How to free up space on Macbook air

How can I free up space on my Macbook Air? I can't seem to find any large files that I can delete

keep large media files OFF your Air unless you know you need them.
NO computer is a data storage device, especially for static files (large one most certain) just sitting there on the computer "collecting dust"
In the case of a Macbook Air or Macbook Pro Retina with ‘limited’ storage on the SSD, this distinction becomes more important in that in an ever rapidly increasing file-size world, you keep vital large media files, pics, video, PDF collections, music off your SSD and archived on external storage, for sake of the necessary room for your system to have free space to operate, store future applications and general workspace.  You should never be put in the position of considering “deleting things” on your macbook SSD in order to ‘make space’.
Professionals who create and import very large amounts of data have almost no change in the available space on their computers internal HD because they are constantly archiving data to arrays of external or networked HD.
Or in the case of the consumer this means you keep folders for large imported or created data and you ritually offload and archive this data for safekeeping, not only to safeguard the data in case your macbook has a HD crash, or gets stolen, but importantly in keeping the ‘breathing room’ open for your computer to operate, expand, create files, add applications, for your APPS to create temp files, and for general operation.

Similar Messages

  • How do I clear space on Macbook air in the following folders? Mail, Containers and Application support under libraries?

    How do I clear space on Macbook air in the following folders? Mail, Containers and Application support under libraries?

    Why? If you need space on the SSD:
    Freeing Up Space on The Hard Drive
      1. See Lion/Mountain Lion/Mavericks' Storage Display.
      2. You can remove data from your Home folder except for the /Home/Library/ folder.
      3. Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on freeing up space on your hard drive.
      4. Get an external hard drive on which to store some of your files after which you can
          erase the data from your internal drive to free up space.
      5. Also see Freeing space on your Mac OS X startup disk.
      6. See Where did my Disk Space go?.
      7. See The Storage Display.
    You must Empty the Trash in order to recover the space they occupied on the hard drive.
    You should consider replacing the drive with a larger one. Check out OWC for drives, tutorials, and toolkits.
    Try using OmniDiskSweeper 1.8 or GrandPerspective to search your drive for large files and where they are located.

  • How to free up storage on macbook air?

    My old mac recently crashed and in order for me not to lose all of my data I had to have my old hard drive completely transfered to my new Macbookair. What I didn't know was that I had only 4 GB of memory and that my hard drive was almost completely full after everything was transfered. I can't even backup my iphone/update the software because my computer does not have enough space.
    I want to uninstall programs that are of no use to me but I am afraid to uninstall the wrong ones. Is there a way for me to see what I am using and what I am not?

    May I suggest you perform some "disk forensics" first. You may want to see if there is information (data), or Local Backups taking up space that you can delete or transfer to an external disk for archiving.
    First, take a look at "about this mac", and click "more info" and look under rhe "storage" tab, to see if Local Backups are consuming space. If you have Time Machine enabled, and it's been a while suince you have synced, the space taken up can be considerable. Just turn off Time Machine for a day or so, or perform a sync to rid the computer these files.
    Also take a look at an app like Grand Perspective. It will let you identify the space hogs. You can then decide if the data files in your documents folder are worth of sidelining to an external disk.

  • Ikeep getting a message that my start up disc is full and i don't know how to free up space..  also when i o to download some files i am told there is no space left to download     i bought this macbook pro used an receiver no discs..  what can i do??   t

    ikeep getting a message that my start up disc is full and i don't know how to free up space..  also when i o to download some files i am told there is no space left to download     i bought this macbook pro used an receiver no discs..  what can i do??  

    You need to purchase an external drive and start moving some files to it or you can try trashing some files that you no longer need.
    Download OmniDiskSweeper and see where your larger files are... you can move them to an external drive or trash them: it's up to you.
    I would also begin, since it's obviously don't have backups, a backup scheme or two. See Most commonly used backup methods.
    Good luck,
    Clinton

  • How to decrease the storage in macbook air

    how to decrease the storage in macbook air ?

