How to check data usage on a broken MacBook?

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Level 1

4 points

How to check data usage on a broken MacBook?

I just turned on my MacBook Air to find that the display is broken and has vertical lines all over the screen. I’m taking it to the Apple Store but I was told to bring an external hard drive with enough storage to be able to backup my MacBook before the repair begins. My question is basically this, how do I check how many gigs my MacBook is using before I buy an external hard drive? If my MacBook is only using like 80gigs I don’t want to spend the extra money and buy a 250gb or even 500gb storage that I won’t use. Any way to check this? Keep in mind I have 0 access to my MacBook as the display is completely broken

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 10.15

Posted on May 12, 2021 7:47 PM

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Answer 1

SergZak

Level 6

10,672 points

May 12, 2021 7:56 PM in response to Zionsbuddys

If you cannot see the screen, there's no way to tell how much storage the Mac is using.

If you know the size of the internal storage on the Mac, then get a drive that at least equals that.

Getting something larger may be useful in the future for when you decide to make a backup of your storage. Many times, something larger than what you need isn't that much more as far as cost.

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Answer 2

rccharles

Level 6

13,027 points

May 12, 2021 8:18 PM in response to SergZak

You should be backing up your machine with time machine any way. Buy a quality drive. Use it as a timemachine backup once you get your machine back. give OWC/macsales a call they can match your machine with a recommended external drive. 1-800-275-4576.

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How to check data usage on a broken MacBook?

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