Official macOS User Guide

Installation & Full Disk Access
Configuration Guide

Everything you need to set up DiskView, configure macOS privacy protections, and safely reclaim 20–80 GB of forgotten system and developer storage.

1

Download and Install DiskView

Download the official universal disk image (DiskView.dmg). Double-click the .dmg file to mount it, then drag the DiskView app icon into your Applications folder.

Lightweight & Portable: DiskView is less than 500 KB in size. It has zero external package dependencies and requires no auxiliary background services or daemons.
2

First Launch on macOS Sonoma or Sequoia

When launching DiskView from Applications for the first time, macOS may present a standard security verification prompt:

  1. Click Open when prompted by Gatekeeper.
  2. If your Mac displays an unnotarized or developer warning, open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down to the Security section, and click Open Anyway.
3

Grant Full Disk Access (Recommended)

By default, macOS Transparency, Consent, and Control (TCC) prevents applications from scanning protected user storage:

  • ~/Library/Messages (Attachments, photos, video clips)
  • ~/Library/Mail (Offline email storage and attachments)
  • ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync (Local iPhone & iPad backups)
  • ~/Library/Safari & browser cache files
Why this matters: Without Full Disk Access, macOS silently returns permission denied when scanning these folders, causing DiskView to report them as 0 bytes. Giving Full Disk Access allows DiskView to measure these gigabytes accurately!

How to enable Full Disk Access:

  1. Open System Settings on your Mac.
  2. Navigate to Privacy & Security in the sidebar.
  3. Click on Full Disk Access.
  4. Click the + (Add) button at the bottom of the list (you may need to authenticate with Touch ID or your Mac password).
  5. Select DiskView.app from your /Applications folder and click Open.
  6. Ensure the toggle switch next to DiskView is set to ON.
4

Top 5 Hidden Storage Caches to Reclaim

Once you perform your first scan with DiskView, look for these common storage hogs:

1. Xcode DerivedData (~15–80 GB)
Path: ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData
Safe to delete anytime: Xcode will automatically recreate build caches for active projects when compiled.
2. Old iOS & iPad Backups (~20–100 GB)
Path: ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup
Ancient device backups from previous iPhones you no longer own.
3. Video Editing Render Files (~30–200 GB)
Path: ~/Movies/Final Cut Backups or Premiere Scratch Disks.
Old timeline optical flow and ProRes proxy caches.
4. Package Manager & Homebrew Caches (~10–30 GB)
Path: ~/Library/Caches/Homebrew, ~/.npm, ~/.cargo, ~/.gradle.
Downloaded tarballs and compilation artifacts from past CLI installs.
5. Abandoned App Leftovers (~5–20 GB)
Path: ~/Library/Application Support/ and ~/Library/Containers/.
Folders belonging to apps you dragged to the Trash months or years ago.
5

Mac Power-User Keyboard Shortcuts

Open Folder / Drive Picker ⌘ O
Search & Highlight Files ⌘ F
Cancel Scan / Zoom Out Esc
Quick Look / Launch Selected Node Space