What To Do When Your Mac's Drive Is Full (7 Steps)

macmost.com/e-3035 If your internal drive is almost full then it is time to clear out some applications and files. Here's how to do that in 7 steps without the help of any third-party apps.
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00:00 Intro
00:30 1. Use the Storage Manager
01:44 2. Remove Applications You Don’t Need
02:42 3. Remove App Data You Don’t Need
03:51 4. Archive or Delete Some Documents
05:41 5. Examine Other Items Using Space
06:21 6. Examine Your System Library
08:16 7. Examine Your User Library
#macmost #mactutorial

[@antocovsaraya]

This is literally the best tutorial channel. I watch a lot of tutorials all the time, and this channel has the best

[@BrentD.]

Agreed👌

[@liz2959]

I agree! He is my go to person for anything having to do with Mac...

[@andrewsema359]

Great help. Thanks Gary

[@loisskiathitis8926]

A very useful and informative video tutorial today! Thank you, Gary!👏🏻❤️

[@eightwheels]

Very helpful! Thanks, Gary!

[@derekbarkham2314]

Very useful, thank you.

[@Answering123]

Thank you

[@dustyoldhat]

Thanks Gary

[@haralddoerr]

Cool as usual ❤

[@omarjun9044]

Thank you, sir! I can be able to finish my editing after I watched your tutorial. Thanks for sharingbyournidea. I appreciate it.👍❤️👌

[@dustyoldhat]

Even though I don't have a current OS I was able to use this to get into my library and delete about 50G out of caches for programs I no longer use on this machine, thanks Gary

[@qqbre]

Extremely useful. Till now i was only deleting caches folders

[@mariuszarszylo1476]

THANK YOU! I never knew you could change the folder view settings to check off the box that said "Calculate all sizes". That is what I was missing this whole time.

[@Doughboy123x]

Wasn't aware of the "Calculate all sizes" option. Thanks!

[@thecodeiackiller]

Gary's 2TB of storage is intimidating me.

[@g.r.2985]

Another great video Gary!! Had to back page to add a Like and comment. Would love for you to make a video about storage in Photos. I have a large photo library but only 500GB on my SDD so would like to save the most recent photos (say, since my kids were born) and then everything before on a separate external backup, to be accessed whenever I needed it. Thanks again, mate and keep up the great work!

[@macmost]

Using iCloud Photos with "Optimize" turned on as a simple way to add more photos using only some of your drive space, and still have everything in one library. Otherwise, you'll need to create a new library and move photos to it, but from then on it will be harder to access them as you'll always be switching libraries and trying to remember where things are.

[@georgee3401]

As usual, a very useful and important tutorial. Many thanks!

[@movimox]

I have just deleted 500 GO of useless After Effect cache...THANK YOUUUUUUU

[@60beats44]

Thank you Gary as always. On a related matter and running an external 4TB SSD* to back up my MacBook 4TB internal SSD I am always disappointed when the former* eventually gives me an indication that it is now full and that a "backup could not be completed". I was under the impression that older files would automatically be deleted by the Time Machine app once it gets to this stage. Instead, I am now resetting the external drive once this happens and start all over again with no historical back-ups.

[@macmost]

Older versions of files, yes. But it won't delete an old file entirely. Defeats the purpose of a backup if you can't rely on it to have your old files. That's why you need a bigger backup drive than what you are backing up.

[@60beats44]

Thank you Gary. I purchased my Macbook Pro 16 (4TB) with foresight and so far only used 1.2TB of the internal 4TB SSD. I initially bought an 8TB HDD as a backup device, but given the silence of the MacBook, with the fans rarely engaging, the constant clicking of the external HDD was annoying and I am sensitive to sounds. 4TB was the maximum size for an external SSD at the time. Although it takes a little while for the external SSD to fill up, but once it does, Time Machine indicates that the drive is full and backups can no longer be completed. Therefore and in my own experience, older files are not automatically deleted to make room for newer files and I am not in a financial position to afford a second external SSD with the same capacity.

