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User profile for user: veronicafabiano
veronicafabiano Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Something's eating up disk space on macbook air 2011

I've been using my 2011 macbook air for a while now without many problems. However, about three months ago I noticed that I couldn't run Netflix, so I did some investigating and found that my computer had run out of space completely. I deleted files and everything was fine for about a week.


I've had to constantly delete files, even though I wasn't adding any new ones. I cleared my browsing cache and deleted some of the caches of the apps I don't use or have, like Logic. If I deleted stuff from my computer and had a couple hundred MBs of space left, it would work fine for a few hours but if I came back to it the next day the disk would be all full again and I'd have to restart the computer.


I logged out of my iCloud so that photos, messages, and notes wouldn't take up any space and deleted all of my files and apps except for the bare essentials, but something's still constantly eating away at my storage. Is it a system thing? Because the computer's old? Is there any way I can save it?

MacBook Air 11", OS X 10.11

Posted on Apr 26, 2020 12:22 PM

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User profile for user: John Galt
John Galt
User level: Level 10
141,362 points

Posted on Apr 26, 2020 1:08 PM

veronicafabiano wrote:

If I deleted stuff from my computer and had a couple hundred MBs of space left,


A couple hundred MB is an exiguous amount. If I had to guess your MBA probably has only 128 GB storage, some of which is occupied by macOS itself with only basic apps accounting for the majority of what's left. In addition to deleting unnecessary apps, be sure to examine your Photos Library and Mail messages, both of which manage their own Trash. Empty them also. Those are only two examples.


Read How to free up storage space on your Mac - Apple Support.

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User profile for user: John Galt
John Galt
User level: Level 10
141,362 points

Apr 26, 2020 1:08 PM in response to veronicafabiano

veronicafabiano wrote:

If I deleted stuff from my computer and had a couple hundred MBs of space left,


A couple hundred MB is an exiguous amount. If I had to guess your MBA probably has only 128 GB storage, some of which is occupied by macOS itself with only basic apps accounting for the majority of what's left. In addition to deleting unnecessary apps, be sure to examine your Photos Library and Mail messages, both of which manage their own Trash. Empty them also. Those are only two examples.


Read How to free up storage space on your Mac - Apple Support.

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User profile for user: Kappy
Kappy
User level: Level 10
361,741 points

Apr 26, 2020 12:41 PM in response to veronicafabiano

Get Correct Storage Information


Do not use the information from the Storage section of the About This Mac dialog. Ignore the Storage information as it is typically wrong. To find out the correct information for any disk: Select a Desktop disk icon. Press Command-I to open the Get Info window and look at the topmost panel displayed. You will find the disk information displayed for Capacity, Available, and Used. If you have more than one disk/partition then repeat for each one on your Desktop.


The categories found in the Storage section of About This Mac is simply an arbitrary way of displaying files on your drive. There are no such categories actually on the drive.


How to Free Up Space on The Hard Drive


  1. You can remove data from your Home folder except for the /Home/Library/ folder.
  2. Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on freeing up space on your hard drive.
  3. Also, see Freeing space on your Mac OS X startup disk.
  4. What is 'Other' and 'Purgeable' in About This Mac?
  5. Files That Make Up the 'Other' Storage Category, and How to Remove Them
  6. Free up storage space on your Mac.
  7. See Where did my Disk Space go?.
  8. Be sure to Empty the Trash to recover the space.
  9. Replace the drive with a larger one. Check out OWC for drives, tutorials, and toolkits.
  10. Use OmniDiskSweeper or GrandPerspective to search your drive for large files and where they are located.


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Something's eating up disk space on macbook air 2011

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