If you are a Mac user, you may be interested in knowing how to free up disk space on your Mac.
It is annoying when you try to install Steam (or any other apps) on your Mac or upgrade to Monterey, and you get a message that there is not enough disk space to complete the process. So, if you have been running out of space for a while, and can't install any new apps, it’s time to clean up your Mac.
In this guide, we will show you how to free up disk space on Mac. Let's get started.
How To Free Up Disk Space On Mac
When you run out of space, your computer will be sluggish and you may find it hard to do certain tasks. For your Mac to run fast, you must make sure that you have at least 10 per cent of your storage free.
There are many ways to free up disk space and manage the storage on your Mac. Follow the steps below to free up space on your Mac.
- Start by getting rid of unneeded media, such as music or movies, which can eat up a lot of storage space.
- It is a good idea to uninstall apps that you no longer use, and compress files that you use infrequently. Use the Reduce Clutter in-built tool for this purpose.
- You might also want to delete unneeded files in the Downloads folder. Go to your Downloads folder, and search for files you haven't opened in the past year or longer using Finder.
- Turn on the Store in iCloud option to save space by keeping only recent files and optimised photos on your Mac.
- Finally, enable other optimization recommendations offered by Apple such as Optimize Storage, Empty Trash Automatically and Reduce Clutter.
These are the best ways to free up space on your Mac. If you still find that you have no space, use an external hard drive to move your photo and music library. If your Mac comes with configurable memory slots, you can even think of upgrading your SSD.
Check Price: Seagate Portable 2TB External Hard Drive at Amazon
How Do Optimize Storage, Empty Trash Automatically and Reduce Clutter Work?
These are three valuable tools automatically provided by Apple, to help manage storage. But how exactly can they assist you?
Optimise Storage works by automatically removing Apple TV movies and TV shows that you've already watched. It also only keeps recent email attachments on your Mac. This only happens when it identifies that storage space is needed.
Empty Trash Automatically erases anything from your bin that has been in there for more than 30 days.
Finally, Reduce Clutter will quickly find any files, apps, films, books or other items that are taking up a lot of space, and then you can manually delete them if you no longer need or want them.
Why Does My Mac Keep Saying Disk Is Full?
The warning message “Your disk is almost full” (for macOS Sierra or later) or “Your startup disk is almost full” (for earlier macOS versions) is pretty self-explanatory. It indicates that your disk is running out of space and you should free up some disk space
If you are presented with this warning message, you should probably start looking for ways to free up disk space. You can follow the steps in the previous section to free up space on your Mac.
Read More: iPhone Storage Full: How To Free Up Space On iPhone Without Deleting Anything
How Do I Find Out What's Taking Up All My Disk Space In Mac?
If you're like most people, you probably wonder what's taking up all your disk space when your Mac is running out of space. You may be interested in knowing how to find out what's taking up the precious disk space on your Mac. Here is how:
- Click on the Apple logo and select About This Mac.
- Then select Storage, and immediately, your Mac will break down its storage categories as Apps, Movies, Photos, Audio, Backups, and Other with the amount of space they're using.
Once you have an idea of where your disk space is being used, you can make some decisions about how to free up some space. You can try the tips mentioned above, but if you're not happy with the results, you can always upgrade your SSD. Hope it helps!