Data encryption is really important especially if we have sensitive files that cannot fall into other people’s hands. We can use one of the most best yet free encryption software called TrueCrypt to encrypt our data< but then if you think carefully about it, there is actually a time frame when the files are not yet protected and are stored as normal files on your hard drive. Even after moving the files to an encrypted container or simply deleting them from your computer, there is a possibility that the files can actually be recovered using a simple to use free data recovery software if they are not being overwritten.
Disk space cleaner free download - DL Cleaner Lite, Moo0 Disk Cleaner, Moo0 Disk Cleaner Portable, and many more programs. All Windows Mac iOS Android. Editor Rating.
There are some dedicated tools to permanently wipe or shred the files to prevent from being recovered. However if you’ve removed the files using the standard Windows delete command and emptied the Recycle Bin, Windows does not offer a way to restore it back unless you use a recovery software to restore the file, and then use the file wiping software to permanently delete it. Overtime, the amount of accumulated recoverable files on your computer can be quite shocking. A good way around this is to use some free utilities that is able to make the recoverable files unrecoverable without touching your existing files.
1. EraserIf you do a research on data wiping, you may find that there are many different file erasure methods such as Gutmann, DoD, Schneier and etc. Eraser is one of such tool that supports different types of wiping algorithms including Gutmann for the paranoids which is selected by default. To permanently wipe the empty space on your hard drive using Eraser, run the program, right click at the Erase Schedule box and select New Task. Click the Add Data button, select the “Unused disk space” radio button and click OK. Click OK again at the Task Properties window to close it. A new task is added to the program, to run it simply right click and select “Run Now”.
Do take note that the Gutmann method would take a very long time to complete because it writes a series of 35 patterns on the empty space. If you have a large hard drive with a lot of empty space, the whole process can easily take the whole day to complete. Another drawback is Eraser does not show an estimated remaining time other than the status bar. You can always cancel the task by right click and select Cancel Task from the context menu.
Download Eraser
2. Moo0 Anti-Recovery
Moo0 Anti-Recovery is a free and very easy to use program that fights the recovery tool by writing the empty spaces once with pseudo-random data. First you need to select the drive that you want to process and then followed by checking a few options such as recycle bin, free space, MFT, cluster tips and even file names.
There are no other choices in the wiping techniques other than the built-in method which is good enough to prevent from recovery programs used by end users.
Download Moo0 Anti-Recovery
3. BleachBit
BleachBit is a famous free utility that is meant to clean out junk files from your computer to free up more space on your hard drive and protecting your privacy at the same time. There are 2 ways to wipe the free space using BleachBit. First is to click the File menubar, select “Wipe Free Space” and choose a folder or drive that you want to wipe. Second method is to check the “Free disk space” from the System category and click the Clean icon. There is no option to cancel the process but you can terminate it by closing the program. It also shows an estimation of time remaining to complete wiping.
BleachBit wipes the space using a single pass of blank data which they think is sufficient and the additional passes adds no value other than slowing down the whole process. BleachBit can be ran on Windows and Linux.
Download BleachBit
4. CCleaner
CCleaner, probably the most famous Windows optimization and cleaning utility around today offers a tool called Drive Wiper to securely erase the free space on your hard drive. Run CCleaner, go to Tools > Drive Wiper, select “Free Space Only” for wipe, then the overwrite method and finally the drive that you want to wipe.
CCleaner has 4 wiping techniques which is 1 pass, 3 passes (DoD), 7 passes (NSA) and 35 passes (Gutmann). The more passes that you select, the lower in chances of recovery and longer it will take to wipe.
Download CCleaner
5. SlimCleaner
SlimCleaner is a well known and fast growing computer maintenance software that comes with a lot of features to keep your computer clean and optimized. To access the disk wiping tool, run SlimCleaner, click on Disk Tools and select Disk Wiper.
Similar to CCleaner, it also 4 wiping methods which is 1, 3, 7 and 35 passes. Make sure that “free space only; your data will be safe” option is selected and followed by clicking the drive to process and finally click the Wipe button.
Download SlimCleaner
6. File Shredder
File Shredder, as its name suggests, it is a free tool meant for shredding single and multiple files including free disk space with Windows shell right click integration. To wipe the free disk space, run File Shredder and click on “Shred Free Disk Space” at the left pane. A new window will open where you can select the disk to wipe and the secure algorithm to use. Click the Next button and then Start.
File Shredder supports 5 types of algorithm which is 1, 2, DoD, 7 and Gutmann 35 passes. The simple two pass option that is not available on most other tools would be a fine choice if you want a good balance between time and speed.
Download File Shredder
7. Disk Redactor
Disk Redactor is another simple utility that wipes away deleted files. There is an option button where you can enable erase information twice, run a check disk, working in background and writes with random data instead of just filling it with zeros but it’s not available for free users. To start the secure delete, click on the Wipe Disk button and select the drive or folder. During testing we found that selecting any folders on the drive will wipe the drive’s empty space rather than the folder.
