I have an M1 MacBook Air with 8 GB of RAM running macOS Tahoe. I mainly use it for college work and occasionally gaming, but my games are stored on an external SSD. Recently, macOS warned that my internal storage was almost full. Clearing caches helped a little, but the storage settings showed that Documents was using 93.65 GB. I only have one folder of textbooks that's around 8 GB and a 3D anatomy app, so I'm confused about what could be taking up the remaining space. How can I find and remove the hidden files safely?
1 Answer
Use a disk-usage tool such as DaisyDisk or OmniDiskSweeper to see exactly which folders are consuming the space. You can also inspect it from Terminal after granting Terminal Full Disk Access. Running `sudo du -h -d1 ~` will show the size of the main folders in your home directory. If Library is unusually large, check it with `sudo du -h -d1 ~/Library`. Be careful not to delete system or application data unless you know what it is.
That found it—my Nintendo Switch emulator had left behind updates and DLC even though I had already removed the emulator with AppCleaner. Thanks, that solved the mystery!