Free Mac App To Clean Hard Drive Space

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  1. How To Free Space On Hard Drive
  2. Free Mac App To Clean Hard Drive Space On Mac
  3. Free Up Space On Mac
  4. Free Mac App To Clean Hard Drive Space Windows 10

These tips will help you free up storage space on your Mac computer. Low disk space may slow down your Mac.

A few months ago, I was receiving this error message:

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  1. May 26, 2020  Store all files from these two locations in iCloud Drive. When storage space is needed, only the files you recently opened are kept on your Mac, so that you can easily work offline. Files stored only in iCloud show a download icon, which you can double-click to download the original file. Learn more about this feature.
  2. Jun 19, 2018  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.
  • “Your startup disk is almost full”

I ignored this message for a long time until I saw this new popup message:

  • “Your start up disk is full”

I knew that something had to be done. I realized that I needed to clean up my computer and free up disk space. In this article, I explain what I did to increase available disk space on my Mac.

Following these tips will help your free up a lot of space on your Mac running macOS Sierra (or OS X). Please also note that freeing up space will likely increase your Mac’s performance.

1.How to check the current space on your Mac

First thing you should do is to check how much free space is available on your hard disk. You can easily check your disk usage from the About This Mac box. Here is how:

  • Please choose Apple menu > About This Mac, then select Storage.

2.Optimize Storage

macOS Sierra includes a new built-in storage optimization feature. This feature is specifically designed to free up storage space on your Mac. Upgrading to the latest macOS version may fix your storage problems. Because one thing I realized is that installing macOS sierra increased available hard disk space on my Mac. To access these options:

  1. Apple Menu
  2. Select About This Mac
  3. Click on the Storage tab
  4. Click Manage
  5. You will see there are four options:
    1. Store in iCloud
    2. Optimize Storage
    3. Empty Trash Automatically
    4. Reduce Clutter

3.Uninstall Unnecessary Applications, Delete Items You do Not Need

Delete files and folders

  1. Select an item you want to get rid of (files or folders)
  2. Press Command (⌘) – Delete. Or drag the item to the Trash.
  3. Then empty your Trash by going to Finder > Empty Trash.

Uninstall apps that you do not use/need

Remove apps that you no longer need or want. There are two types of apps:

  • Apps you downloaded from the Mac App Store. To uninstall these types of apps, follow these tips:
    • Open Launchpad
    • Click and hold down an app that you want to remove until they jiggle
    • Click (X) to delete
  • Apps you got from the Internet
    • Open Launchpad
    • Select the app you want to delete
    • Drag the app to the Trash
    • Then empty Trash

4.Erase Junk and Deleted Mails

Your junk/spam mails may take up a lot of space on your Mac. Thus deleting them can be a good idea. Here is how:

  • Open Mail
  • Click Mailbox from the Mail menu
  • Select Erase Deleted Items and Erase Junk Mail.

5.Your Downloads Folder

I regularly clear my Downloads folder. You probably download items from the Internet. Items you download are saved in the Download folder. You may want to delete them if you want more space. Here is how:

  1. Launch Finder
  2. Click Downloads
  3. Check your items that you downloaded, If you do not need them, delete them by dragging to the Trash (then do not forget the empty the Trash). You can also select all by pressing Command-A.

6.Use iCloud Photo Library and Optimized Storage

Signing up will give your 5GB of free space. You can save space on your Mac with iCloud. I used to have a lot of photos and videos taking up a lot of space. Here is how to turn this on:

  1. Open the Photos app on your Mac
  2. Select Photos > Preferences
  3. Select iCloud
  4. Check the box for iCloud Photo Library
  5. Also select Optimize Mac Storage.

7.Remove Your Old iCloud Backups

Do you own iOS devices, like iPhone and iPad? Back up these devices using iCloud. If you are using iTunes to back up your iOS device, then your Mac may have multiple backups. To save space, you may want to delete your old backups. Here is how:

  1. Launch iTunes
  2. Select Preferences
  3. Select Devices
  4. You will see your backups that you can remove by Control-clicking.
  5. Alternatively, you can also remove your iCloud backups from your iOS device.

How To Free Space On Hard Drive

Bonus Tip: Restart your Mac

Do you rarely reboot your Mac? If you do, then restart your Mac now. Rebooting your Mac may help you as this process involves removing temporary files, system caches, app caches etc.

See also: Restore Your Mac To Factory Settings

Optimized Storage in macOS Sierra and later* can save space by storing your content in iCloud and making it available on demand. When storage space is needed, files, photos, movies, email attachments, and other files that you seldom use are stored in iCloud automatically. Each file stays right where you last saved it, and downloads when you open it. Files that you’ve used recently remain on your Mac, along with optimized versions of your photos.

* If you haven't yet upgraded to macOS Sierra or later, learn about other ways to free up storage space.

Find out how much storage is available on your Mac

Free Mac App To Clean Hard Drive Space On Mac

Choose Apple menu  > About This Mac, then click Storage. Each segment of the bar is an estimate of the storage space used by a category of files. Move your pointer over each segment for more detail.

Click the Manage button to open the Storage Management window, pictured below. This button is available only in macOS Sierra or later.

Free Mac App To Clean Hard Drive Space

Manage storage on your Mac

The Storage Management window offers recommendations for optimizing your storage. If some recommendations are already turned on, you will see fewer recommendations.


