I recently had a problem on my Mac. My 500GB internal drive was getting close to full and it was causing problems. Mail was complaining that it couldn’t do its thing because of a lack of space and Time Machine was failing at backups. So, I needed to find where all my previous, and I thought copious, disk space went. That’s what brought me to GrandPerspective.
Pros: Easy to use
Cons: User interface takes some time to get used to
Developer: Erwin Bonsma
Price: Free directly from the developer or $5.99 from App Store
I chose to purchase GrandPerspective from the App Store on my Mac for AUD$5.99. If you choose to download it directly from the developer it’s free. But, as the developer says:
When you get it from the App Store you know that it has passed Apple’s review and quality control, you receive automatic updates, you help cover distribution costs and you support further development.
GrandPerspective is the kind of handy utility that you wish was part of macOS. My need for GrandPerspective arose because my Mac’s main drive was filling up and I didn’t know what the problem was. I assumed it was the recent iMovie projects I’d been working on so I archived some older projects to the external drive that’s connected to my Mac. But that didn’t do enough.
Once GrandPerspective was installed, I asked it to scan my entire main drive to identify my largest files. What amazed me was that over 100GB of space was being taken up by log files from Backblaze – one of the three backup tools I use. A little bit of research revealed that this is a common problem. GrandPerspective identified these files quickly. I keep the most recent log files from Backblaze as a precaution, leaving with the following after a rescan.
The larger a block on the map that GrandPerspective, the larger the file it corresponds to. If you elect a block, you can click the Reveal button on the top toolbar to take to the file. Or you can use the Quick Look button to view the file contents.
My only criticism, and this is quite minor, is that the user interface is a little tricky at first. While the notion that block size equates to file size is simple enough, the colour and arrangement of the blocks can be a little confusing at first. But when you click on a block, you can see the location, name and size of the file in the app’s status bar.
To dive into a smaller block, you use the Focus button to choose the block you want to home in on and then the Zoom options to dive in deeper. From there you can select a block and examine it fitter to decide whether it’s a file you want to keep or delete.
In my case, I retrieved about 200GB of space by finding and deleting those pesky Backblaze log files along with over 30GB of index files from an old installation of DevonTHINK. I used that app many years ago and its data files have followed me across many different Macs, without me realising, as I’ve used the Data Migration option when setting up each new Mac.
It is possible to search for large files using Finder but it’s not easy and it messes the mark in one crucial way.
When I search in Finder, it does not easily let me know if the files it finds are stored on a cloud service. While Finder is able to filter for files shared from iCloud, it can’t do the same with files stored on OneDrive or other services.
GrandPerspective can mask cloud files as the pointers on my drive take up almost no space. But Finder shows me larges files even though they are not physically on my drive.
If you’re really strapped for cash, you can download and use GrandPerspective for free. But I think it’s worth very bit of its $5.99 asking price. And its benefits will last far longer than the cup of hot chocolate I’d have used that money for.
Anthony is the founder of Australian Apple News. He is a long-time Apple user and former editor of Australian Macworld. He has contributed to many technology magazines and newspapers as well as appearing regularly on radio and occasionally on TV.