The bigger the files you can delete, the more space you can free up—so let's go hunting. Click the Apple menu in the top-left corner of the menu bar and choose About This Mac. Have Keyboard Maestro automatically mount when your Mac wakes or, more crucially, dismount a drive when it goes to sleep. And if you have a Mac mini, external drives could be ideal. Backup the Mac computer with Time Machine. Check the available storage space on your Mac to ensure at least 30 GB available storage. Otherwise, you will need to remove some content from your Mac to clean up the storage space. If you don't have an idea how to clean up your Mac.
Running out of storage space on a PC is more than just an inconvenience - it can slow down Windows, too. Windows uses a sizeable amount of hard drive space to hold temporary files as it juggles applications, so the less free space there is, the slower your applications will be.
Fortunately, adding more storage to a desktop or laptop PC is easier than you think.
Step 1: Add a hard drive to a PC
Adding a new hard drive to a desktop PC is extremely straightforward.
Most desktop PCs have one or more empty 3.5-inch drive bays. Installing a new drive is simply a matter of slotting it into a bay and connecting it to the motherboard with a cable.
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. 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.
The new hard drive can then be used as a secondary drive to store a large music or video collection, for example. Or Windows can be reinstalled on the new drive and the old one reused for something else. Prices vary, but you typically get a lot of storage space for your cash.
Step 2: Add a hard drive to a laptop
With laptops, things are a bit trickier. Most models only have room for one hard drive, which means swapping out the old one during an upgrade.
While some laptops have a dedicated panel on their underside for easy access to the hard drive, others may require some disassembly. While this shouldn't void a warranty (although always check), it might be a job to entrust to a professional if you're not confident with a screwdriver.
Laptops use smaller 2.5-inch hard drives and while capacities aren't much different to 3.5-inch desktop drives, they do tend to be more expensive.
Step 3: Add a solid state drive
Although they're far from obsolete, hard drives are fast becoming outdated and newer solid-state disk (SSD) drives are well worth considering as an upgrade.
SSDs have no moving parts and instead store data on flash memory chips, a bit like a USB flash drive. This makes them extremely robust (and so ideal for laptops) and they're very, very fast.
They're also a lot quieter than hard drives, thanks to the lack of moving parts.
Installing an SSD can be almost as effective as buying a new PC - Windows boots in matter of seconds and applications launch in just a moment or two.
Step 4: What to do with your data
If you're replacing a hard drive in a desktop or laptop PC, rather than just supplementing it, you'll need to decide what to do with your data. Some hard drives and SSDs come as a kit, complete with a data transfer cable and software for transferring everything from the old drive to the new.
Alternatively, you can buy an inexpensive USB adapter that converts an internal hard drive into an external one, which you can then use to transfer your personal files to the new drive.
This method means reinstalling Windows and your applications to the new drive first, but this is no bad thing for a hard drive upgrade, since it gives you a chance to get rid of unwanted applications and files that will waste space on the new drive. Think of it as giving your PC a spring clean.
Step 5: Choose an external drive
You can also use a USB hard drive adapter to convert a cheap internal hard drive into an external model, but it's not ideal - internal hard drives are fragile and don't come with the protective casing of external models.
If you just want to expand your PC's storage for your personal files and aren't too concerned about a compact set-up, then a dedicated external hard drive is a better option. These are housed in a sturdy case and connect to a PC via USB, so take just seconds to install. Desktop 3.5-inch and portable 2.5-inch drives are available, and you can use one drive across multiple computers.
If your PC supports it, it's worth spending a little more on a USB 3.0 drive. This will be much faster than a USB 2.0 drive, which means less waiting when transferring files back and forth.
Step 6: Use a NAS drive
If you have a home network, another option is to use a network attached storage (NAS) drive. This is essentially a hard drive with an Ethernet network port that connects to a router to become part of a network.
Any PC on the same network can then use the NAS drive, and some models can even be accessed by smartphones and tablets for watching films and listening to music.
