How to Clean Your Mac's Hard Disk Drive?
- Freeing Space On Mac Hard Drive
- Freeing Disk Space On Mac
- Freeing Up Disk Space On Macbook
- Free Up Disk Space On Macbook Air
- Freeing Up Space On Mac Other
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.
Freeing space on your Mac OS X startup disk. This extract from a chapter of our book Troubleshooting Mac® OS X describes several ways to free-up space on your Mac OS X startup disk, also known as your Mac OS X boot volume. Free up storage space on your Mac. Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question. User profile for user.
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.
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:
Freeing Space On Mac Hard Drive
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.
To function properly, your computer’s hard drive needs enough space. If you create space on your hard drive, you clean up unused files and fragments of data. Your hard drive might even need to be replaced if it is not large enough to meet your needs. If you use a computer daily, you may notice that your hard drive space has disappeared and wonder, “what is using the space on our hard drive?” The installed programs or saved files in Windows Explorer may not always provide a clear indication of its use.
You can make it out with Windows’ help. You can make sure you have plenty of free disk space on your PC by using the dedicated settings menu in Windows 10. The space utilized on your device and the type of content downloaded will be shown. You can use Storage Sense to automatically delete temporary files, Recycle Bin items, and other items you might not need. Follow these steps to view your internal storage and free up space.
Contents
- 3 What is disk space, exactly?
How to Free Up Disk Space
The lack of sufficient disk space can lead to problems when saving files and slowing down your device. The author will show you how to find out what’s taking up hard drive space, how to free up disk space, and how to make cleanup safer and more efficient by using a reputable cleanup program.
How to clear disk space in Windows and Mac
The simplest way to free up disk space on PCs and Macs is to empty the recycle bin, clean the disk, delete temporary files, uninstall applications, and use a hardware junkware removal cleanup tool.
The garbage generated by many programs can be overwhelming. This makes you forget what it felt like when you bought your computer. What happened to all the free space? The next section tells you how much disk space you have available at present.
You can clear space on your Mac by using the Storage Management feature. You can delete important data or files when you clean out your trash on your own. Is there a similar feature in Windows? The only way to optimize your computer’s performance is to know what files it needs and which are not necessary.
The Avast Cleanup tool removes bloatware, obsolete programs, and old registry entries for outdated programs, but it keeps what you need. Try Avast Cleanup to reduce the time it takes to boot and improve your computer’s performance.
How about manually deleting files on your PC? This guide will guide you through the process. The steps are as follows:
Empty the trash process of cleaning a hard drive typically begins and ends with emptying the trash.
You don’t delete a file when you right-click and choose Delete or when you drag it to the Trash on a Mac. The file can still be restored.
You can let your Recycle Bin or Trash pile up over time if you don’t have a routine that cleans it out regularly. The solution to how to increase disk space is as simple as deleting all the data.
- The Trash on Mac or Recycle Bin on Windows is accessible by right-clicking.
- To empty the recycling bin or trash, click Empty Trash.
There! we are done! Please check the Recycle Bin first before deleting it. You can return to the file’s original location by right-clicking it.
There may be a notice that you may be about to delete a file permanently if the file is a bigger one than your available space on your main hard drive. It will help if you read everything before you make a decision.
Searching for something and not finding it? As a starting point, we should consider the stuff your computer doesn’t need, so let’s tackle the stuff you’re not using at all.
- Use Disk Cleanup
There are many automated ways of deleting things from Windows, including obsolete Windows files and items in the Recycle Bin. The steps are as follows:
- This is the first step. Click Disk Cleanup on your taskbar.
- This is the second step. Then choose a drive to be cleaned.
- Three. You will be able to see how much space you will clear when you use Disk Cleanup. Aside from the Windows ESD Installation Files, none of them are at risk if deleted. This can be left unchecked.
- The fourth step is here. Additionally, you can delete additional files if you select Clean up system files to delete (see step 2), which offers more deletion options.
You can speed up your computer with Disk Cleanup, one of the best ways to clean Windows. Does Mac OS have a similar feature?
You can free up storage space on your Mac by using Mac’s built-in cleanup app, Optimize:
- The first step is taking action. Then click the About This Mac icon in the upper-left corner.
- This is the second step. Click Manage and then Storage.
- This is the third step. The Optimize Storage link can be used to get rid of large files, such as movies and TV shows.
This page allows you to empty the Trash automatically and move files to the Cloud. You can utilize Optimize to free up disk space and make space for new files on your Mac.
- Delete temporary files
If you want to remove temporary files created by Chrome or another browser, you need to do so from the programs themselves. You clear the cache on Mac and PC through the browser’s settings – get to the advanced section of the browser and look for the Clear Cache button. This button is usually adjacent to the button for deleting cookies.
Freeing Disk Space On Mac
There are numerous ways to increase the size of a cache. To gain more disk space, you can flush out all the data your browser stores automatically on your computer.
- Delete duplicate files
It is possible to handle the copying process manually or use a program that identifies duplicates for you. The use of an app ensures that you do not delete folders with similar names but different contents. The purpose of this article is not to delete precious memories but to free up disk space.
