How To Free Up Disc Space On Mac

How to free up space on a Mac? What is a “Mac Startup Disk”? Your Mac startup disk is a volume or a partition of a drive that contains a usable operating system. You can set your Mac to automatically use a specific startup volume, or you can temporarily override this choice at startup. 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. While you could replace your current hard drive with a larger model, or install a second internal hard drive if your Mac will support such, the following tips will help.

/Mac Cleaner /How to Free up Space on Mac -- Complete Guide in 2021

Our Mac is one of the most useful devices that we tend to use in our everyday life, especially for people who run a business, working person, or a student. However, as time goes by, your Mac will be filled with the files and other things that you no longer need. These files can actually make your Mac run slow and can eat up your space.

In this article, we are going to show you how to free up space on Mac in both the easy way and the manual way. The fact that MacBook Air only comes with 128 gigabytes of storage doesn't make it any easier for you to conserve more space. It fills up even faster. If you have a MacBook Air, here are the same ways on how to free up space on Macbook Air.

Article GuidePart 1. How to Check Storage on Mac?Part 2. How Do I Free Up Disk Space on My Mac?Part 3. How to Free up Space on Mac Using Terminal?

Part 1. How to Check Storage on Mac?

So, how to know what files are taking up storage space on your Mac? Follow these steps:

Click the Apple menu then choose “About This Mac'.
Click the Storage then you will view different file types are displayed in different colors.

This shows you the size of each folder on your Mac so you can see how much space everything takes. At this point, you will know what files are eating up your storage and manage them.

Cleaning your Mac will definitely take a lot of your time especially if there are a lot of files or junks that are stored in it that you do not actually use and need. However, there is definitely a way for you to clean it up the easiest and in the fastest way possible. This is by using a Mac Cleaner that has powerful functions. And with that, we have the best cleaner that you can use. This is the iMyMac PowerMyMac.

It has the ability to get rid of all the junk files that you have stored on your Mac. It can also remove all the email attachments, iTunes backup, and the multi-languages on your Mac. It also has the ability to find and then completely remove your Large and Old Files and all of your duplicate files.

By doing all this, the PowerMyMac will be able to speed up your Mac and as well as to free up space. This way, you will still have enough space to install other applications that you need and files that are more important.

Part 2. How Do I Free Up Disk Space on My Mac?

Here, we are going to show you some ways on how to free up space on Mac so that you will be able to save more apps and files that you need. You can do that manually or let PowerMyMac do the favor for you.

1. Check Out Your Disk To See What is Taking Up Space and Locate Files

If you would want to know how to free up space on Mac, then it is a good way for you to see which is actually taking up your disk space. This way, you will be able to know what to delete from your Mac and what not.

You can use a certain tool that will help you in finding all the things that are taking up space on your Mac the most. Then that is the time that you can delete all of the things that you no longer need that is taking up a huge space on your Mac.

2. Locate and Remove Duplicate Files

One of the most common things that we tend to have on our Mac is having duplicate files that we are not aware of. This usually happens if you are using your Mac for a very long time. Here are the steps to remove duplicate files:

Launch Finder then click the File option.
Choose the 'New Smart Folder' then click the '+' button.
Search for different files types like photos, songs, or documents.
Check if the file is duplicate then move to the Trash.

You can also use PowerMyMac's Duplicate Finder to remove these duplicate files on your Mac easily.

Launch PowerMyMac then choose the Duplicate Finder.
Let PowerMyMac Scan all the files on your Mac and it will show the duplicates in different file types.
Select the duplicate files you want to remove then press the Clean button.

3. Uninstall App That You No Longer Use

There are instances that you have installed Applications on your Mac that you do not really need and it is actually taking up a lot of space on your Mac. With this, you should go ahead and uninstall it if you do not need it. For you to remove these applications that you no longer need, here is what you need to do on how to free up space on Mac:

Go ahead and launch Finder on your Mac.
And then choose Applications located at your sidebar.
After that, go ahead and drag the application that you no longer need and drop them in your trash bin icon on your Mac’s dock.

Now if you want to know which of the applications that you have installed on your Mac that you do not likely use, all you have to do is to do the following. This way, you will have an idea on which of your Apps you do not really need.

Go ahead and launch Finder on your Mac.
And then go ahead and click on Applications.
After that, go ahead and choose “Show Items on the List” on the toolbar.
Then, goa head and click on the Size heading for you to be able to sort out your Applications by size.