NAS drives come in all capacities, from single drives for simple use to multi-drive towers that can store dozens of terabytes.
NAS drives are also simple to install, although models designed for sharing with multiple computers take a little more effort.
Step 7: Use cloud storage
Physical storage might soon be a thing of the past for home users, thanks to the rise of cloud storage. Cloud storage simply shifts the job of storing files to someone else's hard drive that's accessed over the internet. This not only makes files accessible from just about anywhere - and on any device - but it's also more secure.
Unlike information on a laptop, data stored in the cloud can't be lost or stolen, and cloud storage companies usually offer robust security and backup options.
Many companies offer customers cloud storage when they buy products or services, for instance BT Cloud is available to BT broadband customers, depending on your package, you'll get 10GB, 200GB or 1000GB free.
When a Mac gets too full, it can slow processing times down. Your Mac can overheat. And of course, making room for anything else, whether it's a file you need to save, a new app or game you want to download, might prove difficult. If you keep ignoring your Mac slowing down and overheating, sooner or later you are going to get a 'Your disk is almost full' error.
So before that happens, now is the time to free up some much-needed storage on a Mac. In this article, we cover how to check storage space on Mac, and most importantly, how to fix the amount of space you have.
7 ways to manage storage on Mac
One of the easiest ways is to search through your files for anything that takes up too much space, then take it all to the trash. Find-and-delete is effective, to a point. But it doesn't clear everything out, as many Mac users find when they're trying to make more space.
Often, under the surface, is a lot more taking up space than you might realize. Duplicate files and folders, and photos: images can hog loads of room, especially when you've got duplicates or so many similar images on your Mac. Plus backups. Whenever you've connected an iOS device or iPod, everything at that point in time on that device is duplicated onto your Mac.
Here are some more types of junk on your computer:
Great tools to manage storage on Mac
There are plenty of third-party apps to manage storage on a MacBook. CleanMyMac X gives you a whole arsenal of tools to dig out junk. On average, Mac users find they gain an extra 62GB of storage that was lost to system junk files, outdated files, and apps that they didn't need anymore.
This is the Space Lens tool in CleanMyMac X that searches for your large and unseen folders:
Download the app here for free
Then launch it and select Space Lens at the bottom of the sidebar.
If you want to do this the manual way, here are 7 ways you can clear out more space in your Mac and manage storage more effectively.
#1: Empty the Trash
To start with, your Trash could be full of things that need deleting permanently. Go to the Trash icon in the bottom-right corner of the dock and click the option to Empty Trash.
However, that isn't the only trash can that a Mac has. And each one is storing anything you've moved in there that could be restored with a few clicks, so in effect, taking something to trash isn't doing anything useful for the space you need to recover on your hard drive.
macOS devices also come with trash cans as part of the iPhoto, iMovie, and Mail applications, so if you've deleted anything within those in the last 30 days, you will need to empty those too. Freeing up space in those apps involves pressing Ctrl+click or right-click to open and empty the Trash, thereby creating more space.
After 30 days your Mac will automatically empty out your Trash bin.
#2: Uninstall unwanted applications
Now that you've emptied the trash cans, one of the most noticeable sources taking up space within a Mac is apps and games that you downloaded but don't need anymore. Although there is nothing you can do about native macOS apps — the ones that come with the operating system — there is plenty you can do about apps and games that you've downloaded.
Open your Finder and see the list of your apps
Uninstalling applications shouldn't take too much work; except for the fact that it's always worth checking for other folders connected to the apps and games you're going to delete. If it looks like you've got several to uninstall, make a list so you know what to look for when checking in other locations in your Mac — such as the Library — for working folders connected to the same app.
Drag-and-drop every app you don't need to the Trash.
How to see your unused apps
Some apps don't show anywhere, even though they take up space and operate in the background. They could be intentionally hidden by the developer or be too insignificant for your Mac to display.