[@macmost]

@@60beats44 There's a difference between older files and older VERSIONS of files. Let's say you have a file A that takes up X space and you change it 10 times over 10 days, making edits to this file. You now have 11 versions of this file stored on Time Machine, taking up 11X space. Then you start to run out of space on the drive, so some of those versions are removed. Eventually you end up with only the most recent version of that file, the other 10 versions being sacrificed. But then you also have file B. Same deal, but this time you delete file B completely. The first 10 versions of B get sacrificed, but the final version of B does not. It is saved in your backup in case you deleted that file in error. So 1 copy of B hangs around forever. That's how backing up 4TB will eventually exceed a 4TB backup drive.

[@60beats44]

Thanks again Gary. I am still not sure if and how I should modify my Time Machine backup behaviour, thinking that even if I had a larger external backup device, the same situation would eventually arise, be it after some additional time. My main aim is to be able restore my Mac should it ever fail, be it on the repaired or new device. Retrieving files that I might have created a long time ago would be a secondary benefit. Always looking forward to your next presentation and Apple for me would not be the same without you.

[@macmost]

@@60beats44 Just get a larger drive. No drive will last forever, but 4TB clearly wasn't enough for you. A 12TB or more drive isn't that much more expensive. That's what I use. That could last you many many years without filling up.

[@dustyoldhat]

This seems useful. Unfortunately I can't update my OS beyond Catalina so I can't use the information :(

[@EricsonHerbas]

This is super helpful. I'm currently clearing my dad's iMac and I wasn't sure which files to delete.

[@donisgarverick5541]

I'm doning a clean out of a imac running Monterey before upgradeing to a new M1/M2. I can't find anything equivalent to the Storage screen you start with. Am I just missing it or do you have an older video covering Monterey ?

[@haraldmuethel7546]

In Monterey: Apple menue > About this mac > ((overview tab) (display tab) (storage tab) (etc)). At storage tab you´ll find the SSD- or HDD-partitions. Next to the system drive it says (manage...). Or "About this mac" and hit CMD-U. Servus

[@camilaboys5532]

Hi Gary. Thanks so much for all of your Mac tutorials. My largest application file is "Install macOS Montery" using 12.43 GB of storage. I'm running Ventura 13.6.7. Do I still need that or is it safe to delete it?

[@macmost]

Delete it.

[@tftcride]

If you have done a similar video for older versions, can you post the link? Thank you.

[@macmost]

Which version?

[@artmaltman]

Superb overview. Question: One time a couple years ago, I found that Apple Mail had built up a 120gig cache! Taking a risk I deleted it, and weeks later it was a reasonable size. Very odd.

[@macmost]

Not sure what could have caused that. Remember that email is usually a cloud service (iCloud, Gmail, Yahoo, IMAP, etc) so which messages are cached for quick access depends on the service and your settings. For instance, with Google you can set a limit and only have the most recent 5,000 or 10,000 messages cached, etc.

[@artmaltman]

@@macmost I always suspected a mail cache bug.

[@macmost]

Maybe? But you said it was a couple of years ago. So not sure how you'd figure out today if that was the case. Not sure why it would matter since we are a few versions of Mail and macOS down the road. Could have been a bug in your mail service too. That also could be long gone.

[@blindwage]

i accidentally turned on screen record for 5 days. I didnt realize it until it records up to 200GB. Now i wonder if my battery still doing good, since i never shut down my mac for that 5 days, my macbook felt warm during those days, but the fan never turned on. OMG

[@dustyoldhat]

I'm most curious about the category that's just called "Other" that doesn't seem to have any way to access or understand what it is or where the data is. Catalina.

[@macmost]

Don't focus on that. It is just a category. Use these techniques to free up space and you should find it frees some of that up.

[@peterdixon6807]

At the start how long should System Data take to calculate? 30 minutes & counting … All the other categories were calculated very quickly - Docs 179gb, Music 57gb, Photos 52gb etc. I only have 371gb on the iMac. Can’t go any further with the tips until System Data Calculating … finishes! [I’m not running any apps or processes]

[@macmost]

Should take a minute or so. But it depends on a lot of factors. An older machine with an HDD could take a lot longer I suppose.

