So, how do you free up space on your Mac? Free up disk space on Mac 1. Clean up the Downloads folder Also, some amount of your RAM (virtual memory) will be taken out to compensate for the loss of disk space.Īccording to MacWorld magazine, nearly full hard drives performed 17% slower in the test. This slows down how your Mac processes these files. When there is only so much space left on disk, your Mac will split every new file into pieces or fragments and fit them into available slots elsewhere on your Mac. Partly, this is because of the so-called fragmenting. If your drive reaches about 80% of its capacity, your Mac will get noticeably slower. How the full hard drive affects your Mac? To view your storage details, click on the Apple icon > About this Mac > Storage There can also be other folders, like Music Creation, Photos, Podcasts, etc. MacOS: That's how much space your entire macOS takes System Data: Your caches, temporary files, and app localizations that waste space Here are some of the categories your storage could contain:ĭocuments: Files, downloads, and documents on your driveĪpps: Applications, programs, and app extensions

For example, this is what my disk storage looks like: It’s good to check your storage details before we get down to deleting things. They are a bit like alchemy because we’ll be turning junk into free space. Further below, I’ll show you my favorite methods of recovering space on Mac. So whether you have a new or older Mac, it’s critical to know how to clear system storage on Mac. And as of the summer of 2020, iCloud storage remains a paid option, and 50GB will cost you $0.99 per month.

That’s roughly the storage of the previous year’s iPad! And given today’s media consumption trends, how soon will you fill that space? Soon enough. Let's take the new MacBook Air 2020 edition that offers startling capacities of 256 GB. Isn’t it because we started to consume more content? Anyway, limitless hard drives haven’t been invented yet. According to MacPaw's research, since the Great Lockdown of 2020, people are 28% more likely to clean their computers.

The lack of free space is, in fact, a global issue. If you are reading this, you are probably familiar with the alarming “Disk is almost full” message on Mac. It all starts with “Disk is almost full”. But if you’re looking for manual solutions, see our ideas below.

This app is notarized by Apple on macOS Monterey. So here’s a tip for you: Download CleanMyMac to free up gigabytes of junk from all folders.

How to clean mac hard drive space