Can you remember all of this? A program that does everything for you would save you time and make things simpler. Avast Cleanup can help you. The Avast Cleanup tool lets you remove temporary files from the web browser and duplicate folders on Mac or Windows computers.
- Uninstall applications
The removal of unneeded or useless programs on your computer can increase hard disk space. The money they receive from those software companies can help PC manufacturers lower their prices by installing bloatware on their machines. This results in a bit of saving but lots of irritations—time to eliminate the headache.
To make your PC have more disk space, you may want to delete unnecessary applications:
- This is the first step. Choose Add or remove programs from the taskbar.
- Next, step 2. Remove programs from the list on your computer. You might need to search for unfamiliar programs to delete them. Something with Microsoft or Windows in it probably means that it is important and should not be altered. You can remove it from Disk Cleanup if it’s not important.
- Three. Please select the program you want to uninstall by clicking it.
This guide shows you how to uninstall Mac apps that eat up space and free up storage disk space without using a third-party uninstaller.
You can also uninstall apps using bloatware removal software for PCs and Macs.
- Configure System Restore
You can restore critical files lost by recent updates with System Restore. As long as you don’t need it, you can usually leave it as is.
Your hard drive reserves space for System Restore so it can function. The following steps describe how you can set aside space on your hard drive by using System Restore:
- This is the first step. You can choose System protection or Create a restore point from the Taskbar. Select Create a restore point.
- Using the highlighted window, click Configure.
- The slider controls the Max Usage amount. It is generally best to leave the default settings untouched unless all other options have failed to work.
The decision is up to you: is a failsafe mechanism more important than increased disk space? Exercise caution before making a decision.
What is disk space, exactly?
The total amount of hard drive storage space is called disk space. There is no unit for describing the volume of space on a computer. As a result, your operating system uses a lot of memory, called disk space, for apps like Google Chrome.
Why should I free up disk space?
It would help if you regularly cleaned up your PC to reclaim some space on a drive that is 90% full, as this will not perform as well as one that is 85% full. The most popular programs generate a surprising amount of garbage. This could explain why your hard drive is 90% full. It’s a good idea to become familiar with how to free up disk space.
You should keep at least 15% of your disk space free to store temporary files. The browser stores the information from commonly visited websites, so over time, you can accumulate data from sites you haven’t visited for months. Your browser’s temporary files can be deleted so that the sites you visit can take up less space.
Windows updates also consume space. Removing old updates and one-time installation files will make way for new updates to be installed, further securing your computer.
The hard drive will automatically split files into small segments, and it will store them wherever it can if you don’t have enough storage space. The segments will be read once the file is opened. The PC may have difficulties opening large files otherwise. This can be solved by defragmenting your hard drive, but you’ll need extra space.
Additionally, if your RAM must offload some work to your hard drive, you will need some free space. It will speed up considerably when this occurs, although it won’t freeze since the hard drive is too full to help.
How to check disk space on Windows 10
Windows 10 offers an easily accessible disk space. The link below is to show you the amount of disk space your Mac has.
The following steps will guide you through determining what is taking up space on your Windows 10 computer.
- The taskbar will display a folder icon.
- The PC can be selected by clicking here.
- You can determine the size of your C: drive by clicking on Devices and drives.
If your hard drive is full, you must clear it. It is also possible to do this via Windows task manager.
How to check disk space on Mac
To clean up your Mac hard drive, you must know how much space you’re using. This is easy to find out. Follow these steps to determine how much space your Mac has:
- The Apple icon is located on your desktop in the upper-left corner. The About This Mac option appears.
- The Storage tab will appear at the top.
You can also see here what storage type you are using. The categories should be obvious, although you should investigate what Other means on a Mac. It should be easy to speed up your Mac if you learn more about it.
Free up extra space with Avast Cleanup
What are the best ways to remove all the useless files and data without compromising important files or data? There is software available that can be used to accomplish this. It is hard to find anyone who isn’t using one of these apps due to how useful they have become to so many people over the years.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is my local disk C full?
There is an error message stating that when your C: drive is full, Windows will prompt you with this message: “Low Disk Space. There is no more space available on the Local Disk (C:). Click here to see whether you can free up some space.”.
How do I delete unnecessary files from the C drive?
You can access the main drive (usually C: drive) by right-clicking it. It includes options to delete temporary files when you click on Disk Cleanup. There is also an option to clean up system files. You can then remove the categories by clicking OK > Delete Files.
Does compressing C drive slow it down?
Freeing Up Disk Space On Macbook
To decompress a compressed file, the CPU must work more. The reading of compressed files might be faster if the hard drive is slow on a computer with a fast CPU. These compromises write performance, however.
Free Up Disk Space On Macbook Air
What happens when you run out of disk space?
Freeing Up Space On Mac Other
The answer to that question is simple: Your computer will work less efficiently. The reason for that is because when the memory on your computer runs out, it will turn to the hard drive space for “virtual memory.”