10 Ways To Free Up Disk Space on Your Mac Hard Drive.Important Tips & Tricks to Clear System Storage on Mac.1. Remove Duplicate Photos This article comprises the statistics approximately a way to clean gadget garage on mac, a way to free disk place on mac, a way to easy my mac without cost and a way to delete gadget documents on mac. If your Mac has become slower with use, don’t fret — you don’t need a new Mac, you just need to clean up your old one! Most Macbooks still have teeny, tiny hard drives, but that just means you need to stay on top of keeping them cleared out.
Even with all of the space some Mac users can enjoy - depending on the size of the hard drive you bought — they always run out of room eventually. Sooner or later, a Mac starts to slow down, even overheat, and the space you need is no longer there. Here are ways you can free up space when your Mac hard drive is full.
How to check Mac hard drive space
To start with, it always helps to know what is taking up so much space on your Mac before you start deleting files and folders.
Click on the Apple icon in the top left corner
Select About this Mac > Storage
Another way to see what is taking up space is within System and User files. Next to every folder and application your Mac displays how much space everything uses and therefore makes it easier to judge what to delete.
What system files can be deleted safely?
Depending on your user habits, there could be tons of various junk on your Mac. Some of it can be safely destroyed because these files are either outdated or never been used.
How to find your biggest space hoggers
Yes, you could spend a few hours in Finder sorting your archives and documents. The problem is all folders in Finder look the same. Is there a quicker way to find out where is your space going? Yes, and it's called 'Space Lens.'
Space Lens is an amazing little tool that is part of CleanMyMac X. It creates the interactive map of your storage so you can explore it and at a glance see the largest space wasters. A quick way to see what is taking up so much space, and then in a few clicks, remove and delete anything taking up too much room, or that you've forgotten about and need to clear out.
- Get a free version of CleanMyMac X
- Launch the app and click Space Lens in the sidebar
These 'bubbles' are your folders of different size. You can even find the folders that are regularly hidden away.
How to clean up Mac hard drive space?
Here are few tips that would help you to unload your hard drive.
1. Delete unnecessary apps and games
Most of us will have games, apps and other content that is no longer needed taking up hard drive space. Even Mac’s, with as much memory as some of them are equipped with, run out of space eventually. If “Your disk is almost full” is a problem you’ve encountered, you need to follow these steps to free hard drive space on a Mac.
Go to the Applications folder.
Search through and see what you don't need anymore. Make a list of these, because once they're out of the Applications folder there is a chance you need to check in other places around your Mac to find other traces of the same apps, in case there are folders and system files stored elsewhere.
Drag-and-drop the unwanted apps and games into the Trash.
And then search in Library and other hidden folders for other traces and elements of the apps and games that you’ve deleted. Once you’re sure you’ve got everything, empty the Trash. It is also worth restarting your Mac, just to make sure you've removed everything and your Mac is operating at peak performance again.
2. Clear out duplicates
How To Free Up Space On My Mac Hard Drive Without
Duplicates can be lurking around hard drives in a number of ways.
Usually this is a problem when you’ve copied multiple documents, or more often than not, when you’ve got more than one of the same picture. Or many pictures that are very similar. Another way this is an issue is when you’ve got a Mac that used to have - or inherited from a previous Mac — an iPhotos album. Whereas macOS comes equipped with the Photos app, so there is a risk that your Mac is full of duplicate photos.
Before you delete the ones you don't need, make sure the ones you want are saved in the right folder, or moved over into an external or cloud-based hard drive. Then delete everything that is taking up too much space.
BTW, our favorite app to delete duplicates is Gemini 2 — give it a try.
3. Watch out for backups
Another problem that is commonly encountered on Mac’s are backups from iOS devices. Although most backups are now done in the cloud, there are still millions of Mac’s with iPod, iPhone and iPad backups still taking up hard drive space.
You should be able to find these within iTunes. If you want to delete them, close iTunes then go to the following folder within Library: ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup.
Now you can take all of these unnecessary backups to the Trash, then empty it to free up space.
4. Empty Trash and email downloads
Another way to free up much-needed space is to empty to Trash, and clear out months or years worth of email Downloads. Once you’ve emptied the main Trash in the right-hand side of the Dock, it is also worth checking in the iTunes, Photos, Mail and iMovie applications - if you've used any of those recently - as they also have their own Trash functions, so make sure to clear those out too.
