Intego Washing Machine x9 is a Mac optimization tool that can assist you to free up the space. Macs are the computer systems by Apple Inc., primarily helpful for graphic designers and web designers. Intego Mac Washing Machine can assist you to save your Mac from malware and various infections. In fact, your Mac stores a lot of information in files called caches, allowing the fast access to that data and reducing the need to get it from the original source again. Free Up Space on MacBook Air or MacBook Pro ( 12 Easy Ways) 1. Delete Large Files on your Mac. Instead of deleting a hundred small files and images, first of all, let us go for the big fish. Click on the Apple logo from the upper left and select About This Mac. Now, click on Storage and then click on Manage. Click Documents. Free up storage space on your Mac Save space by storing your content in iCloud or using built-in tools to find and remove large or unneeded files. The Optimized Storage features of your Mac help you save storage space by storing your content in iCloud and making it available on demand.
Clean Up Your Mac Automatically Avast Cleanup for Mac automatically cleans out junk files to free up storage space, improve performance, and increase battery life.
Is your mac running out of space running mac os Big sur? How to Free Up Space on macOS Big Sur ? At the Special Event keynote of the Worldwide Developer Conference 2020, the Apple CTO presented the new name of macOS which succeeds the very controversial Catalina edition: it is Big Sur, a title predicted a few hours earlier and referring to the sunny beaches of this Californian coastline located not far from the Apple Park. This year, the most remarkable is probably on the design side, with significant improvements that quickly overshadow the departure of Jony Ive .
1. Remove App Junk
App junk are those programs that tend to remain hidden on your macOS even after dropping them on Trash. However, it is worth understanding that deleting unwanted app manually increases your chances of completely removing some critical programs. Therefore, carefully check the filename before deleting it to ensure that it’s for the intended app.
If you want to ensure that you delete all the program junk from your macOS Big Sur, follow the following steps:
Step 1. Take note of the apps you’ve sent to Trash and jot them down. Afterward, find the app junk and the files they are related to.
Step 2. Visit the app location to find the associated programs. Open Finder, Select “Go” and choose “Go to Folder”.
Type “/Library/Application Support” and click “Go”.Go to the folder in macOS Big Sur
If you want to locate a particular program for a specific app, follow the following commands:
- Library apps – /Library/Application Support/
- File Support Cache – /Library/Caches/
- Launch Agents – /Library/Launch Agents/
- Preference Files – /Library/Preferences/
- Application Support Files – /Library/ Application/
- Binary and Dock Items – /Application/
- Start-Up Items – /Library/Startup Items/
- Saved App States – ~/Library/Saved Application State/
2. Clean Your Download Folder
Are you still puzzled on how to get rid of all those PDF files you obtained from the internet or the images you opened after reception from friends or relative? All these files end up in the Downloads folder on your macOS. Without wiping them off, they end up taking up a considerable chunk of your hard drive space. To get rid of file junk from your downloads,
follow the following steps: Clean Download Folder
- Visit the Downloads folder near the Trash Can icon to reveal downloaded items.
- Click the “Open In Finder” button to find the “Downloads” folder, which contains all your downloads.
- Once here, you can either press Command + A to select all files or choose each file one at a time.
- Once you’re done highlighting the intended files for deletion, drag and drop them in the Trash Can.
3. Use Storage Optimization Tool on macOS Big Sur
The new macOS Big Sur has a new storage optimization tool that ensures the device has an optimized storage usage at all times by avoiding space wastage. Also referred to as the “Storage Tool”, this feature offers additional space in your hard drive for you to store other programs and files.
To activate the storage optimization tool in your macOS Big Sur, follow the following procedure: Visit the “Apple Menu” located on the top-left of your screen.
Click on About This Mac > Storage > ManageUse New Storage Optimization Tool on macOS Big Sur
You’ll see a pop-up message with several options. Click on the “Optimize Storage” button. Once activated, the optimizer will automatically arrange your files, removing any program junk to free up space. The reason why the storage optimization feature excels in the macOS Big Sur is that the device has an enhanced space for additional storage.
4. Clean Cache on your Mac
In simple terms, a cache is a type of temporary files that enable the macOS Big Sur to operate efficiently. There are various types of cache files. They include Browser cache, System cache; and User cache. Although these caches are helpful, they are temporary and can usurp a large space on your macOS disk.
Clearing Browser Cache on Your macOS
If you are a heavy internet user, you may end up clearing megabytes of cache files on your macOS Big Sur. The official MacBook browser is Safari, and you can remove the cache by following the following steps:Show Develop Menu in Safari
- Click the Safari icon to open the browser.
- Go to the menu and click on “Preferences”.
- Go to the “Advanced” feature and tick the “Show Develop” in the menu bar.
- Click the “Develop” button in the menu bar and choose the “Empty Caches.”
- Close the Safari browser for cache clearance to be complete.
