Mac Storage Cleanup Guides

Sample Mac Storage Rescue Audit

See the safe/review/do-not-touch report format before buying an audit.

Sample Team Storage Pilot

See the first cleanup policy draft delivered from one representative team scan.

Find Large Files On Mac

Use read-only checks to find the biggest files and decide what is safe to remove.

Why Is Mac System Data So Huge?

Understand the vague System Data bucket and find safer cleanup paths.

Where Is System Data On Mac?

Find where System Data usually hides and diagnose it without blind deletion.

Mac Unusable Because System Storage Is Full?

Emergency steps when System Storage or System Data makes a Mac too full to update or work.

Xcode Taking Up Too Much Space?

Find DerivedData, Archives, simulators, and other Xcode storage sinks.

Xcode.xip No Space Left On Linux tmpfs

Check TMPDIR and /tmp before deleting files when Xcode.xip extraction fails despite free disk space.

Cleaning Up Xcode To Free Up Disk Space

Separate DerivedData, simulators, archives, DeviceSupport, and SwiftPM caches before deleting anything.

Can I Delete Xcode DerivedData?

A direct safety answer for one of the most common Xcode cleanup questions.

Can I Delete Xcode Caches?

Separate safe Xcode cache cleanup from folders that deserve review first.

Docker Taking Up Too Much Space On Mac?

Separate safer Docker cache cleanup from risky volumes and local state.

Rancher Desktop diffdisk Taking Too Much Space?

Measure Lima diffdisk, runaway vmnet logs, Docker cache, and volumes before factory reset.

OrbStack Taking Too Much Disk Space?

Separate OrbStack VM storage, Docker build cache, images, and volumes before resetting state.

Docker Desktop Fills Up Your Mac Drive?

Diagnose images, containers, build cache, volumes, and Docker.raw before pruning.

Docker Desktop Disk Image Location Hangs

Diagnose external drive moves, Apply & restart hangs, Docker.raw, and backend state before reset.

Docker.raw No Space Left On Device

Understand Docker.raw and fix no-space errors without wiping local Docker state.

Docker Desktop Backend Deadlock After ENOSPC

Diagnose host disk exhaustion, backend hangs, Docker.raw, logs, and safer recovery steps.

Docker CLI Command Hangs In Dev Tools

Add timeouts and safer user-facing recovery when Docker Desktop is frozen, restarting, or out of space.

Docker Desktop service fs failed on Linux

Capture read-only Linux Docker Desktop logs, disk pressure, and storage buckets before reset or reinstall.

Grype Database Or Disk Is Full

Diagnose Grype, stereoscope, Docker root, temp, and cache paths before pruning scanner or Docker state.

GitHub Actions macOS Runner No Space Left

Build a safer cleanup policy for Xcode, Flutter, Node, and iOS CI jobs on macOS runners.

GitHub Actions Xcode Simulator Runtime Disk Space

Plan around Xcode runtime limits, simulator cleanup, and fixed macOS runner disk space.

Flutter FileSystemException No Space Left

Diagnose Flutter errno 28 failures from temp files, .dart_tool, pub cache, Gradle, Xcode, and emulator storage.

Read-Only macOS CI Storage Scan

Capture GitHub Actions runner disk, Xcode, simulator, and tool cache evidence for a team policy.

GitHub Actions Runner No Space Left On Device

Run a read-only SafeDisk CI scan for Linux, macOS, Docker, Xcode, and self-hosted runner disk failures.

BuildKit Cache Disk Full During Container Builds

Recover large Docker/BuildKit pipelines when intermediate layer cache fills the host between build stages.

CPU Image Pulls CUDA Dependencies In CI

Prevent runner ENOSPC when backend Docker images accidentally install vLLM, CUDA, nvidia wheels, or GPU torch.

Confidential Space Model Boot Disk Full

Prevent baked model image layers from overflowing default CVM boot disks before confidential workloads start.

Nix GC EBUSY Runner Disk Full

Recover self-hosted Nix runners when stale patched bind mounts make garbage collection free zero bytes.

CI Artifact And Test Temp Disk Full

Budget test scratch, artifact upload staging, generated reports, Docker archives, and runner temp before ENOSPC.

