How To Free Space On Macbook Air Hard Drive

If your Mac hard drive or SSD seems to be full of mystery files there's a good chance you can get back a lot of storage space if you know where to look. These apps help you find and delete what. Today, in 2020, MacBooks are more spacious than ever. The new MacBook Air 2020 is confirmed to be shipped with a 256-GB hard drive. But no amount of storage seems to be enough as the ever-inflating digital media is taking over our hard drives. Cloud servers are only a partial answer to that. Sep 29, 2018 Hard disks inevitably fill up over time, and a higher capacity drive just means that you'll find more ways to fill it. These days it's possible to buy a MacBook Pro with a 750 GB hard disk, but even that can fill quickly if you have lots of media such as movies, music and photos.

• How To Free Space On Macbook Air Hard Drive Replacement
• How To Free Space On Macbook Air Hard Drive Access
• How To Free Space On Macbook Air Hard Drive
• Free Up Space On Macbook Pro
• How To Free Space On Macbook Air Hard Drive Western Digital

1. Upgrade your laptop with this 2.5-inch Western Digital 2TB SATA internal hard drive. Its dual processor has a dynamic cache to speed up read and write times, while a 5400 rpm drive speed ensures efficient performance. This Western Digital 2TB SATA internal hard drive maintains a space between the recording head and the disk to reduce wear.
2. The bigger the files you can delete, the more space you can free up—so let's go hunting. Click the Apple menu in the top-left corner of the menu bar and choose About This Mac.

Optimized Storage in macOS Sierra and later* can save space by storing your content in iCloud and making it available on demand. When storage space is needed, files, photos, movies, email attachments, and other files that you seldom use are stored in iCloud automatically. Each file stays right where you last saved it, and downloads when you open it. Files that you've used recently remain on your Mac, along with optimized versions of your photos.

* If you haven't yet upgraded to macOS Sierra or later, learn about other ways to free up storage space.

Find out how much storage is available on your Mac

Choose Apple menu  > About This Mac, then click Storage. Each segment of the bar is an estimate of the storage space used by a category of files. Move your pointer over each segment for more detail.

Click the Manage button to open the Storage Management window, pictured below. This button is available only in macOS Sierra or later.

Manage storage on your Mac

The Storage Management window offers recommendations for optimizing your storage. If some recommendations are already turned on, you will see fewer recommendations.

Ip scanner pro 3 94 3d printer.

Store in iCloud

Click the Store in iCloud button, then choose from these options:

• Desktop and Documents. Store all files from these two locations in iCloud Drive. When storage space is needed, only the files you recently opened are kept on your Mac, so that you can easily work offline. Files stored only in iCloud show a download icon , which you can double-click to download the original file. Learn more about this feature.
  
• Photos. Store all original, full-resolution photos and videos in iCloud Photos. When storage space is needed, only space-saving (optimized) versions of photos are kept on your Mac. To download the original photo or video, just open it.
  
• Messages. Store all messages and attachments in iCloud. When storage space is needed, only the messages and attachments you recently opened are kept on your Mac. Learn more about Messages in iCloud.

Storing files in iCloud uses the storage space in your iCloud storage plan. If you reach or exceed your iCloud storage limit, you can either buy more iCloud storage or make more iCloud storage available. iCloud storage starts at 50GB for $0.99 (USD) a month, and you can purchase additional storage directly from your Apple device. Learn more about prices in your region.

Optimize Storage

Casino cruise cocoa. Click the Optimize button, then choose from these options.

• Automatically remove watched movies and TV shows. When storage space is needed, movies or TV shows that you purchased from the iTunes Store and already watched are removed from your Mac. Click the download icon next to a movie or TV show to download it again.
  
• Download only recent attachments. Mail automatically downloads only the attachments that you recently received. You can manually download any attachments at any time by opening the email or attachment, or saving the attachment to your Mac.
  
• Don't automatically download attachments. Mail downloads an attachment only when you open the email or attachment, or save the attachment to your Mac.

Optimizing storage for movies, TV shows, and email attachments doesn't require iCloud storage space.

Empty Trash Automatically

Empty Trash Automatically permanently deletes files that have been in the Trash for more than 30 days.

Reduce Clutter

Reduce Clutter helps you to identify large files and files you might no longer need. Click the Review Files button, then choose any of the file categories in the sidebar, such as Applications, Documents, Music Creation, or Trash.

You can delete the files in some categories directly from this window. Other categories show the total storage space used by the files in each app. You can then open the app and decide whether to delete files from within it.

Learn how to redownload apps, music, movies, TV shows, and books.

