What is “Other” on Mac Storage How to Clean It Up! (Quick Guide)

November 18, 2020November 10, 2022 Sara Jones

Apple computers and laptops, no matter how optimized they are, can sometimes get pretty laggy and this situation only leaves us to wonder where all of this unresponsiveness is coming from.

We, then, start to suspect that there must be something wrong with our devices.

And as a not-so-techie guy, what should you do? Call customer support? Call your neighbor? Or perhaps, you just end up shutting down your computer hoping that it will recover its speed when you restart it?

But now, here you are, keying in your problem to your browser! And luckily, you have come across this page where we are going to guide you on how to speed up your Mac without spending bucks calling customer support.

First, we are going to give you an idea as to why your mac is slowing down and then, we will provide you 5 Simple Guides to Speed Up Your Mac.

What is “Other” on Mac Storage?

Have you explored your Mac well enough? With all its specifications, you can only be sure that your Mac is much faster and more powerful compared to any computer in the market. But, what is probably causing it to slow down?

One thing we are going to teach you is about the “Other” files that consume a lot of your disk space. Just so you know, the available disk space is a crucial indicator of how responsive your computer can be. Sadly, only few people monitor their computer’s disk space and knowing this means you’re one step ahead of speeding up your mac.

For Mac users, you can access your disk space by hovering over the Apple logo on the upper left corner of your device. Go to “About this Mac” and click on “Storage”. There, you will see how much of your total disk space is available for use.

You will also be able to identify which parts/files of your system occupy most of your disk space by just placing your cursor on each partition.

Now, you have noticed that there is “Other” in one of the partitions and it is more likely to be eating up most of your disk space – much more than that of your system and apps. So, what are these “Other” files, you ask?

To simply put it, “Other” files are files that do not specifically belong to any storage category like Music, Document, Apps and so these may include the following:

Documents with the following file type (.pdf, .doc, .psd, etc.)
User personal data
macOS system folders and temporary files
App plugins and extensions, fonts and other accessories
Compressed files including disk images, dmg’s and zips
Cache files contained as browser cache, or media stored locally (e.g. creative cloud); and
A number of files that are not covered with the mentioned storage partitions.

With all this bulleted information, you can only say how large of a volume it will invade your total disk space. But, of course, we are here to also help you free up your disk space and recover the usual speed of your Mac!

Below, we have listed down simple steps to speed up your Mac.

5 Simple Guides to Clean Up and Optimize Your Sluggish Mac

1.Close unused running applications.

Speed up your mac by closing running applications that are not in use. Do you use extra desktops on your Mac? Desktop 1, Desktop 2, and so on? If you do this, you are slowing down your system’s speed. By closing some running applications, you refresh your RAM and you improve your system’s overall speed and performance.

If you have opened a number of applications and you can’t trace some of them, you can directly go to the Activity Monitor which serves as the Task Manager for Mac users. To get to the Activity Monitor, go to “Spotlight Search” by pressing command + space bar. Then, type Activity Monitor.

The Activity Monitor shows you the running condition of your CPU and all its running processes. There, you will be able to stop the unnecessary processes and applications of your system and increase your computer’s speed.

2.Cool down your Mac computer with a cooling pad.

Have you observed how your MacBook heats up over a long period of time using it? And when it does, you gradually see the delay in response from your system. If you’re using your MacBook regularly, you will eventually experience this kind of transition and we don’t want that to happen to anyone.

Consider buying your own cooling pad for your Mac as it will help regulate your MacBook’s temperature and improve its performance. In a separate review, we have listed down this year’s best cooling pads to make it easy for you: see here!

3.Free up your disk space by transferring files to a USB flash drive or any external hard drive.

You should also consider having your own USB flash drive or ssd external hard drive so you can free up your disk space by transferring portions of it seamlessly anytime, anywhere.

Given that Mac computers come with a little built-in disk space, a SSD external hard drive can be handy at times. If you are currently looking or about to look for the best SSD external hard drive for your MacBook, then this will surely help you decide which to buy: Best SSD External Hard Drives (1TB, 2TB, 4TB)!

4.Delete unnecessary files from your computer.

In case your external hard drive is full and you don’t have anything else where you can store some of your files, then it is time to sort your library! Delete old and obsolete files, or clear your downloads, and empty your trash.

We tend to be mindless about it but these actually take up most of the disk space and are one of the reasons why your Mac is slowing down. It is high time to go to Finder and clean up this mess and observe how your Mac improves after doing it.

5.Speed up your Mac by running the CleanMyMac X app.

Developers have found a way to create applications that can perform all of the abovementioned steps to speed up your Mac. Unfortunately, some of these applications do not come, at all, free.

But fret no more, CleanMyMac X app is free and literally functions as its name!

This is a beginner-friendly app that can do a smart scan. By that, it goes through your system and sort your documents thoroughly and efficiently in just minutes.

It automatically identifies malware, which you can remove to increase protection and detect “Other” files that you wished to be deleted from your Mac. With CleanMyMac X, you can now speed up your Mac without going through your files one by one.

Final Words

Interesting, isn’t it?

So, in order to speed up your Mac, follow these 5 simple steps and you should be good to go. Tested and proven, these steps are all safe to execute so you can try out any of the listed procedures to speed up your Mac. Buy your Mac the accessories it needs and free up its disk space from time to time for it to function optimally.

Be extra careful when downloading apps from the web as some may not function as what is desired. If there’s one app that I personally recommend in cleaning up your Mac, it’s CleanMyMac X. This app has a lot in store for you and perhaps, it will become your go-to solution when your Mac starts slowing down.

Do you have an application in mind? Or have you already tried using CleanMyMac X? How’s your experience? Leave a comment and let us know!