Kubernetes PVC WAL No Space Left

Triage PVC-full CrashLoopBackOff incidents before deleting WAL, snapshots, database state, or raft logs.

MySQL Binlog Disk Full Service Outage

Recover MySQL binary-log disk-full outages without breaking replication, CDC, PITR, or app templates.

Postgres DiskFullError Shared Memory Temp Space

Triage PostgreSQL shared-memory, temp-file, and work_mem pressure before changing database settings.

Database Low Disk Alert Severity

Route low free-space alerts by warning/critical thresholds before write failures become outages.

eRPC Finalized Cache Postgres Volume Full

Bound no-expiry finalized RPC cache growth without deleting active-chain cache blindly.

Shared GPU Scratch Volume Disk Full

Recover multi-user AI/GPU volumes without deleting active workdirs, checkpoints, model weights, or W&B artifacts.

VTOrc Primary Disk Full Recovery

Separate reparent-safe PRIMARY disk-full incidents from all-replicas-full cases before changing topology.

Disk Offload Inode Exhaustion And Backpressure

Bound one-file-per-entry stores, queue watermarks, compaction, and retention defaults before ENOSPC.

LSM Compaction Disk Full Deadlock

Keep reclaiming compactions available with reserved headroom, safe merge admission, and atomic manifest recovery.

Object Storage Disk Full Metadata Recovery

Preserve quorum, metadata, and repair evidence before object-store disk-full recovery turns into PVC wipe.

Container Registry Backing Store Full 507

Map registry backing-store-full failures to 507 and fail write-readiness before pushes hang.

Artifact Cache Write Failure Connection Leak

Keep package proxy cache failures from holding client and upstream connections until timeout.

Sparse Volume Overcommit Host ENOSPC

Prevent sparse VM, ext4 image, and local volume promises from silently exceeding host capacity.

Snapshot Action Storage Saturation

Block snapshot create, delete, purge, rebuild, and backup actions before they saturate storage.

Qdrant Deletion Disk Full Compaction

Recover vector database PVC headroom when point deletion creates optimizer work before disk is reclaimed.

Litestream LTX Staging Disk Full

Triage SQLite backup initial sync when local LTX staging fills disk and starves live WAL writes.

Backup Retention Policy Disk Full

Stop timestamped backup copies, job directories, and history logs from growing until the host is full.

pg_dump Partial Backup Disk Full

Stop failed PostgreSQL dump jobs from publishing empty or truncated backups as healthy restore points.

NVR Recording Retention Disk Full

Prevent recording pipelines from crash-looping by pruning before the next segment write fails.

Log Monitor Loop Fills Disk

Contain monitor loops that write repeated errors until syslog or journald fills the host.

Auth Fail Loop Session Disk Storm

Bound dead-token retries before worker sessions, request dumps, state databases, and logs fill the disk.

Worker Diagnostic Reports Filling Root Disk

Keep readiness reports, coverage JSON, and temp decode files from filling worker root disks.

Full Disk Trash GC Deadlock Recovery

Recover stateful services when the cleanup worker cannot start because the data root is already full.

Cargo Test Workspace No Space Left

Diagnose Rust workspace target, Docker testcontainers, Trunk, wasm, and heavy example crate disk peaks in GitHub Actions.

libtool Can't Write: No Space Left On macOS Runner

Diagnose GitHub Actions libtool, xcodebuild, and archive failures before deleting Xcode or simulator state.

Self-Hosted macOS iOS Build Runner Disk Full

Diagnose Mac build providers, iOS build gateways, xcodebuild ENOSPC, and safe runner cleanup order.

Vitest Storybook Browser Mode CI Disk Space

Diagnose random module import failures, Chromium temp files, Vite reloads, and runner disk pressure.

AI Coding Agent ENOSPC And Cache Storage

Measure Claude, Codex, Gemini, Cursor, VM bundles, session state, and tool caches before resetting them.

AI Agent tmpfs Artifacts Disk Full

Recover tmpfs ENOSPC from frame dumps, wrapper logs, hooks, and stale per-run agent artifacts.

AI CLI Disk Full And Session Not Saved

Diagnose Gemini CLI, Claude Code, Codex, and local agent sessions when ENOSPC disables recording or silently drops state.

