Suggestions for clearing up disc space?

I'm runnning low on disc space on my MacBook Pro and it's starting to run pretty slow. Aside from the obvious deleting files, what can I do to get my MacBook running like new again?

John Hammer makes an excellent point. You can get rid of unneeded applications, for example, but the size of applications is relatively small compared to media files.
I save my "excess" files on two Seagate portable drives. One 500GB drive is about $50, on a good price. They can last a long time.
Post here if you have any questions or comments.

Similar Messages

  • Why am I losing disc space for no apparent reason?

    The past few days, I have been losing disc space and haven't been adding anything.
    I was at about 10 GB free, and suddenly my computer was telling me that I had 0. I freed up 2 more GB, and a few minutes later it was down to 371 MB, then 100 MB, then 0 (within the span about 15 minutes). I repeated this process, and about the same thing happened.
    I've deleted about half of my iPhoto library, a large portion of iTunes, deleted Safari caches, and most documents. I even did scans with Grand Perspective, and it only shows about 40 GB taken up. I should have at least 34 GB open, and yet somehow that is not the case.
    Even in the past hour, I deleted 500 songs, and my space has gone down. HELP ME!

    First thing I suggest is be sure you emptied your trash after all the deleting.
    I use WhatSize to check space on my drive.
    Disk Inventory X is also good for this.
    The X Lab: Freeing space on your Mac OS X startup disk has some good information on what to look for when cleaning your drive.
    Mort

  • Haven't gotten any email for 2 days because of no disc space-how do I fix this?

    haven't reeived any emails for 2 days-a popup tells me i havent got enough disc space left-how can I fix this?

    For future reference:
    When you get an error message , it is useful to know exactly what the error message said...word for word, as this helps to determine what caused the error message.
    The links provided by Airmail offer very good advice on how to maintain a healthy Thunderbird.
    Compacting removes hidden 'marked as deleted' emails, thus freeing up space.
    '''Advise:'''
    Look in each folder including 'Sent' and delete any unwanted emails.
    Empty the Junk and Deleted folders.
    * right click on folder and select : eg: Empty Junk
    Then compact all folders:
    * File > Compact Folders.
    Archive all emails, both Sent and Received that are older than a couple of months.
    Set up Archiving Options first.
    * Right click on mail account name and select: 'Settings'
    * Select; Copies & Folders' for the mail account
    * Click on 'Archive Options' button.
    * Set 'Archive Options' to monthly archived folders (if you send on a regular daily basis) and select to 'keep exisitng folder structure of archived messages'.
    * click on OK.
    * Click on OK to save settings.
    then Archive any emails in Inbox, Sent, and any other folder thats older than a couple of months.
    Archiving still keeps emails viewable via Thunderbird, but they are moved out of the regular folder, so releasing space in original files.
    'Tools' > 'Clear recent history'
    You have not mentioned if you have an IMAP gmail account.
    If you do, have you subscribed and synchronised the 'All Mail; folder ?
    'All Mail' is gmails Archive folder, so it keeps a record of every email. This means it will double the size of your Profile folder.
    It is advised that you do not subscribe to see this folder.
    To remove stored emails in the All Mail mbox file follow advise from this link...scroll down to the 'All Mail' section:
    * http://kb.mozillazine.org/Using_Gmail_with_Thunderbird_and_Mozilla_Suite
    Once you have done all this organising, deleting, compacting and general maintenance, do you still get an error message?

  • Mixdown asking for more disc space

    My FCP has been a little buggy lately. When I try to do an audio mixdown I get the error message asking me to free up disc space with the Render Manager. The thing is I have Plenty of space on the external drive that the scratch disc is set to (140gigs). I have 14 tracks for this short 13 minute piece.
    Any ideas or suggestions?
    Thanks everyone.
    Hugh

    FCP errors are rarely indicative or accurate. Could be anything.
    But you may want to check the scratch setup anyway, just to make sure this particular project hasn't been set to capture to your system drive.
    Try some other audio rendering operation of export to see where FCP thinks stuff should be going.
    bogiesan

  • I needed space on my hard drive and  it was suggested to clear the cache by restarting with shift held down.  My Aperture library is now missing...help please!

    I needed space on my hard drive (iMac- as I do photography part time, and it was suggested to clear the cache by restarting and holding down the shift key.  Now most of my Aperture Library is missing and I had senior photos on there for friends....help please.
    I heard that Aperture makes alias files when you are editing and that might be what is clogging up my hard drive.  I really don't know.

    There is nothing that SHIFT reboot does to erase files. Have you restarted normally? It's quite possible that with a full drive you can't start nor can Aperture load its library file.
    I don't know who gave you that advice but it's not a viable solution for a full drive:
    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. Also see Freeing space on your Mac OS X startup disk.
      5. See Where did my Disk Space go?.
      6. 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.

  • Recently backing up my ipad onto my macbook, which is the backup server for all of my gadgets.  This includes all my photos and tons of music.  The macbook said it could not backup the ipad because there was insufficient disc space to do so. What now?

