ScrubsThe four ways, side by side
The same home folder, the same day, files of 1 GB or more:
| Way | Found | Speed | What it missed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Storage settingsDocuments › Large Files | 1 of 17 | A few seconds | Everything that isn't a document: disk images, emulators, models, app data |
| Finder searchFile size is greater than 1 GB | 6 of 17 | 0.1 s | Hidden folders such as ~/.android and ~/.cache, and folders named .noindex, which Spotlight doesn't index |
Terminalfind and du | 17 of 17 | About 2 minutes | 546 folders macOS wouldn't open without Full Disk Access, mostly other apps' containers and the Photos library |
| A disk mapsuch as Scrubs | All it can read | The length of a scan | Like Terminal, it needs Full Disk Access to see everything; other accounts' files need a scan as administrator |
1 · Storage settings: Large Files
Open System Settings › General › Storage and click ⓘ next to Documents. The Large Files tab lists files with their kind, when they were last accessed, and their size; select one for Show in Finder or Delete.
On the Mac we measured, it listed 21 files, from 52.6 MB to 2.96 GB, and the largest was the only one over 1 GB: a heap dump an IDE left in the home folder when it ran out of memory. None of the 16 others showed: they were app and developer files, not documents.
Delete here skips the Trash. Storage settings says it will "permanently erase" what you pick. Use Show in Finder and drag the file to the Trash instead, so a wrong pick can be undone.
2 · A Finder search by size
- In Finder, choose File › Find (⌘F) and click This Mac.
- Click the first menu, which says Kind, and choose Other…. Tick File size and click OK.
- Set it to is greater than 1 GB. Results appear as you type; sort by Size in list view.
Finder's search is Spotlight, so it is instant, but it sees only what Spotlight indexes. Asked the same question, Spotlight returned 8 items: 4 of the 17 files, an app's virtual machine bundle holding 2 more, and three apps and folders it measures as one item. It missed all six Android emulator files in ~/.android, the AI models in ~/.cache and another hidden folder, and a disk image in a build folder named .noindex. That was 49 GB it didn't show.
3 · Terminal
This lists every file in your home folder over 1 GB with the space it really takes, largest last. It only reads:
find ~ -xdev -type f -size +1G -exec du -h {} + 2>/dev/null | sort -h
For the whole startup disk, including other accounts, run it as administrator on /System/Volumes/Data, the volume that holds your files, apps and every account. Starting there skips the read-only system and lists each file once:
sudo find /System/Volumes/Data -xdev -type f -size +1G -exec du -h {} + 2>/dev/null | sort -h
Two things to know:
2>/dev/null hides those errors, so the list looks complete when it isn't.-size isn't the space usedfind compares a file's length. Docker's disk image has a length of 64 GB but took 13.6 GB on disk, because the rest was never written. That is why the command prints du's figure: by length, the 17 files came to 132.9 GB; on disk, 82.4 GB.To find large folders rather than files, go a level at a time: du -hd 1 ~ 2>/dev/null | sort -h.
4 · A disk map
A disk analyzer reads the whole disk once and shows every file and folder by the space it takes, so a big file stands out whether or not you knew to look for it, and so does a folder of a thousand small ones. In Scrubs, Largest Files lists the top 100, 500 or 1,000 files, with the 10 largest lit on the map. It counts an app, a Photos library or another package as one item, since that is how you would delete it, and filters by kind. Search can also filter by size (over 100 MB, 1 GB or 10 GB) and by age.
Sizes are the space files really take, with APFS clones counted once, so Docker's disk image shows as 13.6 GB, not 64. For the other apps, see the best disk space analyzers for Mac.
What the large files were
None of the 17 was a document the owner had saved. All were made by apps and developer tools:
| On disk | What | How to remove it |
|---|---|---|
| 26.9 GB | Android emulators ~/.android/avdSix files: each emulator's data disk, 2.3 to 6.6 GB, and two saved RAM snapshots. | Android Studio › Device Manager › Delete |
| 17.7 GB | Local AI models ~/.cache/huggingface and another hidden folderOne language model in three 5.4 GB parts, and a 1.6 GB model file. | The tool that downloaded them, or delete the model's folder |
| 13.6 GB | Docker's disk image Docker.raw64 GB by length. | Docker's own clean-up; never delete the file while Docker runs |
| 12.0 GB | A desktop AI app's virtual machine ~/Library/Application SupportA 10.7 GB disk image and a 1.3 GB compressed copy. | The app's settings |
| 4.7 GB | A disk image in a build folderLeft by a script; its folder name ends in .noindex, so Spotlight skipped it. | Delete it if nothing uses it |
| 4.7 GB | Android system images ~/Library/Android/sdk/system-imagesTwo, 2.3 and 2.4 GB. | Android Studio › SDK Manager |
| 3.0 GB | A heap dump ~/java_error_in_idea.hprofWritten by a JetBrains IDE when it ran out of memory; only useful for a bug report. | Delete it |
Below 1 GB the list grows fast: the same home folder had 246 files over 100 MB.
Before you delete a large file
- Files an app has open. Emulator disks, Docker's disk image and virtual machines belong to the app that made them. Remove them through that app; deleting the file while it runs can break it, and the space comes back only when the app lets go.
- Clones. A copy made in Finder on APFS shares its blocks with the original. Deleting one of the two frees almost nothing. See why the numbers disagree.
- The Trash, and snapshots. Space comes back when the Trash is emptied, and with Time Machine on, after its local snapshots of that file expire.
Move to the Trash, don't delete for good. Empty it once everything still works. For the folders that hold the biggest files, see the Mac folder guide; for the grey bar in Storage settings, What is System Data.
How Scrubs helps
Scrubs shows every large file on the map and in Largest Files, including the hidden folders Finder's search skips, sized by the space they really take. Everything you delete goes to the Trash first, with ⌘Z to undo. Scanning is free.
Measured on 3 November 2026 on one Mac running macOS 27.2, used for iOS, Android and web development: Storage settings, mdfind with the query Finder's File Size search uses, and find and du without Full Disk Access. The steps and commands work the same on macOS 15 and later.
About the author: Parsa Nasirimehr is a mobile app developer who builds Scrubs, a disk map for the Mac. Spotted something wrong? Write to support@getscrubs.app.