File Lock Heartbeat Disk Full Stale Lock

Prevent stale file locks and concurrent writes when disk full, inode exhaustion, or permissions break heartbeat refreshes.

Worker File Spill Disk Full Silent Truncation

Expose worker file-spill ENOSPC, permission, and disk-full failures before downstream nodes receive truncated payloads.

AI Agent Transcript JSONL Retention

Bound long-running agent transcript .jsonl files, tool results, compaction, and session maintenance before gateway CPU saturates.

Codex SQLite WAL Disk Full On Linux

Recover disk space when stale Codex TUI sessions keep deleted SQLite WAL files allocated.

Claude Code ENOSPC 0MB Free Output Capture

Triage Claude Code task output capture failures before deleting sessions, VM bundles, or local agent state.

Embedded Postgres Dies On macOS Disk Pressure

Add free-space gates, prune-before-backup, and supervised restart before local database ENOSPC stops agent heartbeats.

AI Agent Docker Desktop Bind Mount Deadlock

Diagnose Windows Docker Desktop bind mounts, gateway HTTP/WS hangs, plugin locks, and safe recovery order.

Clean Docker Cache On Mac

Clean build cache and images without accidentally wiping important volumes.

What Cache Files Are Safe To Delete?

Learn which caches are usually regenerable and which need review.

Can I Delete Xcode Simulator Runtimes?

Know which simulator data is safe, review-first, or worth keeping.

Xcode DerivedData No Space Left

Separate rebuildable Xcode cache from archives, simulator runtimes, and project state.

CleanMyMac Alternative For Developers

A developer-focused approach for Xcode, Docker, Homebrew, and project bloat.

256GB MacBook Air enough for Xcode: safe Xcode storage checklist

How to triage Xcode users say 256GB means constantly managing storage without deleting Xcode archives, simulators, or project state blindly.

Can delete Xcode Caches: safe Xcode storage checklist

How to triage Fear Xcode caches deletion can break Xcode without deleting Xcode archives, simulators, or project state blindly.

clear Xcode caches: safe Xcode storage checklist

How to triage Xcode caches eating disk without deleting Xcode archives, simulators, or project state blindly.

Docker Desktop cache 300GB: safe Docker cleanup checklist

How to triage Docker Desktop virtual disk/cache filled Mac on a Mac without deleting Docker.raw or volumes blindly.

Docker Desktop fills drive on first start: safe Docker cleanup checklist

How to triage Docker Desktop fills disk while starting on a Mac without deleting Docker.raw or volumes blindly.

Docker load no space left: safe Docker cleanup checklist

How to triage Docker.raw and no space left during import on a Mac without deleting Docker.raw or volumes blindly.

Docker.raw 59GB safe delete: safe Docker cleanup checklist

How to triage Docker.raw 59GB and disk full on a Mac without deleting Docker.raw or volumes blindly.

Docker.raw over 100GB: safe Docker cleanup checklist

How to triage Docker.raw over 100GB after running out of disk space on a Mac without deleting Docker.raw or volumes blindly.

Fed up with Mac storage full: safe Mac storage diagnosis checklist

How to triage Mac storage full and System Data confusion without random Library deletion or unsafe Mac cleanup steps.

Library/Developer taking up 200GB: safe Xcode storage checklist

How to triage Xcode Developer folder 211GB without deleting Xcode archives, simulators, or project state blindly.

Mac unusable due to System Storage: safe Mac storage diagnosis checklist

How to triage System storage makes Mac unusable without random Library deletion or unsafe Mac cleanup steps.

Over 1TB in System Data: safe Mac storage diagnosis checklist

How to triage System Data over 1TB and storage fills again after flushing 100GB without random Library deletion or unsafe Mac cleanup steps.

System Data 116GB: safe Mac storage diagnosis checklist

How to triage System Data 116GB on M1 without random Library deletion or unsafe Mac cleanup steps.

System Data 350GB light user: safe Mac storage diagnosis checklist

How to triage Light user has 350+ GB in System Data and asks how to clear it without random Library deletion or unsafe Mac cleanup steps.

System Data 375GB: safe Mac storage diagnosis checklist

How to triage System Data 375GB without random Library deletion or unsafe Mac cleanup steps.

