I will point out that you will find some very large files in private -> var -> vm (these are the Mac OS X virtual memory paging files (swapfiles) and where Mac OS X stores the copy of RAM when your Mac is put to sleep). Remember, we cannot see into your disk, you have to give us information to work with.ĭO NOT delete files in your Home Folder -> Library tree as there are things like your iPhone backups, your email messages, your application preferences, etc… If you think you have found something in your Home Folder -> Library that can be deleted, you should ask first.ĭO NOT delete files outside your home folder, as you may end up deleting something essential to Mac OS X, and turn your Mac into an expensive “Door Stop”. Posting the suspected locations and files will help the forum help you to figure it out. If you have a recurring, running out of disk space, problem, then OmniDiskSweeper may help identify where the space is going. See the following article if you want to run it as root When using OmniDiskSweeper, or any utility that shows all your files. But if so, I’m not sure where all that data is stored and why it doesn’t clear automatically when I close MATLAB or restart the computer.Īlso see 'What is 'Other' and What Can I Do About It?' I have a feeling this is all related to the scientific computing work I do on my laptop, running a lot of resource-intensive programs in MATLAB. I’ve tried restarting, but this doesn’t clear up much space. As another example, the space taken up under my username is 66 GB, but when I add up the parts (Applications, Documents, Pictures, etc.), I only get 47 GB.

For example, 118 GB is filled on the drive as a whole, but when I add up the individual components listed (Applications, Library, Users, etc.), I only get 103 GB. When I use “Get Info” in Finder to account for the space, I find large chunks unaccounted for. The storage bar (which I don’t totally trust) shows that most of the space falls under “Other”. I keep getting the message “Your startup disk is almost full” on my 2014 MacBook Pro (120 GB storage, El Capitan 10.11.6), and I can’t seem to figure out what’s filling it up.

Startup disk almost full