Free Other Space On Mac
How to Clean Your Mac's Hard Disk Drive?
To free up disk space, it’s helpful to know exactly what is using disk space on your Mac. A hard disk analysis tool like Disk Inventory X will scan your Mac’s hard disk and display which folders and files are using up the most space. You can then delete these space hogs to free up space.
If you need to clear off space from your Mac's hard drive, there are some places you should look first. You may have some old iPhone backups, installers,. Click on your desktop or the Finder icon from the Dock. Select the Apple Menu icon in the upper left corner of the screen. Click on About This Mac. Your Mac breaks down its storage categories as follows: Apps, Movies, Photos, Audio, Backups, and — that annoying, undescriptive category — Other. It can be used to view your storage in a variety of ways that allow you to make informed decisions regarding which files you should delete to clear Other space on your Mac. Here are step-by-step instructions to free up disk space on your Mac’s hard disk: Download Disk Drill for Mac. The free download will allow you to clean up your storage. Save space on your Mac by storing your content in iCloud, using built-in tools to find and remove large files, or manually deleting apps, files, and more.
SSD (Solid State Drives) is fast, stable, and offers great performance. Unfortunately, compared to HDDs (Hard Disk Drives), the capacity-to-cost ratio is not good. There are, however, methods to free up hard drives to obtain additional capacity for computer systems, including the macOS.
Certain data and files are important, and you will not want to delete or move them. However, some files are redundant and can be removed without consequences. If you know which files you can safely delete, you can free up this space. Although the Windows operating system is known for inefficient clutter, the macOS also produces unnecessary files that take valuable disk space. In this article, we describe some methods on how to clean macOS disk space.
Video showing How to Obtain Free Space on Your Mac's Drive
Table of Contents:
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Inspect the drive to ensure that the system is running out of free space
Some issues relating to lack of storage might be difficult to determine and can even be a result of fake error logs. So, first, ensure that the system is, in fact, running out of free space. There are two methods to check available space on a hard drive:
1. Access the Apple menu and select About this Mac. Choose the Storage tab.
2. More detailed information can be found within the Disk Utility feature, which is located in the Applications folder under Utilities. Once Disk Utility is launched, select the drive connected to the Mac.
Begin by cleaning Trash
Once you are sure that the drive is actually full, the next step is to simply clean the computer (as if you were cleaning your home: you empty the trash). Open the Finder menu and choose Empty Trash. Bear in mind that some applications, such as Mail, iMovie, iPhoto, and others, have their own Trash. To clean those apps, follow the steps below:
1. Click Mailbox and choose Erase Deleted Items.
2. Select In All Account and Mailbox.
3. Finally click Erase Junk.
Alternatively, to avoid permanently losing your files, choose to archive your emails by following the steps below.
iPhoto
1. Click on iPhoto from the menu at the top of the screen.
2. Choose Empty iPhoto Trash.
iMovie
1. Click on File from the menu on top of your screen.
2. Select Move to Trash or File.
3. Then choose Move Rejected Clipsto Trash.
Clear unnecessary Downloads
The Downloads folder stores all files downloaded from the Internet. Often, these are forgotten after use and continue to use storage space. This is an excellent area to address when looking to free up space on your drive. Delete all redundant Download files.
1. Open Finder.
2. In the sidebar, choose the Downloads folder. Disk image (.dmg) files commonly occupy the most unused storage space.
Remove unused applications
Unused apps in isolation might not take up a great deal of space, but the amount of hard drive storage used by them collectively can be significant. Furthermore, removing apps on Macs is simple, especially those installed through App Store.
Free Space On Macbook Pro 128gb
1. To delete them, open Launchpad.
2. Click and hold the program's icon you wish to remove.
3. When the icon starts to animate, click the Delete (x) button.
4. To delete any other app, drag the icon to Trash and then empty Trash.
Make space without losing any data
The best way to gain extra space on the Mac is to move non-executable files such as photos, movies, documents, and any large files, to add external storage, for example, an external drive, USB drive, DVD/CD drive, or cloud storage.
Compress large items
Another method to obtain some free space is to compress files. Compressed files remain on the computer but occupy less space. On the other hand, this can be less efficient than deleting or moving files to external storage. To find the largest files on the drive, follow the steps below:
1. Open Finder from the sidebar.
2. Select the Device (the label you provided) and type criteria into the search field.
3. When your search location appears (for example, This Mac), click the Add (+) button.
4. Click the first drop-down menu, and choose Other.
5. Find the logical size option, enable it, and then click OK.
6. Choose the 'is greater than' condition and type the amount (i.e., 50 Mb).
7. To compress items, right-click or hold Control and left-click it, and then select the Compress 'name' option.
If you are using an earlier version of macOS:
1. Click Go from the Finder menu and select Home.
2. Choose File, click Find and open the Find menu.
3. Find the File size option.
4. Choose the 'is greater than' condition and type the amount (i.e., 50 Mb).
5. To compress items, right-click or hold Control and left-click it, and then select the Compress 'name' option.
6. To archive, your emails, open the Mail application and select a folder you wish to archive (e.g., Inbox).
7. Drag it to the desktop. The mbox folder will appear on your desktop.
8. Right-click it or use the Control and left-click combination, and select Compress 'Inbox.mbox'.
9. Now you can delete your messages from Mail.
Delete unnecessary temporary files, system caches, and logs
System stores several System logs and temporary files - deleting them will increase the available space on your drive. To clean the system from this type of file, we recommendCombo Cleaneror other third-party applications.
