Are you a fan of Mac? The Mac is nearing the $25 billion run rate. It’s close to becoming a Fortune 100 company on its own.
You might wonder how to check storage on Mac computers. You’re in luck!
This article will take a look at how to check storage and how to improve its storage capacity. Read on to explore these tips and answers and have plenty of storage today.
What Fills up Storage Space on Macs?
Storage can be anything that’s not categorized into music, images, movies, or apps. This can include junk or data files, files the Mac operating system uses, system log files and cache, and important files for the macOS operating system. One should know the difference between macbook air and macbook pro for a detailed info.
Checking Storage on Mac Computers
One way to check storage is through the disk utility option. Go to Finder, Applications, and then Utilities. From here you can see local disks and the connected media on the left-hand side.
You’ll see information about the available space on the disk. It’ll also tell you about the total number of folders and files at the bottom of the window, and any occupied space.
About This Mac
If you have a Mac OS 10.7 or later, there’s a built-in tool to see detailed disk usage and free disk space. Head to the About This Mac option.
First, click on the Apple menu that’s in the upper left corner of your screen. Click the Storage tab in the dropdown. It can be a tab or a button depending on the device.
Then it’ll let you know about the available disk space and about mac storage other greyed out. It’ll also tell you the external USB drives, startup disks, and solid-state drives. Your macOS will also break it down by file type on a horizontal bar graph.
Finder
Another way is to use the Finder feature. In order to open this, you’ll press CMD + N or go to File and then the New Finder Window.
Once it’s open, click on the drive you want to check that’s in the sidebar. At the bottom of the window, it’ll let you know how much space you have.
Optimize Storage
Save space by removing any unused TV shows or movies. They can take up storage space on Macs.
Your Mac can also save by space by keeping only recent email attachments. Manually download attachments in emails or saving attachments.
Reduce Clutter
This feature lets you take a look at large files and figure out what you don’t need. Once you click the Review Files button, then you can choose the file category in the sidebar. This can include Music Creation, Trash, Applications, and Documents.
You can delete files right from this category. It can show the total storage space that’s used by the files in each app. You can decide whether to delete files within it as well.
Clean Your Hard Drive
You can also use a 3rd party software to clean storage on your Mac. There are apps that’ll automatically detect and scan any unnecessary files, apps, etc.
You can then remove any apps you’re not using. This can be completed within seconds whereas the traditional clean-up method might take longer.
Delete Downloads
When you download files, it’ll take up room in your storage space. Delete this folder in order to increase the storage that you have available. You can find this in the default Downloads folder on your Mac.
Remove Duplicate Photos
If you have numerous photos or duplicates, delete what you don’t need. It can add up to gigabytes of unused wasted space.
Go through your libraries and photo folders in order to make room. Once you do this, make sure that you empty the trash.
Empty iOS Backup
If you have iTunes on your Mac, it takes up room. This includes the items stored in the background plus visible in the media library.
You can find and delete them under Library/iTunes/Mobile Backups. The iCloud can do the backup afterward.
Upgrade Your SSD
In order to increase storage, you can upgrade your SSD. Keep in mind that you can’t upgrade all Macs. This is because the manufacturing process on its newest model has changed.
Some of the MacBooks you can upgrade include:
- MacBook up to 2010
- MacBook Pro non-Retina up to 2016
- MacBook Air up to 2017
- MacBook Pro Retina up to 2015
If you’re not sure which model you have, you can check out guides or look on the computer itself. You can buy a kit to upgrade the SSD.
MicroSD and SD
You can also add storage by using MicroSD and SD. Even if your MacBook is older with a memory card reader, it’s still an option.
If you want to use a MicroSD card, you’ll need to use an SD-to-MicroSD converter. This is a great way to add more space and is easy on the budget as well.
Network Attached Storage
You can use network-attached storage and share it across the network. If you go outside of the network’s range, then your storage won’t be available unless you have a solution for support over the cloud.
Exploring How To Check Storage on Mac
Now that you’ve explored this guide on how to check storage on Mac computers, you should have a better idea of what to expect. Take your time locating the storage and upgrading different features.
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