Where to find the settings for each feature

The button for each recommendation in the Storage Management window affects one or more settings in other apps. You can also control those settings directly within each app.

• If you're using macOS Catalina, choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, click Apple ID, then select iCloud in the sidebar: Store in iCloud turns on the Optimize Mac Storage setting on the right. Then click Options next to iCloud Drive: Store in iCloud turns on the Desktop & Documents Folders setting. To turn off iCloud Drive entirely, deselect iCloud Drive.
  In macOS Mojave or earlier, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click iCloud, then click Options next to iCloud Drive. Store in iCloud turns on the Desktop & Documents Folders and Optimize Mac Storage settings.
• In Photos, choose Photos > Preferences, then click iCloud. Store in iCloud selects iCloud Photos and Optimize Mac Storage.
• In Messages, choose Messages > Preferences, then click iMessage. Store in iCloud selects Enable Messages in iCloud.

• If you're using macOS Catalina, open the Apple TV app, choose TV > Preferences from the menu bar, then click Files. Optimize Storage selects 'Automatically delete watched movies and TV shows.'
  In macOS Mojave or earlier, open iTunes, choose iTunes > Preferences from the menu bar, then click Advanced. Optimize Storage selects 'Automatically delete watched movies and TV shows.'
• In Mail, choose Mail > Preferences from the menu bar, then click Accounts. In the Account Information section on the right, Optimize Storage sets the Download Attachments menu to either Recent or None.

Empty Trash Automatically: From the Finder, choose Finder > Preferences, then click Advanced. Empty Trash Automatically selects 'Remove items from the Trash after 30 days.'

Other ways that macOS helps automatically save space

With macOS Sierra or later, your Mac automatically takes these additional steps to save storage space: Games4theworld sims 4 mac.

• Detects duplicate downloads in Safari, keeping only the most recent version of the download
• Reminds you to delete used app installers
• Removes old fonts, languages, and dictionaries that aren't being used
• Clears caches, logs, and other unnecessary data when storage space is needed

How to free up storage space manually

Even without using the Optimized Storage features of Sierra or later, you can take other steps to make more storage space available:

• Music, movies, and other media can use a lot of storage space. Learn how to delete music, movies, and TV shows from your device.
• Delete other files that you no longer need by moving them to the Trash, then emptying the Trash. The Downloads folder is good place to look for files that you might no longer need.
• Move files to an external storage device.
• Compress files.
• Delete unneeded email: In the Mail app, choose Mailbox > Erase Junk Mail. If you no longer need the email in your Trash mailbox, choose Mailbox > Erase Deleted Items.

Learn more

• The Storage pane of About This Mac is the best way to determine the amount of storage space available on your Mac. Disk Utility and other apps might show storage categories such as Not Mounted, VM, Recovery, Other Volumes, Free, or Purgeable. Don't rely on these categories to understand how to free up storage space or how much storage space is available for your data.
• When you duplicate a file on an APFS-formatted volume, that file doesn't use additional storage space on the volume. Deleting a duplicate file frees up only the space required by any data you might have added to the duplicate. If you no longer need any copies of the file, you can recover all of the storage space by deleting both the duplicate and the original file.
• If you're using a pro app and Optimize Mac Storage, learn how to make sure that your projects are always on your Mac and able to access their files.

My boss was running out of space on his Mid-2011 13-Inch MacBook Air so we decided to install OWC's after-market 480GB SSD upgrade along with their enclosure for the old drive so you can continue to use it as an external drive. Here's how to upgrade yours as well.

Hardware

• MacBookAir 4,2 Model A1369

Tools Needed:

• Pentalobe Screwdriver (for the proprietary screws in the bottom of the MacBook Air)
• T5 Torx Bit (for removing the screw from the SSD)
• Spudger Pry Tool (for disconnecting battery connection on MacBook)

Step 1: Order a MacBook Air SSD upgrade kit.

I recommend OWC and have purchased a lot of after-market Apple hardware from them. Macbook equivalent of word. Here is a link for the part we purchased. It comes with the tools you'll need (a proprietary pentalobular screwdriver and Torx head screwdriver) as well as the external case for mounting the old drive.

Step 2: Back up your data.

Even though you are not going to be deleting your old data I would still recommend having a backup before you complete such an upgrade. If you are not backing up make sure to buy an external drive and either use the free Apple Time Machine built into OS X or buy something like Carbon Copy Cloner. I use both.

Step 3: Power off your MacBook Air and unplug the power cord.

You definitely wouldn't want the computer running when you did this upgrade. Apple tv fortnite.

