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(mac) Everytime I install Photoshop Beta and delete it, my hard drive loses about 4GB.

Forum|Forum|7 months ago
July 1, 2025
4 replies
549 views

How do I manually delete whatever files are taking up space? Is there another way to resolve this lost hard drive space? Mac Sonoma 14.6.1

macOS

Correct answer Kevin Stohlmeyer

@Rd5E28 The larger issue is your main HD only has 49 GB of storage. Installer deployment packages are normally larger than the final installed application and do clear out after a successful install. With only 49 GB available I would expect failures across the board as the recommended (not miminum) is 100 GB.

You can try running Onyx (free) to clear out any remaining cache files that could be taking up space even after the Adobe Cleaner Tool. Mac OS is notorious for hogging space for caches. https://www.titanium-software.fr/en/onyx.html

R

Rd5E28Author

Participating Frequently

I ran the cleaner tool but I just found an adobe folder in Library/Application Support with 4.22GB. Why is this still on my computer? What is the point of the cleaner tool if it doesn't clean out the relevant adobe files?

Kevin Stohlmeyer

Correct answer

Community Expert

@Rd5E28 The larger issue is your main HD only has 49 GB of storage. Installer deployment packages are normally larger than the final installed application and do clear out after a successful install. With only 49 GB available I would expect failures across the board as the recommended (not miminum) is 100 GB.

You can try running Onyx (free) to clear out any remaining cache files that could be taking up space even after the Adobe Cleaner Tool. Mac OS is notorious for hogging space for caches. https://www.titanium-software.fr/en/onyx.html

R

Rd5E28Author

Participating Frequently

I ran the cleaner tool and this did not resolve the issue. As I can't be the first person this has happened to please just tell me where I can manually find these files that failed to auto delete. It's at least 8GB that I know of. They must be two roughly 4GB sized files or folders hidden somewhere. Can you give me a possible name for the files or folders? I want to keep using Photoshop but I can't if it's going to keep stealing hard drive space.

R

Rd5E28Author

Participating Frequently

Here's the order of things that happened. All done within creative cloud app.

1. Photoshop Beta kept telling me I needed to update so I did but it failed. I hit retry and it worked but there were 4GB less than expected. I used creative cloud app to remove photoshop beta and it went back up to expected free space of 49GB.

2. I reinstalled Beta but it took 12GB off my hard drive which doesn't make sense since the app says 6GB in the applications folder. I removed it but now I was at 45GB. I reinstalled again hoping it would fix the issue but I wound up deleting again and it dropped to 41GB.

If I run the cleaner tool will it give me back this space?

Noel Orridge

Community Manager

Hi @Rd5E28, Thanks for sharing more details — really appreciate it!

To clarify, the Adobe Cleaner Tool is designed to go beyond a regular uninstallation. It performs a deep and thorough cleanup of Adobe software components and related files from your system. This can be especially helpful when you're facing issues like:

Conflicting or leftover files
Permission Issues
Corrupted or incomplete installations

If an Adobe app like Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, or Lightroom Classic isn't installing, updating, or uninstalling properly, it often leaves behind broken or residual files. That's where the Cleaner Tool steps in — it helps clear out those remnants so you can start fresh.

I'd suggest running it once. Please let us know how it goes!

Cheers!

Noel

R

Rd5E28Author

Participating Frequently

I ran the cleaner tool and this did not resolve the issue. I was looking around and still was able to find folders with adobe names, one of which had over 4GB in it. Please just tell me the physical location where failed installation files are located so I can manually delete them. Is there a reason why no one from Adobe will tell me the location of the files? Please at least tell me why you won't tell me. I want to update Photoshop but I don't want to lose yet another 4GB of hard drive space.

Noel Orridge

Community Manager

HI @Rd5E28, Thank you for reaching out and welcome to the community!

Please share more details, such as: Did you use the Creative Cloud Desktop application for the uninstallation? If so, did you click remove when it asked you whether to keep the preferences?

I'd suggest using the Creative Cloud Cleaner tool for a thorough uninstallation next time. Please refer to this Helpx article for steps and more information: Use the Creative Cloud Cleaner tool to solve installation problems.

Cheers!

Noel

R

Rd5E28Author

Participating Frequently

I'm using a mac. I took your advice and used the creative cloud cleaner tool to delete photoshop beta. it didn't delete the program. but now if i go to the creative cloud app it does not recognize that it is installed. so do i manually delete it from applications? i'm worried that since it wasn't properly uninstalled that if i manually delete and try a reinstall that it won't work and i need this program for work so this is important that this is resolved. my issue right now is that it has to be reinstalled because the remove tool says it needs to be downloaded but it keeps failing. the program is also not recognized when i run the cleaner tool again. i'm begging you to not give me a copy pasted answer. please give me a specific answer for this specific problem.

Kevin Stohlmeyer

Community Expert

@Rd5E28 if you used the Cleaner tool, everything should have been wiped. You shouldn't have to manually delete anything.

The larger root issue still remains- you have an undersized hard drive for running this software. Have you tried moving files, etc. off this drive to free up at least 100 GB?

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