[@peterdixon6807]

@@macmostthanks. The last attempt was still going after 2 ½ hours! I guess I have an issue to work through. I’ll get back to your tips later …

[@TheCornucopiaProject-bd5jk]

I want to move my entire picture and video library from photos app to an external drive. MacBook Pro 4TB storage iCloud 2 TB storage iPhone 1 TB storage. I keep maxing out phone storage, so it’s time to move things out. Restoring a phone is a pain when you have too much data

[@macmost]

If the iPhone is the problem, then that won't do anything to help. Instead just turn on the "Optimize" feature of iCloud Photos. That is what it is for.

[@TheCornucopiaProject-bd5jk]

@@macmost I have travel in my future with extremely limited wireless/wifi access. I can’t have files in the cloud that I can’t access, or off load files into the cloud. Even now some files are only in the cloud with placeholder thumbnails on computer and iPhone. It gets frustrating fast.

[@GaryRosenzweig]

@@TheCornucopiaProject-bd5jkI thought it was photos we were talking about, not files.

[@TheCornucopiaProject-bd5jk]

@@GaryRosenzweig sorry, yes, photo and video.

[@macmost]

@@GaryRosenzweig Yes, if you need ALL your photos available all the time, but you have more photos than you can fit, then I'm not sure what to suggest.

[@andrewjones-productions]

Is there a way to download files directly from iCloud to an external drive without putting it on the internal storage of a Mac?

[@macmost]

Yes, using the iCloud.com web site.

[@nigelmark]

❤

[@neninho69]

I don't have much on my Imac but still im really glad to know how I can organize my drive! thanks Gary!!

[@user-jo7hw9rb5g]

ik im late but it dosent show the same settings for my mag and there is no storage option in general (im on maccbook air if that matters)

[@macmost]

Go to System Settings, General, Storage.

[@flyest173]

Hello. so every-time when i wanna check my storage System Data and Photos are just calculating the whole time what do i do?

[@macmost]

How long do you wait?

[@flyest173]

@@macmost I've been waiting for like 10 minutes now

[@macmost]

@@flyest173 It shouldn't take that long, but I don't know what you've got (an old Mac with an HDD may take a while). Just let it do its thing in the background as you work on other stuff and see. Your only other option is to call Apple Support and work with them on it.

[@Coldlaces]

hey how do you remove storage for other users and shared? and i have one account on my mac

[@macmost]

Are you very sure you only have one user? Check by using Go, Computer in the Finder. Go into your HD. Then go into Users. Then see what users you have. You can also find the Shared folder there.

[@Coldlaces]

nevermind i fixed it i just had some files in the shared folder thanks@@macmost

[@zoltanzana]

@@macmost I have Shared folders there I didn't know about: Previously relocated items. Can I delete those?

[@macmost]

@@zoltanzana kzbin.info/www/bejne/bmGxmWiPdq-jf6s

[@cf3619]

I’ve moved my photos library to an external ssd. How do I do the same with my music?

[@macmost]

You can move your library, or just keep your music media there. A lot depends on what "my music" is -- like is it ripped CDs, purchased from iTunes, or Apple Music? See kzbin.info/www/bejne/e6utnKhriZJoeK8

[@danielmayer888]

I am new to Apple. I have no idea what to do, I have 1.75TB of a 2TB drive taken up by documents. What do I do? Is that all my iCloud too? Can I delete all of that. Please help.

[@macmost]

Try some of the things I show here. Step 4 should be your main tool if it is documents that are using space.

[@designmorsels]

haha. I can't organize my downloads folder. So silly (too late for that).

[@Luigiano]

My applications are 16gb but it shows 90gb. Where is the missing unaccounted space?

[@macmost]

Where is it that you see 16 GB? Is that accounting for all apps and all library items associated with those apps?

[@cataclysmic911]

People, back up your stuff.

[@JCF072344]

What about the Time Machine drive? Mine is almost full.

[@macmost]

It will automatically remove old versions of files to make room. But you can also just get a new one if you want a longer history in the future.

[@daviddahl8562]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/m4DQgKmDbJxqjZo My disk utility is full I use to have a external hard drive connected and that crashed. I don't have that disk anymore. Now I can not find away to clear up the space. I think this is what's messing up my computer. I am cleaning up my computer but nothing happening in the disk utility.