Clear System Cache and User Cache
The system and user caches are the temporary files that let you use your macOS on daily operations. For example, when you listen to music or view a video on your MacBook, the information is stored in the system cache file. The device can, therefore, locate the file quicker and easier on a subsequent command. With time, these caches can occupy a large space on your macOS Big Sur. If you’d like to clear all cache from your macOS or delete a cache belonging to a particular application, here’s the procedure
Terminate the operations of all applications.Launch “Finder”.
Select “Go” on the Finder menu and choose “Go to Folder”.
Type ~/Library/Caches/ and click “Go”.
Find the cache file related to a specific app and choose the items you need deleted and drag them to the Trash Can.
5. Use Cloud Drives
Is your MacBook filled up because of storing a lot of programs and apps? Additionally, you may lose your personal data by frequent misplacement of your USB flash drive. That’s why software developers have created cloud-based storage apps to help you to free up space on your macOS. There are several cloud drives you may consider, but each operates differently with different operating systems. Below are some of the best cloud drives for you macOS Big Sur.
Google Drive. Albeit Google Drive was initially intended for storage purposes, it expanded its featured tools by incorporating an office suite that comprises Google Docs too. Fr merely having a Google Drive, users get 15GB free storage space. However, for additional space, you’ll have to incur monthly subscription fees.
iCloud Drive. This Apple cloud-based storage software works best with Apple’s latest gear on the macOS Big Sur. When you use it on any macOS device or an iDevice, you get an extra 5GB of free space. It comes with an integrated office suite, although it only contains basic features like Pages, Keynote, and Numbers. iCloud supports Windows but is still not supportive of Android.
Dropbox. Dropbox free storage is 2GB. The advantage of this cloud storage app is that it’s compatible with different platforms, including Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Kindle, Android, and Fire mobile application programs. Dropbox also provides different promotional offerings such as an extra 250MB for just getting started with the tutorial or 3GB extra space for uploading images through the mobile app.
6. Find and Remove Duplicate Files
The daily utility of your macOS may mean having duplicate files. The most common reason why you may have duplicate files is because of program installations. When an essential program feels under threat from other applications, it may duplicate itself to minimize the risk of malfunctioning.Find and Remove Duplicate Files
But if you find an unimportant program with it duplicate, you can install the Gemini 2 App for macOS. Gemini helps you identify, locate, and get rid of duplicate content in whichever corner they lay concealed. Regardless of the capacity of your hard Drive, Gemini can scan it at a lightning-fast speed. Furthermore, the software also locates and removes similar files to ensure you have free space on your MacBook.
7. Use Third-Party Apps
Instead of using the manual method of clearing space, you can use automated software that performs all that work in a fraction of the time. The Clean My Mac app automatically rids your macOS system of junk file and other remnant programs that eat up space in the device. By using the Clean My Mac software, you can clear up space to revamp the speed and operations of your MacBook.
/PowerMyMac /How to Clear System Storage on Mac Effectively
By this time, you might have been experiencing that you are a sort of running out of system storage on your Mac and you may be looking for ways on how to clear system storage on Mac. And one of the first thing that you would do is to check out your disk space for you to see what are the things that are eating up your Mac's system storage.
And once that you view system storage on Mac, you will then be surprised to see a yellow bar that refers to your System which is like occupying more of your space on your Mac, including so many purgeable files to delete. And the worst case is that you actually have no idea what are the things that are included in your system storage.
TIPS:
That is why in this post, we are going to show you how to clear system storage on Mac and what are the things that contain your system storage on your Mac so that you will have better knowledge on what are the things that you should be removed from your Mac.
Article GuidePart 1. What Dose System Storage Mean on Mac?Part 2. How Do I Free up System Storage on My Mac Automatically?Part 3. How to Clear System Storage on Mac Manually?Part 4. In Conclusion
Part 1. What Dose System Storage Mean on Mac?
What Is System Storage on Mac?
The files that actually your system storage of your Mac contains are all of those junks that you actually do not need on your Mac. This can be your System Cache, Application Cache, System Logs, User Logs, and more.
Why Is My Mac System Storage So Big?
Why is there so much system storage on my Mac? These files are stored on your Mac every time that you are making a download, or saving new files on your Mac. This can be your email attachments, iTunes movie, and more. Some of these files are saving large files that is why it can take up your system storage quickly.
Furthermore, Your 'System' and 'Library' folders are the main storage locations. Therefore, if your 'system' takes up a lot of space, Time Machine snapshots are most likely stored on your Mac.
Now you know what is system storage, but how to clear system storage on Mac so that you can free up more space to save other files you desired? macOS comes with a feature to optimize your storage: turn to “About this Mac” > choose Storage > click Manage button, then you will see Store in iCloud, Optimize Storage, Empty Trash Automatically, and Reduce Clutter. You can make use of these options to reduce the system storage on your Mac first.
Part 2. How Do I Free up System Storage on My Mac Automatically?
There are methods to clean Mac system storage manually we will talk about in the next part, but they surely take more time and effort as you will be needing to go through your Mac one by one.
However, there is a better way for you to free up system storage Mac. You will be able to clear your Mac’s system storage in no time.
All the methods on how to clear system storage on Mac that we have included in the next part can all be done just by one program – the iMyMac PowerMyMac. This program is considered to be a Mac system storage cleanup tool that you can use to reduce system storage on Mac by removing all junk files.