Although not mentioned anywhere, we strongly believe that Disk Redactor uses 1 pass because the licensed version can enable 2 passes option. Logically this means that the free version should be using a less secure algorithm compared to the paid version.
Download Disk Redactor
8. cipher.exe
The built-in cipher.exe tool in Windows operating system located at C:WindowsSystem32 is actually a file encryption utility that can be used to remove data from available unused disk space. Simply type the command below and followed by the path to the directory or even the root of the drive letter.
cipher.exe /W:C:pathtofolder
Cipher.exe uses 3 passes algorithm where it overwrites the specified unused free space with all zeros, all ones and finally random numbers. The advantage in using the cipher.exe tool is the availability on Windows operating system since 2000 plus you can run from it an un-elevated normal command prompt.
Important Note: There is no need to continually wiping the free disk space on your computer because it will only increase the wear and tear of the drive and reduce its lifespan especially on SSD drives. What you can do is, wipe the unused free disk space once using any of the software listed above depending on your requirements on the algorithm, then start managing sensitive data in an encrypted container created by TrueCrypt or any other reliable encryption software.
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“The more passes that you select, the lower in chances of recovery…”
Not exactly, if you’re talking spinning-platter (non-SSD) drives.
A single pass overwrite, if completed successfully, provides zero chance of recovering the file through any means available to the public. Adding more passes affects nothing but possibly the user’s feelings of security. It’s basically superstition. Gutmann wrote a paper about 15 or 20 years ago, about how in theory overwritten data could be recovered. It’s never once worked in real-world recoveries in the civilian world, even in a lab setting, and drive tolerances are exponentially tighter since then. It’s conceivable that some government agency might have access to extremely expensive equipment that might be able to recover data that isn’t randomly overwritten a few times, but it’s unlikely, and such a recovery method wouldn’t be available to regular law enforcement or for subpoenas. Unless your drive is suspected to have data that poses an urgent threat to national security, one pass is fine, use a 3-pass if you’re paranoid though.
There have been reports of overwritten data being recovered but in all reported cases that we have investigated, the data was not actually overwritten.
SSDs are different. They have a pool of rotating sectors so you’d want to do multiple overwrites. That’s another topic.
I’m not saying I know everything there is to know about this, but I have worked at the oldest and largest data recovery company in the world for over 21 years and we’ve done thousands of recoveries for government agencies and the military, so I have some experience with what can be recovered.
ReplyIn actual fact, we link to the Gutmann paper in another article. In it, he says “a few passes of random scrubbing is the best you can do” when summing up. So even he suggests at least 2 passes wouldn’t be the worst idea (we don’t know exactly how many he meant by “a few”). So, up to a point “The more passes that you select, the lower in chances of recovery…” is not inaccurate according to Mr. Gutmann.
ReplyI use PrivaZer and highly recommend it
ReplyNo mention of Darin’s Boot & Nuke, better known as DBAN?
I’m sure that this project has been around before this article was written, simply image the desired drive, run either a DOD (3 pass or NSA (7 pass) wipe to the drive while at work or sleep (Guttman is offered, yet even he himself stated was overkill & no more effective than a 7 pass), or both if the drive is large enough. All that’ll be left is garbled data randomly spewed across the drive during the last pass, reinstall the backup image & you’re good to go. Just make sure to clean the Temp folders really good before back & restore.
If running a SSD, it’s much faster, inside of 5 minutes on a 2TB model, use the Parted Magic (2013 edition) from Major Geeks, boot from the ISO & be sure to select ‘Internal’ drive (applies to eSATA attached SSD’s also), and avoid the Enhanced Secure Erase, which zaps so many bytes at both ends, decline & choose the Full one & takes no time. I always perform 2x for good measure, then as above, restore my backup image & good to go. A refreshed SSD will run nearly as good as new again!
Cat
ReplyDBAN is not mentioned here because it doesn’t do what we are talking about in this article, which is erasing the free space on your drive while leaving all the visible files intact. DBAN wipes drives completely and leaves nothing behind. We have another article for talking about that, in which DBAN and Parted Magic are mentioned.
raymond.cc/blog/wipe-your-hard-disk-before-lending-or-giving-away/
ReplyI used the default Windows Cipher command on a 300GB external 2.5″ drive connected via USB 3.0, and gave it to the local Sheriff’s Office Cyber Crime unit, which was able to partially/mostly recover a very large number of graphic files that had been on the drive. They were NOT able to recover any of the more than 100gb of music files in a usable form.
To be clear, they DID start with a list of the filenames that had been wiped. The Deputy commented on my collection of photos of SeaCraft boats, calling it “Boat Porn”. The Program they were using is called R-Studio, and is supposedly effective on modern drives of under 1TB capacity, on a variable scale. The greater the drive density, the more difficult to recover securely deleted data.
I plugged the drive back into my laptop at home, and copied all the previously deleted files back to the portable drive, and then ran CCCleaner with the 7-pass option. LEO were still able to get file fragments, including a few discernible images.