Clear the browser cache storage
Browsers store website data such as cookies and cache information. Cleaning these hidden files might free up storage space. To clean up Safari, simply click Safari on the menu at the top of the screen and select Clear History. Browsers such as Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox can be cleaned similarly.
/Mac Cleaner /How to Free up Space on Mac -- Complete Guide in 2021
Our Mac is one of the most useful devices that we tend to use in our everyday life, especially for people who run a business, working person, or a student. However, as time goes by, your Mac will be filled with the files and other things that you no longer need. These files can actually make your Mac run slow and can eat up your space.
In this article, we are going to show you how to free up space on Mac in both the easy way and the manual way. The fact that MacBook Air only comes with 128 gigabytes of storage doesn't make it any easier for you to conserve more space. It fills up even faster. If you have a MacBook Air, here are the same ways on how to free up space on Macbook Air.
Article GuidePart 1. How to Check Storage on Mac?Part 2. How Do I Free Up Disk Space on My Mac?Part 3. How to Free up Space on Mac Using Terminal?
Part 1. How to Check Storage on Mac?
So, how to know what files are taking up storage space on your Mac? Follow these steps:
- Click the Apple menu then choose “About This Mac'.
- Click the Storage then you will view different file types are displayed in different colors.
This shows you the size of each folder on your Mac so you can see how much space everything takes. At this point, you will know what files are eating up your storage and manage them.
Cleaning your Mac will definitely take a lot of your time especially if there are a lot of files or junks that are stored in it that you do not actually use and need. However, there is definitely a way for you to clean it up the easiest and in the fastest way possible. This is by using a Mac Cleaner that has powerful functions. And with that, we have the best cleaner that you can use. This is the iMyMac PowerMyMac.
It has the ability to get rid of all the junk files that you have stored on your Mac. It can also remove all the email attachments, iTunes backup, and the multi-languages on your Mac. It also has the ability to find and then completely remove your Large and Old Files and all of your duplicate files.
By doing all this, the PowerMyMac will be able to speed up your Mac and as well as to free up space. This way, you will still have enough space to install other applications that you need and files that are more important.
Part 2. How Do I Free Up Disk Space on My Mac?
Here, we are going to show you some ways on how to free up space on Mac so that you will be able to save more apps and files that you need. You can do that manually or let PowerMyMac do the favor for you.
1. Check Out Your Disk To See What is Taking Up Space and Locate Files
If you would want to know how to free up space on Mac, then it is a good way for you to see which is actually taking up your disk space. This way, you will be able to know what to delete from your Mac and what not.
You can use a certain tool that will help you in finding all the things that are taking up space on your Mac the most. Then that is the time that you can delete all of the things that you no longer need that is taking up a huge space on your Mac.
2. Locate and Remove Duplicate Files
One of the most common things that we tend to have on our Mac is having duplicate files that we are not aware of. This usually happens if you are using your Mac for a very long time. Here are the steps to remove duplicate files:
- Launch Finder then click the File option.
- Choose the 'New Smart Folder' then click the '+' button.
- Search for different files types like photos, songs, or documents.
- Check if the file is duplicate then move to the Trash.
You can also use PowerMyMac's Duplicate Finder to remove these duplicate files on your Mac easily.
- Launch PowerMyMac then choose the Duplicate Finder.
- Let PowerMyMac Scan all the files on your Mac and it will show the duplicates in different file types.
- Select the duplicate files you want to remove then press the Clean button.
3. Uninstall App That You No Longer Use
There are instances that you have installed Applications on your Mac that you do not really need and it is actually taking up a lot of space on your Mac. With this, you should go ahead and uninstall it if you do not need it. For you to remove these applications that you no longer need, here is what you need to do on how to free up space on Mac:
- Go ahead and launch Finder on your Mac.
- And then choose Applications located at your sidebar.
- After that, go ahead and drag the application that you no longer need and drop them in your trash bin icon on your Mac’s dock.
Now if you want to know which of the applications that you have installed on your Mac that you do not likely use, all you have to do is to do the following. This way, you will have an idea on which of your Apps you do not really need.
- Go ahead and launch Finder on your Mac.
- And then go ahead and click on Applications.
- After that, go ahead and choose “Show Items on the List” on the toolbar.
- Then, goa head and click on the Size heading for you to be able to sort out your Applications by size.
If you want to uninstall apps completely with all the related files, PowerMyMac should help you a lot:
- Launch PowerMyMac then choose the Uninstaller module.
