FL Studio on a Mac: the app, the sample packs, and every project's recorded audio
FL Studio keeps its user data, packs, recordings and rendered audio in your Documents. Where each is, what grows, and what is safe to move or remove.
730 guides
Mac storage, explained.
What fills your disk, where it hides, and what is safe to remove. Every guide gives you a way to check it on your own Mac.
Ableton Live's Packs, User Library and decoding cache: where the gigabytes go
Live's Packs, recordings and decoding cache can pass 50 GB. How to see each, cap the cache, move Packs to another drive, and collect projects before archiving.
Kontakt and Native Instruments libraries: tens of GB you can move to an external SSD
Sample libraries installed through Native Access are often the largest thing on a producer's Mac. Where they are, and how to relocate them without breaking them.
Capture One catalogs keep previews of every photo, and they can outgrow the photos
Capture One stores previews and thumbnails inside each catalog or session. How to see the cache, choose a sensible preview size, and move catalogs off the Mac.
Unreal Engine on a Mac: each version is tens of GB before your first project
Every engine version installs separately, and projects keep caches that rebuild. How to trim the install, clear the Derived Data Cache, and clean projects.
Godot is tiny, but export templates and imported assets are not
The Godot editor is small, while export templates for each version and every project's .godot import cache add up. Where they are and what to clear.
UTM virtual machines grow as you use them, and shrinking them takes one extra step
Each UTM VM is a bundle holding its virtual disks, which grow and rarely shrink by themselves. Where they live, how to measure them, and how to reclaim space.
Google Drive for desktop says it streams files, yet it is using 30 GB on your Mac
Streamed files you opened, files marked offline, and a mirroring setting can all fill the Mac. Where Drive keeps its cache, and how to shrink or move it.
You may have three Photos libraries without knowing it. How to find them all
Old libraries from upgrades, copies from another Mac, and a library on an external drive. How to find every Photos library, see which is active, and what to keep.
An app will not move to the Trash: the four reasons, and how to get past each
It is open, it is part of macOS, or you need permission. What each Trash refusal means, and how to remove the app anyway.
Dragging a file to another drive copies it. How to move instead, and stop doubling files
Finder moves within a drive and copies between drives, which quietly leaves two of everything. The keys that move, copy and cut and paste on a Mac.
Mac storage stuck on Calculating: how to get the real number in ten seconds
System Settings says Calculating and never finishes. Get the real free space from Terminal now, then the fixes for the bar, in the order worth trying.