When Apple introduced its MacBooks with built-in flash storage that starts at just 128 gigabytes, the question became: 'Is 128GB enough for me?'
Tough question. The answer in most cases? Probably. And maybe it's even more than enough. But it might be far too little, too. Here's how to figure it out:
Retina Display Four million pixels. One immersive experience. With a resolution of 2560-by-1600 for. Don't have enough storage on your Apple computer for all the apps and documents you need? It's time for some cleanup. Here's how to free up disk space on your Mac. about this macmore info. Look at the four tabs in the upper right hand corner of the box under the red, yellow, and grey dots 'overview, displays, storage, memory'. Click on storage to see how much space you have and what categories it is allocated to.
Do you take a lot of photos? A lot of video?
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If you take a lot of photos and video and store them on your hard drive, find out how many gigabytes (GB) they take up. In iPhoto, you can select your events or photos and click on the View menu to 'Get Info.' You should be able to see how many photos you have total and the storage space they take up. If you're using Apple's newer Photos app, you can find out how much storage space your photos and video take up by opening Photos, then clicking on the Photos menu at the top left, choosing Preferences, then clicking on the General selection. Click the Show in Finder button, which will show you your Photos Library. Make sure this library file is selected, then go to the top left of your screen and choose File, then Get Info. The resulting window will show you the size of your Photos library.
I have more than 24,000 photos and videos that take up 230GB of storage space.
So is 128GB enough for me? No way.
Most people have far less photos, though.
It is possible to offload photos to a fast external hard drive or one of the cost-effective USB 3.0 flash 'thumb' drives, which now store up to 256GB at reasonable prices — check out, 'Best External Hard Drive for Macs, Plus 256GB Flash Drives' for more detail.
You can even store your iPhoto or Photos library on a connected hard drive. I don't like to, though. I prefer the simplicity of keeping it all on one drive, in my MacBook Pro, which also makes it easier to backup. Downside is, Apple's move to super-fast solid-state hard drives (flash storage) means that the company is stingy with its drive space in its entry-level models.
What's worse is that it's not easy to upgrade SSDs like old-school (slower) hard drives.
What about Apple's iCloud for storage?
Another option is to upgrade your iCloud storage and store all your photos in iCloud with optimized smaller images on your MacBook. This is a great service, but you'll pay every month. For me, that's $9.99 a month, which is $120 a year . . . forever. And if I ever have trouble accessing my iCloud account, I'm not sure I'll be able to navigate Apple's security hoops — or that family or loved ones will be able to if, say, I were hit by a bus.
Should I spend more and get 256GB or 512GB instead?
Again, tough question. The price leap into 256GB to a new MacBook Pro or MacBook Air is a good idea for regular people (non-professionals) in these three situations:
- You have a lot of photos and video . . . and you'll likely be taking more photos and video.
- You don't like the idea of sorting and storing photos and video on external hard drives.
- You have a lot of movies or TV shows and you want them easily available because you don't have fast Internet access for streaming or downloading.
The good news is, new Thunderbolt and USB-C hard drives are wicked fast — and good USB 3.0 drives are nearly as fast — both which will ease your photo access and transfer pain. Still, it's not as portable, and you'll have to pay attention to what, where, and how you're storing your files. To me, the ease of management is worth a couple hundred dollars over the course of my usual 3-to-4-year MacBook Pro lifespan between upgrades.
How to get a software update on mac. If you have a MacBook Air or Pro that has run out of storage, don't despair — OWC may have an upgrade kit for your MacBook model.
If you find yourself with a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro that has run out of storage and you simply need more, don't despair — Other World Computing (OWC) has upgrade kits for the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro that you can use to upgrade your built-in storage. It's not exactly difficult but it's not exactly easy, either. Any time you crack your case you run the risk of accidentally breaking something important or expensive. Fortunately, OWC includes the tools you need for opening your MacBook and installing new storage. Plus, you'll get a handy enclosure for your old SSD storage, giving you a sweet little external drive.
Update: Transcend is now offering upgrade kits for some MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models — but none are available for the newest MacBook models yet.
What About Using Your SDXC Card Slot for More Mac Storage?
If you want more on-board, nearly built-in storage, you have two cool options, both of which are tiny flash-based drives in the shape of camera memory cards. They plug into the SDXC card slot on your older generations of MacBook Air or MacBook Pro — the newest MacBooks and MacBook Pros no longer have SDXC card slots. They only have USB-C ports.
