- How To Clear Disk Space On Mac
- How To Free Up Hard Drive Space Macbook Air
- How Can I Get More Disk Space
Mar 13, 2018 Hard drives are getting larger and larger, but somehow they always seem to fill up. This is even more true if you’re using a solid-state drive (SSD), which offers much less hard drive space than traditional mechanical hard drives. RELATED: 10 Ways To Free Up Disk Space on Your Mac Hard Drive. If you’re hurting for hard drive space, these. How to check a Mac’s free hard drive space. You also get a simplified overview of what sort of files are eating up your storage space. The Mac’s About box is the easiest way to see. Feb 11, 2017 Support Communities / Mac OS & System Software / macOS Sierra. In a nutshell: When I go to 'About This Mac Storage' the System files were taking up a whopping 90+ GB of my hard drive. Here is a screen shot. Finally, my macbook has free space again. Thank you so much!
Jul 21, 2012 I have the extract same issue. MacBook Pro with a 500gb internal drive. I have 17gb free space I spent the afternoon moving project and files to an external 1tb drive. My external show I have now used 200+gb of space and I only free up 6gb on my internal drive. Oh I am an IT tech I know the difference between move and copy.
- You may want to compress your files because compressed files take up less storage space. Here is how you can locate large files so you can compress: Select Finder Go Home File Find then open the Kind menu, then select Other. Now check the checkbox for File Size. Now enter a file size (e.g. 50MB) and find items that are larger than 50MB.
- How to Clean Your Mac's Hard Disk Drive? 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.
More ideas to free up hard drive space: Move your Photos to Photos.Google.com — it offers almost limitless storage and there is a Mac version of Google Photos you can download. Get a duplicate finder app for Mac ( Gemini 2 is a good pick) — duplicates can be extremely large. Apr 03, 2018 If you are looking for a simple way to check your Mac’s free hard drive space, then we are here to help. How to check Mac’s hard drive space. Using the Finder; The Finder has been an essential part of macOS since the launch day, allowing you to locate and organize your documents, folders, and media. Freeing Up Hard Drive Space on Mac Computers. It may seem like a frustrating and tedious task, but you’ll be amazed by how much better your computer will run when you free up some hard drive space on Mac computers. With just a little bit of patience and maybe a little bit of help, your Mac will be running like brand new in no time.
Summary :
Many computer users find that the hard drive is filled up and they may wonder what is taking up space on the hard drive and how to clean up the hard drive. This article will solve these problems.
What Is Taking up Space on My Hard Drive
Many computer users may find that their hard drives are filled up without reasons after the computer is used for a while. And at last, low disk space error may come up (especially partition C). This problem will affect computer performance. For example: apps or files can't be downloaded, the computer gives no response to your command or it gives a delayed response.
Then, what cause this problem? Or what is taking up space on my hard drive? Many users may ask problems like these. Usually, the hard drive space is occupied by system files, installed apps or personal files, backups, virus or other malware, or other unknown files.
How to Check the Hard Drive Space
How can we know what files take up the hard drive space most? Here is a tutorial for how to see what's taking up space on a hard drive on Windows 10.
Step 1: Press Start button, and then navigate to Settings>System >Storage.
Step 2: Click a disk and then its storage usage will be displayed.
Click What Is Taking up Space on Win10 for more methods.
In general, computer users could check the hard drive space first, and then they can solve the low disk space problem according to the actual storage usage in their computers.
As for how to free up disk space, the following two categories of methods are suggested. And the method with MiniTool Partition Wizard is strongly recommended because it's versed in managing disk space and the ways provided by it can solve the problem radically.
How to Free up Disk Space on Windows
1. Free up Space with Disk Cleanup
Many computer users like to run Disk Cleanup to free up disk space. This is a common way for most of computer users. Right click the disk you want to clean up, and then navigate to Properties>Disk Cleanup. Then check the files you want to delete and click OK to carry out.
However, some users may find that it can't solve the problem fundamentally. Disk cleanup can't relieve the problem at all. Or it relieves slightly but the low disk space problem persists and it relapses after a while.
2. Deal with Personal Files to Free up Disk Space
If there are lots of personal files in hard drive, users can delete the unnecessary files to clean up hard drive. As for the important files, users can transfer them to another hard drive. Or, users can store files like music, movies, photos, etc. on external storage or in the cloud.
