If you want to check what’s in your Trash before deleting files, open it first, and then empty Trash by clicking on the button in the top right corner.
Here’s how to clean up Trash (on some Macs, it’s called Bin): They are still there, just in a different spot on Mac. You probably know moving files to the Trash folder doesn’t mean they stop eating up storage. If you want to get rid of the unneeded stuff, get rid of the files you’ve already deleted. In the following section, we explain how to dive under your Mac’s hood to remove it all step by step. From old caches to backups, there are lots of unneeded files suffocating storage on Mac - most of them you never see. Unfortunately, Apple’s storage optimization doesn’t help with deleting tons of hidden files and system junk. You can customize optimization settings flexibly, according to your needs. To access the feature, click on the Apple logo > About This Mac > Storage > Manage.
Based on Apple recommendations, it allows you to set up automatic Trash cleaning, keep your movies and TV shows in iCloud (available on demand), or automatically remove movies you’ve already watched. This alone can save you lots of disk space.
In case you have less than 15%, it’s time to free up some space and let your Mac breathe.Īpple has a built-in optimization feature for basic storage control.
On my Mac, around 75% of the storage is free, which means I don’t have to worry about the Mac startup disk full issue just yet. If your computer has two startup disks (which is rare but possible), the storage is divided between the two - 250GB on each. The storage bar also shows details on what types of files are eating up the used storage.Īs you see from the screenshot, total storage is 500GB.
How to check disk space on Macįirst of all, ensure you know the name of your startup disk. Read more info about scratch disks are full. Anything that goes beyond that might cause performance issues.
The maximum amount of storage your files can occupy on a startup disk should be 85%. The warning message or a notification about “Mac startup disk almost full” lets you know there’s little space left on the main drive. What does “Your disk is almost full” mean? Mac power users often use external hard drives in addition to the main one, but an average user has only one - the startup disk. Since it’s essentially your main disk drive, your Mac “starts up” from this disk (hence the name). Simply put, the Mac startup disk is a hard drive containing your operating system and all the apps installed on Mac. Spoiler: Moving files to Trash isn’t going to fix it.
In this article, we provide step-by-step instructions on how to avoid the “startup disk full” problem. What makes the situation challenging is that most of these Mac storage gobblers are system files you never actually see.īy keeping the Mac startup disk tidy in the first place, you can avoid numerous issues that hamper performance. This usually happens if you have too many outdated files, old logs, caches, and apps you no longer use. Running low on storage might cause your Mac to slow down or behave strangely.
Once “Your disk is almost full” notification pops up on a screen, it’s time to do some work. Make your Mac fast and secure with CleanMyMac X.