Luckily, there is a way to uncover all your apps, the hidden ones and the ones you never used at all. CleanMyMac X's Uninstaller tool does just that.
Here is the list of unused apps on my Mac. As you can see I, apparently, have 92 apps I never used!
Here you can download this tool for free
After you unpack the app, click the Uninstaller tab in the sidebar
#3: Clean up iTunes/iOS backups
If you've ever - or used to - physically connected your iPod, iPhone or iPad to your Mac, then there is a good chance that there is a backup of every time you've done this. Whatever was on your iOS device at the time is going to be stored within your iTunes backup files space, which can take up a whole load of room that you've probably got other uses for.
So if you want to delete these and save a whole bunch of space, close iTunes then go to the following folder within Library:
Open Finder > Go > Go to Folder..
Type in: ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup
Now everything stored within this backup folder can be deleted and it will save you a lot of space.
#4: Tidy temporary files
Most Mac's accumulate a lot of temporary files and storage that isn't needed. Every so often, macOS will try and purge these, but it's always worth doing a thorough check to make sure there isn't anything taking up more space when you're trying to extract every available GB. There are several places where you are going to find temporary files:
- Web browsers
- System cache files
- Application cache
Here is how to clean your temporary data in Safari (may hold up to 1 GB of space)
How to clean your Library caches:
Here you should find loads of files and folders that are taking up space you could use in better ways.
Go to Finder > Go > Go to Folder..
Now type in: ~/Library/Caches
Repat the process for:/Library/Caches Without the '~' character
Go inside these folders and move their content to the Trash. But don't delete these folders themselves.
If you are not sure, this app does this automatically
#5: Delete language files
Although a Mac comes with as many languages as possible, there is a good chance you only use one — maybe two or three at most — as a system preference. Deleting all of those that you are never going to use will save a lot of space.
Deleting language files should free up at least 1GB of space.
Unfortunately, there isn't an easy way to clear extra language files manually. Gmod error fix mac. I recommend using CleanMyMac X for this purpose because it really saves time.
Get CleanMyMac X (a link to a free edition)
Then, choose System Junk tab in the sidebar
Click Scan and the Review Details
#6: Clear out attachments and downloads
Whether you are using the built-in Mac Mail application, or a third-party app, or one that you login through a web browser, there is a good chance that email downloads are taking up space in your Mac. You could have years worth of downloads sitting there, waiting to be deleted, so now is your chance to clear out this junk.
How To Have More Storage On Macbook
Go through Downloads and drag everything into the Trash that is taking up more space than you want. You can also change settings within Mail or other email providers to avoid automatic downloads, thereby saving you even more space in the future.
#7: Check for duplicates
If your Mac, or previous versions of it had the old iPhoto app, then there is a good chance you've got duplicate photo libraries taking up space. You should be able to find these under Photos, where it should show you photo libraries from the new macOS Photos app and the old iPhotos app.
Here is a great way to scan your Mac for duplicates — Gemini 2 app by MacPaw
How To Have More Storage On Macbook Pro
Make sure everything you want to save is stored in a new folder or moved over to join other photos in your more recent storage area. Then, when you are sure everything else is an unnecessary duplicate, drag it all into the Trash. If you want to store them to make sure they don't go missing while freeing up more space on your Mac, you can always store them in the cloud (a third-party application, such as Dropbox), or through iCloud, or use an external storage device. Once you are confident everything is stored safely, delete everything you don't need and free up a whole load of space.
Final thoughts
As you can see, how to get more storage on MacBook, the manual way, can take time and effort. There are quite a few folders and files to go through, so you might be there a while trying to locate and create more space within your Mac. But it can be done. Another way is to use a powerful Mac performance tool, such as CleanMyMac X which comes with Space Lens. A quick way to see what is taking up so much space, and then using CleanMyMac X, how to recover that space.
In only a few clicks, you could have loads of new hard drive space and your Mac running as good as new. Hope you found this article helpful. Stay tuned for more Mac tips.