    you mean decrease all the files filling your Air?
    See here for answer about the OTHER which is taking up space:
    http://pondini.org/TM/30.html
    and here:
    http://pondini.org/OSX/DiskSpace.html
    See Kappys excellent note on the rest of “other” files taking up your space:
    What is "Other" and What Can I Do About It?
    In the case of a Macbook Air or Macbook Pro Retina with ‘limited’ storage on the SSD, this distinction becomes more important in that in an ever rapidly increasing file-size world, you keep vital large media files, pics, video, PDF collections, music off your SSD and archived on external storage, for sake of the necessary room for your system to have free space to operate, store future applications and general workspace.  You should never be put in the position of considering “deleting things” on your macbook SSD in order to ‘make space’.
    Professionals who create and import very large amounts of data have almost no change in the available space on their computers internal HD because they are constantly archiving data to arrays of external or networked HD.
    Or in the case of the consumer this means you keep folders for large imported or created data and you ritually offload and archive this data for safekeeping, not only to safeguard the data in case your macbook has a HD crash, or gets stolen, but importantly in keeping the ‘breathing room’ open for your computer to operate, expand, create files, add applications, for your APPS to create temp files, and for general operation.

  • How do i clean up my macbook air to install software updates?

    how do i clean up my macbook air to install software updates? It says that I need to clean up the startup disk because I do not have enough space left but I don't know how to do that. Can anyone help me?

    First, empty the Trash if you haven't already done so. Then reboot. That will temporarily free up some space.
    According to Apple documentation, you need at least 9 GB of available space on the startup volume (as shown in the Finder Info window) for normal operation. You also need enough space left over to allow for growth of your data. There is little or no performance advantage to having more available space than the minimum Apple recommends. Available storage space that you'll never use is wasted space.
    If you're using Time Machine to back up a portable Mac, some of the available space will be used to make local snapshots, which are backup copies of files you've recently deleted. The space occupied by local snapshots is reported as available by the Finder, and should be considered as such. In the Storage display of System Information, local snapshots are shown as "Backups." The snapshots are automatically deleted when they expire or when free space falls below a certain level. You ordinarily don't need to, and should not, delete local snapshots yourself.
    To locate large files, you can use Spotlight as described here. That method may not find large folders that contain a lot of small files.
    You can also use a tool such as OmniDiskSweeper (ODS) to explore your volume and find out what's taking up the space. You can delete files with it, but don't do that unless you're sure that you know what you're deleting and that all data is safely backed up. That means you have multiple backups, not just one.
    Proceed further only if the problem hasn't been solved.
    ODS can't see the whole filesystem when you run it just by double-clicking; it only sees files that you have permission to read. To see everything, you have to run it as root.
    Back up all data now.
    Install ODS in the Applications folder as usual. Quit it if it's running.
    Triple-click the line of text below to select it, then copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C):sudo /Applications/OmniDiskSweeper.app/Contents/MacOS/OmniDiskSweeper
    Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
    ☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
    ☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
    ☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
    Paste into the Terminal window (command-V). You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning not to screw up. If you see a message that your username "is not in the sudoers file," then you're not logged in as an administrator.
    The application window will open, eventually showing all files in all folders. It may take some minutes for ODS to list all the files.
    I don't recommend that you make a habit of doing this. Don't delete anything while running ODS as root. If something needs to be deleted, make sure you know what it is and how it got there, and then delete it by other, safer, means.
    When you're done with ODS, quit it and also quit Terminal.

  • How many free disk space after install OS X lion (10.7) ?

    Hi,
    I would like to know that how many free disk space after install OS X lion (10.7) on MBA i5.
    Many Thanks,
    Eric

    I want to buy MBA i5, I would like to free disk space of MBA 13" i5, Could anyone tell it to me? Thanks
    As you're buing a new MacBook Air, it will come pre-installed with Lion.  The actual installation will be somewhat larger than a "clean" Lion install as it will come with iLife preinstalled.  Obviously, with an Air's limited storage space, you want to be sure that you have enough room for any applications and data that you'll want to keep on the SSD as well.  It is fairly easy to upgrade the SSD on an Air:
    http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Aura_Pro_Express
    The amount of RAM you have installed is probably more important.  Fortunately, the newest 13" MacBook Airs all come with 4GB standard now.

  • What is the file storage space in macbook air 2012?

    what is the file storage space in macbook air 2012?

    it all depends on what you'll be using it for - how much apps you plan on installing - how much music you have - how much videos you plan on saving in your macbook air.
    i have a 2010 and 2012 Macbook Air - both came with 128GB - for my needs - it's fine.
    As you can see from the image below - that is from my 2012 Macbook Air.  Still have lots of space left.

