How to Check Mac Disk Space, How to check space on Mac
Technology

Making Room: How to Check Disk Space on Mac?

Does it take a long time for your Mac to start? In that case, there might be too much going on with your hard disk drive or solid-state drive. Ok, but how do you check if it’s bogged down? Well, that’s quite simple. That’s why this article exists in the first place.

Today, we’ll cover how to check disk space on Mac, as well as how to clear some of it to make your Mac faster. So keep reading to learn more and get your Mac in better condition.

How to Check Mac Disk Space Quickly?

The quickest and most simple way to check your current disk space is via the Finder. Open any new window with the Finder by pressing CMD+N simultaneously.

Or navigate to File, then click on New Finder Window in the bar. In the new window, click on the drive that you would like to check the disk space on. After doing so, at the bottom of the window, there should be a bar with several cars, and appended numbers below.

The bar represents the disk space in visual form, whereas the numbers tell you exactly how much space is used, and how much of it is free. You can do this every time you have a drive connected to your Mac by simply clicking on its name in the sidebar.

Most hard disk drives or solid state drives slow down when they are 70%+ full capacity, so it’s best to keep your system in check from time to time.

How to Check Disk Space On Mac In-Depth?

Alright, here’s another way that you can do the same thing but with a little bit more depth. Go to the Apple Menu in the top left of your screen. Click on About This Mac, then navigate to Storage.

You should have a single bar with color-coded estimates of the storage space that is used by each category of files that are present. You can move your cursor over each to get a more segmented detail.

If you want to get even more in-depth with the disk space, you can click on the Manage button. This will pop-up a window with Recommendations that are full of tools that allow you to clear your drives for space. These include but are not limited to automatic trash bin emptying, reminders, so on and so forth.

In that window, you can also click on any of the options to see how exactly disk usage is resembled by the type of file (category). This allows you to delete files that you might find no longer useful. However, be careful, because you can also delete things that you need.

As long as you know what you’re doing, you should be fine. If cleaning up your files a little doesn’t help with your startup, check out this guide on how to fix startup disk full on Mac.

How to Get More Disk Space?

Everybody wants to get more space on your drive, however, you can’t add more water to an overflowing cup, so don’t expect a different outcome here.

Nonetheless, you can remove that’s what already on it so that you have space for things that you might find more useful.

iCloud Storage

A great way to save your files, as well as reduce disk usage on your drives is to store on iCloud. Open up iCloud, and then click the Store in iCloud option.

You have several options. You can store all of the files from Documents and Desktop. When storage space is necessary, only files recently opened will be subject to storage on the device. Files stored only on the Cloud will have a download icon, which you can click twice to download them again.

The next option is to store full-resolution, original videos, and photos in the Cloud. When storage space is necessary, only optimized versions of the photos are kept on your device. To download the originals, you simply have to open it.

The final option is to store all of your attachments and messages in the Cloud. When storage space is necessary, only the messages and attachments used recently are kept on the device.

Storing files in the Cloud uses space from your storage plan. If you exceed or reach the limit, you can buy more storage or make more storage. iCloud storage starts at 50GB at $0.99 per month, and you purchase additional storage from your device instantly.

Optimization

The next option is to use optimization. When in the Manage tab of your storage space, click the Optimize button. You will subject to a prompt with several options.

When storage space is required, TV shows and movies purchased and already watched will be removed. You can download it either again when necessary.

The next option is to have mail automatically downloaded that you’ve received. You can manually download attachments at all times by opening them or saving them to your Mac.

And finally, mail downloads will only occur when a file or email is opened, or deliberately save to your device. Optimizing storage for email attachments, TV shows, and movies do not require the capacity of iCloud storage.

Clutter Reduction

Finally, you can click the Reduce Clutter option that identities files and folders that you might no longer need. Click the Review Files option, and then choose the categories that you would like to examine (Documents, Trash, Applications, Music Creation, etc).

You can delete files in these categories directly from the window. Other categories show the entire storage space that is used by the files of the apps. You can then open the application and determine whether or not you want to delete files from it.

Disk Space Checked & Optimized

Now that you know how to check disk space on Mac, and consequently, optimize it if it’s overbearing, you are well on your way to make your Mac better than before. In any case, you can always purchase affordable external storage with plenty of storage space so that you never run out.

If you’re interested in similar articles, feel free to check out the rest of our tech-related articles in the filtered section.

Article written by admin

By Profession, he is an SEO Expert. From heart, he is a Fitness Freak. He writes on Health and Fitness at MyBeautyGym. He also likes to write about latest trends on various Categories at TrendsBuzzer. Follow Trendsbuzzer on Facebook, Twitter and Google+.