The TarDisk Pear system is a tiny drive that you can combine with your built-in drive to create a single 'fused' storage system on your MacBook Air or Pro.
For all intents and purposes, the Transcend JetDrive Liteacts like a little USB thumb drive — but it fits flush into the SDXC card slot instead and appears on your Mac like an external drive that is always on, always available. It appears as a separate storage option to your Mac's operating system. Quite handy.
The TarDisk Pear system, on the other hand, also uses the SDXC card slot but it combines with your built-in storage to form a single 'fused' drive. If you want a near-permanent — but easy storage solution for your MacBook Air or Pro, the TarDisk Pear system might be your best bet.
Of course, if you use your SDXC card slot for loading photos, you can pick up a small USB-based card reader like the Kingston Digital MobileLite G4 Card Reader to easily load photos and video off of your SD camera cards through a USB port.
Final 128GB Recommendation?
If you will start taking a lot of photos and video — especially if you use an iPhone 6 or 7 that lets you do things like shoot HD video at 60fps — spend the $200 extra to bump yourself up into the next model of MacBook Air, MacBook, or MacBook Pro and get 256GB of storage. If you buy from a third-party (like B&H) that often offers a slight discount and free shipping, you can lower the total cost at time of purchase to help offset the hit to your budget. For instance, at a third-party online store like B&H, you can often get into a 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display or with Touch Bar with 256GB of storage for about $100 less than Apple's price and only about $100 more than Apple's 128GB version. If you consider drive time and fuel to get to an Apple store, along with B&H's free shipping and the likelihood that you won't be charged sales tax . . . suddenly you might get the savings you need to get into the right MacBook for you.
In this age of terabyte flash drives and cloud storage, it's easy to forget that storage space is finite. But it is, and as software gets more sophisticated and must-have apps become more plentiful, you can eat through a 1TB SSD in no time at all.
Sure, in theory, if your Mac hard drive gets full you can just upgrade, but at around $800 for a 2TB iMac SSD and $2800 for a 4TB SSD neither option is exactly affordable. Plus, it's not just room for files that you get from a hard drive, it directly affects performance too. Let your hard drive get full and see how sluggish your Mac runs. Actually, don't do that you'll drive yourself crazy.
For optimum performance, you should continually monitor Mac hard drive space to make sure there's always room for your next big download. Keep reading to learn how to find storage on your Mac and use it more efficiently.
How to check storage on your Mac?
How To Check Macbook Air Storage Capacity Comparison
The simplest way to check Mac hard drive space is by accessing About This Mac.
- Click on the Apple icon and choose About This Mac.
- Click on Storage.
Note: If you're running an older version of OS X, you may need to click More Info to find the Storage option.
The Storage tab will show you how much space is being taken up by the System, Documents, Apps, and more. It will also display available space.
What to do when your hard drive is full?
If your Mac hard drive is nearing capacity, your system will let you know with a 'disk almost full' warning prompting you to free up some space.
If you see this warning it's best to act on it. Good multiplayer mac games. To free up space on your startup disk you'll need to do one or all of these three things:
- Delete files
- Move files over to cloud storage or an external hard drive
- Install a second hard drive or add a larger startup disk
Options 1 and 2 are the easiest, but if you're thinking of upgrading your existing disk, check out our guide.
If you're running macOS Sierra or higher, you can get some free space by optimizing your storage with in-build tools. To do this, go to the Apple menu and select About This Mac. Here, go to the Storage tab and press Manage.
In the window that appears, you can see some tips on reclaiming free space. Here's how to manage storage on your Mac:
- Click Store in iCloud. Choose what data you want to transfer to iCloud and confirm.
- Click Optimize to remove movies and TV programs.
- Turn on Empty Bin Automatically.
- Click Reduce Clutter to review all your documents.
This is a quick and easy way to free up space but it's not ideal. You see, when files are moved to iCloud, junk and useless files are moved too. This means you max out your iCloud storage quicker and end up having to pay for more. For this reason, we recommend using CleanMyMac X to detect junk files and completely remove them from your system.
Delete large and old files first
Usually, old large files are the biggest space wasters on our Macs. It probably happens to anyone: you open your brand new MacBook and download multiple files, which seem to be very useful at first. But, later, you forget about these items, and they end up cluttering your storage. It's time to dig up these old massive files. And CleanMyMac X can help you out with that task.
With a dedicated Large & Old Files module, you can quickly clear your Mac.