Store in iCloud

Click the Store in iCloud button, then choose from these options:

  • Desktop and Documents. Store all files from these two locations in iCloud Drive. When storage space is needed, only the files you recently opened are kept on your Mac, so that you can easily work offline. Files stored only in iCloud show a download icon , which you can double-click to download the original file. Learn more about this feature.
  • Photos. Store all original, full-resolution photos and videos in iCloud Photos. When storage space is needed, only space-saving (optimized) versions of photos are kept on your Mac. To download the original photo or video, just open it.
  • Messages. Store all messages and attachments in iCloud. When storage space is needed, only the messages and attachments you recently opened are kept on your Mac. Learn more about Messages in iCloud.

Storing files in iCloud uses the storage space in your iCloud storage plan. If you reach or exceed your iCloud storage limit, you can either buy more iCloud storage or make more iCloud storage available. iCloud storage starts at 50GB for $0.99 (USD) a month, and you can purchase additional storage directly from your Apple device. Learn more about prices in your region.

Optimize Storage

Click the Optimize button, then choose from these options.

  • Automatically remove watched movies and TV shows. When storage space is needed, movies or TV shows that you purchased from the iTunes Store and already watched are removed from your Mac. Click the download icon next to a movie or TV show to download it again.
  • Download only recent attachments. Mail automatically downloads only the attachments that you recently received. You can manually download any attachments at any time by opening the email or attachment, or saving the attachment to your Mac.
  • Don't automatically download attachments. Mail downloads an attachment only when you open the email or attachment, or save the attachment to your Mac.

Optimizing storage for movies, TV shows, and email attachments doesn't require iCloud storage space.

Empty Trash Automatically

Empty Trash Automatically permanently deletes files that have been in the Trash for more than 30 days.

Reduce Clutter

Reduce Clutter helps you to identify large files and files you might no longer need. Click the Review Files button, then choose any of the file categories in the sidebar, such as Applications, Documents, Music Creation, or Trash.

Free

You can delete the files in some categories directly from this window. Other categories show the total storage space used by the files in each app. You can then open the app and decide whether to delete files from within it.

Learn how to redownload apps, music, movies, TV shows, and books.

Where to find the settings for each feature

Free Up Space On Mac

The button for each recommendation in the Storage Management window affects one or more settings in other apps. You can also control those settings directly within each app.

  • If you're using macOS Catalina, choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, click Apple ID, then select iCloud in the sidebar: Store in iCloud turns on the Optimize Mac Storage setting on the right. Then click Options next to iCloud Drive: Store in iCloud turns on the Desktop & Documents Folders setting. To turn off iCloud Drive entirely, deselect iCloud Drive.
    In macOS Mojave or earlier, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click iCloud, then click Options next to iCloud Drive. Store in iCloud turns on the Desktop & Documents Folders and Optimize Mac Storage settings.
  • In Photos, choose Photos > Preferences, then click iCloud. Store in iCloud selects iCloud Photos and Optimize Mac Storage.
  • In Messages, choose Messages > Preferences, then click iMessage. Store in iCloud selects Enable Messages in iCloud.
  • If you're using macOS Catalina, open the Apple TV app, choose TV > Preferences from the menu bar, then click Files. Optimize Storage selects “Automatically delete watched movies and TV shows.”
    In macOS Mojave or earlier, open iTunes, choose iTunes > Preferences from the menu bar, then click Advanced. Optimize Storage selects “Automatically delete watched movies and TV shows.”
  • In Mail, choose Mail > Preferences from the menu bar, then click Accounts. In the Account Information section on the right, Optimize Storage sets the Download Attachments menu to either Recent or None.

Empty Trash Automatically: From the Finder, choose Finder > Preferences, then click Advanced. Empty Trash Automatically selects “Remove items from the Trash after 30 days.”

Other ways that macOS helps automatically save space

With macOS Sierra or later, your Mac automatically takes these additional steps to save storage space:

  • Detects duplicate downloads in Safari, keeping only the most recent version of the download
  • Reminds you to delete used app installers
  • Removes old fonts, languages, and dictionaries that aren't being used
  • Clears caches, logs, and other unnecessary data when storage space is needed

How to free up storage space manually

Even without using the Optimized Storage features of Sierra or later, you can take other steps to make more storage space available:

  • Music, movies, and other media can use a lot of storage space. Learn how to delete music, movies, and TV shows from your device.
  • Delete other files that you no longer need by moving them to the Trash, then emptying the Trash. The Downloads folder is good place to look for files that you might no longer need.
  • Move files to an external storage device.
  • Compress files.
  • Delete unneeded email: In the Mail app, choose Mailbox > Erase Junk Mail. If you no longer need the email in your Trash mailbox, choose Mailbox > Erase Deleted Items.

Learn more

Free Mac App To Clean Hard Drive Space Windows 10

  • The Storage pane of About This Mac is the best way to determine the amount of storage space available on your Mac. Disk Utility and other apps might show storage categories such as Not Mounted, VM, Recovery, Other Volumes, Free, or Purgeable. Don't rely on these categories to understand how to free up storage space or how much storage space is available for your data.
  • When you duplicate a file on an APFS-formatted volume, that file doesn't use additional storage space on the volume. Deleting a duplicate file frees up only the space required by any data you might have added to the duplicate. If you no longer need any copies of the file, you can recover all of the storage space by deleting both the duplicate and the original file.
  • If you're using a pro app and Optimize Mac Storage, learn how to make sure that your projects are always on your Mac and able to access their files.