How to manage storage on Mac

“Not enough storage.” Ugh! I truly feel annoyed upon seeing this error message. Even the thought of this message makes me feel frustrated. I’m always insanely busy doing my job that I can’t afford the time to clean up my MacBook and free up some space right away. So, I make sure my Mac is tidied up all the time. Results? No last-minute panics, excellent performance, and I never run out of space.

Now, if you’re wondering how to manage storage on a Mac like me, I’m here to help. In this article, I’ll tell you (in easy steps) how to make the most of the available storage space on your Mac. I’ll also share tools that greatly help me with Mac storage management.

Ready to find out? Let’s get started.

Understanding Mac storage

Mac storage is the hard drive where your data is permanently stored so you can access it later. The total space is divided into two parts:

• Primary storage: Internal storage used for macOS, applications, and user data, such as internal hard drives (HDD) and solid-state drives (SSD).
• Secondary storage: External or additional storage for backups or increased capacity, such as external hard drives, USB drives, or cloud storage like iCloud and Google Drive.

Additionally, in macOS Storage, files are categorized by types (e.g., Documents, Other Users & Shared, Trash, Applications, and System Data) to ease store management based on file types and locations.

Why managing storage on your Mac is important

Low storage = slow performance. Your apps might take forever to launch, and saving new files could be a hassle. Honestly, the performance might not be what you’d expect from an Apple product.

To fix this, you’ll need to clear up some storage. Once you do that, you can look forward to:

• Better performance
• Quicker app launches
• More space for new files (even the bigger ones)
• A smoother, faster workflow

And your life as a Mac user will become much easier.

How to check storage usage on your Mac

There are a few easy ways to see how much storage space you have on your Mac. I’ll just share the simplest ones.

Check storage via About This Mac

1. Go to the Apple menu.
2. Choose About This Mac.
3. Click More Info > Storage Settings.

Check storage via System Settings

1. Go to the Apple menu.
2. Choose System Settings.
3. Click General in the sidebar > Storage.

You’ll see the storage usage bar chart that lets you visualize where your space is going.

Best ways to free up storage on Mac

Ta-da! Now, it’s time for what you’re really here for — how to free up storage on your Mac. Let’s find out.

Remove unnecessary apps and large files

It’s great that macOS gives you personalized tips on what you can delete or move to clear up storage. Getting rid of extra apps and big files can really help free up space and make your Mac run better.

To safely tidy things up, just follow these simple steps:

1. Go to the Apple menu > About This Mac.
2. Click More Info.
3. Click on Storage Settings at the bottom right.
4. Under Recommendations, click Store in iCloud, and turn what you want to store in cloud storage.
5. Click Optimise to offload movies and TV shows from your Mac. You can download them again at any time. 
6. Last, click Turn On next to Empty Bin (Trash) automatically to erase files that have been in your Bin (Trash) for more than 30 days.

Handling storage can be a drag, so having CleanMyMac makes life so much easier. Working with a lot of storage often left my Mac feeling cluttered. I needed a fast and easy way to clean things up — something that would work like magic. That’s when I stumbled upon CleanMyMac.

This app is perfect for cleaning and optimizing your Mac. With the app, you can do a quick system cleanup, update and remove apps, remove malware and junk files, and delete old files of any size. 

One cool feature is that it shows your storage as a neat map with all your files and folders — even the hidden ones. You can easily see how your disk space is being used and figure out which files and apps are taking up too much space. 

Here’s how to tidy up your Mac with CleanMyMac’s Smart Care feature:

1. Install and open CleanMyMac.
2. In the Smart Care tab, click Scan.
3. After the scan, you can review each category and decide what to do.
4. After review, click Run.

Find and delete duplicate files

Duplicate files can really clutter up your Mac and steal valuable space. The good news is that you can get rid of them manually or automatically. Let’s start with the manual ways to do it.

Method 1: Using Smart Folders in Finder

1. Open Finder > Click Finder in the menu bar > New Smart Folder. Make sure This Mac is selected.

2. Click the “+” button in the upper-right corner to add criteria.

3. Set the first drop-down to Kind and the second to Any.

4. Click Save > Name the Smart Folder > Choose where to save it.

5. Click the three dots (•••) and choose Sort By to arrange files by name, size, or date.

6. Browse the duplicates, select the ones to delete, right-click, and choose Move to Trash.

Although this method may be faster than searching the entire hard drive for duplicates, going through each file requires great patience.

Method 2: Using Terminal

1. Go to Finder > Applications > Utilities > Terminal.

2. Type cd ~/folder name to navigate to the folder to scan. For example, if you want to scan Documents, type cd ~/Documents. Then, press Return.

3. Then, type find . -size 20 \! -type d -exec cksum {} \; | sort | tee /tmp/f.tmp | cut -f 1,2 -d ‘ ‘ | uniq -d | grep -hif – /tmp/f.tmp > duplicates.txt and press Return.

You’ll see a new text file in the specified folder, listing duplicates inside. But the downside is this method overlooks many duplicates. Also, you still need to sift through duplicate files to separate originals from copies.