- Let PowerMyMac Scan all the apps on your Mac and it will list them as well as the related files.
- Select the apps you no longer need to delete then press the Clean button.
4. Get Rid of Large and Old Files
Large and old files are useless and taking lots of space on your Mac, just follow the steps below to get rid of them:
- Launch Finder and locate the search field.
- Choose “This Mac”
- Make the 'File Size' settings to 'is greater than' ## MB.
- Then you can remove files that are large as you want.
PowerMyMac's Large & Old File can also help you to remove those big files to get more space back.
5. Clean Up Your iTunes Backup of Your iPhone/iPad on your Mac
Backing up your data is one of the best ways to keep them safe. This way, you will have a way for you to get them back if ever you have lost your iPhone device or if you have damaged it.
However, as you make more backups of your data on your Mac, it is actually one cause of eating space on your Mac. This is because every time you back up your data, these backup files will actually pile up on your Mac over the time.
Now, the best way on how to free up space on Mac is to remove all those backup files that you no longer need:
- Operate '
Finder > Go > Go to Folder' - Copy and paste “
~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/” - Move to Trash.
Delete a specific backup:
- After connecting your device to Mac, go to Finder.
- Select your device under the Locations.
- Click Manage Backups then right-click the name of the backup and choose the “Show in Finder”.
- Press the Delete button to remove that backup.
If you think these steps on how to free up space on Mac are complicated, PowerMyMac would be the best helper to remove the iOS backups for you.
6. Remove All of Your Temporary Files
The Mac that you are using also contains some temporary files that you actually do not need. These temporary files also cause Mac system taking up too much space. Removing the temporary files that you have on your Mac will not make it run faster but it will definitely free up your space.
There are several temporary files that you have on your Mac. And you will be able to see them once that you access your Finder and Go and then Go to the folder of the menu and use ~/Library/Caches. This command will be able to lead you to the cache folder of your Mac. And you will be surprised to see a lot of folders in that section.
7. Remove The Language Files on Your Mac
All the applications that you have on your Mac actually come up with language files that they actually support. This way, you will be able to switch the system language on your Mac and then you will be able to use that application on the language that you have selected.
However, you do not need most of these language files your applications have. Well, you may need some if you are able to speak and understand that language, but if not, they might as well remove them. However, this is may be a problem to locate these language files. Thus, you need PowerMyMac to find out these files for you to remove.
Free Up Space On Mac Other
Besides language files, PowerMyMac can locate and remove other files like caches, logs, iOS backups, system junks, and even empty Trash. All these can be done via its “Master Scan” module:
- Click on the “Scan” button, then the PowerMyMac will start scanning all the junk files on your Mac.
- Wait until the program is done with the scanning process. PowerMyMac will then show you all the junk files that it has found on your Mac. These junk files will be listed by category.
- From the list of categories shown on your screens such as Application Cache, Photo Cache, Email Cache, System Cache, and more, go ahead choose a category that you want to clean up.
- Choose the items that you would want to remove. Once that you are satisfied with the items that you have selected, go ahead and click on the “Clean” button.
You see, isn't it the easiest way on how to free up space on Mac startup disk with PowerMyMac?
8. Delete Downloads Folder
There’s usually a default folder where all downloads such as zip files, TV shows, videos, and photos are stored. If you no longer need these downloads, then it's time to delete some files in your Downloads folder:
- Access to the Downloads folder via Dock or Finder.
- Select the files you want to delete. Then right-click on them to choose to Move to Trash.
- Empty Trash then the files will permanently be deleted.
9. Empty Your Trash Bin
Most people would think that once that you have put a certain file in the trash bin, then that means that the file was actually deleted. Well, that is wrong. The truth is, once that you have put a file on the trash bin, it just sits there and still eats up space on your Mac.
How to free up memory on Mac completely? To achieve this, you can go ahead and simply empty your trash bin. All you have to do is to press on the Ctrl button + right click on the trash bin icon located at the bottom of your screen. Then after that, go ahead and choose Empty Trash option. Then all the files that it contains will be completely deleted from your Mac and that you can no longer recover them.
Part 3. How to Free up Space on Mac Using Terminal?
If you are familiar with the Terminal command line, here are some quick tips to free up space with Terminal:
- Command to Remove Duplicates:
find . -size 20 ! -type d -exec cksum {} ; | sort | tee /tmp/f.tmp | cut -f 1,2 -d ' ' | uniq -d | grep -hif – /tmp/f.tmp > duplicates.txt - Remove System Logs:
sudo rm -rf /private/var/log/* - Delete Cache Files:
rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/* - Remove Speech Voices:
sudo rm -rf Voices/*
Now you have learned how to free up space on Mac with auto and manual ways. There are really several other ways that you can clean up your Mac and that you will be able to free up some of your space. You can either do this process by going all through this one by one.
Free Space On Mac With Icloud
Well, if you want to save time and do this in the fastest, easiest and yet very efficient way, then the PowerMyMac is the tool that you should use. Just have its free trial to get more space on your Mac now!
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