Reclaiming Lost Storage: The 127GB of Hidden Clutter Accumulating on Developer Macs

Developers unknowingly accumulate massive storage waste through build caches, Docker images, and orphaned project files—often consuming a quarter of their disk capacity. Xcode DerivedData, Docker layers, and node_modules directories represent the biggest offenders, yet all are entirely safe to delete since build systems recreate them automatically. Understanding where storage actually goes is critical for preventing performance degradation and maintaining development productivity.