The Purgeable Space then (over a day or so and a few restarts) changed to System Data, as reported in Disk Utility, at 160GB.

60GB of this space was in a folder called 'Metadata'. In the end, from memory, I had a deletion spree, and simply binned a good deal of this system data and metadata.

It was annoying as I only had about 200GB of 'used' space - OS, documents, and photos. Well over half the disk was taken up with what seemed to be some sort of system cache.

Anyway, no harm arose, and I've since moved to a new Mini.

Another place to check is ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup
I think, it can contain iOS updates and device backups.

The amount of space given in the footer may be wildly unreliable.
(and fluctuating)
As for the System Data: A restart may liberate a lot
of god only knows what in system files,

Indeed. If anything the free space on this Mini increases by the day. I
started at 500GB (of 1TB) free when I first set up the Mini about 6 months' ago. As at now, it's 640GB free according to Finder. I haven't deleted or changed anything - just use it normally, adding photos and documents most
days. iCloud has remained stable.

I've no idea what's going on. It all works so I just let it do its thing.
--
Cheers, Rob, Sheffield UK
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From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

On 28 Aug 2025 at 09:44:49 BST, "D.M. Procida" <daniele-at-vurt-dot-org@invalid.com> wrote:

Lately though something has guzzled an extra ~40GB, and it's hard to know what.

If you have Time Machine running, you can clear out the current set of
local snapshots it makes. It'll give you a clearer idea of "real" data
usage on the drive.

Terminal: tmutil thinlocalsnapshots / 9999999999999 4

Then I'd proceed with GrandPerspective (run via sudo for best results on
this sort of thing) and a reboot.

Doesn't always work; one of the more unpleasant iosifications of macOS
is the 'system data' ie who the fuck knows. I had to do a forced reboot
from a runaway app memory leak recently (Tahoe beta too, tbf) where free
space had gone from 100gig to 3gig. Reboot *should* fix that, didn't.
Actual data from `du` was in the 850gig range; `df` was 3gig though.
tmutil above didn't help. I shunted 100gig of stuff off the drive
manuall.

After logging an issue through Feedback Assistant the disk space
gradually recovered on its own and now I've 200gig space. Again, who the
fuck knows. Apple certainly haven't responded to the bug report.

Cheers - Jaimie
--
"No flying cars yet?", he wrote from a 2 inch by 4 inch
pocket computer instantaneously to subscribers
worldwide using only his right thumb.
-- @wjflowers
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From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

On 1 Sep 2025 at 16:07:02 CEST, "Jaimie Vandenbergh" <jaimie@usually.sessile.org> wrote:

Apple certainly haven't responded to the bug report.

Ha ha ah ha.

Daniele
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

On 2025-09-01, Jaimie Vandenbergh <jaimie@usually.sessile.org> wrote:

On 28 Aug 2025 at 09:44:49 BST, "D.M. Procida"
<daniele-at-vurt-dot-org@invalid.com> wrote:

Lately though something has guzzled an extra ~40GB, and it's hard to know
what.

If you have Time Machine running, you can clear out the current set of
local snapshots it makes. It'll give you a clearer idea of "real" data
usage on the drive.

Terminal: tmutil thinlocalsnapshots / 9999999999999 4

Then I'd proceed with GrandPerspective (run via sudo for best results on
this sort of thing) and a reboot.

Doesn't always work; one of the more unpleasant iosifications of macOS
is the 'system data' ie who the fuck knows. I had to do a forced reboot
from a runaway app memory leak recently (Tahoe beta too, tbf) where free space had gone from 100gig to 3gig. Reboot *should* fix that, didn't.
Actual data from `du` was in the 850gig range; `df` was 3gig though.
tmutil above didn't help. I shunted 100gig of stuff off the drive
manuall.

After logging an issue through Feedback Assistant the disk space
gradually recovered on its own and now I've 200gig space. Again, who the
fuck knows. Apple certainly haven't responded to the bug report.

Not sure if this relevant (or even correct!). My understanding is that
if you have large files they will be snapshotted when you edit them even
if they have been excluded from TM backups. The way around this is to
put them in a separate TM excluded volume and back them up manually to
another external drive. TM will not create snapshots of the contents of excluded volumes thus minimising snapshot growth on the internal volume
you backup via TM. So for instance I keep all my VMs in a separate volume created on my internal SSD.
--
Cheers, Alan
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

On Sep 1, 2025, D.M. Procida wrote
(in article <mhlrrpFhjr1U1@mid.individual.net>):

On 1 Sep 2025 at 16:07:02 CEST, "Jaimie Vandenbergh" <jaimie@usually.sessile.org> wrote:

Apple certainly haven't responded to the bug report.

Ha ha ah ha.

Daniele

rCONo replyrCO is better than the rCyworking as designed/intendedrCO reply that you might, if our Apple overlords are in a good mood, get if yourCOre reporting a bug while on one of their beta programs.

When I get one of those, I tend to reply rCLthis is an example of piss-poor design and evil intentionsrCY. For some reason I never get a reply to those messages. ThererCOs one particular bug in Music for iOS which was around in iTunes for iOS and which IrCOve reported multiple times over a Very Long
Time. At first I got the rCyworking as designedrCO reply; lately, no reply. Whenever I get a new beta I check to see if itrCOs still there. It is. I report it. Again. I suspect that it will never be fixed, but, hey, I report
it anyway. Music will, sometimes, forget where it is when playing back a large, more than 100 track, playlist, especially if most of the tracks are
NOT from the Apple Store. Not every time, just often enough to be annoying.
So I get to the car, plug the iPad or iPhone in by either USB or Bluetooth, makes no difference, and expect my playlist to play... and instead get the very first track, alphabetically, in my music database. And have to dig up
the playlist and the correct track. ItrCOs not earth-shattering, but it is annoying and itrCOs been around for over a decade.

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

On 1 Sep 2025 at 16:19:21 BST, "D.M. Procida" <daniele-at-vurt-dot-org@invalid.com> wrote:

On 1 Sep 2025 at 16:07:02 CEST, "Jaimie Vandenbergh" <jaimie@usually.sessile.org> wrote:

Apple certainly haven't responded to the bug report.

Ha ha ah ha.

Indeed!

Last actual response I got to a bug report was back in 2022, and that
was only a "We think we fixed it in the latest release" automated one.
Last human response was 2019.

Cheers - Jaimie
--
If you think it's simple, then you have misunderstood the problem
-- Bjarne Stroustrup
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

On 28 Aug 2025 at 09:44:49 BST, "D.M. Procida" <daniele-at-vurt-dot-org@invalid.com> wrote:

I've always been a bit tight on storage on my MacBook, at 500GB.

Lately though something has guzzled an extra ~40GB, and it's hard to know what.

OmniDiskSweeper, which has always been useful, isn't able to peer into /var, and I suspect it's there (36 GB for Multipasss!), or in logs somewhere, that the storage is being consumed.

A restart can claw back a few GB, but they disappear again soon.

It's a bit rubbish to have to go on a file hunt in 2025, but what do you recommend?

Maybe try a scan with Hyperspace to see what could be recalimed.

https://hypercritical.co/apps/
--
Cheers,

Steve
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