How Do I Free Up Hard Disk Space On My Mac (5 Methods)

Getting low on space?

If you’re working most of the time in front of your Mac, having low hard disk space can surely get in the way of your daily activities and as much as possible, the occurrence of this event must be too slim, or best, must be avoided.

So, how do you free up the hard disk space on your Mac?

Let’s count the ways.

Why Do We Need To Clean Up Hard Disk Space?

Your available hard disk space is a contributing factor to your overall Mac speed and experience, which means that if you have enough disk space, your Mac can perform most of the processes you demand it to do.

That’s why it is important that we periodically free up the hard disk space on our Mac.

If you think you’re ready to do the following simple steps, then scroll down to learn.

Access and Manage Your Storage

As a user, we must first learn to navigate our Mac.

Using it immediately after it was removed from its box will not do you (and your Mac) any good as you will eventually store small and huge blocks of data every time you work on it.

These blocks of data will gradually accumulate in your hard disk space, and without knowing, your Mac starts slowing down, greatly affecting your business and other tasks.

So, here, let’s try to access the storage of our Mac. To find it, hover over the Apple logo on the upper left corner of your menu bar.

Choose “About This Mac” and a pop-up will show you an overview of your Mac specifications.

Click on Storage.

That, right there, is your available hard disk space. As you can see, there is a “Manage…” option on the right side of the pop-up. Click on that.

Upon clicking that, you will be given recommendations on how to free up some space on your Mac and to tell you honestly, they are all useful tips.

Even so, in the next section, we will give you 5 powerful methods to clean up your hard disk space.

5 Powerful Methods to Free Up Hard Disk Space on Your Mac

1. Consider storage management options for Mac.

As mentioned earlier, these recommendations are very helpful to maximize your Mac’s storage capacity.

If you have other Apple devices, you may enable the “Store in iCloud” option to sync your files across your devices, thus, allowing extra space on your Mac.

If you are  subscribed to Apple TV, you can opt for the “Optimize Storage” option to further expand your storage capacity.

By turning on the “Empty Trash Automatically”, you save more space since items you delete will not have to occupy extra disk space by bypassing Trash.

Finally, “Reduce Clutter” means you have to review your files and documents in your Mac one by one to select which to remove or retain.

2. Compress huge files.

Without question, you are likely to develop large deposits of data in your Mac over time. These include huge files such as HD movies, RAW images, and other baggy documents and downloads.

With all these spacey files, your disk space will significantly decrease in size, leaving you no space for extra processes that you want your Mac to execute.

One powerful method to clear up a lot of space in your Mac is to compress these huge files.

To do it:

• Select the file or folder you want to compress.
• Right-click it and choose “Compress folder/filename…”
• After clicking it, a .zipfile will appear beside the file. Compressed files acquire the .zip extension and as you will notice, it has a smaller space compared to the uncompressed file/folder yet they have the same contents.

3. Transfer files to an external hard drive or flash drive.

This option is never new to anyone since flash drives are now used anywhere. External hard drive and flash drives can be your handy ally in optimizing your storage.

Practically speaking, if you don’t want to delete or compress huge files, you may go through your library and transfer those huge files effortlessly  to your external hard drive or flash drive. This will save you not just space but also time.

4. Clear browsing data such as history, cookies, and cache.

It is undeniable that there’s not a day we don’t browse through the internet and along with these activities, we tend to store small amounts of data such as history, cookies, and cache that become too heavy in our disk space in the long run.

This calls for clearing your browsing data from time to time and only when you do it, you will realize how powerful this method is.

To learn more about how to clear your browsing data, click here.

5. Download and use Mac cleaner applications.

Year after year, the advancement of technology has offered new applications and these include Mac cleaner applications that are now employed by most Mac users.

Try your hardest to look for the best Mac cleaner applications as utilizing it can be a powerful method of clearing up your hard disk space.

They are optimized and meticulously designed to perform all of the mentioned options.

One example of a good Mac cleaner application is CleanMyMac X. It’s an app used by a significant population of Mac users. Like mentioned earlier, this Mac cleaner software can do these things stated above with so much ease.

Imagine, you just have to download one app to do it all. How powerful, right?

Final Words

Mac has given you ready options to clear up your disk space, and what’s more convenient about it is that they’re just a few easy clicks away. If you are running short of space, you will never go wrong settling on one of these powerful methods to free up your hard disk space.

Have you tried one of these steps? Which method do you prefer? Let us know in the comments below.