System Data over 300GB: safe Mac storage diagnosis checklist

How to triage System Data over 300GB without random Library deletion or unsafe Mac cleanup steps.

Xcode 26 CompilationCache 26GB: safe Xcode storage checklist

How to triage Xcode CompilationCache.noindex 26GB without deleting Xcode archives, simulators, or project state blindly.

Xcode 60GB: safe Xcode storage checklist

How to triage Xcode quietly using 60GB without deleting Xcode archives, simulators, or project state blindly.

Xcode cache 40GB safe: safe Xcode storage checklist

How to triage Fear of deleting Xcode cache without deleting Xcode archives, simulators, or project state blindly.

Xcode Preview 113.7GB storage: safe Xcode storage checklist

How to triage Xcode Preview taking 113.7GB in UserData without deleting Xcode archives, simulators, or project state blindly.

Xcode UI Previews 110GB: safe Xcode storage checklist

How to triage Xcode UI Previews folder 110GB without deleting Xcode archives, simulators, or project state blindly.

256GB Macbook Air Enough For Xcode: safe Xcode cleanup path

A safe first-pass checklist for 256GB Macbook Air Enough For Xcode, separating DerivedData, simulators, archives, and caches.

Apple System Data Over 100GB: safe Mac storage cleanup path

A safe first-pass checklist for Apple System Data Over 100GB, focused on read-only diagnosis before deleting Mac storage.

Apple System Data Storage High: safe Mac storage cleanup path

A safe first-pass checklist for Apple System Data Storage High, focused on read-only diagnosis before deleting Mac storage.

Apple System Data Storage: safe Mac storage cleanup path

A safe first-pass checklist for Apple System Data Storage, focused on read-only diagnosis before deleting Mac storage.

Can I Delete Xcode Caches From My Mac: safe Xcode cleanup path

A safe first-pass checklist for Can I Delete Xcode Caches From My Mac, separating DerivedData, simulators, archives, and caches.

Clear All Xcode Caches: safe Xcode cleanup path

A safe first-pass checklist for Clear All Xcode Caches, separating DerivedData, simulators, archives, and caches.

Clear Xcode Cache Mac: safe Xcode cleanup path

A safe first-pass checklist for Clear Xcode Cache Mac, separating DerivedData, simulators, archives, and caches.

Clear Xcode Cache Terminal: safe Xcode cleanup path

A safe first-pass checklist for Clear Xcode Cache Terminal, separating DerivedData, simulators, archives, and caches.

Is It Safe To Delete Xcode Caches: safe Xcode cleanup path

A safe first-pass checklist for Is It Safe To Delete Xcode Caches, separating DerivedData, simulators, archives, and caches.

Mac Mini System Data Over 100GB: safe Mac storage cleanup path

A safe first-pass checklist for Mac Mini System Data Over 100GB, focused on read-only diagnosis before deleting Mac storage.

Mac System Data Over 100GB: safe Mac storage cleanup path

A safe first-pass checklist for Mac System Data Over 100GB, focused on read-only diagnosis before deleting Mac storage.

Mac System Data Storage High: safe Mac storage cleanup path

A safe first-pass checklist for Mac System Data Storage High, focused on read-only diagnosis before deleting Mac storage.

Mac System Data Storage Space: safe Mac storage cleanup path

A safe first-pass checklist for Mac System Data Storage Space, focused on read-only diagnosis before deleting Mac storage.

Over 1tb In System Data: safe Mac storage cleanup path

A safe first-pass checklist for Over 1tb In System Data, focused on read-only diagnosis before deleting Mac storage.

System Data 350GB Light User: safe Mac storage cleanup path

A safe first-pass checklist for System Data 350GB Light User, focused on read-only diagnosis before deleting Mac storage.

Why Is Xcode Taking Up So Much Space: safe Xcode cleanup path

A safe first-pass checklist for Why Is Xcode Taking Up So Much Space, separating DerivedData, simulators, archives, and caches.

Xcode 26 Compilationcache 26GB: safe Xcode cleanup path

A safe first-pass checklist for Xcode 26 Compilationcache 26GB, separating DerivedData, simulators, archives, and caches.

Xcode 60GB: safe Xcode cleanup path

A safe first-pass checklist for Xcode 60GB, separating DerivedData, simulators, archives, and caches.