How Much Free Space On My Mac

What is taking up space on my Mac?

• Clear Space On Mac
• How Much Free Space Is On My Mac

'Well OS X constantly reads and writes to the drive so drive space will be constantly changing. It's essential that you have a minimum of 10 GBs free at all times or 15% of the hard drive's capacity whichever is greater.' Is this documented officially anywhere? It sounds like for my 80GB drive I need to keep 12GB free.

This process is called swapping, macOS swaps data between RAM (memory) and disk (storage). As a rule of thumb, it is recommended to have at free storage equal to 150% of computer's RAM. For example, if the RAM on Mac is 8GB then the amount of free storage should be at least 12 GB. Why is this important? Use Third-Party Software to Free Storage on Your Mac. Apart from the inbuilt solutions, several third-party apps do almost the same thing but in an easier way. You launch them, and in a minute or so, they will help you free significant space. The interface for most is visually pleasing.

There comes a time in every computer's life when it is full of files and programs, slowing it down so much that its owner searches for an article such as this in order to cure it of these ailments (before it gets thrown out the window!).

Worry not, you're in the right place. This article will take you through 8 steps which will free up space on your Mac - removing unneeded files and clearing space for the stuff you actually need.

No matter if you're tech savvy or not, anyone can use these tips to breathe new life into their Mac.

To find out how much space is available on your Mac:

1. Open the Apple menu (the Apple icon in the top-left corner of your screen).
2. Click 'About this Mac'.
3. Click 'Storage'.

This overview will show what categories are taking up the most space, as well as how much space is available on your Mac.

The 8 sections below address the biggest culprits of space-hogging on your Mac and how to clean them up.

Jump straight to:

1. Mac OS Storage Management

The first port of call when making space on your Mac is to see what tools your Mac offers you for such a task.

If your Mac is running macOS Sierra or later, it has great built-in tools for managing files and optimizing storage. To access these tools, click the apple icon in the top-left corner of your screen > About this Mac > Storage > Manage…

As you can see this is also how to check storage on Mac. The tool shows a breakdown of the storage space taken up on your Mac by media such as Apps, Books, Photos and others.

Let's have a look at each tool to see how it can help:

1. Mac OS Storage Management

The first port of call when making space on your Mac is to see what tools your Mac offers you for such a task.

If your Mac is running macOS Sierra or later, it has great built-in tools for managing files and optimizing storage. To access these tools, click the apple icon in the top-left corner of your screen > About this Mac > Storage > Manage…

As you can see this is also how to check storage on Mac. The tool shows a breakdown of the storage space taken up on your Mac by media such as Apps, Books, Photos and others.

Let's have a look at each tool to see how it can help:

• Store in iCloud: Quickly store files (Documents, Photos and Messages) from your Mac in iCloud. When considering how to clear space on Mac, getting rid of files quickly springs to mind- However, if you need to keep the files, you can just move them to an external hard drive, or into iCloud!

  Enabling this option will allow your Mac to automatically save space when it's needed.

  This is great as you'll be able to access your files on any device using your Apple ID. However, if you have a large number of files, you'll need to purchase more storage space than your allotted free amount (5GB)- obviously, depending on the amount of space you need, this can quickly become an expensive option.
  

• Optimize Storage: For those who download and watch lots of movies and TV, this option can save you a lot of space and a lot of time. Enabling this option will allow your Mac to automatically remove such files (which can be HUGE depending on their length and quality) once you have watched them.
  

• Empty Trash Automatically: Similar to the above, enabling this option allows the automatic removal of files, saving you time and space without having to keep on top of it manually. This will remove items in your Trash after 30 days of them being there. Be aware that once files have been removed from your Trash, you will not be able to retrieve them.

  Side note: Many points in this article will advise the removal of unwanted files from your Mac. However, these files are not completely removed from your computer until you empty the Trash (the space is not regained until they are removed from Trash). You can manually empty it by clicking the Trash Can icon in your dock, then clicking 'Empty'. How to download mac 10 13.

• Reduce Clutter: Find large and unused files on your Mac and delete them from your system. You'll need to delete them manually, but it's well worth it if you can remove files that you do not use.

  Navigate to files that you don't need using the 'Large Files' or 'Downloads' sorters, then hit 'Delete..'. Note that this action will bypass sending the item to Trash, so it's permanent.
  If you're finding unwanted files using the 'File Browser' tab, you'll need to right-click > 'Move To Trash'.

2. Find Duplicate Files Mac

The quickest way to free up space on your Mac is to automatically remove files that you don't need. Without realizing it, you can accumulate gigabytes worth of duplicate files and folders on your computer.

The problem is that it can take so much time to find and delete these duplicates that people do not bother to do it even if they want to.

Luckily, you can use an app like Duplicate Sweeper to do this for you.

Duplicate Sweeper: Easily scan your Mac for duplicate files and photos. You can then select and remove duplicates based on your preferences. In this way you can keep your newest version of files and remove all duplicates with a click of a button.