Using the PowerMyMac will allow you to choose all the junks or files that you no longer need on your Mac and clean them. You can decide what to remove or not, so you will be assured that none of your important files will be deleted without you knowing it. Then how to get rid of system storage on Mac with PowerMyMac?
Here is how to clear system storage on Mac with PowerMyMac.
- Download and install PowerMyMac on your Mac, then launch it.
- Launch the iMyMac Program
- Select the Master Scan module to clear your Mac’s system storage by deleting System Cache, Application Cache, System Logs, User Logs, etc.
- After scanning, mark all the files that you would want to clean and click on the “Clean” button.
So there you have the easy way on how to clear system storage on Mac with just a few clicks using PowerMyMac. You can also try the other options that the program has to clean up other things like duplicate photos on your Mac. This will then boost the performance of your Mac and at the same time, you will be able to gain more of your system storage back.
Part 3. How to Clear System Storage on Mac Manually?
Method #1. Delete Time Machine Backups
Not only will Time Machine backups be stored on an external drive, but macOS will also keep a backup copy on your startup drive so that you can restore files when the external drive is unavailable. You may need to delete your Time Machine backups when your Mac is run out of system storage. Check the steps below:
- Launch Terminal and type this command:
tmutil listlocalsnapshotdates - Press the Return button then you will see a list of Time Machine backups listed by date.
- Type the command:
tmutil deletelocalsnapshots NAME(NAME is the name of one of the listed backups). - Press the Return button again.
- You can repeat step 3 and step 4 to remove those backups you'd like to clear out.
Method #2. Clean Up Your Mac's Cache
Caches are one of the biggest culprits as to why your Mac’s system storage is getting full. So for you to know how to delete system storage on Mac, go ahead and clean up your Mac’s cache:
How Do I Clean My Mac
- Launch Finder on your Mac.
- Then go ahead and click on “Go to folder”.
- From there, go ahead and type in ~/Library/Caches then remove all the files that are taking up most space.
- After that, go ahead and click on “Go to folder”.
- Then type in /Library/Cache and then once more, go ahead and remove all the files that are taking up most space.
Method #3. Remove Your Old iTunes Library Backups
Whenever you make a backup on your iTunes, the more backup file is stored on your Mac. And with that, these backups that you no longer use will be piled up on your Mac and this can cause your system storage to get full as well.
So, for you to remove system storage on Mac, go ahead and remove all those old iTunes Backup that you no longer need:
- Go ahead and launch Finder on your Mac.
- Then go ahead and click on the “Go” button located at the menu bar.
- Then choose “Go to Folder”.
- Then go ahead and enter the following: ~/Music/iTunes/Previous iTunes Libraries
- Once done, you will be able to see all of your iTunes back-ups. The date they were made is also indicated so you can go ahead and choose your old backups and delete them.
Method #4. Take Out All Unused Applications
This method is one of the most common ways on how to clear system storage on Mac. All you have to do is to go through all of the applications that you have on your Mac and sort out which are the ones that you no longer use and uninstall them. You just have to make sure that you are removing them correctly and not just by merely dragging them over to your Trash bin.
You have to make sure that when you uninstall any application on your Mac that you no longer need, you should also find all the files or folders that are associated with that application. If not, then you are still leaving data behind and that will still eat up space on your Mac.
Method #5. Clean Up Your Photo Library
Photos are one of the most common data that we have on our Mac. And keeping them is keeping memories. However, these photos actually take up more space on your Mac’s system storage. So you have to make sure that you sort things out.
So how to clear space on Mac system? You can delete all the photos that you think you no longer need and as well as those photos that have more than one copy. You also have the option to transfer them over to another hard drive or USB drive for you to free up space on your Mac.
Method #6. Delete Any Old iOS Backup
Just like your iTunes backup, the old iOS backup that you have on your Mac is also one of the reasons as to why your Mac’s system storage is getting full. That is why it is a good idea that you should also remove your old iOS backup from your Mac. Let's check the steps on how to clear system storage on Mac below:
- Go ahead and launch Finder on your Mac.
- After that, go ahead and click on the “Go” button located at the menu bar.
- From there, go ahead and choose “Go to folder”.
- Then once that you are in, go ahead and type the following: ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup
Once that you have opened the window, go ahead and choose all the old iOS backup that you have on your Mac. Dates of the backup are already indicated so that you will be able to know which of them are the old ones.
Part 4. In Conclusion
As you can see, it is an easy thing to do on how to clear system storage on Mac. Though doing this manually will take more time and effort. But all thanks to the PowerMyMac, you will be saving more of your time and effort as it will only need a few clicks to do the cleaning process and optimize system storage.
Make it a habit of cleaning up your Mac every now and then so that you will not be able to experience having full storage and a slow Mac. Remember, cleaning up all the files and other things that you no longer need will sure be a great help for the performance of your Mac.
Last Tip: If you want to reduce the “system” storage size on your iPhone or iPad, just turn to the provided link to check how to free up system storage on iPhone.
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