Files located in the System folder that weren’t installed with the system.Disk images, archives, and compressed files, including zip, dmg, pkg, and iso.PDF, doc, and PSD documents and files essentially most document types that weren’t stored within the Documents folder in a user’s home folder.The Other category in OS X was a catchall it included the following: The type of files the operating system assigns to the Other category in the Storage display changes a bit from OS version to OS version, but there was a big shakeup in storage management when Apple introduced macOS Sierra, which caused the Other category to become better defined.īecause of the changes, we’re going to provide two lists for the type of files that are assigned to the Other category: pre macOS (OS X) and post macOS. 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. One of the niceties in the Mac OS is the ability of the system to display how your storage space is being used.

How to clear disc space on mac