Whenever I have a mystery to uncover about lost storage space , I burn upDaisyDisk , a phonograph recording - usage visualization app . While the $ 9.99 damage tag may seem steep for its role of plotting out what is occupying your drives ’ storage , I find it priceless in tracking down the giant sucking sound of lost space . It ’s also a lot tacky than buying a declamatory driving . ( There ’s also a gratis visitation that lets you quiz out many features . )

of late , my MacBook Air ’s 512 GB of storage was running low . With just 50 GB result , I lead off to get anxious about running out of quad when the system require to write temporary files to disk or I need to transfer large files . DaisyDisk revealed the culprit : an ocean of vacate logarithm file .

Log data file are critical troubleshooting tool , but footling else . When you reach technical backing , you ’re often asked to find and send a logarithm file , or enable a feature of speech in software package to deck excess debugging selective information to a log that you may beam the next time a job occurs . I know many a hemipterous insect that was squashed because tech sustenance could check my logs and figure out the description I gave them of what occurred .

DaisyDisk Mac

DaisyDisk showed that I had over 5 GB of useless Stamps.com lumber data file on my Mac .

IDG

But a lot of software is terrible at logarithm purge . These apps or march write logarithm file and then abandon them willy - nilly . One thousand 1 MB data file sum up . My laptop is the oddment migration of many , many years of previous laptop computer , and there were most 25 GB of log files , none of them utile in any path to my current needs . Stamps.com entrust a 5 GB footprint of miscellany behind , and Adobe disperse years of multi - megabyte file that serve no discernible design .

you’re able to find most of your logarithm Indian file in your home directory at~/Library / Logs . In the Finder , chooseGo > Go To Folderand paste that path in . you may then screen out by size to see the self-aggrandizing perpetrator , and sort by date to discover ancient logarithm files no longer ask . If a log files has n’t been touched by software in a few days or longer , you’re able to typically just delete it . If it ’s an enormous file and has a late date revenue stamp , I suggest lay down sure the associated app is n’t running and then you may delete the log file .

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We ’ve compiled a list of the questions we get asked most often along with answers and links to columns : read our super FAQ to see if your question is covered . If not , we ’re always looking for Modern problems to solve ! e-mail yours tomac911@macworld.comincluding screen capture as appropriate , and whether you need your full name used . Not every question will be suffice , we do n’t reply to email , and we can not ply lineal troubleshooting advice .