Reinstall macOS - reinstalls Mac operating system by connecting to Apple's servers and downloading the operating system. Press Command + Space keys on your keyboard to open Spotlight and enter 'Terminal' to open it. If Mac fails to install the operating system, try to fix the Recovery Mode by using Internet Recovery Mode. A QUICK video on why storage space is disappearing on your mac and how to fix it. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask in the comments down below. Free Up Space In MacOS – Steps To Fix Mac Disk Space Issue. In spite of its amazing features, the Macbooks hard drives fill up quickly after storing few data on it. We are unable to save a massive amount of data in the MacBooks. But we have here discussed some solution through which you can quickly free up space in MacOS and MAC OS 10.
With time, your Mac may get inundated up with multiple files: video, audio, pictures, documents, etc., thereby gradually eating up disk space. If necessary action isn't taken to clean up the clutter, it may ultimately lead to a warning message: Your startup disk is almost full. Don't worry, this is normal and can be rectified.
Finding Out Why Your Startup Disk is Full on Mac OS X
To determine the reasons why your startup disk is full, follow these steps:- Hit the Apple icon at your screen's top-left corner.
- Select 'About This Mac'.
- Hit Storage.
Top 10 Ways to Clean Startup Disk on Mac OS X (El Capitan)
Let's cruise through the top 10 methods to clean your startup disk. Having gone through the steps, you may learn more about your Mac and also discover a few new ways to fix the issue.
1. Empty out the Trash
In Mac OS X, almost every deleted file or document heads to the Trash Bin. Bypassing Trash is often not possible when deleting files permanently. Trash Bin files could either be individually deleted or emptied at once by right-clicking the Trash icon. However, some of the erased files may still leave their footprints. Follow these steps to delete the files completely:
- As aforementioned, right-click the icon.
- Now hit the button 'Command' on your keyboard.
- The icon's Empty Trash will now get converted to Secure Empty Trash. Clicking this option will permanently delete the entire Trash Bin.
2. Clean up your Downloads, Movies and Music folders
It's important to frequently check and clean up your download, movie and music folders. My magnological life (demo) mac os. Most download files aren't needed or used after some time. You can move the downloaded files to an external hard drive or the Documents folder. Before cleaning up the contents, organize the space by Date Last Opened or Date Modified. This will help you locate files that haven't been used much since their download.
The Movies folder is where you probably have a few hundred gigabytes of digital content. Click the Movies folder and press Command-I. Look at the pop-up that shows up at your window's top right to find out the folder's space consumption. Clean up the space or move the files to an external hard disk. The same process applies to cleaning the Music folder too.
3. Clean your Desktop
Having the desktop cluttered with multiple apps and files will slow down your Mac. The reason being every icon consumes some RAM.
However, the solution is pretty straightforward. Clean up the desktop and don't store files there. If you need to store temporary files, create a dedicated folder.
4. Remove unnecessary applications
Safely and permanently remove or uninstall apps and their preferences, components, log files, etc. Sending them to the Trash Bin isn't mission completed. To uninstall, choose an application.
This is a disk cleaning aspect with which CleanMyMac 3 will come quite handy. To get the job done, launch the application, hit Uninstaller, choose the application to be removed and click Uninstall.
5. Delete old iTunes Library backups
Recent iTunes versions generate existing iTunes Library file's backup each time the iTunes app is updated. Once you're happy with the performance of a current iTunes update, delete the old files by heading to the previous iTunes folder.
6. Clean up your iPhoto library
The iPhoto app has its dedicated recycle bin. To get started, choose files you'd like to get rid of. These may include bad or inadvertently clicked photos. Service copies also must be booted out. These are copies of original images that were altered. The original image is copied and stashed away safely. Needless to say, these copies eat up considerable disk space.
The folders Master, Original, Modified and Preview must be checked to determine if there're copies. To access the folders, open the Finder window and head to the Pictures folder. Press Ctrl and click the iPhoto library and choose Show Package Contents. You must now manually go through the folders and find out copies with altered original copies.
This could be cumbersome if you've got a huge photo repository. With CleanMyMac 3, the cleaning will be safer and faster. The cleaning app scans the library and only gets rid of the duplicates. CleanMyMac3 is highly recommended during such scenarios since critical or wrong files once cleaned up cannot be recovered.
7. Get rid of localization files
If you chose the option Easy Install during Mac OS X installation, several localization files for different languages get installed. The files allow the OS X interface to show up in multiple languages. To delete them:
- Open Finder.
- Head to Applications.
- Press Ctrl and left-click an application simultaneously.
- Choose 'Show Package Contents'.
Now, head to Resources under Contents and locate files ending with .lproj. There's a specific language prefix before the file name. For instance, German language files will show up as de.lproj. Delete the unwanted language files.
You could easily get rid of these files using a third-party alternative like CleanMyMac 3. You'll only require a click and no surfing through multiple folders to get the job done.
