DaisyDisk evaluation: A sublime and enjoyable strategy to unlock space for storing

Value When Reviewed

$9.99

Finest Costs As we speak: Daisy Disk

There’s one thing to be mentioned for self-discipline and writing a utility that focuses on one set of duties, does this very effectively, and doesn’t attempt to perform as each utility underneath the solar in your Mac. Working example, DaisyDisk (model 4.30 on the time this evaluation was written) from Software program Atmosphere Corp and builders Teras Brizitsky (who got here up with the unique concept) and Oleg Krupnov (who at the moment handles the code and technical assist). DaisyDisk units out that will help you visualize the information in your Mac and its native, community, and cloud-based volumes, map it out, see which recordsdata are taking on probably the most house, and aid you readily delete them to unlock gigabytes of drive house.

This isn’t a brand new concept, and there have been a number of utilities lately that aid you search out giant recordsdata and delete them, however with DaisyDisk it’s completely as much as your personal discretion as to which recordsdata and folders to rapidly delete with nothing greater than an animated five-second countdown clock and time interval through which to cancel the choice.

Like its earlier variations, DaisyDisk incorporates a clear, enjoyable, fascinating person interface that just about appears to have spawned out of an episode of Star Trek: The Subsequent Era. Merely obtain the software program, set up it, assign it full entry to your laborious drive, and also you’re able to go.

See how DaisyDisk compares to the competitors in our roundup of the Finest Mac Cleaners.

DaisyDisk at the moment helps Apple’s HFS, HFS+, and APFS file codecs in addition to Microsoft’s FAT, exFAT, and NTFS file methods in addition to community volumes by way of NAS, AFS, Samba, NFS, WebDAV, Novell, Home windows, FTP by way of FUSE, and digital components by way of FUSE and disk photos, and might mount and scan absolutely anything so long as the amount itself is operational. Like its earlier variations, DaisyDisk may also mount varied cloud-based providers similar to Google Drive, Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, and Field. See our round-up of the greatest cloud backups for Mac.

Foundry

Foundry

Foundry

Along with having the ability to scan whole volumes directly, it’s simple to hit the “Choose Folder…” button to navigate to a customized folder, and Apple’s Disk Utility app could be readily accessed from the Manu bar to carry out disk repairs on the fly. The app itself retails for $9.99/£9.99 and requires macOS 10.13 Excessive Sierra or later to put in and run.

DaisyDisk presents a genuinely enjoyable, fascinating strategy to mapping out, visualizing, and deleting giant recordsdata out of your Mac. The appliance is straightforward to navigate by way of, proper click on or management click on on an merchandise to deliver up a helpful preview as to what you’re contemplating deleting, and drag the merchandise to the decrease left hand nook to get able to take away it out of your system.

The app additionally presents a gamification component in that you just’re nonetheless in a position to tweet that you just’ve deleted recordsdata and freed up laborious drive house, and it’s simple sufficient to show this selection off if you happen to discover it annoying.

DaisyDisk’s cloud-based capabilities proceed to show helpful, and it was easy so as to add my Google Drive, Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, and Field accounts, after which join and sift by way of them to see which historical recordsdata may very well be readily put out to pasture to clear up house as wanted. The recordsdata you suppose you’ll want without end are hardly ever ever essential in the long term, and I used to be in a position to clear up dozens of gigabytes of house within the course of.

Nonetheless, there are some bugs to iron out, and it’s not all DaisyDisk’s fault. Whereas it was simple to arrange entry for almost all of the cloud-based accounts, Google Drive refused to permit DaisyDisk entry, stating that the app was blocked and “This app tried to entry delicate data in your Google Account. To maintain your account secure, Google blocked this entry.” This seems to be a battle between DaisyDisk’s builders and Google that has but to be sorted out, and whereas some workarounds have been proposed on-line, there appears to be no fast answer to the battle.

Developer Oleg Krupnov replied to an inquiry and acknowledged that this concern is being addressed, and that Google has not too long ago modified their Google Drive API entry coverage for third-party apps, and now they require a proper certification by a third-party safety authority. Consequently, they’ve quickly revoked DaisyDisk’s earlier ‘verified’ standing, and the ‘unverified’ standing solely permits as much as 100 customers, which restrict has been in fact already exceeded. Consequently, new customers are at the moment unable to attach their Google Drive account to DaisyDisk (present customers nonetheless can).” Krupnov acknowledged that he’s working with Google’s really helpful certification companion to go the required process, but it surely’s laborious to present an estimate as to when this can be accomplished.

Foundry

Foundry

Foundry

DaisyDisk customers are additionally at the moment unable so as to add and kind by way of Apple’s iCloud Drive accounts given Apple’s sandboxing of the surroundings. Sure, you may scan an area copy of your iCloud Drive contents utilizing the “Scan Folder…” button however not the Internet-based information, which is irritating, and comes all the way down to competition between builders and their wants. DaisyDisk’s builders have posted a information to the problem, however till sure concessions are reached between the 2 sides, the problem will stay for the foreseeable future.

Must you purchase Daisy Disk?

Despite the cloud-based bug, DaisyDisk nonetheless presents a superb worth for its $9.99 worth level, runs effectively underneath macOS 15 Sequoia, and is a enjoyable strategy to clearing out recordsdata which might be chewing up house and have overstayed their welcome. The one different draw back is that there hasn’t been a major quantity of growth with the app this 12 months, the model quantity solely jumped from model 4.20.3 to model 4.30 between 2021 and 2024, though Krupnov did state that model 5.0 is in growth. “DaisyDisk goes by way of a serious overhaul of its codebase so as to accommodate new options, that is why it’s taking longer than ordinary, however we’re heading to our objective.” There’s a superb app available right here, it is aware of its focus, it doesn’t attempt to bundle a dozen totally different instruments in directly (together with one which’ll paint your own home as you sleep this weekend), and it’s price trying into.