Mac software
Resolving riddles and restrictions with what you want to run on your Mac
Removing one of these two duplicated files won’t free up any storage space, as they’re identical clones.
Do you need ahousekeeping utility?
Q I’ve had a lot of trouble getting my Mac’s housekeeping utility to work on my new MacBook Air. Do I really need it?
by TIM JONES
A Almost certainly not. It’s an attractive idea to have the housekeeping done for you, but finding and deleting duplicate files and rummaging through your private documents goes a lot further than any real housekeeper should. Unfortunately, their claims are seldom realised, for instance in terms of the amount of storage space they could free by deleting duplicate files.
This is because APFS tries to avoid making complete copies of files when they’re on the same volume, and uses clone files instead, where it can. Duplicate a file in the Finder using Cmd+D and the copy doesn’t take up any extra storage space until it has been changed from the original. Even then, APFS tries to store only the data that’s different between the two files, and not what’s common to both. As there’s no reliable way to tell whether two apparently identical files are clones, housekeeping utilities that delete one of them may not actually free up any storage space at all.