In the example below, I was able to remove over 6000 files with one-click. This freed up 2.3 GB of space on my MacBook. Imagine manually going through and comparing 6000 files without Duplicate Sweeper.. it would have taken forever!

For more information about Duplicate Sweeper, or to download the free trial:

Try Duplicate Sweeper free ▼

Receive an email with a link so you can download the free trial on your computer:

Note: We respect your privacy. We won't share your Email address with anyone else, or send you spam.

3. Unused Apps- Uninstall Programs on Mac

One of the biggest areas you should consider when looking at how to free up space on Mac is your Apps. Maybe unsurprisingly, apps on your Mac can be some of the largest files on your computer. Removing apps that you don't use can free up a huge amount of space. Let's list your apps by their files size:

Open Finder, then open the Applications section. Display the items as a list (using the button with 4 horizontal lines), then click the ‘Size' header to reorder your applications by size. You can then work down the list and decide which applications you don't use. Simply drag an application from the list into the Trash Can on your Dock to remove them.

Remember that you'll need to empty your Trash Can to completely remove the applications from your Mac.

4. Clean up media and downloads

The quality of media like photo and video is constantly improving. Unfortunately, this usually means that the corresponding files are bigger than they used to be. Install mac on windows laptop.

For this reason, your saved media could be a great place to free up some of that precious storage on your Mac.

Open Finder and look through your Pictures, Movies and Music folders. If there is media there that you don't want, select it and move it to Trash to get rid of later. If you prefer to delete this media from the associated apps like Photos and iMovie, see how to empty their trash.

It is also recommended to check your Downloads file for unwanted files too.

This folder can receive copious amounts of files downloaded from multiple sources. Many of these files you may have only needed to read or use once.

You can get to your Downloads folder by opening a Finder window and clicking the 'Downloads' header.

Again, select whatever files you don't need, then right-click > Move to Trash/Bin.

Clear Space On Mac

Extra: Zipped / Archived files

If you receive a zipped file (with the .zip extension), opening it will unzip the file or folder and create the files in a non-zipped form.

This will create files that you can use, but it will not remove the (now unneeded) zip file. If you've already unzipped, you can delete the .zip file.

On the flip side, you can use file archiving to compress files or folders that you don't use regularly.

Say you have a folder of documents that you only need to save for safekeeping; right-click the folder in Finder and click 'Compress [file/folder name]'. This will compress the files and create a .zip file.

Don't forget to delete the original, uncompressed folder in order to save the space!

5. Delete iTunes backups

Depending on the number of files, photos, messages etc that you have stored on your iPhone, iPod or iPad, it's backup on your Mac can be huge.

Keeping backups of your devices is a good idea. If something was to happen to your device, your data can be restored to it (or another device) using your backup. However, these backup files can be massive, and you may never need them! For this reason, consider backing up your devices to iCloud instead – freeing up space on your Mac.

To set your device to backup to iCloud, go to Settings > (your name) > iCloud > iCloud Backup.
To initiate a backup, connect your device to a power source and also to a Wi-Fi network. Lastly, ensure that your device screen is locked and that you have enough free space in iCloud to store the backup.

How to delete backups on Mac - You can also delete the backups which you already have stored on your Mac. To do this, open iTunes and go to iTunes > Preferences > Devices. If you don't need the backups in the list, select and delete them!

Find out: where are iTunes backups stored?

Alternatively, if you don't want to use iCloud for backing up your data, or if you only need certain data from your backups, you could use iBackup Extractor. This handy tool allows you to access and browse your backups, and extract any important photos, messages etc. that you need. You can save this data to your computer, then delete the backup from iTunes as seen above!

6. How to Delete Temporary Files on Mac

Some of the most common questions asked are 'how to clear cache on mac' and 'how to delete cookies on mac'. Well, let's answer those for you!

Temporary and cache are files that are stored locally in order to speed up processes. For example, images from a website that you visited can be cached, so that when you visit the page again, you don't have to wait to download the images again, they are simply pulled in from the cache. That's great for processes that you use regularly, but without care, your temporary and cached files can build up and eat away at your Mac's performance.

Let's see how to clear cache on mac – Open Finder > Go > hold ‘option' and click ‘Library' > Caches. Select and delete any cache files and folders that you don't need to save space!

7. Taking out the Trash

Deleting files on your Mac usually only moves them to your Trash Can (or Bin).

This is great, because if you 'delete' something by accident, you can restore it to its original location - no harm done.

However, if you are culling files on your Mac to make space, you may wonder why you are not gaining storage after clicking delete.

To permanently delete files from the Mac, you'll need to empty your Trash Can. To do this, simply click the Trash Can (or Bin) icon in your Dock.

Here, you can review or restore files in your Trash/Bin.

To permanently delete all the files in your bin, click Empty. You'll be asked if you're sure, and to confirm the permanent deletion of the files.

Deleting files from Photos, iMovie and Mail apps..

Generally, you'll be able to use the steps above to permanently delete files. However, some apps have their own way to manage 'deleted' files.

As such, you'll need to empty trash cans in individual apps to ensure that files are fully deleted.

