How to Clear Storage Space on Mac to Be More Productive

It’s normal to have your Mac running out of space quickly as you expected, especially if you’re working on complex processes that consume a lot of space. There are lots of techniques that lead to the formation of unnecessary files.

If you don’t have enough money to get an external storage device or another computer with larger storage space, you may consider clearing the space on the Mac to be more productive. Here are different ways to clear storage space on Mac to be more effective.

Clear temporary files

Temporary files are created when installing software, and they contain information that is useful for running the program. These files are used to store data temporarily, and they rarely rely on the data stored on the file. To delete these files, you have to wait until their purpose is over because deleting them before may cause errors with the programs that are being stored.

After their use is over, some get deleted while others are stored on Mac’s drive, and they take space for no good reason. To work effectively, you need to clear system storage to have enough space for important information. The Mac OS X can be used to delete these temporary files automatically, but there is a need to have a dedicated application that will detect and clean up most of the temporary files.     

Clear all the duplicates

Duplicate files are copies of the same files existing on the same computer, on the exact storage location of the Mac, or different folders. These files may either be documents, images, or either software programs. There are various ways through which duplicates build up in the computer’s storage space.

Sometimes you may accidentally copy a folder from one particular location to the other instead of cutting it. In other cases, you may unintentionally download the same file twice to the storage locations.

That means one of them will be occupying an extra space that might be used for another activity. You can use the available apps on the internet to find and remove duplicates effortlessly. Leaving these duplicates on your computer is just a wastage of the computer’s space.

Empty the trash cans

Trash cans are like recycle bins on the window applications. That’s where most of the deleted files go after being deleted. It’s wrong to assume that they are entirely removed from the computer by simply deleting the duplicates. You can even restore these files whenever you need them. 

Sometimes it can be challenging to remove these cans even if logged in as root. On the other hand, you may lack a graphic user interface that can empty all the files stored on the cans, and you will have to remove each one of them at a time. If the process consumes too much time, you can seek help online to be helped with a one-line terminal command that will help you empty all the cans. In this case, it’s good to take care as it won’t prompt you with a message like, are you sure?

Uninstall unused applications

Sometimes you may find that you have too many unused applications taking too much space on the Mac. Even if you have set the applications to run in the background and restricted them from using data to prevent updates that may take extra space, they will be reinstalled when you restart the computer.

They might be applications you were using for a certain period, and you forgot to uninstall them. Now that you no longer need them open the Finder window, select all of them, drag them to the trash can, and delete them later. There are still applications that you rarely use and take a lot of space on your Mac. 

Clear out language files

In most cases, you only need one language throughout the period you will be using the Mac. Most of the applications you will download and, on the Mac, have language files for all the languages they support. That’s why you can switch on the favorite language you want to be using and, in most cases, it will be only a single language.

These applications take a lot of space that can be used for other valuable activities. You can use CleanMyMac to remove these language files from your computer. It’s usually under the System Junk, then navigated to the Language Files. It’s advisable to remove these files only when you need extra storage space.

Conclusion

Although the storage space of the Mac doesn’t affect its processing speed, it can affect how fast files are retrieved from their storage locations. Do not delete your files, thinking that it will increase the computer’s speed. If possible, clear the storage space when you need extra storage space to be more productive.