- Download CleanMyMac X (a free trial is available).
- Install and launch the app.
- Go to the Large & Old files module.
- Press Scan.
Now, all you have to do is select old files that CleanMyMac X has found and press Remove.
Another CleanMyMac X useful feature is Space Lens. It builds a virtual map of your storage, so you can see where all your space is gone. You need just to hover over any folder to find out its weight or click it to view its contents.
How to free up Mac hard drive space manually
Deleting files manually is a simple task, but it can also be time-consuming. The best way to go about it is to find old documents, downloads, music, and applications you no longer need and drag them to the Trash.
When you do this you'll need to remember to empty the Trash, otherwise, files will just sit there and free up no space at all.
- Right-click Trash in the Dock.
- Select Empty Bin and confirm.
You can also remove old iTunes Library backups, iOS backups and updates, and clear cached files using the Finder.
- Open a Finder window and select Go in the menu bar.
- Click on Go to Folder and enter one of the following commands:
- Caches:
~/Library/Caches - iTunes Library backups:
~/Music/iTunes/Previous iTunes Libraries - iOS backups:
~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/ - iOS software updates iPad:
~/Library/iTunes/iPad Software Updates - iOS software updates iPhone:
~/Library/iTunes/iPhone Software Updates
Best free zip rar software. 3. Browse each of the folders and delete any files you no longer need.
As said, clearing files manually is easy but it comes with one rather sizeable caveat: moving things to Trash leaves behind a residue — leftover pieces of files that serve no purpose other than to take up hard drive space. There you are doing your best to remove files only for Mac to be incapable of fully deleting whatever you want to get rid of.
So, what can you do about that? Yep… CleanMyMac X.
Freeing up Mac hard drive space with CleanMyMac X
CleanMyMac X scours your system for all old, outdated, and broken files, and completely removes them from your system. It's the quickest and easiest way to free up a lot of space at once.
If you need to optimize disk space in a hurry, download CleanMyMac X and select the option to clean up System Junk. This will remove old cache files and logs, broken app data, unused languages, and excessive versions of documents in a couple of clicks. Best slots to play in vegas 2016.
- Download and launch CleanMyMac X.
- Choose System Junk from the menu.
- Click Scan.
- Click Clean.
A full disk is something all Mac users experience at some point. Thankfully, it's easy to reclaim space using Mac's own optimization feature or the Finder if you're doing things manually, or CleanMyMac X if you prefer a more comprehensive solution. As you'll likely need to clean up the hard drive a few times a year, we'd suggest going down the CleanMyMac X route but, of course, we're biased. Try the different methods and see what works best for you.
Keep your Mac in good shape
I hope you managed to find out what exactly took too much space on your Mac. Here're some tips to prevent clutter in your storage in the future:
- Clear old files
To use your storage more efficiently, you need to declutter your Mac once in a while. Remove apps, documents, photos, and media that you don't need on your Mac. Transfer your data to the hard drive or store it in the cloud. A perfectly organized storage also boosts your productivity, which is another advantage of keeping your space tidy.
- Delete apps completely
And by 'completely,' I mean together with all the files associated with the app. Dragging an app to the Trash will probably leave its data in your system. So, make sure you remove your apps using native uninstallers or special tools, like CleanMyMac X.
- Empty Trash
This is pretty straightforward advice, but many of us still forget to do it. Trashed files can take gigantic amounts of space. Remember to clear the Bin after you deleted some files on your Mac.
- Update your software
When you Mac acts laggy, you may think it's running out of space. But, outdated software can cause the same symptoms. Updates often contain bug fixes and improvements that can positively affect how your app and your Mac run. Updating both OS and apps to the latest version will ensure the smooth performance of your machine.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is taking up so much space on my Mac?
To find out what's taking storage on your Mac, go to the Apple menu. Here, choose About This Mac. Go to the Storage tab and click Manage to see how much space takes each category.
Macbook Air Additional Storage
How to find large files on Mac?
In Finder, press the little gear icon and select Show Search Criteria. Click Kind filter and choose Other. Then select File Size from the list. Select 'is greater than' criteria in the second box. Enter the size (for example, 400 MB), and then the search results will update, showing you the large files on your Mac.
How much space should the system take up on Mac?
Mac's system takes about 20 GB on average. If your Mac's system is considerably bigger than 20-25 GB, try emptying the Trash. Performing a clean install may be necessary in some cases – it will reinstall your OS and clear your storage. But, make sure to back up your data first.
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