In a word, users could delete or transfer all files to another place except the files that must be stored in this disk. (Actually, this method not only can free up disk space, but also can help you to manage or optimize the disk space.)
3. Delete Backups and Reduce Space Used for System Restore
If users have habit of making backups, they could delete the backups to free up disk space. At the same time, system restore points can be automatically created when users install a new app or update and they take up a lot of hard drive space.
So, users can delete the restore points or reduce the hard drive space used for system restore to free up disk space.
Here is a tutorial for deleting restore points and reducing space used for system restore.
Step 1: Open Administrator and right click This PC,and then click Properties from the drop-down menu.
Step 2: Click System protection from the pop-up window to make System Properties window pop up. And then click Configure button.
Step 3: Drag the block to adjust the max space usage for system restore points. Surely, there will be less restore points for system restore if you do so. Or, you can delete all restore points and disable system protection to free up disk space. But if you do so, there is no restore points for system restore.
4. Uninstall Programs
Surely, most of the time, it is programs and games that take upmost of the hard drive space. So, users also can uninstall apps or games that they no longer need to solve this problem. Press Start button and navigate to Settings>Apps>Apps & features to uninstall programs.
5. Run Antivirus Program
Sometimes, a virus or other malware may consume a lot of hard drive space. If you suspect the low disk space is cause by a virus, you can use an antivirus program like Windows Defender to run a virus scan and cleanup.
However, most of the time, the low disk space is not caused by a virus, and running Disk Cleanup or deleting personal files can't solve this problem. Although uninstalling apps can relieve the problem slightly, many users wouldn't like to adopt this method because most programs on the computer are useful and necessary for them.
To solve this problem radically, MiniTool Partition Wizard,professional partition management software, is recommended, which is versed in dealing with problems like this. And it provides you three solutions to clean up hard drive.
The first solution is Space Analyzer, which is similar to the above methods. But it is easier for users to operate. The second and third solutions are extending partition and upgrading to a larger hard drive, respectively. Only the last two methods can radically solve the problem.
Free up Disk Space with MiniTool Partition Wizard
MiniTool Partition Wizard provides 3 solutions to clean hard drive and you can choose one according to your need.
1. Space Analyzer Feature
This feature is free for computer users. What you need to do is to download the MiniTool Partition Wizard and follow the following guide.
Step 1: Download MiniTool Partition Wizard and launch it to get its main interface. And then click Space Analyzer on the toolbar.
Step 2: Select the partition that you want to clean up to scan.
Step 3: Choose a file in Tree View, File View, or Folder View to delete.
Mac cd ripper software amplifier. Attention:
- The Space Analyzer feature can also help you to check hard drive space. The files are listed from top to bottom according to the percentages that they take up in hard drive.
- The result can also show you the hidden files and you can delete the files (even the hidden files) that you don’t want.
- You could explore the selected file before you delete it to avoid deleting important files mistakenly.
- Click here to obtain file attributes, which can help you to decide whether the files can be deleted.
Compared with the above methods, this solution does actually free up disk space to a certain extent. However, it also can’t help you a lot if all the files in the partition are important for you. So, you need to think of the following two solutions.
2. Extend Partition
If your hard disk has unused space, you can use Extend feature of MiniTool Partition Wizard to extend the disk space of partition to increase the real disk space. The reason why the extend feature of Disk Management is not recommended is that it has many limitations. Click Why Extend Volume Grayed out for more information.
Free up disk space of data partitions (not including system partition):
Free up disk space of system related partition:
Step 1: Install MiniTool Partition Wizard and launch it to get its main interface. And then click Bootable Media on the toolbar.
Step 2: A media type selection window pops up, and then click WinPE-based media with MiniTool plug-in to get another window. And finally choose the media destination.
Attention:
- ISO File: If the boot.iso file can't be burned into the USB flash drive or CD/DVD successfully, you could choose this option, and a boot.iso file is generated. And then you could burn this file to your USB flash drive later.Finally, you can use the drive containing the file to boot your computer.
- USB Flash Drive (This option is recommended): If you have a USB flash drive, you could choose this one, and the boot.iso file will be burned into it directly.
- CD/DVD Writer: If your computer supports recording on CD/DVD, you could choose this one, and the boot.iso file will be burned into it directly.
Step 3: Set the Firmware to make the computer boot from the disk containing the burned boot.iso file.