If you want to uninstall apps completely with all the related files, PowerMyMac should help you a lot:

Launch PowerMyMac then choose the Uninstaller module.
Let PowerMyMac Scan all the apps on your Mac and it will list them as well as the related files.
Select the apps you no longer need to delete then press the Clean button.

4. Get Rid of Large and Old Files

Large and old files are useless and taking lots of space on your Mac, just follow the steps below to get rid of them:

Launch Finder and locate the search field.
Choose “This Mac”
Make the 'File Size' settings to 'is greater than' ## MB.
Then you can remove files that are large as you want.

PowerMyMac's Large & Old File can also help you to remove those big files to get more space back.

5. Clean Up Your iTunes Backup of Your iPhone/iPad on your Mac

Backing up your data is one of the best ways to keep them safe. This way, you will have a way for you to get them back if ever you have lost your iPhone device or if you have damaged it.

However, as you make more backups of your data on your Mac, it is actually one cause of eating space on your Mac. This is because every time you back up your data, these backup files will actually pile up on your Mac over the time.

Now, the best way on how to free up space on Mac is to remove all those backup files that you no longer need:

Operate 'Finder > Go > Go to Folder'
Copy and paste “~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/”
Move to Trash.

Delete a specific backup:

After connecting your device to Mac, go to Finder.
Select your device under the Locations.
Click Manage Backups then right-click the name of the backup and choose the “Show in Finder”.
Press the Delete button to remove that backup.

If you think these steps on how to free up space on Mac are complicated, PowerMyMac would be the best helper to remove the iOS backups for you.

6. Remove All of Your Temporary Files

The Mac that you are using also contains some temporary files that you actually do not need. These temporary files also cause Mac system taking up too much space. Removing the temporary files that you have on your Mac will not make it run faster but it will definitely free up your space.

There are several temporary files that you have on your Mac. And you will be able to see them once that you access your Finder and Go and then Go to the folder of the menu and use ~/Library/Caches. This command will be able to lead you to the cache folder of your Mac. And you will be surprised to see a lot of folders in that section.

7. Remove The Language Files on Your Mac

All the applications that you have on your Mac actually come up with language files that they actually support. This way, you will be able to switch the system language on your Mac and then you will be able to use that application on the language that you have selected.

However, you do not need most of these language files your applications have. Well, you may need some if you are able to speak and understand that language, but if not, they might as well remove them. However, this is may be a problem to locate these language files. Thus, you need PowerMyMac to find out these files for you to remove.

Besides language files, PowerMyMac can locate and remove other files like caches, logs, iOS backups, system junks, and even empty Trash. All these can be done via its “Master Scan” module:

Click on the “Scan” button, then the PowerMyMac will start scanning all the junk files on your Mac.
Wait until the program is done with the scanning process. PowerMyMac will then show you all the junk files that it has found on your Mac. These junk files will be listed by category.
From the list of categories shown on your screens such as Application Cache, Photo Cache, Email Cache, System Cache, and more, go ahead choose a category that you want to clean up.
Choose the items that you would want to remove. Once that you are satisfied with the items that you have selected, go ahead and click on the “Clean” button.

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You see, isn't it the easiest way on how to free up space on Mac startup disk with PowerMyMac?

8. Delete Downloads Folder

There’s usually a default folder where all downloads such as zip files, TV shows, videos, and photos are stored. If you no longer need these downloads, then it's time to delete some files in your Downloads folder:

How To Free Up Disk Space On Mac Air

Access to the Downloads folder via Dock or Finder.
Select the files you want to delete. Then right-click on them to choose to Move to Trash.
Empty Trash then the files will permanently be deleted.

9. Empty Your Trash Bin

Most people would think that once that you have put a certain file in the trash bin, then that means that the file was actually deleted. Well, that is wrong. The truth is, once that you have put a file on the trash bin, it just sits there and still eats up space on your Mac.

How to free up memory on Mac completely? To achieve this, you can go ahead and simply empty your trash bin. All you have to do is to press on the Ctrl button + right click on the trash bin icon located at the bottom of your screen. Then after that, go ahead and choose Empty Trash option. Then all the files that it contains will be completely deleted from your Mac and that you can no longer recover them.

Part 3. How to Free up Space on Mac Using Terminal?

