PRIMARY MACHINE (Windows PC, laptop and tablet): spacedesk DRIVER. The primary machine runs a Windows service and the WDDM driver. This appears as an additional graphics adapter to Windows 10 and an additional monitor connection of the existing graphics adapter on Windows 7 and 8.1. Disk Space Pro is an app that shows disk drive information. This includes hard drives, external drives, network drives, DVD’s, CD’s, memory cards, and USB flash drives. Scan your home folders for a sortable list showing their size on your hard drive. Then single click in the scan results to drill down to subfolders.
Dec 20, 2019 How To Check Storage on Mac. It’s actually really simple to check your device’s memory! Here’s how: On the menu bar, click the Apple logo in the top left. Select ‘About this Mac’. Select ‘Storage’. This is the easiest method for how to see storage on Mac – but you can go deeper! Jun 05, 2019 The free space on the disk and the ordering of the directories are automatically recalculated. If you aren't sure what's in a file, you can double-click it or drag it onto an app. Apr 29, 2016 The free version of DaisyDisk is highly functional and will sweep your drive and allow simple quick access to any files or folders found (right-click on anything and choose ‘Show in Finder’), and you could get away with just using the free version if you wanted to, but if you enjoy DaisyDisk enough and find it to be a helpful companion to your Mac experience, the full version is money well. Disk Utility underwent a change when Apple released OS X El Capitan.The new version of Disk Utility is much more colorful and — some say — easier to use. Others say it lost many of the basic capabilities that old Mac hands took for granted.
All of your apps and files on your Mac are stored on your hard drive. You can easily check the free space on your hard disk to make sure you have enough space on your computer’s hard disk. For instance, your Mac (running OS X or macOS) always needs some free space to function effectively–a Mac drive needs about 20% of total space to effectively run and read/write.
Contents
- 2 Want more information on how your Mac uses drive space? Use these methods
- 4 My Mac’s disk is getting full, now what? How to free up storage space
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See a quick storage snapshot!
In macOS, select your Mac’s drive in the Finder and press the spacebar on your keyboard, to see a preview of your disk.
Want more information on how your Mac uses drive space? Use these methods
Method one: Use Get Info
We recommend this method because it shows your disk’s total capacity as well as how much space is currently available and how much space is used. Additionally, it shows how much space macOS considers purgeable.
- Right-click on your Mac’s disk icon and select Get Info
- Your disk’s total capacity of the drive and the available capacity is listed–look below that to find how much space is used
Wondering what purgeable space in on your Mac’s hard drive?
Purgeable storage contains files like local snapshots of Time Machine, some caches, sleep images, swap files, and other temporary system files. It also lists files you store in iCloud or your Trash bin.
It’s space that macOS frees up when needed by removing those files from your computer. Your Mac only removes these files when necessary.
Because your Mac can quickly reclaim this purgeable space, macOS counts it toward the available space metric rather than used.
Method two: check About this Mac
For all macOS versions and OS X Yosemite+
- Go to the Apple Menu and choose About this Mac
- Tap the Storage tab
- Wait for the information to populate
- Scroll your cursor through the storage use graph to see information on how much space is used by your apps, documents, photos, system, users, and so forth
- Press Manage to dive deeper into how you use storage on your Mac and access macOS’s storage recommendations
For OS X versions Mountain Lion or Mavericks
- Visit the Apple menu () > About This Mac
- Click More Info…
- Choose Storage
- Check how much space your audio, movies, photos, installed apps, and other files take up, and how much free, available, space you have.
Method 3: Open Finder
- Double-click your Mac’s hard disk icon on your desktop
- From the top menu, tap the View menu and select Show status bar
Use Disk Utility for an advanced view
If you want to know more, open Disk Utility to see your drive’s total capacity, available space, used space, and other information like the format and mount points.
Disk Utility also shows you all connected drives and provides options to repair or reformat your disks.
- Open Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility
- Wait for macOS to populate the data
- Tap your disk name to see it’s information
My Mac’s disk is getting full, now what? How to free up storage space
If you discover that your hard drive doesn’t have a lot of available space, there are some things you can do rather quickly to free up space!
We highly recommend that your Mac has at least 20% of its total space to find existing information and write new information
- Don’t forget to empty your trash
- Check out the storage recommendations your own Mac creates for you!
- Clear out all users’ downloads file
- Delete files and app you no longer need or use
- Move files over to an external hard drive (or cloud-based storage system–not iCloud)
- Remove duplicate or bad photos
- Consider upgrading your Mac’s hard drive with a larger and faster drive
Learn more tips on getting more free space on your Mac in this article: New Year, Quick Fixes for Your Mac for Better Performance and More Storage
Obsessed with tech since the early arrival of A/UX on Apple, Sudz (SK) is responsible for the editorial direction of AppleToolBox. He is based out of Los Angeles, CA.
Sudz specializes in covering all things macOS, having reviewed dozens of OS X and macOS developments over the years.
In a former life, Sudz worked helping Fortune 100 companies with their technology and business transformation aspirations.
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System cleanup in one click
Sometimes, you need to know how much storage space in on your Mac. Apple doesn’t make this info readily available because not many of us need to know about Mac storage often enough. It’s really easy to check, though – and there are even some alternatives that give you better options for managing your on-board memory!
People need to check their storage space for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it’s just good device management; sometimes your computer is running slowly, and storage is the first culprit you think of. Ideally, about ten percent of the storage space on your Mac should be free at all times so your computer can run smoothly.
Depending on which model you have, this can be tricky to accomplish routinely. Maybe you need to delete some older apps you’re not using, or the app isn’t supported anymore. Maybe you’re just holding onto old documents you no longer need.
