Open the Finder from your Dock, then click on the Downloads folder in the left-side panel.

zip archives and app installers are safe to get rid of. Files you often use or want to keep should stay untouched, but old. It's advised that you look through these files before deleting them. Many users find large, unneeded files stored in their Downloads folder. By default, this is the location your Mac stores files you get from the internet. If your Mac is the primary device you use for browsing, you might have a ton of things in your Downloads folder. These are a bit harder to clear without instructions. This category often refers to temporary files and cache. It doesn't give you an answer to what's taking up gigabytes worth of storage, which is strange at first glance. The Other category might come across confusing to most Mac users. If you see that Photos & Videos take up a lot of space on your drive, look into cloud storage and external drives. Don't worry, you don't have to get rid of your precious memories of crucial work assets. It's common that files you want to keep are the ones taking up precious gigabytes on the startup disk. For example, if a huge chunk of your storage is Backups, focus on clearing those first. Get a detailed view of the contents on your device and see what's taking up the most space.ĭoing this, you might start to see ways you can immediately take action. Get an overview of your Mac's storageīefore you start clearing your files, it's good practice to check what's taking up space on your device. In this article, you can find 10 quick tips on how to create space on your Mac. But it's important you know which one of these folders is safe to clear.

This means temporary files, leftover strings from applications you've uninstalled, and so on. The macOS system, like other solutions such as Windows, has 'hidden' folders full of content. There's more on your computer than what meets the eye. Getting rid of these is out of the question, so what else can you do? We store files we want to keep and install applications we use on a daily basis. This is why you must get rid of the 'Your startup disk is almost full' message by creating some available space.

You also won't be able to install new applications or even save files. Due to the lack of storage, you'll start to notice hiccups in performance. The ominous text aims to warn users that their storage is filling up and they should free up some space.Ī Mac computer with no available space is a nightmare to operate. Many users run into the “Your startup disk is almost full” error message as a result of this. Most Mac computers have limited storage space available.

Empty startup disk mac