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Sh Raj
Sh Raj

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🧹 Mac Storage Hog Audit

🧹 Mac Storage Hog Audit – README

This document lists potential storage occupiers on macOS. These are common folders, files, caches, and apps that may consume a significant amount of disk space over time.

🧑‍💻 For Developers

📦 Node.js / JavaScript

  • /node_modules/ (inside projects)
  • ~/.npm/ (NPM cache)
  • ~/.yarn/ (Yarn cache)
  • ~/.pnpm-store/ (PNPM cache)
  • ~/.nvm/versions/ (Node versions if using NVM)
  • Global NPM modules: npm list -g

🐍 Python

  • ~/.virtualenvs/ (virtual environments - if using virtualenv or pipenv)
  • ~/anaconda3/ (if using Anaconda)
  • ~/miniconda3/
  • __pycache__/ folders in Python projects
  • Jupyter cache and notebooks

🐳 Docker

  • Docker images, containers, and volumes
  • ~/Library/Containers/com.docker.docker/
  • Docker Desktop's internal disk

🧪 Xcode & Dev Tools

  • ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/
  • ~/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Devices/
  • ~/Library/Developer/XCPGDevices/
  • ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.dt.Xcode/
  • iOS Device backups

⚙️ Homebrew

  • /usr/local/Cellar/
  • /opt/homebrew/Cellar/ (Apple Silicon)
  • /Library/Caches/Homebrew/

🌐 General Caches & Temp Files

🌐 Web Browsers

  • Chrome: ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/
  • Safari: ~/Library/Safari/ and ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari/
  • Firefox: ~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/
  • Web Worker storage (e.g. YouTube): ~/Library/Caches/com.google.Chrome/Default/Service Worker/

💬 Messaging & Collaboration Tools

  • Slack: ~/Library/Application Support/Slack/
  • Discord: ~/Library/Application Support/discord/
  • Microsoft Teams, Zoom, etc.

💌 Mail

  • ~/Library/Mail/
  • ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail/
  • Mail attachments and old messages

📩 Downloads Folder

  • ~/Downloads/ – common for videos, installers, and large files

📦 System, Apps & Misc

🗑 Trash

  • ~/.Trash/

📁 Large Files

  • Use Finder → Cmd + F → Filter by File Size and Kind

📂 "Other" Storage in Disk Usage

  • App extensions
  • Application support data
  • Fonts, logs, old updates

🧾 Log Files

  • ~/Library/Logs/
  • /Library/Logs/

💿 Time Machine Local Snapshots

  • /Volumes/com.apple.TimeMachine.localsnapshots/

💡 Spotlight Index

  • /var/folders/ – includes caches, index databases, etc.

🎬 Media & Creative Software

🎵 iTunes / Music

  • ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/

🎥 iMovie / Final Cut Pro

  • Render files, libraries, and caches

📸 Photos

  • ~/Pictures/Photos Library.photoslibrary/

🧰 System Tools & Others

🧮 Virtualization

  • Parallels, VMWare, VirtualBox images (huge disk files)

⌨️ Emulators & IDEs

  • Android Studio: ~/Library/Android/sdk/
  • VSCode extensions: ~/.vscode/
  • IntelliJ, PyCharm caches

🧱 Design Tools

  • Figma, Sketch, Adobe caches and projects

📂 Common Folders to Inspect

Folder Description
~/Library/Caches/ General app cache
/Library/Caches/ System-wide cache (admin required)
~/Library/Application Support/ App data (often large)
~/Library/Preferences/ User settings (small)
~/Library/Logs/ App/system logs
~/.Trash/ Deleted files not yet purged
~/Movies/, ~/Pictures/ Common for large personal media

This list gives you a holistic view of what might be bloating your Mac. It’s great for building a cleanup script, audit tool, or even a GUI app for end users and developers alike.

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