    I have a macbook operating OSX10.6.7.  Recently backing up my ipad which had lots of photos from a recent vacation.  I use this laptop as the backup server for all of my gadgets so it has thousands of photos and tons of music.  It just told me that it couldn't back up the ipad bc there wasn't enough disc space.  I was afraid that this would happen eventually.  What next?  Newer laptop with more space?  I'm not sure what files I could sacrifice to free up more space as most of these are important.

    What size hard drive do you have in your MacBook? The cheapest options are, a larger internal hard drive, or an external drive. Or you could get a cheap desktop PC and network to it for storage. I've got one that lives in the hall with 3 Terabytes (That's 3000gb) of storage.

  • Just recently I'm showing that I've lost a very large amount of disc space for no apparent reason?

    I have 750GB MacBook Pro and up until the other day I showed 250GB used and 500GB unused.  I discovered this because the past two days my computer would just freeze and I couldn't do anything.  So I ran the Disc Utility and it found some errors and fixed them.  So I'm wondering if the 400GB of lost disc space now has something to do with the computer locking up? I've searched all the folders and added up their size and still come back to 250GB that I can see.  So I'm assuming there's something hidden somewhere that's eating up over half my hard disc space?  HELP!

    BNK12 wrote:
    So somewhere I have between 450 - 500 GB's taking up my disk space?
    Yes, exactly. The total used, per the sidebar, is 735 GB, but the total at the top is 269 GB, leaving 466 GB unaccounted-for.  As mentioned in the Other large files section of the Where did my Disk Space go? article, the similar free apps don't show things the logged-on user isn't permitted to see. Unfortunately, the version of WhatSize on the AppStore doesn't, either. A few of those are detailed in the green box.
    First, have you Verified your internal HD, per the link in the yellow box at the top of the article?  If not, do so.  If that doesn't say your disk "appears to be ok," follow the instructions there to start from your Recovery HD and Repair it, then have WhatSize re-measure your drive.
    If that doesn't help, do you have more than one user account (besides the 230 GB bkundinger)?  If so, log on to the other(s), use WhatSize to see how large those home folders are, and add them to the 269 GB total.
    If not, or if that doesn't explain the difference, you need to be able to see everything.  Probably the best way to do that is with the version of WhatSize that you get directly from the vendor -- just click the link in the green box or go to http://whatsizemac.com.  That version has the "As Admin" icon in the toolbar, per the sample in the green box.  Click it and enter your Admin password, then have it re-measure your internal HD.
    That will take a few moments, of course, but the resulting display should show everything, including the missing 466 GBs.  As noted, don't delete anything you don't understand; if in doubt, post the new screenshot here.

  • I ordered the IX500 Scan Snap through Amazon and received the incorrect XI Standard disc in Windows format instead of for my Mac.  I contacted Amazon and they suggested I contact Scan Snap who suggests I contact Adobe for the correct disc.  Please help.

    I ordered the IX500 Scan Snap through Amazon and received the incorrect Adobe Acrobat XI Standard disc in Windows format instead of for my Mac.  I contacted Amazon and they suggested I contact Scan Snap who suggests I contact Adobe for the correct disc.  Please help.

    Fujitsu delivers only Adobe Acrobat for Windows, not Mac.
    http://www.fujitsu.com/global/services/computing/peripheral/scanners/product/ix500/

  • I deleted all my photos and videos and then delete the deleted files but the photo app is still taking up 12 GB of space and I have no room for new stuff.  How can I clear the memory space used by my deleted videos and photos?

    I deleted all my photos and videos and then delete the deleted files but the photo app is still taking up 12 GB of space and I have no room for new stuff.  How can I clear the memory space used by my deleted videos and photos?  I don't know why the photos are still taking up space and if I will have to reset my phone to get rid of the problem.

    Hey there TowneJ,
    Welcome to Apple Support Communities.
    The article linked below provides troubleshooting tips that’ll likely resolve the issue that you’ve described, where deleted files appear to be taking up space on your iPhone 5.
    If you get a "Not enough free space" alert on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support
    So long,
    -Jason

  • Can anyone make a recommendation on the purchase of an external hard drive for my Macbook Pro? I am currently using OS 10.6.8 because I can't upgrade until I clean out my start up disc space. I have a ton of pictures to transfer. Thanks!

    Can anyone make a recommendation on the purchase of an external hard drive for my Macbook Pro? I am currently using OS 10.6.8 because I can't upgrade until I clean out my start up disc space. I have a ton of pictures to transfer.Thanks!

