Like all computers, even on a Mac, the internal disk has a limited amount of available space to store files on. During use, even a Mac, like any PC, stores temporary files, junk and obsolete files as well as the largest files represented by videos, movies, podcasts, music and high resolution photos.
For those who have had a Mac for some time and have seen the free space on the disk decrease a little too much, we have created this guide where we will see together all that can be done to free up space without having to delete personal files .
In this way we can continue to use the Mac without fear that the space may end at any moment.
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1) Empty the Trash
This is the first operation to be done to recover space on the Mac, trivial, but often forgotten.
In the recycle bin, files deleted over time accumulate, therefore, every now and then, it must be emptied, especially if you often delete videos and films.
To empty the Mac recycle bin, just right-click on its icon in the bottom bar (usually the Recycle Bin is located at the bottom right) and use the Empty Recycle Bin item .
In this way we will delete all the files that we had removed from the folders but still present in the memory.
2) Restrict cloud storage folders
If you have installed several "cloud" programs such as iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive and OneDrive, it is worth limiting the size of the files and folders that are synchronized on your computer.
Each of these applications allows, in the settings, to choose which folders you want to keep also on the disk and which ones can remain available only online, in the cloud, without taking up disk space.
For example, using iCloud we can optimize the space of the files and folders synchronized locally on the Mac, leaving only those necessary (a copy of the files will still be accessible on iCloud anyway).
This menu can be reached by clicking on the Mac symbol at the top left, then clicking on About this Mac and then on Storage -> Manage .
The items to use in this case are Archive to iCloud, Optimize storage and Empty the trash completely .
Another item that we can take advantage of is Make Order, which allows you to sort files more precisely and also view any duplicate files, so you can delete them more easily.
3) Delete additional languages
It is worth checking how many languages are installed on the Mac and, if necessary, remove the unused ones by leaving only Italian and English.
An external program called Monolingual can be used to select the languages to be removed.
We select the languages we want to remove and click Remove to free up a lot of space from the internal memory of the Mac.
To manage the Mac correctly, just keep the Italian and English languages on the operating system, which can always be useful in case of problems or untranslated warning windows (very rare on Macs).
4) Find out what exactly takes up disk space
Without checking all the user folders and documents, you can install on the Mac a program called Disk Inventory X that scans the hard disk showing which files and folders occupy the most.
Once installed on the system it will be easy to understand what to delete to save space, since the folder paths where the largest files are, will also be shown, even with a graphic display, so as to know what is taking up so much space on our Mac.
Just follow the paths with the largest dimensions to find out what all that space occupies and proceed with the cancellation.
We pay attention to what we delete: some very large files are system files necessary for the Mac to work, so let's get our hands only in the user's folders or in the Downloads folders to be on the safe side.
5) Use CCleaner to remove the junk files
To delete temporary files, junk and all that is obsolete, you can use Ccleaner, one of the most popular programs for Windows PCs, also available on Macs.
Ccleaner for Mac scans your computer and can also recover a lot of space, depending on how many areas are selected.
We will thus be able to eliminate the temporary files of many programs (including installed browsers) and recover as much space exactly as happens on Windows using the same program.
6) Use multiple streaming services and limit photo syncs
As for iPhoto, it is also convenient to empty the trash of the application and, from iCloud preferences, disable photo streaming to avoid too many copies of the photos.
As already noted in articles not specific to Macs, it is no longer worth keeping tons of songs and music on your PC when you can listen to each song, for free, with programs like Spotify.
In this regard, I wrote the guide to use Spotify instead of iTunes, at least for listening to music on the computer.
Even the photos can be organized in a different program than the heavy iPhoto, also taking advantage of the web apps where to store photos like Flickr or Google+ .
7) Remove all unnecessary software
The unused programs should uninstall them considering, also in this case, that for many programs there are alternatives in the form of web apps that work directly from the web browser.
To clean applications on the Mac, you can install the Appcleaner program that allows you to remove them completely, including the temporary files and installation files that each program inevitably creates.
To use it, just drag the application you want to remove directly from the launchpad to its window, to proceed with the complete uninstallation.
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