H1: 5Ways to Free Up Disk Space on Your Mac
if your Mac running out of storage, you might be wondering what you can delete. But if you check the storage report on your Mac system, you may discover that the mysterious Other storage category takes up a lot of precious space on your hard drive or SSD.
This category usually contains different types of files that don’t fall into any of the other standard categories pre–defined by Apple, such as cache files, installer packages, system temporary files, disk images and archives, personal user data, extensions, app plugins, fonts, etc.
Read the article to find out how to remove files from the Other category to save more space on Mac.
H2: Where Is Other Storage Located?
Most of the files in Other storage are located in the Library folder that was hidden by default. This folder was created to house important files that may cause problems with applications or system operations deleted accidentally
You can navigate to the Library folder if you follow these steps:
.Launch Finder.
In the menu bar, click on Go and choose Go to Folder.
Type ~/Library in the text field and press Enter.
You’ll find tons of folders and files there that the Mac system labels as Other
H2: How Do You Clear Other in Mac Storage
Most of the files from Other storage are those that you don’t need anymore, but there are also files that ensure your Mac is running smoothly. So clearing everything at once is risky, and you should be very cautious when you start deleting anything.
You need to dig up this category and delete only useless files to ensure that it won’t affect how your computer works. You can check out different types of files and pay special attention to large files and those that you don’t need anymore. We also recommend making a complete system backup to be on the safe side.
Let’s take a look at the steps you should follow to delete some unused files from this category and free up additional space on Mac.
H3: Remove Caches
A good idea is to start with Caches. There are free types of cash files: user, system, and browser.
These files are created for faster access to apps, and they may occupy many gigabytes of valuable space. You should delete only old cache files from old apps because the current restore your preferences.
So what you should do to delete cache files forever?
Open Finder, Then click Go
After It, click on Go to Folder.
Type ~/Library/Caches. Now click Go.
Create a backup for all cache files
Choose all the files that you think are unnecessary and drag them into your Trash bin.
Finally, click on Empty Trash.
H3: Get Rid of Large Documents
You might think that ordinary text documents don’t consume a lot of space and forget about them. But over time, they can pile up and if you start adding images or presentations, they can take up astronomical space. Media–rich documents (.pages, .csv, and .doc) occupy the storage in MBs. That’s why you should definitely check them out to see what you can remove.
Here is how you can do it:
Press Command + F on your Desktop and then choose This Mac.
Click on the first dropdown menu field and choose Other.
You’ll see the Search Attributes window.
Here, you need to select File Extension and File Size from the list and then click OK.
Now you can inputdifferent types of document files, such as .csv, .pdf, .pages,and look for large documentsto delete them one by one.
When you find a large unnecessary document, you should delete it.
H3: Delete Extensions and Plugin
Although these types of files don’t take up a significant amount of storage space compared to other types of files, you can free up some extra space if you get rid of unneeded plugins and extensions.And keep in mind that some extensions may negatively impact your system’s performance.
Follow these steps to delete extensions from the Safari browser:
Launch the browser and click on the menu.
Choose Preferences and after that click on the Extensions tab.
Review the list of extensions and choose the one you’d like to remove.
Press Uninstall.
Here is how you can remove extensions from Chrome:
Launch Chrome.
Click on the Extensions icon.
Choose the option Manage Extensions.
Choose useless extensions and disable or remove them.
H3: Remove Old Downloads
It’s another quick way to clear items that pile up in the Other category. Downloaded files(documents, .dmg, .zip files, and installer packages)are stored in the Downloads folder by default, and many users forget to delete them.
Follow these steps to remove them and free up precious storage space.
Open Finder and click Go.
Select Downloads.
Review the list of files and choose those you want to remove.
Right–click on each file and choose Move to Trash.
When you finish, click on Empty Trash
It’s best to search for bigfile types like .zip, .dmg, .avi, .mkv, etc.
H3: Delete Archives and Disk Images
Disk images are not system files; they are downloaded by users, so you can clear .dmg files as well as .zip files manually. You can use Spotlight search to discover them.
Open Finder
Now you should type .dmg or.zip in the search bar.
Choose the Search option: This Mac
It’s also possible to sort the result of your search by size. This way, you can quickly find the largest files and remove them.
H2: Conclusion
We have explained how to remove Other storage files manually. As you see it’s easy, and it’s worth it, although it can be very time–consuming. But if you don’t want to waste your time searching for individual files, there is a more efficient method. You can also free up disk storage space using a free or paid Mac cleaning tool, and that will be much quicker. A good cleaning app will help you free significant space in minutes