An example of this can be seen in the Photos app:

Click the 'Recently Deleted' header to access the trash in the Photos app.

After 'deleting' photos from the app, the files can remain in this section for up to 40 days before being automatically deleted.

If you are sure you'd like to permanently delete these photos, click 'Delete All' to remove them from your hard drive.

You can use similar steps to empty trash for other apps like iMovie and Mail.

8. Move files into external storage

The majority of the methods above cover how to delete unwanted files to gain space. But what you if want to keep your files?

If you need more space on your Mac, but deleting your files is not an option, you may want to consider investing in external storage.

You can purchase external storage drives pretty cheap nowadays.

Google chrome mac os x 10 6 8. The way this works is that you connect your external drive with your Mac via USB cable. The drive then pops up as a Location on your Mac:

You can then drag files from your Mac onto your external drive, or cut/paste them into specific folders on your drive.

Takeaways

These are the most effective steps to make the most of the available space on your Mac in our experience.

There's a lot of information above, but this is not an exhaustive list of everything you can do to clear space on your Mac. We hope that you now have the tools that you need to breathe new life into your Mac or MacBook.

Happy spring cleaning!

• 1. Mac Files Tips
• 2. Mac Software
• 3. Mac Storage Tips
• 4. Mac Troubleshooting
• 5. Mac OS
• 6. Mac Error

by Sophie GreenUpdated on 2020-05-27 / Update for Mac OS

While macOS Catalina 10.15 is the latest update to the macOS line-up and users are eagerly waiting to install it, some issues are holding back some of the users. Some users get 'Not enough free space on your disk to install macOS Catalina' error message.

So how much free disk space do I have for macOS Catalina 10.15? How many GB is OS Catalina? What to do if you failed to install macOS Catalina due to low disk space? Don't worry! Get the Answers here.

Question 1. How Many GB is OS Catalina?

The accurate answer is 18.5 GB. The macOS Catalina installer macOS is about 6.5 GB and Catalina takes exactly 18.5 GB on your hard drive.

Question 2. How Much Space Do You Need for Catalina?

The macOS Catalina may take 18.5 GB space on your hard drive, but to operate it properly, you will need more than 20 Gb disk space to clean install Catalina.

If you're performing an upgrade install, you need to make sure the startup drive have about 6.5 GB of space to download the macOS Catalina installer and room for the files the installer will copy to the startup drive during installation. You'd better have 25 GB of free space available.

Question 3. Does Catalina Take up More Space?

Yes, it does take up more space. So, the iCloud based storage works best with Catalina as it provides 5 GB free storage space.

Question 4. How to Fix 'Not enough free space on your disk to install macOS Catalina'?

If you encounter such a low space issue while installing macOS Catalina or macOS Catalina installation failed due to low disk space, then you need to free up space on your hard drive. You can put the Mac in Recovery Mode and execute steps to free up space. You can check out the steps below.

• Reboot Mac and hold 'Control + R' while it boots.
• The Mac will enter Recovery Mode.

• Then, click 'Disk Utility' to repair or erase a disk.

• In Disk Utility, select your Mac's hard drive from the sidebar.

• Select First Aid to checks the file system for errors. Reboot your Mac when it finishes and you can go on to free up space on your Mac.

• If you have a recent backup of your Mac or don't mind losing data. Click the Erase button and confirm you want to erase your Mac.After freeing the required space, you will be able to install macOS Catalina successfully. Click the Erase button and confirm you want to erase your Mac.

Bonus Tip: How to Recover Lost Data If Your Mac Stuck on Catalina Update and Won't Boot?

Mac fails to boot or start after the macOS update? Catalina get stuck for some reasons? Before fixing your stuck Mac, the first thing is trying to save your data Tenorshare 4DDiG for Mac Data Recovery provide a tried-and-true data recovery service for you to recover data from unbootable Mac after update. It creates a bootable media that enables you to recover data from Mac hard drive/ failed internal Mac hard drive, APFS boot drive, and unmountable APFS boot volume, etc.

• Download and install UltData on any computer.

• Then, launch the program and select 'Recover Data from Crashed System'; click 'Start' to proceed.

• Connect a USB drive to the Mac, and click 'Start' to create a bootable drive.

• Connect the bootable drive to crashed Mac and boot it while holding the 'Option' button.

• Once you are in the disk selection menu, release the button, and select 'UltData – Mac' to boot the disk. When you have entered the system successfully, click 'Export'.

This is the extremely simple recovery method implemented by Tenorshare UltData-Mac Data Recovery. It won't take more than a few minutes to get back your deleted files.

How Much Free Space Is On My Mac

Finally

Well, macOS Catalina takes up more space on your hard drive than usual. And even after the installation, the OS expands. So, it is essential to free up the required space so that Catalina can operate properly. So, if you are having a disk space issue, use the steps we have detailed on the article and clear up space on the Mac. While it is difficult to recover data from a crashed computer but if you use Tenorshare 4DDiG for Mac Data Recovery, you will be able to recover data even from a crashed Mac computer.