Whether or not you use Mail, or a third-party or browser-based email application, downloads go into the same folder. You could be sitting on months or years worth of downloads.
To see your Mail Downloads:
Open Finder, choose Go > Go to Folder...
Type in: ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.<strong>mail</strong>/Data/Library/<strong>Mail Downloads</strong>/
See what's inside and delete it if necessary.
5. Free up more space with CleanMyMac X
These are several third-party tools you can use to create more space on a Mac. It's entirely up to you to find the best cleaning partner for your Mac — but beware of scam Mac cleaners. When you see 'Your Mac is infected' message, don't fall for it — it's a trap.
But that said, there are also reliable junk removers, like CleanMyMac X. For example, CleanMyMac X is notarized by Apple and doesn't contain any malicious components.
Here is what CleanMyMac X can clean on your Mac:
- Large & Old files
- System Junk
- Unseen applications
- iTunes and Photo junk
The user interface looks like this:
According to the developer's site, an average user locates up to 74 GB of junk to clear out using the app.
CleanMyMac X is available for a free download here
How Do I Free Up Space On My Mac Hard Drive
Okay we've told you how to delete your apps, games, photos, and other folders taking up space. Hopefully, you can get your Mac working at peak performance again.
The limitations of Mac storage often create a problem that prevents the Mac from running smoothly, which results in inconvenience to every user. With that said, we take a look at the four ways to free up the storage space on the device manually, according to Apple.
How to Free Up Storage Space Manually on Your Mac
1. Store the contents of the device to the iCloud storage.
iCloud is an online storage service that enables Mac users to save their files and other data online. This is a safe and secure place for your files. It will save the files automatically after editing or modifying its contents. Also, a user can always check and access these files online, anywhere and anytime. All Apple users have a free 5 GB storage space in iCloud and can subscribe to more storage through monthly subscription
How To Free Up Space On My Mac Hard Drive Online
- To use the iCloud, go to the 'Apple menu'. After, you will see the option 'About this Mac.' Click it.
- Once you see this on the screen, select the 'Storage.'
- Then, click 'Manage.'
- Click the 'Store in iCloud' and it is done.
For documents stored in iCloud, you can always download these documents locally on your Mac anytime. For photos and videos, the iCloud will store full resolution images and videos. It can also save the messages and attachments.
2. Uninstall unused or unnecessary applications in the device.
Sometimes, there are unnecessary applications in the device that occupy spaces in the storage. To free up the storage, users can uninstall these applications.
Read Also: How to clean up your Mac quickly? Outbyte MacRepair's Guide
This can be done in three easy steps, per Tech Solutions:
- Choose the 'Finder' in the device's dock.
- Then, click 'Go.' After, browse the options, find and click the 'Applications.'
- After clicking it, it will show you all the applications in your Mac. Browse through the applications and choose those applications that are unused and unnecessary. To uninstall each application, drag the application's icon to the Trash icon that you will see in the dock. Continue doing this until you have uninstalled all the unneeded applications.
3. Empty trash
How To Free Up Space On My Mac Hard Drive
The items in the Trash can also occupy space in the storage. There are two options you can choose from. You can manually empty the Trash once in a while or enable the feature that automatically and permanently delete all the items in the trash every 30 days.
- To delete manually, click the Trash icon in the device's dock. Browse through the items and delete the items that you do not need anymore. You can also select all and empty the Trash.
- To enable the feature that will automatically and permanently delete all the items in the trash every 30 days, follow the instructions in storing in iCloud above mentioned. However, this time, browse and choose the 'Empty Trash Automatically' and click 'Turn On...'.
4. Free up a large storage space on the Mac
You can use an external storage to help maximize the storage of the device. These external storage devices are: USB flash drives, external hard drive, SD or Micro SD card, and external port adapters. There are four steps to move the items from the Mac to an external storage device, per Business Insider.
- Check for an available port on your Mac device and plug the external storage device.
- After plugging it in, it will appear in the finder and the desktop of the device.
- Copy or move the items or files that you do not need currently and are often unused in the Mac.
- Lastly, after copying and moving the items in the external storage, delete all the original documents and other items in the Mac to free up storage.
Free Up Space On Mac
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