# What is filling up my Mac hard drive WHILE I am watching it? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Tags:** computer-hardware\ **Created:** [January 12, 2026, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-filling-up-my-mac-hard-drive-while-i-am-watching-it/1026595 "2026-01-12T14:58:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-filling-up-my-mac-hard-drive-while-i-am-watching-it/1026595/1 "2026-01-12T14:58:28Z")
Mac Mini. Running OS Sequoia 15.5 250 Gig HDD I have less than 5 Gig left on it- and I don’t keep ANY large files on it. Everything of size lives on a 1 Tb external drive on the desk. I’ve run BOTH of my anti-virus softwares and they’ve found nothing. I use Avast AND Malwarebytes. At this rate, in a few hours the HDD will be locked up. Quite worried. I’ve run the Storage check and in terms of large files I find: System Data: 154 GB macOS: 42 GB Applications: 28 GB I’ve cleared the Cache and Temporary Files. Help ! ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-filling-up-my-mac-hard-drive-while-i-am-watching-it/1026595/2 "2026-01-12T15:07:36Z")
I cannot completely empty my Cache. Even when inputting my Admin info, which is requested, these are the folders that are parked. Note the – sign next to 3 of the 4 of them. That’s a red minus sign at the lower right corner of the blue folder icon itself. I cannot open or delete these: com.apple.amsengagementd.classicdatavault com.apple.aned- com.apple.aneuserd- com.apple.iconservices.store- How can I not be able to delete these?? A check of them does not reveal a folder size, so no way to know if they are the culprit. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-filling-up-my-mac-hard-drive-while-i-am-watching-it/1026595/3 "2026-01-12T15:35:48Z")
Title says it all. Mac Mini 8 Gigs RAM Mac OSX Sequoia 15.5 250 Gig HD Capacity: 245.11 G Available: 7.7 Gig Used: 219 Gig ( No clue why 20 Gigs are not adding up here… ) I’ve just purged the Caches. Bought me a measly 2 Gig storage space. I’ve run both AntiVirus packages I use- Malwarebytes AND Avast Premium Security. No bugs found. No clue why the System Data takes up 153 Gigs. It’s ahead of: macOS: 38 G Applications: 28 G I’m unsure if I can even run Time Machine to back up this computer, in case it does literally run out of space and bricks. Any thoughts on WHY something is slowly eating through my storage space?? ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-filling-up-my-mac-hard-drive-while-i-am-watching-it/1026595/4 "2026-01-12T15:54:35Z")
Try the instructions here to see hidden files. > **[Reddit - The heart of the internet](https://www.reddit.com/r/mac/comments/1c3ldoi/wheres_my_disk_space_what_is_taking_up_all_the/)** Others have commented that they got 200GB+ back. ---
**Author:** ![Dark\_Sponge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dark_sponge/32/121_2.png) [@Dark\_Sponge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Sponge)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-filling-up-my-mac-hard-drive-while-i-am-watching-it/1026595/5 "2026-01-12T15:55:32Z")
That is strange. Off the top of my head I’d have said it sounds like you’ve got something causing logs to be written at an out of control pace. OSX is a version of ‘nix and I’ve seen Linux systems act similarly when they get cranky. Unfortunately I’m not familiar enough with OSX to know where those logs would be stored. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-filling-up-my-mac-hard-drive-while-i-am-watching-it/1026595/6 "2026-01-12T16:08:58Z")
@Cartooniverse: I merged your threads, I have no idea why you started a second one. Computer questions generally belong in #In My Humble Opinion. **Moderating:** ETA: Good luck with the issue, hopefully someone has the answer. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-filling-up-my-mac-hard-drive-while-i-am-watching-it/1026595/7 "2026-01-12T16:20:01Z")
You might have old APFS snapshots hanging around. Having snapshots means that deleting files will cause you to use slightly more space, instead of freeing the space used by the file. Here is a short article from Apple on using Disk Utility to see if there are any snapshots, and delete them. > **[View APFS snapshots in Disk Utility on Mac](https://support.apple.com/guide/disk-utility/view-apfs-snapshots-dskuf82354dc/mac)** > > In Disk Utility on Mac, view a list of APFS snapshots, copy information about the snapshots, and delete them. ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-filling-up-my-mac-hard-drive-while-i-am-watching-it/1026595/8 "2026-01-12T17:28:31Z")
I generally don’t think these kinds of tools are super useful for the average user in an everyday situation, but have you considered running a utility like CleanMyMac? It will purge all manner of stuff (including things like runaway logs) but will also help identify where, specifically, your disk space is being consumed. > **[CleanMyMac: The first MacBook cleaner that does it all](https://cleanmymac.com)** > > CleanMyMac is an all-in-one Mac cleaner that cleans, protects, and speeds up your Mac. Download CleanMyMac for an instant optimization - for free. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-filling-up-my-mac-hard-drive-while-i-am-watching-it/1026595/9 "2026-01-12T17:32:27Z")
Your system data file size for your Mac Mini is enormous! It should only be about 20 GB at the most. What in the world is in there?! Perhaps your machine is saving copies of the old Mac OS when it updates to a newer version. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-filling-up-my-mac-hard-drive-while-i-am-watching-it/1026595/10 "2026-01-12T19:48:49Z")
Try some software like one of these. They provide a visual representation of what’s using space. > **[10 Best Windirstat Alternatives For Mac (Free & Paid)](https://machow2.com/disk-space-analyzer-mac/)** > > Windirstat is a popular disk space analyzer tool for Windows that allows users to visualize and manage their disk usage effectively but its not available I’ve used GrandPerspective and JDiskReport but don’t have a specific recommendation for “best.” ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-filling-up-my-mac-hard-drive-while-i-am-watching-it/1026595/11 "2026-01-12T20:15:47Z")