Step 5: Download the iFixit manual from ifixit.com.

You cannot hardly beat their tutorials and I always print out a copy of them for using to keep all the different sized screws straight–this is the most helpful tip I can offer on this repair. Here is a link for the tutorial I used for this repair.

Step 5: Remove the lower cover.

Place the MacBook Air upside down on a non-abrasive surface and remove the 10 screws from the bottom of the case. These screws have pentalobular heads on them so do not try to unscrew them with a phillips or torx. The middle two top screws (that bridge the vent) are longer than the others so make sure to keep them straight.

I tape the screws on the printout exactly where they came from so there's no question what to do when I reassemble:

Step 6: Carefully remove the lower case cover and set it aside.

Refer to the ifixit.com picture above to see where to put your fingernails. Below you can see the SSD outlined in red (excuse my blurry picture, it does the trick though):

Step 7: Take static discharge precautions.

I never wear an anti-static wristband but you do want to be careful not to discharge the static on your body onto the electronics of your computer. Once you've opened the cover make sure to touch the metal body of the computer to ensure there is not a static charge built up on your body.

Step 8: Disconnect the Battery Connector.

To below and left of the SSD there is a battery connector with a clear tab below it. Pull the clear plastic tab straight down. Do not lift up or you could pull the connector off the motherboard. The battery wires will bend to allow you to pull the connector out. You can lay the male end of the battery connector on top of the female slot on the motherboard.

Step 9: Remove the 2.9 mm T5 Torx screw from the right side of the SSD.

Step 10: Pull the SSD straight out.

You may need to very slightly lift the right end of the SSD up to be able to grab it but do this as little as possible. Pull the SSD to the right straight out of its socket. You can rock it up and down slightly from the right end to get it to come out.

Step 11: Install the old SSD in the external housing (if you ordered one).

This is what you get in the box (minus the mess on my desk!):

One thing to note is that there are two different length screws supplied with this OWC case and the longer one goes on the thick end. The case is wedge shaped to be similar with the wedge shape of the MacBook Air 🙂

How To Free Space On Macbook Air Hard Drive Replacement

Step 12: Install the new SSD.

Insert the new SSD into the slot and carefully slide it in. Note that the replacement SSD has a pink heat sink sponge on the top side of it. Line up the screw hole and reinstall the original torx screw.

* If you haven't yet upgraded to macOS Sierra or later, learn about other ways to free up storage space.

Find out how much storage is available on your Mac

Choose Apple menu  > About This Mac, then click Storage. Each segment of the bar is an estimate of the storage space used by a category of files. Move your pointer over each segment for more detail.

Click the Manage button to open the Storage Management window, pictured below. This button is available only in macOS Sierra or later.

Manage storage on your Mac

The Storage Management window offers recommendations for optimizing your storage. If some recommendations are already turned on, you will see fewer recommendations.

Ip scanner pro 3 94 3d printer.

Store in iCloud

Click the Store in iCloud button, then choose from these options:

• Desktop and Documents. Store all files from these two locations in iCloud Drive. When storage space is needed, only the files you recently opened are kept on your Mac, so that you can easily work offline. Files stored only in iCloud show a download icon , which you can double-click to download the original file. Learn more about this feature.
  
• Photos. Store all original, full-resolution photos and videos in iCloud Photos. When storage space is needed, only space-saving (optimized) versions of photos are kept on your Mac. To download the original photo or video, just open it.
  
• Messages. Store all messages and attachments in iCloud. When storage space is needed, only the messages and attachments you recently opened are kept on your Mac. Learn more about Messages in iCloud.

Storing files in iCloud uses the storage space in your iCloud storage plan. If you reach or exceed your iCloud storage limit, you can either buy more iCloud storage or make more iCloud storage available. iCloud storage starts at 50GB for $0.99 (USD) a month, and you can purchase additional storage directly from your Apple device. Learn more about prices in your region.

Optimize Storage

Casino cruise cocoa. Click the Optimize button, then choose from these options.

• Automatically remove watched movies and TV shows. When storage space is needed, movies or TV shows that you purchased from the iTunes Store and already watched are removed from your Mac. Click the download icon next to a movie or TV show to download it again.
  
• Download only recent attachments. Mail automatically downloads only the attachments that you recently received. You can manually download any attachments at any time by opening the email or attachment, or saving the attachment to your Mac.
  
• Don't automatically download attachments. Mail downloads an attachment only when you open the email or attachment, or save the attachment to your Mac.

Optimizing storage for movies, TV shows, and email attachments doesn't require iCloud storage space.

