Storage

I have deleted all unwanted files but my Mac still does not have a lot of empty storage. Storage settings tells that 34 GB is being taken up by "other."

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Jul 20, 2023 3:51 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jul 20, 2023 4:45 AM

The "other" category is basically anything that doesn't fall under another category in regards to storage. It's usually cache, trash, history, "other" users, browser cookies, system logs, document versions, and application cache, and much more...


You can never get "other" storage completely gone but you can get it down considerably.



Try clearing your cache:



To manually clear cache files on Mac:


  1. Navigate to Go > Go To Folder.
  2. Type in ~/Library/Caches and click Go.
  3. Click-hold Option and drag the Caches folder to your desktop as a backup in case something goes wrong.
  4. Select all the files in the Caches folder.
  5. Drag them to the Trash.
  6. Empty Trash.



Follow the same steps for /Library/Caches (without the “~”) and 

~/Library/Logs. 


Find where a majority of apps’ temporary files are by navigate to ~/Library/Application Support. In this folder, you will find your applications, and some searching will reveal a lot of space being taken up. For example, you may have several GBs of old iOS backups in:

~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup


Check the dates on these mobile backups. If these aren't recent you can delete them.



Search for unneeded .zip and .dmg files:



  1. Open Finder.
  2. Type DMG/ZIP in the search field.
  3. Select Search: This Mac.
  4. Sort the results by Size.
  5. delete


Also... review this article: Free up storage space on your Mac - Apple Support


Good Luck!!!






1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jul 20, 2023 4:45 AM in response to ritika281

The "other" category is basically anything that doesn't fall under another category in regards to storage. It's usually cache, trash, history, "other" users, browser cookies, system logs, document versions, and application cache, and much more...


You can never get "other" storage completely gone but you can get it down considerably.



Try clearing your cache:



To manually clear cache files on Mac:


  1. Navigate to Go > Go To Folder.
  2. Type in ~/Library/Caches and click Go.
  3. Click-hold Option and drag the Caches folder to your desktop as a backup in case something goes wrong.
  4. Select all the files in the Caches folder.
  5. Drag them to the Trash.
  6. Empty Trash.



Follow the same steps for /Library/Caches (without the “~”) and 

~/Library/Logs. 


Find where a majority of apps’ temporary files are by navigate to ~/Library/Application Support. In this folder, you will find your applications, and some searching will reveal a lot of space being taken up. For example, you may have several GBs of old iOS backups in:

~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup


Check the dates on these mobile backups. If these aren't recent you can delete them.



Search for unneeded .zip and .dmg files:



  1. Open Finder.
  2. Type DMG/ZIP in the search field.
  3. Select Search: This Mac.
  4. Sort the results by Size.
  5. delete


Also... review this article: Free up storage space on your Mac - Apple Support


Good Luck!!!






This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Storage

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.