Enter firmware (The specific entry methods vary from computer model to computer model). And then,navigate to boot page with right arrow key and put Removable Devices (USB)or CD-ROM Drive in the first place of the boot sequence with 'plus' key.
Step 4: Boot the computer to get the following interface. And then wait a few seconds without any operation to get the main interface of Partition Wizard.
Step 5: When you get the main interface of MiniTool Partition Wizard, Right click the partition that you want to extend, and finally click Extend.
Step 6: A window for adding space pops up. Drag the light blue block to adjust the space size to be added. Finally click OK.
Step 6: Click Apply button on the toolbar to execute the pending operations.
This solution is recommended because it increases the real disk space. Surely, some users may ask what if there is no unused space in the hard disk.Then, you must consider buying a larger hard drive if this situation happens.
3. Buy a Larger Hard Drive for Disk Upgrade
If your hard disk runs out and all data stored in it is very important, you should consider buying a larger hard disk. And then you could migrate OS to the larger drive to make it the new boot disk. And if possible, you could still store data on the original hard drive. Click here for the specific steps of migrating OS from the old hard disk to the new hard disk.
What Is Taking up Space on My Hard Drive FAQ
Step 1: Press Start button, and then navigate to Settings>System >Storage.
Step 2: Click a disk and then its storage usage will be displayed.
Or you can use MiniTool Partition Wizard to find large files taking up hard drive on Windows 10.
C drive keeps filling up because the following reasons:
- The C drive itself is very small.
- You have installed much software on this drive.
- The system is patched, and all patches are installed on C drive by default.
- Cache junk files are not cleared in time.
- Use Disk Cleanup.
- Uninstall programs you don't need.
- Use Space Analyzer of MiniTool Partition Wizard.
Your Voice
We really want to know whether these methods can solve your problem, so please leave a comment to let us know it. If these methods can't help you, please leave a comment to describe your problem in detail so that we can help you. You also can email to [email protected] for help. Expecting your good news.
You won’t regret cleaning pools of junk files from OS X El Capitan since cleaning Mac hard drive is a prolific activity and basic start of Mac optimization. However, if you look deeper into OS X El Capitan disk you will actually find difficult to identify between useful and junk files. Since looking and identifying junk files is confusing you might end up removing important files. This would be a sure short disaster, which is why you should be ensuring a complete updated backup of the Mac hard drive running OS X El Capitan. 10.11 or to reclaim Mac hard drive spaces, remove junk files, etc. try Mac cleaner software which is available free.
Free Up Disk Space Mac
Before you launch cleaning operation on Mac OS X El Capitan, right-click on the Time Machine icon from top – left of the menu bar and select BACK UP NOW. Wait for some-time so that Time Machine application performs full backup of your OS X El Capitan hard drive.
Now gather your strength and start Mac cleaning with.
Emptying Trash on OS X El Capitan
You know by pressing “Command + Shift + Option + Delete” keys, you can clean out all the files from the Trash without the use of mouse and its right click. This is helpful when you are sure that no important files exist to be resorted back from the trash. Otherwise manually take a tour of your trash folder so that you can restore important files back to their location and proceed with permanent deletion of files from the trash.
Which of the above trash looks cleaner and better on El Capitan? You decide.
Clean all unwanted files from Download folder
You might be busy in downloading the best Mac apps or videos for OS X El Capitan but did you remember to move all the used DMG and zip archive files to trash? Go to the Download folder and press-hold “Command + I” to get info of Download folder. No surprises, if you are surprised to check out the Size of the folder due to presence of unwanted files. Don’t spare a minute to send all of them to Trash and do empty it for free space collection.
Cleaning iTunes duplicate files
How To Clear Disk Space On Mac
Music files can easily get duplicated in iTunes but don’t worry because iTunes can help you find them for removal. It’s very simple, see how: Launch iTunes << Click View << Click ShowDuplicateItems. The iTunes application will list up all the duplicate music files by name, artists or group items. To remove the duplicate files from the hard drive you first need to uncheck the original files and keep checked all the duplicate items. Now click on Edit from iTunes menu bar and click Delete. This is how to you says GOODBYE to duplicate files on iTunes using OS X El Capitan or below versions.
Let me share with you that there is an otherwise better solution to remove iTunes, iPhoto, iMovies, iWork and Aperture duplicate files by using Smart Finder application. Though small, it’s a helpful application that eliminates all kinds of duplicate files from OS X.