  • How do I restore my 2011 MacBook Air to its original settings?

    How do I restore my 2011 MacBook Air to its original settings for resale?  When I do the cmd R and go through the process, it begins the restore process for Mountain Lion because I upgraded to Mountain Liion on this machine a few months ago.  And it's asking for my Apple ID.  If I do that upgrade, the buyer will have a version of Mountain Lion that is associated with my Apple ID and that won't work.  Also, isn't there licensing issues in such a case?  I want to restore the MacBook Air to its original factory settings when I purchased it in April of 2011.  At that time it was Lion and not Mountian Lion.  And I don't want any software on this computer to be associated with my Apple ID.
    Thanks for all your help.
    Ron

    Press Command, Option and R keys on boot, open Disk Utility, erase your disk and reinstall Lion

  • How to delete spotlight data in macbook air ?

    how to delete spotlight data in macbook air ?

    Open system preferences and go to Spotlight then to the privacy tab and add the Macintsoh HD to the list for "Prevent Spotlight from searching these locations. That will remove all spotlght data. Then you should highlight that entry and click the Minus ( - ) sign at the bottom to have spotlight reindex your drive.

  • Hi I just got my new Apple TV and I cant figure out how to connect it with My MacBook Air (11-inch, Late 2010- Processor  1.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo) OSX Version 10.8

    Hi
    Hi I just got my new Apple TV and I cant figure out how to connect it with My MacBook Air (11-inch, Late 2010- Processor  1.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo) OSX Version 10.8

    Are you referring to mirroring or you just unable to set up homesharing.
    AirPlay Mirroring requires a second-generation Apple TV or later, OS X 10.8 or better and is supported on the following Mac models: iMac (Mid 2011 or newer), Mac mini (Mid 2011 or newer), MacBook Air (Mid 2011 or newer), and MacBook Pro (Early 2011 or newer). It also requires the computer to be using wi-fi.

  • How do I AirDrop between my MacBook Air (OS 10.10.1) and my iPhone 5s (vs 8.1.2)?

    How do I AirDrop between my MacBook Air (OS 10.10.1 Yosemite) and my iPhone 5s (vs 8.1.2)?
    Bluetooth & wifi (same wifi) are turned ON for both my iPhone & laptop. 
    On the iPhone, I have selected a Camera photo to AirDrop and I see the AirDrop icon above the apps Message, Mail, Twitter, etc. but I don't see an option to actually AirDrop it onto the laptop.
    On the laptop (MacBook Air w/Yosemite), I'm in the Finder and have selected AirDrop, but to devices revealed in the window.
    What am I missing??????

    Which MacBook Air do you have? It must be a 2010 or newer according to this article: http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203106
    ~Lyssa

  • How to free up memory in MacBook Pro?

    How to free up memory in MacBook Pro? (How to avoid getting the revolving rainbow?)

    I compressed some programs and data. I now have 4.56 GB free.
    SMART UTILITY http://www.volitans-software.com/smart_utility.php
    CAPACITY 80.0 GB
    SMART STATUS: YELLOW and "FAILING"
    "Removed 29 bad sectors
    Total errors 1708
    Reallocated 308 bad sectors"
    Do I need to buy Smart Utility?
    Had 5 simultaneous errors at READ DMA EXT. (I don't know what that means). I don't see all the windows that the web site shows. I guess that is for purchased downloads.
    I'd like to reinstate MobileMe's Backup function. Apple says it will work until June so that I could back that up until I get the backup hard drive. I was in the store last week; iCloud will not work on my computer.
    Thanks, DOTro

  • How should i connect my new macbook air to lcd projector for presentations?

    how should i connect my new macbook air to lcd projector for presentations?

    One of these should work, depending on the projector. Just note both will not allow you to play protected movies on the projector.
    VGA
    http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB572Z/A?mco=MTY3ODQ5OTY
    DVI
    http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB570Z/A?mco=MTY3ODQ5OTY

  • How to turn off screen on Macbook Air when connected to Computer LeD monitor?

    How to turn off screen on Macbook Air when connected to Led monitor screen?

    The only way you can turn it off is to close the lid - so you would need an external wired or wireless keyboard and mouse/trackpad attached.
    Matt

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