Whatever your use-case, here’s how to check disk space on Mac.
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How To Check Storage on Mac
It’s actually really simple to check your device’s memory! Here’s how:
- On the menu bar, click the Apple logo in the top left
- Select ‘About this Mac’
- Select ‘Storage’
This is the easiest method for how to see storage on Mac – but you can go deeper! If you need a closer look at your Mac’s memory use, there are a few ways to go about it.
From the Storage screen, you can select ‘Manage,’ which takes you to a new window. Applications, Documents, Photos, and other sections can be found on the left of this window, and a detailed view of those files on the right.
You can also use Finder! To do so, Open Finder, go to the View menu item in the menu bar, and select ‘Show toolbar.’ You’ll see a new bar at the bottom of the Finder window showing the number if items for the section you have selected on the left-hand pane and the total amount of storage your Mac has available.
Disk Utility is another resource. Open Disk Utility, and it will launch into a view of the volume(s) on your Mac, which also shows how much space is used, and how much is free. (Keep in mind Disk Utility is meant for power users who want to manage their storage, and is a bit of overkill for most users.)
How To Manage Storage in macOS
There are also easy ways to manage the files or applications taking up room on your Mac.
In Finder, select the category from the left side pane, then the application or file you want to delete. Right-click on that file or app, select ‘delete,’ and it’ll be removed. From the System Information menu, simply select the file or app you want to get rid of, and select the ‘delete’ button on the bottom right of the window.
But these two methods often doesn’t solve the issue! One clever way to better manage the storage on your Mac is to use cloud storage options like iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive. Apple’s iCloud is woven into your AppleID, and using it is a very straightforward approach; it’s automatically added to the storage options for your Mac!
But iCloud is not the only solution for cloud storage on Mac. If you have something else, CloudMounter is the easiest and best way to manage all your cloud storage containers. It lives in your menu bar for easy access, and shows all your cloud storage options in Finder. It helps your Mac treat cloud storage as a local disk, making access and managing files really simple!
Best of all, CloudMounter uses 256-bit encryption, so your documents are always safe.
If all the menus and file size jargon of Apple’s Finder and System Information options is confusing, we’ve got a great solution for you. iStat Menus is a handy app that also lives in the Menu Bar, and gives a graphical overview of CPU and GPU use in real-time, network connections, and memory use. Instead of dipping and diving through Apple’s hierarchal menus, you can just click on iStat Menus to get the same information in a much better interface!
iStat Menus also allows you to keep the data surfaced directly on your menu bar. Instead of clicking the icon, you can choose to have things like CPU or memory usage as icons so the information is always available in real-time. Awesome!
Get CMM X to keep your Mac clean
Download the best app that deprives your computer of clutter — from file leftovers to unneeded apps. So that your Mac never lacks storage.
Probably the best (and definitely the most powerful) option for managing your Mac’s memory is CleanMyMacX. Like iStat Menus, it has a drop-down window from the menu bar showing details like CPU or memory use, as well as which apps may be kicking your Mac into overdrive.
CleanMyMacX really shines when you open it up. The app scans your system and identifies unused files, random system junk, mail attachments – and also manages your trash bins. It scans for malware, checks for privacy leaks, optimizes your system for speedy performance, and does routine maintenance.
That’s a lot, but we’re not done! An option within CleanMyMacX named ‘Space Lens’ is a lot like Apple’s Finder, only better looking and much easier to use. Here you’ll see all your applications and files divided into sections, and broken into sub-menus. You can also manually delete apps or files.
‘Large & Old Files’ is a feature in CleanMyMacX which – you guessed it – finds large files and files you haven’t touched in a long time. The goal is to help you identify which files might be worth deleting, or at least shuffling off to cloud storage. It even tells you how long its been since you used a file!
But let’s be honest: most of the space on your Mac is probably taken up by apps. And chances are, you don’t want or need most of those apps anyway. This is where CleanMyMacX shines bright! Under the ‘Applications’ menu, you can update and manage apps and extensions with ease.
The ‘Uninstaller’ option is a lot like the ‘Large & Old Files’ option, just for apps. It shows you which apps are old, which may be abandoned (32-bit apps are no longer supported on Mac!), and which are just plain unused. It even shows you how large the apps are, letting you do the quick math on which will free up the most space when deleted.
To get rid of apps or files, simply select them from the CleanMyMacX menu, and select the ‘Uninstall’ or ‘Delete’ option at the bottom of the window. It’s that easy!
Keep your Mac in top shape
Checking and managing the storage on your Mac is simple. While viewing your Mac’s storage is easy to do without having a separate app, there are good reasons to have something beyond Apple’s own options to manage your Mac’s memory.
Mac Disk Space Older Versions Of Apps Free
Apps often have files and folders embedded deep in your Mac’s memory, which don’t always go away when you simply delete the app from Apple’s menus. Sure, you got rid of the main offender, but many apps (like those from Adobe) have nuisance files that linger long after you delete the app.
Free Space On Mac
Similarly, moving an app to the trash bin doesn’t actually delete it. The ‘Trash’ app is little more than a place you put apps you don’t want; it doesn’t delete them. You have to manage your trash bin separately, which can balloon out of control.
CleanMyMacX is a great bet for handling it all. It’s smarter at deleting files, folders, and apps, and gives you a much better view of what may be occupying your Mac’s storage. It also removes associated files for apps you delete.
There’s no silver-bullet solution, though! We also like CloudMounter for those with multiple cloud storage solutions, and iStat Menus is really sharp at surfacing the right data when you need it. Best of all, all three options are available for free as part of a seven day free trial for Setapp, along with dozens of other great apps.