Cleans caches safely from El Capitan
There are pros and cons of removing old & news caches from Mac hard drive. The plus part is that your Mac OS X gets good amount of hard drive spaces by removal of large stockpile of caches. If your Mac hard drive is dying on free spaces, giving you hiccups or freezing at the best part of your OS X computing then you shall always go ahead to clean this culprit knows by the name – CACHES. Additionally, when your Mac hard drive have good amount of free spaces it will never ever disappoint you with the error message “Your startup disk is almost full” You need to make more space available on your startup disk by deleting files.
My recommendation is to register Stellar Speedup Mac utility for cleaning out caches from the OS X El Capitan home folder. This tool reaches to the deeper location of the hard drive where mouse cursor may not reach. Run this tool now and you will clean all the junks (including logs, unwanted language files, binaries, extensions and system junks) from the hard drive. After the use of Stellar Speedup Mac software all you will be left with a better and faster OS X El Capitan.
Coming back to the minus part of deleting the caches is some of the OS X apps, mostly browsers may behave slower than before. But don’t worry since creation of new and fresh caches will soon fill up the void.
Uninstalling useless application
Mac hard drive cleaning is incomplete without uninstallation of unwanted freeware, shareware, widgets and plugins. Show your Mac OS X that you care for its cleanliness and remove all sorts of useless and unused software to a location they deserve the most i.e. TRASH. Let me also remind you again to empty the trash.
Backup Mac OS X and fresh install OS X
Some misery of slowness never ends which is why you should go for fresh installation of the OS X El Capitan. Though technical, but simple procedure of cleaning an old copy of sluggish and freezing Mac and replacing it with new one. This post best describes the clean installation of OS X El Capitan. Be prepared for an OS X performance evolution and leave me your thoughts.
Is your mac running out of space running mac os Big sur? How to Free Up Space on macOS Big Sur ? At the Special Event keynote of the Worldwide Developer Conference 2020, the Apple CTO presented the new name of macOS which succeeds the very controversial Catalina edition: it is Big Sur, a title predicted a few hours earlier and referring to the sunny beaches of this Californian coastline located not far from the Apple Park. This year, the most remarkable is probably on the design side, with significant improvements that quickly overshadow the departure of Jony Ive .
1. Remove App Junk
App junk are those programs that tend to remain hidden on your macOS even after dropping them on Trash. However, it is worth understanding that deleting unwanted app manually increases your chances of completely removing some critical programs. Therefore, carefully check the filename before deleting it to ensure that it’s for the intended app.
If you want to ensure that you delete all the program junk from your macOS Big Sur, follow the following steps:
Step 1. Take note of the apps you’ve sent to Trash and jot them down. Afterward, find the app junk and the files they are related to.
Step 2. Visit the app location to find the associated programs. Open Finder, Select “Go” and choose “Go to Folder”.
Type “/Library/Application Support” and click “Go”.Go to the folder in macOS Big Sur
If you want to locate a particular program for a specific app, follow the following commands:
- Library apps – /Library/Application Support/
- File Support Cache – /Library/Caches/
- Launch Agents – /Library/Launch Agents/
- Preference Files – /Library/Preferences/
- Application Support Files – /Library/ Application/
- Binary and Dock Items – /Application/
- Start-Up Items – /Library/Startup Items/
- Saved App States – ~/Library/Saved Application State/
2. Clean Your Download Folder
Are you still puzzled on how to get rid of all those PDF files you obtained from the internet or the images you opened after reception from friends or relative? All these files end up in the Downloads folder on your macOS. Without wiping them off, they end up taking up a considerable chunk of your hard drive space. To get rid of file junk from your downloads,
follow the following steps: Clean Download Folder
- Visit the Downloads folder near the Trash Can icon to reveal downloaded items.
- Click the “Open In Finder” button to find the “Downloads” folder, which contains all your downloads.
- Once here, you can either press Command + A to select all files or choose each file one at a time.
- Once you’re done highlighting the intended files for deletion, drag and drop them in the Trash Can.
3. Use Storage Optimization Tool on macOS Big Sur
The new macOS Big Sur has a new storage optimization tool that ensures the device has an optimized storage usage at all times by avoiding space wastage. Also referred to as the “Storage Tool”, this feature offers additional space in your hard drive for you to store other programs and files.
