No, I will not buy a brand new Macbook just because this one is out of storage already!
This one’s only 6 months old, GENIUS!
I guess I have to take matters into my own hands...
Hey there!
I’m Trisha Hershberger and welcome to DIY in 5,
the show where we make tech simple for the everyday user.
With Apple locking down hardware upgrades except for all but the recently announced
Mac Pro Cheese Grater, Google it, we need to be a bit creative
in making space with our built-in storage.
If you’re looking to upgrade to the new Mac OS Catalina, or just need more space
to download a few more DIY in 5 videos, we’re here to help you out.
Let’s jump right into how to free up disk space on your Mac computer.
First, let’s look at the built-in methods using MacOS.
We’re using MacOS Mojave, so if you’re using an older version it might look a little different.
First, Go to Menu, About this Mac, then Click on the Storage tab.
You can see a rough breakdown of what’s taking up the most room on your system -
- anything from iOS backups to photos or even system files.
Click on Manage and now you’ll see a rough overview of all the larger file types occupying space on your system.
You can easily eliminate gigabytes worth of storage here by simply clicking through each
of the categories and getting rid of what you don’t need.
Delete any applications you’ve downloaded but don’t use, remove any older iOS backups,
clean up the documents folder of any large files or downloads you don’t need anymore.
We’re able to free up about 50 gigs just going through the built-in tool!
Huzzah!
If you want to go even further, there are also several third-party tools you can use
to help root out those pesky, rogue gigabytes you want to free up.
First app we’ll mention is “Clean my Mac”.
It’s an incredibly well-designed app with a pretty gorgeous interface that makes
cleaning up your system fairly easy.
It does all the basics of the built-in tool MacOS has but takes it a few steps further.
It can identify files by size, type, age and a few other ways.
The program can even find all those random archive files like zip files which you download
and never need after you open them.
There’s a free version that’ll delete up to 500 megabytes, but if you want to automatically
delete more than that it’ll cost you $35.
For that price you do get a few other tools like Malware removal,
system cleaner, RAM free-er upper, and some other things you may or may not ever need.
The second one we’ll mention is Duplicate Sweeper that does just that -
finds all those duplicated your files on your system and helps you get rid of them.
So if your file naming involves things like DIY Script V2, V3 final, V3 final final (hehe)
then this might be for you.
There’s a free version that will identify all the duplicate files on your Mac,
but the $20 version will go one step farther and do the actual deleting so you don’t have to
go folder by folder to do the dirty work yourself.
Another way to free up storage on your Mac is to move it on up... to the iCloud!
Let’s face it there might be some files you need, but only sometimes.
And for all those thousands of files you don’t need daily, cloud storage might be a good option for you.
Ideally, it’s nothing crazy sensitive you’re putting up there but if it is,
make sure you at least have 2 factor authentication.
Hacking fears aside, the other downsides to cloud storage are the cost and speed.
There’s usually a monthly fee for anything over a few gigabytes,
and if you’re not connected to a decent internet connection the experience can be a bit choppy.
But hey it’s no longer taking up valuable disk space, right?
So how many gigabytes of data were you able to free up using these methods?
I mean, it’s not a competition but it’s more fun if it is.
Our computer here we used for testing lost about 50GB - not too shabby.
Let us know your high wipe score in the comments and don’t forget to like this video and
subscribe to this channel so you don’t miss out on any future tech tips.
I’m Trisha Hershberger and I’ll see ya next time with more DIY in 5.