How to manage and clear storage space on your Mac using Storage Management

Summary

This guide helps you troubleshoot and resolve: How to manage and clear storage space on your Mac using Storage Management. Follow the steps below to fix the issue.

Common Causes

When your Mac begins to run low on disk space, you may notice slower performance, an inability to download updates, or warnings that your disk is almost full. macOS includes a built-in Storage Management tool designed to help you analyse what is taking up space and provide automated recommendations to reclaim it.

Quick Fix Steps

If you need to free up space immediately, try these three rapid actions:

• Empty the Bin: Right-click the Bin icon in your Dock and select Empty Bin.
• Clear Downloads: Open Finder, go to the Downloads folder, and delete installers (.dmg or .pkg files) you no longer need.
• Restart your Mac: This clears temporary system caches and swap files that may be occupying several gigabytes of space.

Detailed Instructions: Using Storage Management

The Storage Management tool provides a visual breakdown of your drive and offers specific tools to remove unnecessary files.

Accessing the Storage Tool

1. Click the Apple Menu () in the top-left corner of your screen.
2. Select System Settings (or About This Mac on older macOS versions).
3. Navigate to General > Storage.

Using Built-in Recommendations

Below the storage bar, macOS provides a list of recommendations to help you organise your data:

• Store in iCloud: Moves files, photos, and messages to iCloud to save local space.
• Optimise Storage: Automatically removes movies and TV shows you have already watched from the Apple TV app.
• Empty Bin Automatically: Permanently deletes items that have been in the Bin for more than 30 days.

Identifying and Removing Large Files

To find specific files that are consuming the most space:

1. In the Storage menu, look for the list of categories (e.g., Applications, Documents, Mail).
2. Click the (i) icon next to Documents.
3. Select the Large Files tab at the top of the window.
4. Review the list of files sorted by size.
5. Select the files you no longer require and click Delete.

Troubleshooting Storage Issues

Hidden System Data

You may notice a large section of your drive labelled as System Data (formerly Other). This often includes:

• Time Machine local snapshots (temporary backups stored on your drive).
• Application caches and logs.
• Plugin files and macOS updates waiting to be installed.

Managing Application Caches

If System Data is excessively high, you can manually clear user caches:

1. Open Finder.
2. Press Command + Shift + G on your keyboard.
3. Type ~/Library/Caches and press Enter.
4. Identify folders for apps you no longer use and move them to the Bin.

Dealing with "Disk Full" Errors during Updates

If you cannot update macOS because of insufficient space, try the following:

• Ensure you have at least 20GB of free space for a major OS upgrade.
• Check for large .dmg files in your Downloads folder.
• Use the Storage Management tool to remove unused applications.

Still Having Issues?