feather drive

how to clear the google drive cache on a mac

by sumit paul · last updated october 31, 2026

to clear the google drive cache on a mac, remove the downloads you don't need (control-click in finder › remove download), turn off available offline for big folders, and quit and reopen drive for desktop. if that isn't enough, disconnect and reconnect your account in drive for desktop's preferences, which removes all offline files. check that nothing is still uploading first, because the cache can hold work that isn't in the cloud yet.

why google drive takes up space in the first place

in stream mode, drive for desktop downloads the whole file every time you open one and keeps it. in mirror mode, it keeps a copy of all of my drive. either way, the space builds up quietly. the full breakdown is in does google drive take up space on your mac?; this page is about getting it back.

if you're in mirror mode, clearing the cache won't help much: the mirror is the space. switching to stream mode is the fix, covered in stream vs mirror.

before you clear anything

drive for desktop's cache isn't just spare copies. google says offline edits stay in the cache until they upload, and files that fail to sync go to a lost and found folder at ~/Library/Application Support/Google/DriveFS/lost_and_found. so:

connect to the internet and click the drive for desktop icon in the menu bar. wait until it shows nothing left to sync.
in finder, choose go › go to folder (⇧⌘G), paste ~/Library/Application Support/Google/DriveFS, and look inside lost_and_found. copy anything you find there somewhere safe.

1. remove downloads you don't need

this is the gentlest way and it's usually enough.

open google drive under locations in finder's sidebar.
control-click the files or folders that hold big files you've opened, like videos or zip files.
choose remove download. the cloud icon comes back and the space is freed. the file stays in your google drive.

to see what is being kept, click the menu bar icon, the gear, then offline files. google says this shows the files available offline and how your disk space is used.

2. turn off available offline

folders you marked available offline stay downloaded no matter what. if you pinned a big folder months ago, that alone can explain the space. control-click each one in finder and turn its offline access off; the files stay in the cloud and come down again only when you open them.

3. quit and reopen drive for desktop

google's own advice for low disk space errors is to delete files on the full disk, exit drive for desktop and restart it. click the menu bar icon, the gear, then quit, and open google drive from applications again. on newer versions of macos, google says macos manages the streaming cache, so you can't set a size limit yourself. a restart is the documented nudge.

4. disconnect and reconnect your account

this is the full reset. in drive for desktop, click the gear, then preferences, then the gear for advanced settings, find your account and click disconnect account. sign in again afterwards.

google is clear about what this does: offline files are removed, and anything in the lost and found folder is lost. that's why the checks above come first. your files in the cloud are not touched; they'll appear again, online-only, after you reconnect.

5. move the cache (older streaming mode only)

drive for desktop has a local cache files directory setting under preferences › advanced settings, which lets you put the cache on another disk. google recommends keeping the default, and the folder can't sit inside a mirrored folder or your streaming location. on a mac it only applies to the older streaming mode: google says the setting isn't enabled with file provider on macos, which is what drive for desktop uses on macos 12.1 and later. if the option is there for you and you move it to an external drive, drive for desktop won't work while that drive is unplugged.

what not to do

don't delete files inside the google drive location in finder to free space. that deletes them from your google drive too.
don't delete the DriveFS folder or anything in ~/Library/CloudStorage by hand while drive for desktop is running. use the steps above instead.
don't use a "cleaner" app on these folders unless you've checked that everything has synced.

check how much you got back

in terminal:

du -sh ~/Library/CloudStorage/GoogleDrive-*
du -sh "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Google/DriveFS"

run it before and after. files that are online-only count as zero.

if the cache keeps filling up again

that's how drive for desktop is built: opening a file means downloading all of it. if the files that keep coming back are big videos, raw photos or archives, feather drive is one way out. it mounts google drive and dropbox in finder and fetches only the parts an app reads, so files take zero bytes on disk and the pieces it reads go into a cache whose size limit you set. it needs macos 26 or later and a connection to open files, it's a paid app with a 3-day free trial, and it only sees files you put in it, so keep drive for desktop for everything else.

common questions

where is the google drive cache on a mac?

on macos 12.1 and later, downloaded files live in ~/Library/CloudStorage/GoogleDrive-your address. drive for desktop's own data, including its lost and found folder, is in ~/Library/Application Support/Google/DriveFS.

is it safe to delete the drivefs folder?

not while drive for desktop is running, and not before everything has uploaded. it can hold offline edits and files that failed to sync. google's documented reset is disconnecting the account, which removes offline files and the lost and found folder.

will clearing the google drive cache delete files from my drive?

removing downloads or disconnecting the account doesn't delete files in the cloud. deleting files inside the google drive location in finder does, because that syncs.

can i limit the size of the google drive cache on a mac?

not on newer versions of macos. google says macos manages the cache there, so there is no size limit to set.

can i move the google drive cache to an external drive?

only with the older streaming mode. the local cache files directory setting isn't available with file provider on macos, which newer macs use.