To activate the storage optimization tool in your macOS Big Sur, follow the following procedure: Visit the “Apple Menu” located on the top-left of your screen.
Click on About This Mac > Storage > ManageUse New Storage Optimization Tool on macOS Big Sur
You’ll see a pop-up message with several options. Click on the “Optimize Storage” button. Once activated, the optimizer will automatically arrange your files, removing any program junk to free up space. The reason why the storage optimization feature excels in the macOS Big Sur is that the device has an enhanced space for additional storage.
4. Clean Cache on your Mac
In simple terms, a cache is a type of temporary files that enable the macOS Big Sur to operate efficiently. There are various types of cache files. They include Browser cache, System cache; and User cache. Although these caches are helpful, they are temporary and can usurp a large space on your macOS disk.
Clearing Browser Cache on Your macOS
If you are a heavy internet user, you may end up clearing megabytes of cache files on your macOS Big Sur. The official MacBook browser is Safari, and you can remove the cache by following the following steps:Show Develop Menu in Safari
- Click the Safari icon to open the browser.
- Go to the menu and click on “Preferences”.
- Go to the “Advanced” feature and tick the “Show Develop” in the menu bar.
- Click the “Develop” button in the menu bar and choose the “Empty Caches.”
- Close the Safari browser for cache clearance to be complete.
Clear System Cache and User Cache
The system and user caches are the temporary files that let you use your macOS on daily operations. For example, when you listen to music or view a video on your MacBook, the information is stored in the system cache file. The device can, therefore, locate the file quicker and easier on a subsequent command. With time, these caches can occupy a large space on your macOS Big Sur. If you’d like to clear all cache from your macOS or delete a cache belonging to a particular application, here’s the procedure
Terminate the operations of all applications.Launch “Finder”.
Select “Go” on the Finder menu and choose “Go to Folder”.
Type ~/Library/Caches/ and click “Go”.
Find the cache file related to a specific app and choose the items you need deleted and drag them to the Trash Can.
5. Use Cloud Drives
Is your MacBook filled up because of storing a lot of programs and apps? Additionally, you may lose your personal data by frequent misplacement of your USB flash drive. That’s why software developers have created cloud-based storage apps to help you to free up space on your macOS. There are several cloud drives you may consider, but each operates differently with different operating systems. Below are some of the best cloud drives for you macOS Big Sur.
Google Drive. Albeit Google Drive was initially intended for storage purposes, it expanded its featured tools by incorporating an office suite that comprises Google Docs too. Fr merely having a Google Drive, users get 15GB free storage space. However, for additional space, you’ll have to incur monthly subscription fees.
iCloud Drive. This Apple cloud-based storage software works best with Apple’s latest gear on the macOS Big Sur. When you use it on any macOS device or an iDevice, you get an extra 5GB of free space. It comes with an integrated office suite, although it only contains basic features like Pages, Keynote, and Numbers. iCloud supports Windows but is still not supportive of Android.
Dropbox. Dropbox free storage is 2GB. The advantage of this cloud storage app is that it’s compatible with different platforms, including Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Kindle, Android, and Fire mobile application programs. Dropbox also provides different promotional offerings such as an extra 250MB for just getting started with the tutorial or 3GB extra space for uploading images through the mobile app.
6. Find and Remove Duplicate Files
The daily utility of your macOS may mean having duplicate files. The most common reason why you may have duplicate files is because of program installations. When an essential program feels under threat from other applications, it may duplicate itself to minimize the risk of malfunctioning.Find and Remove Duplicate Files
How To Free Up Hard Drive Space Macbook Air
But if you find an unimportant program with it duplicate, you can install the Gemini 2 App for macOS. Gemini helps you identify, locate, and get rid of duplicate content in whichever corner they lay concealed. Regardless of the capacity of your hard Drive, Gemini can scan it at a lightning-fast speed. Furthermore, the software also locates and removes similar files to ensure you have free space on your MacBook.
7. Use Third-Party Apps
How Can I Get More Disk Space
Instead of using the manual method of clearing space, you can use automated software that performs all that work in a fraction of the time. The Clean My Mac app automatically rids your macOS system of junk file and other remnant programs that eat up space in the device. By using the Clean My Mac software, you can clear up space to revamp the speed and operations of your MacBook.