8. Remove old iOS backups
Backups can consume excessive space. You could locate and eliminate them by:
- Opening the Finder window.
- Hitting 'Go' in the menu pane.
- Choosing 'Go to Folder'.
- And heading to the Backup folder.
Clean up all the outdated, old backups.
9. Clean up cache files on your Mac
Caches are non-permanent files that help increase the speed of specific tasks. However, with time, the files could get bloated.
To get cleaning, click the Finder application. Then, long press the Option key and hit the menu bar's Go option. This should expose the typically hidden Library folder. You would find your caches folder in the Library folder.
Also, there are several third-party applications, such as CleanMyMac 3, which help make the cleaning process much simpler and hassle-free.
10. Remove old iOS device backups
iOS-based devices automatically backup certain settings and files to a Mac every time they're hooked to a computer. The backups are saved in the Backup folder: Home/ Library/ Application Support/ MobileSync/ Backup.
CleanMyMac 3 is a long-term, automatic cleaning solution that keeps the startup disk spotless. It can clear several gigabytes of space within a few minutes.
How to Prevent Startup Disk Full on Mac in the Future
The biggest disk space-hogging element on your Mac is always those huge multimedia files and documents. These could be cumbersome to clean if done manually. However, a software application like CleanMyMac 3 will carry out the task within minutes. Moreover, the software will also warn you whenever the disk space is nearing exhaustion, helping you stay on top of space utilization, always.
To make accessing and monitoring the software features easier, a fresh menu bar is available that keeps track of memory usage, free space, and existing trash size. Customer alert standards can be set in software preferences, which notifies you whenever disk space is extremely low or the bin size is too high. This is a helpful feature for people with limited disk space on their Macbooks.
Instead of working hard, Apple chooses to work smart (for the most part, looking at you, G4 Cube). Instead of making your hard drive bigger, they've tackled the problem of limited space on your Mac with cloud storage. Which, in its turn, created a slice on your storage bar named 'Purgeable'. Now let's take a look at how did that come about.
What is Purgeable disk space on Mac?
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Purgeable storage consists of files that macOS deems suitable for removal. Something that can be literally purged away from your drive and cause no trouble. The appearance of Purgeable storage is connected to the feature of Optimized storage in macOS. When Optimized storage is turned on, loads of files get moved into the cloud and for some of them, actual presence on your drive is optional. But for which exactly?
Which files are considered Purgeable?
Nobody can be a hundred percent sure, but the main guess is that these are both your files and system-generated files that comply with two criteria:
- They're like really old and you haven't opened/used them in a while.
- They are synced with iCloud so their original file can be removed from your Mac.
Purgeable files can be of any type. From watched movies in your iTunes to applications languages you've never used.
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But what renders them purgeable and what does it mean? The system finds these files and knows that when you start running out of space and you have your Optimized Storage turned on, it can remove these files to give you more space.
How do I view my Purgeable Storage?
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You can see how much space your macOS can purge in a number of places:
- The first option, and the most visual one is your native storage tab. To access it choose About This Mac in the Apple menu then switch to the Storage tab.
- In the Status Bar of your Finder when it's turned on (to turn it on click on View and then Show Status Bar).
- Another way would be to click on Go in the top menu, choose Computer right-click on your hard drive > Get Info
- Also, View > Options panel will turn on the display of hard disks on the Desktop.
- Finally, you can simply ask Siri how much free space you have left.
How to clear Purgeable space on Mac?
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You don't usually need to delete purgeable space on your own, but if it really bugs you, jump to the next headline. Purgeable space is labeled so that you know: whenever there's a free-space issue, you're safe because your macOS will automatically clear up that purgeable space and it will become free space instead.
The only thing you need to do to have your macOS removing these files when it's needed is to have your Optimized Storage turned on. To do it, go to the Storage tab in About This Mac menu and click Manage. Now you can turn any option you'd like to be synced with iCloud. You can read more on Optimized Storage and how to use it.
Is there a way to force remove Purgeable space on Mac?
Yup. It's pretty easy and all you need is a Mac maintenance app like CleanMyMac X that does exactly what macOS does — detects useless files — but unlike macOS, lets you remove them quickly.
Now, to remove purgeable space in just a few clicks:
- Download CleanMyMac X for free.
- Go to the Maintenance tab.
- Choose Free Up Purgeable Space.
- Hit Run.
Once you've reclaimed purgeable space, use CleanMyMac's Smart Scan tool to remove junk files, speed up the system and scan your Mac for malware — all in one go.
Also, it's a good idea to clear your browser extensions, old Wi-Fi connections, and apps you don't use once in a while. Simply in a form of general Mac system hygiene.
That's about all you need to know about what is purgeable space on Mac, so we hope this article has been of help. A night alone (emik) mac os. macOS is a great addition to Mac, we're glad it has space-saving features and other cool stuff (Siri!) but it could've been a bit clearer to users, that's for sure. Anyway, have a good day and keep your Mac clean.