Empty Trash Automatically

Empty Trash Automatically permanently deletes files that have been in the Trash for more than 30 days.

Reduce Clutter

Reduce Clutter helps you to identify large files and files you might no longer need. Click the Review Files button, then choose any of the file categories in the sidebar, such as Applications, Documents, Music Creation, or Trash.

You can delete the files in some categories directly from this window. Other categories show the total storage space used by the files in each app. You can then open the app and decide whether to delete files from within it.

Learn how to redownload apps, music, movies, TV shows, and books.

Where to find the settings for each feature

The button for each recommendation in the Storage Management window affects one or more settings in other apps. You can also control those settings directly within each app.

• If you're using macOS Catalina, choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, click Apple ID, then select iCloud in the sidebar: Store in iCloud turns on the Optimize Mac Storage setting on the right. Then click Options next to iCloud Drive: Store in iCloud turns on the Desktop & Documents Folders setting. To turn off iCloud Drive entirely, deselect iCloud Drive.
  In macOS Mojave or earlier, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click iCloud, then click Options next to iCloud Drive. Store in iCloud turns on the Desktop & Documents Folders and Optimize Mac Storage settings.
• In Photos, choose Photos > Preferences, then click iCloud. Store in iCloud selects iCloud Photos and Optimize Mac Storage.
• In Messages, choose Messages > Preferences, then click iMessage. Store in iCloud selects Enable Messages in iCloud.

• If you're using macOS Catalina, open the Apple TV app, choose TV > Preferences from the menu bar, then click Files. Optimize Storage selects 'Automatically delete watched movies and TV shows.'
  In macOS Mojave or earlier, open iTunes, choose iTunes > Preferences from the menu bar, then click Advanced. Optimize Storage selects 'Automatically delete watched movies and TV shows.'
• In Mail, choose Mail > Preferences from the menu bar, then click Accounts. In the Account Information section on the right, Optimize Storage sets the Download Attachments menu to either Recent or None.

Empty Trash Automatically: From the Finder, choose Finder > Preferences, then click Advanced. Empty Trash Automatically selects 'Remove items from the Trash after 30 days.'

Other ways that macOS helps automatically save space

With macOS Sierra or later, your Mac automatically takes these additional steps to save storage space: Games4theworld sims 4 mac.

• Detects duplicate downloads in Safari, keeping only the most recent version of the download
• Reminds you to delete used app installers
• Removes old fonts, languages, and dictionaries that aren't being used
• Clears caches, logs, and other unnecessary data when storage space is needed

How to free up storage space manually

Even without using the Optimized Storage features of Sierra or later, you can take other steps to make more storage space available:

• Music, movies, and other media can use a lot of storage space. Learn how to delete music, movies, and TV shows from your device.
• Delete other files that you no longer need by moving them to the Trash, then emptying the Trash. The Downloads folder is good place to look for files that you might no longer need.
• Move files to an external storage device.
• Compress files.
• Delete unneeded email: In the Mail app, choose Mailbox > Erase Junk Mail. If you no longer need the email in your Trash mailbox, choose Mailbox > Erase Deleted Items.

Learn more

• The Storage pane of About This Mac is the best way to determine the amount of storage space available on your Mac. Disk Utility and other apps might show storage categories such as Not Mounted, VM, Recovery, Other Volumes, Free, or Purgeable. Don't rely on these categories to understand how to free up storage space or how much storage space is available for your data.
• When you duplicate a file on an APFS-formatted volume, that file doesn't use additional storage space on the volume. Deleting a duplicate file frees up only the space required by any data you might have added to the duplicate. If you no longer need any copies of the file, you can recover all of the storage space by deleting both the duplicate and the original file.
• If you're using a pro app and Optimize Mac Storage, learn how to make sure that your projects are always on your Mac and able to access their files.

My boss was running out of space on his Mid-2011 13-Inch MacBook Air so we decided to install OWC's after-market 480GB SSD upgrade along with their enclosure for the old drive so you can continue to use it as an external drive. Here's how to upgrade yours as well.

Hardware

• MacBookAir 4,2 Model A1369

Tools Needed:

• Pentalobe Screwdriver (for the proprietary screws in the bottom of the MacBook Air)
• T5 Torx Bit (for removing the screw from the SSD)
• Spudger Pry Tool (for disconnecting battery connection on MacBook)

Step 1: Order a MacBook Air SSD upgrade kit.

I recommend OWC and have purchased a lot of after-market Apple hardware from them. Macbook equivalent of word. Here is a link for the part we purchased. It comes with the tools you'll need (a proprietary pentalobular screwdriver and Torx head screwdriver) as well as the external case for mounting the old drive.

