DaisyDisk - Track Down Your HDD Space Wasters

If you want to keep your computer clutter-free, an application that will search all the related files when you want to uninstall any type of software is necessary. But, even if you use one of those, there are some files that will not be discovered and will remain forgotten on your computer, taking up valuable space. In order to find them, a simple-to-use tool that is able to scan your computer and provide objective data about your HDD like DaisyDisk can come in very handy.

The concept is not new and you can find other applications that can do the same, but DaisyDisk provides a modern interface and a beautiful graphic representation for your HDD content.

The Looks

Developed by DaisyDisk Team, the application is revolving around a visual interface that allows you to easily access the information while looking great. Each time you start up DaisyDisk, you will see the currently mounted volumes on the left, while, on the right, the drive capacity, the used and the free space (in numbers, but also as a usage bar) and the scan button are displayed. You may also right-click while above a volume in order to access the contextual menu that allows you to quickly eject it or see its properties.

Still, you don’t have to perform the scan on the entire drive and you can choose to create a chart for a particular folder by using the button located at the bottom of the window or by dropping the folder on the DaisyDisk icon. By default, the window background will be black, but, if you will enable the super-user feature, it will turn blue and show a purple bar stating your current scanning mode and giving you the possibility to switch to another user.

The Works

Once the scanning process is done, the main window will be separated in two main areas. On the left, you will be able to see the graphical representation, while on the right, there is the folder content in list form, but relating one to the other is quite simple, allowing you to have an efficient workflow.

The time spent scanning depends on the degree of information available on your disk, but, if you consider it takes too long (you will be able to see the progress bar in the main window, but also on the DaisyDisk dock icon), you have the possibility to cancel the process in order to start again at a later time.

You should keep in mind that, once you make a change (like deleting or moving a certain folder/file), you must perform a new scan to see the changes in the chart. To do that, you don’t have to restart the application: the Rescan button will be on the bottom of the window at all times. On the right side of the same area, you will also find the Scan Another Source button.

Probably one of the most challenging DaisyDisk features is the space/color association that you must understand in order to read the disk map. In the center of the sunburst, you can see the size of the current folder, while on the exterior, you will see the contained folders organized by color, size and hierarchy. The bigger the folder the larger the segment and, if you drag your mouse over a certain area, you are going to see the included files on the sidebar panel, while, if you click on it, it will automatically become the center folder. DaisyDisk will create a new graph taking the latest folder as a reference point and, in the middle, the size will be displayed for the current subgroup.

Basically, on the main chart, you will be able to see all the folders from your disk: at the bottom of the flower the biggest ones, and their subfolders on the next levels. In order to easily keep track of your location, you can see the trail on the top of the window and easily go back. By default, the files that are not included in any subfolder are marked in grey, while the semi-transparent segments represent the files and folders that are too thin to be represented.

DaisyDisk also allows you to quickly preview certain files within the application to see if you want to keep them. In order to do that, you must have the file selected and press Space. Still, if you want to change its location or delete it, you must go through the Finder. In order to make the process easier, DaisyDisk provides the Show in Finder feature that you can access through the contextual menu (you must right-click to reveal it) or by pressing Command+Click.

Keep in mind that DaisyDisk is only showing you the files and does not perform any kind of analysis that might explain to you the purpose of certain files, so make sure you are not deleting files that are required by the operating system.

The Good

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The Truth