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Running out of space on your hard drive can be a big problem for many MacBook users. You can view how much space certain files are using on your hard drive by selecting About This Mac from the Apple menu. Where you can see different categories, such as Audios, Music, Movies, Apps, Backups and how much of your hard drive space is being consumed by these different file types. You may also notice a mysterious category known as “Other.”
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Buy Apple MacBook Pro (13-Inch, 8GB RAM, 128GB Storage) - Space Gray (Previous Model): Everything Else - Amazon.com FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases. If you don’t know how to check your disk space use on your Mac, here’s where to look. Options 1 and 2: From the Finder. The Finder gives you a couple ways to see how much free disk space you have. Could be anything. App updates, new apps, a virus that downloads stuff for you, automatically installed software, or a host of other things. If you did have an application on your Mac like Dropbox or Google Drive, (either of which could automatically be downloading stuff onto your computer) it.
- 2 How to remove “other” data in macOS and OS X
Find how much other storage your Mac uses
- To see how much storage these other files take up on your Mac, go to Apple Menu > About this Mac > and tap the Storage tab
- Wait for the information to populate
The “Other” category is a combination of files that are not recognized as one of the other file types (Music, Apps, etc.)
This category may include system files and caches, apps extensions, user logs, documents (e.g. powerpoints), zip/rar files, mail messages, and so forth. Things like:
- Caches and files in the system folders, such as temporary files and browser cache and locally stored message media files
- Common documents and file types, including PDF, doc, and PSD
- App plugins and extensions
- Archives and disk images, including zips, dmg, iso, tar, etc.
- Your personal data
- Windows Boot Camp partitions and other virtual machines data
- Application Support, iCloud files, screensavers
- Fonts, app accessories, application plugins, and app extensions
- Various file and file types not recognized by Spotlight
The “Other” category in the About This Mac window may sometimes be big. However, this isn’t always a problem. But if you’re running low on storage space on your Mac, there are ways to fix the “Other” category from taking up so much space. Here is how:
How to remove “other” data in macOS and OS X
Easy steps to delete other data
- Restart your computer
- Empty your Trash
- Remove unused apps
- Delete any no longer used music, movies, and other media–these types of files can use a lot of storage space
- Delete other files that you no longer need by moving them to the Trash, then emptying the Trash
- Move large files to an external storage device
- Delete your junk or spam email. In the Mail app, choose Mailbox > Erase Junk Mail
- Dump your email’s Trash mailbox, choose Mailbox > Erase Deleted Items
- Checking / verifying your hard drive with Disk Utility may also help
Remove downloaded files from your Mac
Let’s clean out your Downloads folder and see if that makes a difference in that “other” storage.
- Open Finder
- Select the Go menu
- Choose Downloads
- Select the file(s) you want to remove
- Right-click (or control-click) to open pop-up menu
- Select Move to Trash
Follow macOS Storage recommendations
![Storage management mac Storage management mac](/uploads/1/2/6/0/126029682/340612217.png)
- In the Apple menu > About This Mac > Storage, click the Manage button to see recommendations in your Mac’s Storage Management (this Manage button is available only in macOS Sierra or later.)
- See this article for tips on using these storage recommendation tools available in macOS How to use storage recommendations and optimization in macOS
Manually clear cache files on your Mac
- Close all apps on your Mac first
- Open Finder
- Choose Go > Go To Folder
- Type in ~/Library/Caches
- Press the Option key and click and drag the Caches folder to your desktop or another folder (this creates a copy you can restore if things don’t work out)
- Select all the files inside the Library’s Caches folder
- Drag them to the Trash
- Apop-up asks you to confirm that you want to delete all of those files. Enter an admin password to verify
- Empty the trash
Remove your Mac’s sleepimage file
- You may free up some hard disk space by deleting your Mac’s sleepimage file. You may remove this file because it will just be created again automatically the next time when your Mac goes to sleep.
- Launch Terminal (Applications > Utilities > Terminal); then type: sudo rm /private/var/vm/sleepimage
Delete old iPhone, iPad, and iPod backups from your Mac
- You may want to remove your iOS device backups (if you have any). The folder where your backup data can be accessed by going to ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/
Obsessed with tech since the early arrival of A/UX on Apple, Sudz (SK) is responsible for the editorial direction of AppleToolBox. He is based out of Los Angeles, CA. List of all video editing software for mac.
Sudz specializes in covering all things macOS, having reviewed dozens of OS X and macOS developments over the years.
In a former life, Sudz worked helping Fortune 100 companies with their technology and business transformation aspirations.
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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.
Storage Space On Mac Apps Free
* 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
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.
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
Free Up Storage On Mac
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. https://siteuu289.weebly.com/best-screen-recoridng-software-for-mac.html.
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.
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
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.
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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
Storage Space Mac
Even without using the Optimized Storage features of Sierra or later, you can take other steps to make more storage space available:
Check Space On Mac
- 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.
Storage Space On Mac Apps Windows 10
Learn more
- 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.