Other Space in OS X: Part 2

ByMike Moffit

Welcome to part 2 of last issue’s exploration of Other space from the Storage tab in About This Mac. If you followed all the directions from last time, and are still seeing lots and lots of Other space, there are a few more things you can do.

One of the things I do on a semi-regular basis on my own Mac is to use a third party app called DaisyDisk. DaisyDisk is a very elegant-looking app that helps you explore the Hierarchical File System that OS X uses. It does cost $9.99, but if you end up using it a fair amount, it is totally worth it. There is also a free trial, so you can download it and try it out! Get DaisyDisk from the Mac App Store here.

Recently, on my Mac at home, I used DaisyDisk and found out that I had about 1.5GB of Mail data. After navigating to the location of said data, I was able to remove it and free up a decent amount of storage, all of which was in the Other section of the storage snapshot.

Another really nice app, that also happens to be free, is called Disk Inventory X. This app is similar to Daisy Disk in that it lays out all of the data on your hard drive in a nice, easy to see format. Disk Inventory X gives you a colorful grid-like format, with data organized by type, instead of hierarchically like Daisy Disk. Another advantage to Disk Inventory X (as well as the cost) is that it will work on any Mac that has OS X 10.3 or later installed. If you have an older Mac with an older version of OS X, then this may be the better option. You can download Disk Inventory X here.

Now for some final thoughts. My go-to app for eliminating Other space (and also just for cleaning up a full hard drive in general) is DaisyDisk. Really the only thing to worry about is that DaisyDisk will report any and all data on your disk, and so one needs to be careful on what they delete. If in doubt, leave it out! As in, don’t delete it from your Mac. It can be tempting to free up lots and lots of space using this app, but make sure you are not deleting any important system files or apps.

As always, before you make any changes to your system, BACK UP!

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    “*michaeld@smalldog.com*”:mailto:michaeld@smalldog.com