Free space is your strategic instrument ensuring that your Mac runs smoothly and operates at the maximum of its capacity. Thus, as soon as you notice that your Mac’s speed reduces and you have some performance issues, it’s time to check the available storage.
What takes up space? Is the amount of storage allocated to each data type reasonable? The diagnostics will help you see the bigger picture and make decisions regarding your storage optimization.
How to Diagnose System Storage?
The simplest way to see what files occupy space on your hard disk is to open the iOS menu and go to the section “About This Mac.” There, you will find the “Storage” tab by clicking on which you will see the segmentation of free and occupied disk space by file categories. As a rule, the white color of the bar signifies free space, while other colors denote music, system files, iCloud, etc.
Top Ways to Save Space
A glance at that diagnostic result will show whether your storage space use is optimal or not. For instance, if you see that System files occupy over two-thirds of your total memory, it’s time to take urgent action and organize a cleanup.
The good news is that Apple producers have already made everything to simplify our lives and help us manage storage on our Macs. Thus, by visiting the “Storage Management” section, you can get several automated solutions from the manufacturer: iCloud storage, the Optimize Storage feature, trash emptying, and clutter reduction. Let’s briefly touch upon every option in more detail.
Use the Optimized Storage Feature
The Optimized Storage feature is a built-in function of modern Macs that allows more optimal and automated management of multimedia content and email attachments that you don’t need anymore.
Let’s suppose you downloaded some movie or TV series, watched it, and don’t open it anymore. Your Mac thus decides that the content is already redundant and removes it from the hard drive to give you more operational capacity. The same happens with attachments of old emails; the system stores only recent attachments that you may need.
Use iCloud
Heavier iCloud use helps you transfer the essential files and data to the cloud instead of cluttering the hard drive’s working space. In the Storage Management menu, you can choose among various options, such as desktop file and document storage in iCloud, the automatic transfer of photos to that storage, or message and attachment storage in that destination.
Take Away the Trash
Everybody knows that a full trash bin exacerbates the problem of insufficient memory, but only a few remove the trash regularly. By setting the Trash Emptying function in the Storage Management section, you agree that the folder will be automatically emptied every 30 days. In this way, your system will stay cleaner from the clutter even when you forget about Trash bin cleaning.
Go Through Redundant Files
The “Reduce Clutter” feature allows you to eradicate large files that you don’t use anymore. You could have downloaded an extensive PDF report or a movie several months ago, looking through them and forgetting about the files entirely.
The system will find and oust them from the system to optimize the system’s memory. But don’t be afraid to lose some vital files – the audit of clutter is manually manageable, and you will be allowed to go through the list of identified files and tick only the ones that can be removed painlessly.
More Automated Storage Cleanup Options
Mac producers take memory optimization seriously, so they have embedded automated memory-saving features into their iOS, starting with Catalina. So, if your iOS version is Catalina or a later one, you’ll have duplicate downloads automatically detected and removed and will get reminders of app installer deletion. Besides, the iOS will clear caches and logs for you, regularly auditing the files you don’t use
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