Method 3: Using Gemini (my fav)

Sorting through duplicate files by hand can take a lot of time and can be pretty tricky. A better approach is to use a tool like Gemini, which makes the whole process a lot easier and quicker.

Gemini is a powerful duplicate file remover designed for Mac. Just one cleanup can free up gigabytes of space on your drive while keeping your original files intact. It employs a unique smart algorithm to thoroughly scan your entire system for duplicate and similar files, allowing you to remove them all in one go.

Here’s how to use Gemini:

1. Install and open Gemini.
2. Click the Gemini icon in the menu bar > New Scan.
3. Choose the folder to scan > Click Scan for Duplicates.
4. After scanning, you can Review Results and click Smart Cleanup.

Using iCloud and cloud storage to optimize storage on Mac

Keeping your Mac's storage in check is super important for making sure everything runs smoothly, especially when you've got tons of files, folders, and apps that can fill it up fast. By using iCloud and other cloud storage options, you can easily tidy up and free up space on your Mac without losing any important stuff. Here’s a quick guide to get you started.

Setting up iCloud Drive

Here’s how to organize Mac storage using iCloud Drive:

1. Go to the Apple menu > System Settings.
2. Click Apple ID.
3. Click iCloud > iCloud Drive.
4. Turn on Sync this Mac and Desktop & Documents Folders.

Getting iCloud Drive set up for your documents, desktop files, and photos helps you store everything in the cloud, so you don’t have to worry about taking up too much space on your device.

iCloud settings for photos

Using iCloud to organize and sync your photos makes it super easy to keep track of your collection. You’ll be able to access your memories from any device and clear up some space on your Mac, too. Here's how to set it up:

1. Go to the Apple menu > System Settings.
2. Click Apple ID > iCloud.
3. Under Apps Using iCloud, click Photos.
4. Turn on Sync this Mac.

Managing System Data and “Other” storage

Wondering what the difference is between "Other" and "System Data"? Back in 2021, when macOS 12 Monterey came out, the category once called "Other" got its name changed to "System Data." But don’t worry, the meaning behind it hasn’t changed.

“Other” or “System Data” includes all those files and folders that don’t really fit anywhere else. Most of these are created by apps and the system in the Library Folder.

Here’s a quick look at the usual types of files and folders you’ll find in the Other or System Data section of your Mac’s storage:

What’s the folder/file type?	What it’s used for
Cache files	Temporary files from apps, browsers, and system cache.
Temporary files	Browser cookies, system logs, document versions, and application cache.
App extensions/plugins	Extra files for app functionality customization.
Browser data	Browser history, cookies, and temporary internet files stored by browsers.
Mail attachments	Email attachments saved by the Mail app.
iCloud Files (Local Copies)	Files synced with iCloud but stored locally.
Old device backups	Outdated iOS, iPadOS, and macOS backups.
Disk images and archives	Files like .dmg and .zip.

These files consume valuable disk space and may slow down the performance of your Mac. So, don’t forget to identify and delete unnecessary System Data to keep your Mac in order. Next, I’ll show you a few methods.

Manually remove System Data

When I need to get rid of system data, I usually go with two methods: one using Finder and the other through Terminal. Here’s how to do both.

To remove System Data with Finder:

1. Open Finder > Choose a folder location (like Downloads, Home, Desktop, etc.) from the left pane.
2. Right-click on the chosen folder > Get Info. This will open a window showing the folder’s details, including its size.
3. Look for large files or unnecessary items that may contribute to System Data.
4. Delete Unneeded Files: Select any files you no longer need and right-click to move them to the Trash.

To remove System Data with Terminal:

1. Go to Finder > Application > Utilities > Terminal.
2. Type open library.
3. Right-click the folder to delete.
4. Click Move to Trash.

But, locating gigabytes of System Junk manually is impossible. And, if you mistakenly delete an important file your Mac will run into serious issues. So, I prefer using CleanMyMac and Gemini to take the hassle out of cleaning up my Mac.

Additional tips for managing storage on Mac 

There are many ways that you can follow in day-to-day routine to manage Mac storage. Some of them are:

• Empty the Trash regularly: Make a habit of clearing your Trash to free up space from deleted files.
• Clean the Downloads folder: Regularly review and delete unnecessary files in your Downloads folder to avoid clutter.
• Disable automatic downloads: Adjust settings in apps to prevent unwanted downloads, keeping your storage organized.
• Upgrade to SSD: Consider investing in a Solid State Drive (SSD) for faster performance and improved reliability, especially when handling large files.
• Uninstall unused apps: Periodically remove applications you no longer use to free up space and maintain system efficiency.

How to manage storage on Mac: Final thoughts

A lot of the methods I’ve talked about can be a bit confusing, especially since the features and steps can change from one model to another.

In contrast, the apps mentioned in the article work with all Mac makes and models. For instance, using Dropshare, you can manage multiple cloud storage services on a single platform. CleanMyMac lets you run performance optimization, free up space, and detect malware. Gemini deletes duplicate files and saves valuable disk space on your Mac. You can get these apps and find more in Setapp to amp up the performance of your MacBook. Take the free 7-day trial and see for yourself!