Step 2: Back up your data.

Even though you are not going to be deleting your old data I would still recommend having a backup before you complete such an upgrade. If you are not backing up make sure to buy an external drive and either use the free Apple Time Machine built into OS X or buy something like Carbon Copy Cloner. I use both.

Step 3: Power off your MacBook Air and unplug the power cord.

You definitely wouldn't want the computer running when you did this upgrade. Apple tv fortnite.

Step 5: Download the iFixit manual from ifixit.com.

You cannot hardly beat their tutorials and I always print out a copy of them for using to keep all the different sized screws straight–this is the most helpful tip I can offer on this repair. Here is a link for the tutorial I used for this repair.

Step 5: Remove the lower cover.

Place the MacBook Air upside down on a non-abrasive surface and remove the 10 screws from the bottom of the case. These screws have pentalobular heads on them so do not try to unscrew them with a phillips or torx. The middle two top screws (that bridge the vent) are longer than the others so make sure to keep them straight.

I tape the screws on the printout exactly where they came from so there's no question what to do when I reassemble:

Step 6: Carefully remove the lower case cover and set it aside.

Refer to the ifixit.com picture above to see where to put your fingernails. Below you can see the SSD outlined in red (excuse my blurry picture, it does the trick though):

Step 7: Take static discharge precautions.

I never wear an anti-static wristband but you do want to be careful not to discharge the static on your body onto the electronics of your computer. Once you've opened the cover make sure to touch the metal body of the computer to ensure there is not a static charge built up on your body.

Step 8: Disconnect the Battery Connector.

To below and left of the SSD there is a battery connector with a clear tab below it. Pull the clear plastic tab straight down. Do not lift up or you could pull the connector off the motherboard. The battery wires will bend to allow you to pull the connector out. You can lay the male end of the battery connector on top of the female slot on the motherboard.

Step 9: Remove the 2.9 mm T5 Torx screw from the right side of the SSD.

Step 10: Pull the SSD straight out.

You may need to very slightly lift the right end of the SSD up to be able to grab it but do this as little as possible. Pull the SSD to the right straight out of its socket. You can rock it up and down slightly from the right end to get it to come out.

Step 11: Install the old SSD in the external housing (if you ordered one).

This is what you get in the box (minus the mess on my desk!):

One thing to note is that there are two different length screws supplied with this OWC case and the longer one goes on the thick end. The case is wedge shaped to be similar with the wedge shape of the MacBook Air 🙂

How To Free Space On Macbook Air Hard Drive Replacement

Step 12: Install the new SSD.

Insert the new SSD into the slot and carefully slide it in. Note that the replacement SSD has a pink heat sink sponge on the top side of it. Line up the screw hole and reinstall the original torx screw.

Step 13: Reconnect the battery.

I forgot this when I was putting this MacBook back together and had to take the case back apart. Don't make that mistake–you don't want to tighten those case screws more than necessary. Luckily the battery connector not being plugged in didn't cause any problems spatially when I put the cover back on.

Step 14: Install the cover and reinstall the 10 case screws with pentalobe heads.

Don't forget that the center two screws on the top are the long ones.

Step 15: Connect your old SSD to the MacBook Air and boot to the recovery partition of the old drive.

How To Free Space On Macbook Air Hard Drive Access

Press the power button and then immediately press and hold the command button.

How To Free Space On Macbook Air Hard Drive

Step 16: Run disk utility to do a block-by-block clone of your old SSD to the new SSD.

I referred to OWC's method 2 on this page because this Air is running OS 10.7. Click on the Restore tab at the top and then drag and drop the old drive as the source and the new drive as the destination. Note: I was only able to select the drives by dragging and dropping. I learned something in this step because until now I was unaware you could do a carbon copy clone of a drive using Disk Utility. That's cool.

Free Up Space On Macbook Pro

Time to copy SSD over: approximately 1 Hour

How To Free Space On Macbook Air Hard Drive Western Digital

Step 17: Disconnect the external drive and boot up.

Lots of extra space available now:

Mission accomplished!

Other thoughts/lessons/failures:

I tried to connect the encased old SSD via USB to my other MacBook and the MacBook Air in target mode via lighting cable and was going to try to copy the old drive to the new with Carbon Copy Cloner but my computer would not even recognize the Air when I hooked it up. It may have been because the internal (new) SSD had not been formatted yet. If I had gotten real desperate I would have taken the new SSD back out of the Air and then placed it in the enclosure and then tried to format it first and then tried the above described setup again. Using disk utility from the recovery partition worked great though so I didn't need to.

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