[SOLVED] MacOS file size problem

deoxir · April 16, 2018

*Edit*: I got off my lazy ass and reset the whole thing. Should've done this in the first place.

Hey there. I was just reconfiguring my old laptop for my mother and I moved about 30GB of video files from my PC to it using a USB3.0 Flash Drive. For some reason MacOS wants to upload all that file size to the tiny 5GB capacity that iCloud has, so naturally I cancelled that process but apparently those 30GB worth of files have already been loaded onto the SSD, and they're nowhere to be found. I transferred the files again, and now the OS reports that there are 60GB of video files on the system. I tried the solutions the OS has given me like clearing the recycle bin (I'm away from the laptop and I can't remember their names, it's the ones that show up after clicking 'manage' in the storage tab in 'about this mac', but nothing works and they don't show up in file explorer either.

For a short period of time, however, macOS says the system itself is taking up 80GB of storage. After cleaning up, it goes back to normal showing the system taking up 20GB and the documents 60GB like I've mentioned above.

I believe this has something to do with perhaps hidden files or 'cacheing' (I still need learn about the correct terminology, but it's the closest concept I can relate the situation to) due to iCloud acting up on me.

I am yet to try any solutions so any help is appreciated. I'm going to try making hidden files visible so that I can delete the duplicated files once I'm back, and I hope it'll be as simple as that. Thanks a ton.

Astarore · April 16, 2018

What MacOS are you current using on the computer? If you're setting up the computer for your mother,why not just boot into recovery mode and delete the main partition from there and then just reinstall MacOS using recovery mode again? Depending on which MacOS you have,you more than likely won't need a disk or anything like that,just wifi.

deoxir · April 18, 2018

On 4/17/2018 at 3:23 AM, Astarore said:

What MacOS are you current using on the computer? If you're setting up the computer for your mother,why not just boot into recovery mode and delete the main partition from there and then just reinstall MacOS using recovery mode again? Depending on which MacOS you have,you more than likely won't need a disk or anything like that,just wifi.

I did what you said and it's done. Should've just done this in the first place. Thanks.