Blog

Notes on Mac storage.

Where the space actually goes, what is safe to remove, and where the usual advice is wrong.

28 August 20268 min read

Why apps ask for Full Disk Access, and what you are actually agreeing to

What Full Disk Access covers, why no app can prompt you for it, why you have to quit and reopen afterwards, and how to decide whether a given app should have it.

25 August 202610 min read

How to find duplicate files on a Mac without deleting the wrong one

Why duplicate files accumulate, how to prove two files are genuinely identical, which copy to keep, and the four places you should never run a duplicate finder.

21 August 20269 min read

What is really starting when your Mac boots

Login items are only one of five ways something can start itself on a Mac. Here is what each mechanism is, where it lives, how to see what you have, and which ones are safe to switch off.

18 August 20269 min read

The files macOS does not show you

Three different mechanisms hide files on a Mac, and they hide different things for different reasons. A field guide to what is under there, which ones matter, and which are quietly using your disk.

14 August 20269 min read

Dragging an app to the Trash does not uninstall it

Deleting a Mac app leaves its settings, caches, containers, background helpers and installer receipts behind. Here is every place they hide and how to tell the safe ones from the ones that will break something.

11 August 20269 min read

How to delete files on a Mac without regretting it

What the Trash actually is, why Put Back sometimes fails, the three questions that tell you whether a file is safe to remove, and which deletions genuinely cannot be undone.

7 August 202610 min read

How to find large files on a Mac (and why the sizes lie)

A practical guide to finding what is eating your Mac's disk, organised by size bracket, plus why sparse files, APFS compression and hard links make Finder's numbers wrong.

4 August 20269 min read

What is actually taking up space on your Mac

The ten places Mac storage actually goes: Xcode, Docker, iOS backups, Photos, node_modules, Mail, Downloads, caches, virtual machines and Time Machine snapshots, with what is safe to remove from each.