    best options for the price, and high quality HD:
    Quality 1TB drives are $50 per TB on 3.5" or  $65 per TB on 2.5"
    Perfect 1TB for $68
    http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Portable-Hard-Drive/dp/B005J7YA3W/ref=sr_1_ 1?ie=UTF8&qid=1379452568&sr=8-1&keywords=1tb+toshiba
    Nice 500gig for $50. ultraslim perfect for use with a notebook
    http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Portable-External-Drive/dp/B009F1CXI2/ref=s r_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1377642728&sr=1-1&keywords=toshiba+slim+500gb
    2.5" USB portable High quality BEST FOR THE COST, Toshiba "tiny giant" 2TB drive (have several of them, LOT of storage in a SMALL package)    $117
    http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Connect-Portable-HDTC720XK3C1/dp/B00CGUMS48 /ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1379182740&sr=1-4&keywords=2tb+toshiba
    *This one is the BEST portable  external HD available that money can buy:
    HGST Touro Mobile 1TB USB 3.0 External Hard Drive $88
    http://www.amazon.com/HGST-Mobile-Portable-External-0S03559/dp/B009GE6JI8/ref=sr _1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1383238934&sr=8-1&keywords=HGST+Touro+Mobile+Pro+1TB+USB+3.0+7 2 00+RPM
    Most storage experts agree on the Hitachi 2.5"
    Hitachi is the winner in hard drive reliability survey:
    Hitachi manufacturers the safest and most reliable hard drives, according to the Storelab study. Of the hundreds of Hitachi hard drives received, not a single one had failed due to manufacturing or design errors. Adding the highest average lifespans and the best relationship between failures and market share, Hitachi can be regarded as the winner.

  • I need to reinstall my original factory disc and reset my computer to the beginning. It currently has lion. Do I need to erase my HD first to clear and make new room for the install disc.

    I need to reinstall my original factory disc and reset my computer to the beginning. It currently has lion. Do I need to erase my HD first to clear and make new room for the install disc.

    Prepare Your Mac for Sale
    Boot from the OS X Installer Disc One that came with the computer.  After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button.  When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.  After DU loads select the startup volume from the left side list then click on the Erase tab.  Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) then click on the Options button.  Select the one pass Zero Data option and click on the OK button.  Then click on the Erase button.
    Note: You can skip the Zero Data option if you are not concerned about removing sensitive personal data from the hard drive.  If you choose to skip this part of the process then it is possible for others to recover data from the hard drive.  The Zero Data procedure will prevent others from getting access to your personal information.
    This process will take 30 minutes to several hours depending upon the size of the hard drive.  After formatting has completed quit DU and return to the installer.  Now complete the OS X installation.  At the completion of the installation do not restart the computer.  Instead just shut it off.  The next user will be presented with the Setup Assistant when they turn on the computer just as it would if new out of the box.

  • I connect my ipad it shows in left side of itunes it is commencing sync then it freezes itunes  and i have to disconnct it  manually then  a error message telling me that there is not enough disc space for ipad which is not correct  any ideas folks

    i connect my ipad it shows in left side of itunes it is commencing sync then it freezes itunes  and i have to disconnct it  manually then  a error message telling me that there is not enough disc space for ipad which is not correct  any ideas folks

    i have reset the ipad and restored it to no avail

  • What are the disc space and memory requirements for the apps?

    What are the disc-space and memory requirements to run the apps

    Hello John!
    thank you for the info. However, as I have only 1Gb memory and a 32Gb
    solid-state disc, I think that I will stay with Acrobate.com for a while
    longer.
    Regards
    Brianb

  • Insufficient Disc Space for Burning

    My setup: Premiere Elements 12 running on an Apple iMac running OSx Yosemite. Samsung external blu-ray writer.
    I have a recording of a play from my local amateur dramatic society. I have successfully burnt to a DVD-RW complete with menus and photograph gallery. When I insert a DVD-R it tells me there is insufficient disc space. The project is 4.38 Gb and Disc Utility tells me that the DVD has 4.7 Gb free. My hard disc has 826.96 Gb free. I have successfully written to other discs from this spindle in the past. I've tried two discs with the same result.
    I tried burning to a folder then burning a disc using Toast, but the disc auto-played instead of displaying the menu (despite auto-play being unticked).
    Advice would be welcome.

    Mark
    Thanks for the reply and additional information.
    Please consider disc capacity, file size, and bitrate....
    If your Premiere Elements burn dialog Quality area was showing 4.38 GB with "Fit Content to Available Space" enabled, what was it showing for Bitrate.
    Unless the program had to lower the bitrate to 1.69 Mbps or where it could not lower the bitrate any further to make the fit, you should have been able to get a burn to disc in Premiere Elements. The quality would have been worse case at the extremely lowered bitrate, but a burn to nonetheless.
    If you want to pursue this, we could compare the Space Required and Bitrate with and without "Fit Content to Available Space" to get at
    what triggered the Insufficient Disc Space message. We could also look at the Scratch Disk "Disc Encoding" to find to where it is
    directed and how much free space is at that location.
    If you have the time and want to follow up on this, please let us know.
    Thank you.
    ATR

  • HT1583 I'm trying to burn a Magic DVD in iDVD and I get a message stating "not enough free disc space for encoding the remaining assets. How do I resolve this?

    I'm trying to burn a Magic DVD in iDVD and I keep getting a message stating that there is not enough free disc space for encoding the remaining assets. How do I resolve this?

    It means your hard drive is too full to accomodate the project and its many swap files etc.
    You need to move some files (not applications) to your external hard drive, and keep at least 25-30GB free.

Maybe you are looking for