How to Free up Disk Space on Macbook? A Mac device made in the last ten years has a lot less disk space than its predecessors as far more files are stored in the cloud. This sounds good on paper but the reality is that the hard disk will soon become full especially as storage will be around 128GB figure.
As such, to keep your Mac beautiful you should get into the habit of freeing up disk space on a regular basis, more information on this can be found here, and here are a few fast and easy tips to free up disk space.
How to Free up Disk Space on Macbook?
1 Let Your Mac Do the Work
Your Mac has tools to help you manage disk space and this is a good place to start your disk space liberation journey. So:
- Open the Apple Menu, About This Mac
- Select the Storage tab.
- Click Manage.
You’ll see file types on the left-hand side and options on the right. Select each one and decide what you want to do with the files. Each file type heading has different options so do it one by one. Well done, you’ve made a good start.
2 Use iCloud for Image Files
It is good practice to use iCloud to optimise space on your Mac. The full resolution of your image and video files live on iCloud, and much smaller file-sized versions are available for viewing on your Mac. If you want to edit a file, you download the full version, work on it, and then put it back into iCloud.
To do this, go:
- Launch Photos.
- Photos menu, Preferences.
- Open iCloud and ensure the iCloud Photos box is ticked.
- Check the box labelled Optimize Mac Storage.
- Close Preferences and quit Photos.
Now your full resolution hard drive hungry files are in the cloud, leaving your Mac nice and free.
3 Take a Deep Dive into Your Storage
Sometimes, there is an app or a process that is resource hungry. As such, it is worth taking the time to review the files and see what ones are taking up space.
- Open Finder, Home folder.
- Press Command-F to start a new search.
- Click the dropdown menu, Kind, choose Other.
- Scroll down to File Size and choose it.
So far so good but now what? Well from here you have options to identify large files and decide whether or not to send them to Trash.
You can:
- Select “is great than” and enter a file size. Providing you have selected This Mac, any file size greater than what you specified will show.
- You can then review the files, and decide whether to send them to Trash or an external drive.
- If you click Save you’ll save the search for quick reference next time.
4 Use a Dedicated App
There are plenty of apps designed to do a lot of these functions automatically. They also have other features which are very useful such as antivirus and malware. Most of what is outlined here is accomplished at a button push greatly freeing your time.
With apps of this kind, you tend to get what you pay for but most let you try before you buy. Something to think about if you want to avoid the hassle of keeping your hard disk space liberated manually.
For more information visit Apple Support.
Wrap Up
If you’re using a Mac made in the last ten years, you’re likely storing more files in the cloud than on your hard drive. But even with cloud storage, you can still run out of space quickly. To keep your Mac running smoothly, it’s important to free up disk space on a regular basis. Hope now you know How to Free up Disk Space on Macbook. For more information on how to do this, check out the links in the paragraph above.
Belayet Hossain is a Senior Tech Expert and Certified AI Marketing Strategist. Holding an MSc in CSE (Russia) and over a decade of experience since 2011, he combines traditional systems engineering with modern AI insights. Specializing in Vibe Coding and Intelligent Marketing, Belayet provides forward-thinking analysis on software, digital trends, and SEO, helping readers navigate the rapidly evolving digital landscape. Connect with Belayet Hossain on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin or read my complete biography.