

If I don’t know what it is, and the system doesn’t seem to know either, then why can’t I just delete those files? When that happens, I think most of us tend to look at the Other category and think, there’s a lot of space being used by Other. That’s a common question, one you may often ask yourself, especially when you need to free up space when your drive starts to fill up. Purgeable space is more or less unique to the Mac you can find out more about it in the Rocket Yard Guide: What is Purgeable Space in macOS? The next category that seems to get a lot of attention is Other. (The Other category, shown here in gray, shows my startup drive (Casey) with a small percentage of Other files, while my data drive (Casey Cat) contains nothing but Other file types.) The categories change as new versions of the OS are released, but the current categories include System files, Documents, Apps, iTunes, Backups, Other, Audio, Music Creation, Photos, Movies, and Purgeable space. Mouse over a color bar, and a text balloon will pop up, telling you what the category is and how much disk space it’s using. If you’re not sure how to find the categories, click the Apple logo in the menu bar in the Finder, select About This Mac from the dropdown menu, and then click the Storage tab. Originally introduced in OS X Lion as part of a feature upgrade to the System Information app, the Storage tab displays how much free space is available on each disk attached to your Mac, as well as how a disk’s storage is being used, by category. They’re protected with SIP, and only the OS has the root access to modify it.One of the niceties in the Mac OS is the ability of the system to display how your storage space is being used. The System Library folder contains files that macOS needs to work properly and function. The “/Library” and “/System/Library” folders have a global scope, and their content supports every aspect of macOS.

Each of them has a different role in the macOS file system: There are three different Library folders. It keeps the user and system resources organized and separates them from the items you use every day. The Library folder holds macOS and application-specific resources. Archive and disk images (such as ZIP and DMG) in the Downloads folderįree Cheat Sheet: Download Our Free MacOS Shortcuts Cheat Sheet Where Is Other Storage on a Mac?.Virtual machine files, Windows boot camp partitions, and hidden data in system folders.Application support files, iCloud files, font resources, and plugins.The cache includes both app and browser-related temporary files Files used by the system, such as caches and log files.