I am quite fond of GrandPerspective. One thing that Grand Perspective made me aware of was that Malware Bytes was methodically filling up my hard drive with tiny little files. I deleted them, gained about 325 GB, only to find that 9 months later Malware Bytes had done it again. This time I deleted Malware Bytes itself as well as its tiny little files. Recounted in more detail here: > [@My laptop mysteriously maxed itself out on memory on its own and now only shows a black screen](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-laptop-mysteriously-maxed-itself-out-on-memory-on-its-own-and-now-only-shows-a-black-screen/970964/8): > > That isn’t memory. Which is why your thread title made absolutely no sense to me. I kept trying to understand how a laptop could keep increasing the amount of RAM available to it. Also how that could be anything other than a really cool thing if it did happen. What you’re talking about is storage space, and the fact that your laptop somehow ran out of it. Interestingly, I had the exact same thing (minus the absolute hit-the-wall part) just a couple months ago on a Mac laptop. Turned out t… ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-filling-up-my-mac-hard-drive-while-i-am-watching-it/1026595/12 "2026-01-12T20:19:35Z")
I strongly discourage using this! ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-filling-up-my-mac-hard-drive-while-i-am-watching-it/1026595/13 "2026-01-12T20:48:52Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > @Cartooniverse: I merged your threads, I have no idea why you started a second one. > Computer questions generally belong in #In My Humble Opinion. > > **Moderating:** > > ETA: Good luck with the issue, hopefully someone has the answer. Many thanks ! I started the 2nd one because the 1st one showed for a moment, then- on my screens- disappeared entirely. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-filling-up-my-mac-hard-drive-while-i-am-watching-it/1026595/14 "2026-01-12T20:51:55Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > You might have old APFS snapshots hanging around. Having snapshots means that deleting files will cause you to use slightly more space, instead of freeing the space used by the file. Here is a short article from Apple on using Disk Utility to see if there are any snapshots, and delete them. > > [View APFS snapshots in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support](https://support.apple.com/guide/disk-utility/view-apfs-snapshots-dskuf82354dc/mac) “View APFS snapshots” within Disk Utility is grayed out= not an option for me. No idea why. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-filling-up-my-mac-hard-drive-while-i-am-watching-it/1026595/15 "2026-01-12T20:54:57Z")
You might want to open Activity Monitor, And look at Disc Activity, sorted by writes, and see what’s going on. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-filling-up-my-mac-hard-drive-while-i-am-watching-it/1026595/16 "2026-01-12T21:13:20Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > within Disk Utility is grayed out= not an option for me You might have to use the command line `tmutil` program. Open a terminal and run the following commands. ```auto tmutil listlocalsnapshots / tmutil listlocalsnapshots /System/Volumes/Data tmutil listlocalsnapshots /System/Volumes/Data/home ``` Those might not show anything, and if they don’t, then you probably don’t have stale snapshots taking up all of the space. If they give errors, then run `mount` to see where things are mounted, and what filesystems they use. If necessary run `tmutil` using your actual mount points. It may not be a snapshot issue, but this is pretty easy to check, and if it _is_ a snapshot problem, then nothing else you do will help. Older versions of MacOS used to have a big problem with failed Timemachinie backups causing snapshots to be left behind. A tool that graphically shows how much space each directory uses is invaluable in finding where your space has gone, if it is just due to regular files. Sorry I can’t recommend one, but the suggestions earlier in this thread might be a good starts. I recently dealt with a Windows computer that was inexplicably out of space, and it turned out to be Adobe Acrobat updates. Acrobat would download a 1GB update, fail to install it, then download it again a few days later, fail to install, and repeat until the disk was full from 150 different Acrobat updates. A graphical directory size utility made finding the problem easy. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-filling-up-my-mac-hard-drive-while-i-am-watching-it/1026595/17 "2026-01-12T21:22:14Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > You might want to open Activity Monitor, > And look at Disc Activity, sorted by writes, and see what’s going on. Opened it up, cannot find where to filter by writes. Checked options under Finder/View. Help? I DO see that “kernel\_task” uses 327 Gb of virtual memory. Unsure how this is possible: I have 8 Gig of RAM and a 250 Gb HDD… ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-filling-up-my-mac-hard-drive-while-i-am-watching-it/1026595/18 "2026-01-12T21:35:42Z")
Well, what the hell. Using “OmniDiskSweeper”, a free Mac-based file exploring tool, I found a 4- Gb video file. At some point I started recording my screen a year ago, and it’s a huge file. Dumped it into the Trash, will empty and restart the machine now. No doubt there are other offenders as well. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-filling-up-my-mac-hard-drive-while-i-am-watching-it/1026595/19 "2026-01-12T21:47:06Z")
Open Activity Monitor. Click the Disk tab. Click the Bytes Written column header until the triangle is pointing down. This will sort the list in order of highest number of bytes written to disk. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-filling-up-my-mac-hard-drive-while-i-am-watching-it/1026595/20 "2026-01-12T21:59:47Z")
Hmmmm. This is embarrassing. I did as you suggested: Activity Monitor. Disk tab. No columns appear, nor does the activity window change. When I click on Disk, the only column that appears is on the far left and is entitled " Process Name ". What am I missing? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-filling-up-my-mac-hard-drive-while-i-am-watching-it/1026595.md?page=2)