If you are familiar with the Terminal command line, here are some quick tips to free up space with Terminal:

Command to Remove Duplicates: find . -size 20 ! -type d -exec cksum {} ; | sort | tee /tmp/f.tmp | cut -f 1,2 -d ' ' | uniq -d | grep -hif – /tmp/f.tmp > duplicates.txt
Remove System Logs: sudo rm -rf /private/var/log/*
Delete Cache Files: rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/*
Remove Speech Voices: sudo rm -rf Voices/*

Now you have learned how to free up space on Mac with auto and manual ways. There are really several other ways that you can clean up your Mac and that you will be able to free up some of your space. You can either do this process by going all through this one by one.

Well, if you want to save time and do this in the fastest, easiest and yet very efficient way, then the PowerMyMac is the tool that you should use. Just have its free trial to get more space on your Mac now!

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1. Find and Delete Old Files

The first step to fix the startup disk full problem is to go file hunting. Click on the Apple at the top corner of your screen and select “About this Mac”. It will give you a color-coded break down on the things that are taking up the most room on your computer.

If you click on “Manage”, you can get a more detailed description of each category. All you have to do is click on them to see the largest file that they contain.

Right-click on these files to delete them or move them to an external memory source like the Cloud. If you choose to delete them don’t forget to empty your trash or they’ll continue to take up space.

2. Use CleanMyMac

If you don’t want to have to fish through your Mac for hours looking for old files, you can use an app called CleanMyMac to do the job for you. It’s important to note before you run this application that you should back up any of your important files because they may accidentally get deleted in the process.

Once you start the app, it will go to work locating large files, cleaning up clutter, uninstalling applications, and getting rid of any big email attachments that you haven’t done away with yet. The only thing CleanMyMac doesn’t do is tackle duplicate files. You’ll have to do that by yourself or download a separate app.

3. Hunt Down Duplicate Files

If you’ve had your Mac for a long time, you’ve probably got a lot of duplicate files resting on your hard drive. The fastest way to get rid of them is by downloading an app called Gemini 2. The license is expensive but you should be able to use all the features the trial has to offer to get the job done.

When you run the app, it will do a quick scan to look for duplicates. When it’s done, click on the drop-down arrow next to each file to inspect it.

If you’re using the paid version, the app will delete everything automatically. The trial makes you do it one by one which is tedious but not a bad thing. You don’t want to get rid of something that you need, after all.

4. Take Out the Trash

Just because you’ve deleted a file, doesn’t mean that it’s off your computer for good. All its components are still there taking up room in your recycle bin.

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Click on the little trash desktop icon and select “empty trash”. You’ll hear a crumpling paper sound and the files will be gone but you’re not done yet.

A few apps such as iPhoto have their own unique trash bins that you have to empty out. All you have to do is open the app and you’ll see a little trash bin icon off to the side. Right-click on it and choose “empty trash”.

5. Uninstall Things You’re Not Using

Chances are that you have one or two large applications that you’re not using anymore. Instead of letting them sit on your Mac, go ahead and uninstall them.

Open up Finder and click on “Applications” in the sidebar. Scroll through and drag anything you don’t need into the trash bin. Keep in mind that you’ll have to empty the trash in order to get rid of the applications for good.

6. Take Advantage of the Cloud

So, you’re going through the files on your computer and while you don’t need many of them at the second, they are important for later use. Instead of deleting them, move them over to the Cloud so they aren’t taking up space on your computer anymore.

You can store up to 5GB of stuff in the Cloud. If you need any more space than that, you can upgrade to the paid version. It can hold messages, pictures, videos, word documents, and more.

7. Remove Caches

Certain apps like Safari save little pieces of information known as Caches. You can delete these caches but it will only be a temporary fix to your problem. As soon as you start using your computer heavily again, the caches will fill up.

At most, emptying the cache will give you a few days of computer speed before it gets bogged down again. The easiest way to clear up your cache is by using CCleaner. It will scan your computer for temporary files and get rid of them.

8. Pick Up an External Hard Drive

If you’ve tried all the steps above and still have an issue with space on your Mac, the last alternative is to grab an external hard drive. They can be a bit expensive but you can use one to house any big files that are too much for your computer.

Keep in mind that there are some external hard drives that work better for the Mac than others. Make sure to do your research before committing to a purchase.

Free Up More Than Enough Disk Space on Your Mac

Are you having problems with a slow Mac? Instead of taking it to a repair shop or throwing it out, take strides to clear up a bit of disk space.

You’ll be surprised at the number of duplicate files and applications that are bogging your computer down. Delete them or move them over to the Cloud to get your Mac working like new again.

Looking for more ways to upgrade your Mac? Check out our blog daily for more articles like this one.