The last time I ran Eraser with the Gutmann option. It took 27 hours to run the Gutmann processs on this external 2.5″ drive connected via USB 3.0 to a Lenovo Ideapad w/ 2nd gen. i7 Windows 8.2 laptop with 16gb of RAM. Afterwards, LEO was unable to retrieve any usable data within 48 hours using their normal automated process.
ReplyTo be clear, they DID start with a list of the filenames that had been wiped. The Deputy commented on my collection of photos of SeaCraft boats, calling it “Boat Porn”. The Program they were using is called R-Studio, and is supposedly effective on modern drives of under 1TB capacity, on a variable scale. The greater the drive density, the more difficult to recover securely deleted data.
I plugged the drive back into my laptop at home, and copied all the previously deleted files back to the portable drive, and then ran CCCleaner with the 7-pass option. LEO were still able to get file fragments, including a few discernible images.
The last time I ran Eraser with the Gutmann option. It took 27 hours to run the Gutmann processs on this external 2.5″ drive connected via USB 3.0 to a Lenovo Ideapad w/ 2nd gen. i7 Windows 8.2 laptop with 16gb of RAM. Afterwards, LEO was unable to retrieve any usable data within 48 hours using their normal automated process.
Were those recoverable images originaly stored in JPG format? (compressed format)? or were they in BMP, RAW,.. (some other uncompressed format)? I suposo music was in mp3 (compressed) so it was difficult to retrieve with missing pieces of information.
Reply@Frank – At first I didn’t really believe your claim that the files were recoverable. I mean if the data is overwritten, then it shouldn’t be recoverable. I was directed to this site because I discovered that an external drive I use for a lot of projects had all the previously deleted data easily recoverable. Since I didn’t want to install anything else on my machine I used the built-in Cipher command also. Well, after 3 passes, every file that was recoverable before was just as recoverable after. It’s as if the tool did nothing. Based on your comments I’m going to try Eraser next. Thanks for the heads up about Cipher.
ReplyI Agree with you. Gutman etc advanced cleaners has any sense only on low capacity rotated disks. With high capacity disks and ssd’s this is non sense, because there are no practical way for reading not overwritten data from track borders on rotated, and flash cells are completly overwritten without any possibility with reading any previous data. of course ssd’s should be trimmed, and firmware will automatically wipe out all freed blocks. then only one pass is really needed. hard earsing is needed only, when we have any problem with any “security agency’ :)
Replyhow about R-Wipe and clean or pc tools privacy guardian
ReplyThis is a list of FREE tools, neither of those you mention are free. Privacy Guardian was also discontinued several years ago.
ReplyAnother option is or was Drive Scrubber by Iolo you have to buy their software for it to work But they just took the wipe free space option out making it useless. I used them for 3 years with no problem until they took the wipe free option out.Now all they have is the options to completely erase data,and why pay for that when the data can be erased for free.There wipe free option had 2 ways of cleaning,you could either sweep the drive or do it by overwriting the space and would not leave your drive with overwritten files.
ReplyAny recommendations for something similar to wipe Linux systems of any free storage. I have several Terabyte drives that I need to do this too.
ReplyGaaaaah every ****ing program wants to fill the drive with random data WHY? zeros are better, I want to compress the drive image, random is the worst option possible.
ReplyZeros are not better in terms of security, it’s well known to be way harder to recover data that’s been overwritten with random data as opposed to all zeros. With non random erasing it is easier to recover the data underneath.
ReplyHal9000: The density of modern hard drives makes it impossible to recover data from any overwriting. A single pass of 0x00 is fine to prevent recovery of the overwritten data. A couple of years ago there was a company who said they could recover data from an overwritten hard drive. They got offers from several data recovery companies who each pitched in lots of money for the company to prove its claim. They took a 500 GB drive with a known set of files, wiped it with a single pass of 0’s and gave them as long as they needed to recover a single file from this drive. Several years later they still haven’t recovered a single byte of data (they actually gave up a while back and admitted they weren’t talking about hard drives). If you are going to recover any sectors from a wiped hard drive it will have to be the translated sectors from the G-list that had data on them before they were marked as bad. That’s the only way.
ReplyThank you for the information, it would have been handy if you could have provided a link as if it’s proven a single zero pass is more than enough, then the article may need updating.
I guess it also depends on what is considered a “modern” hard drive, is 160GB modern? Is 40Gb modern? Is 10GB modern? The man behind the rather excessive 35 pass method, Peter Gutmann, recommends 1 or 2 passes of random data is about the best you can get to make data unrecoverable on drives made since 2001/2002.
ReplyModern hard drives for the purpose of this discussion would be considered drives that use PMR technology (perpendicular magnetic recording). Most hard drive manufacturers switched from the previous technology (longitudinal recording) to perpendicular recording between 2006-2009. So it is manufacturer and model specific. There is a study (Overwriting Hard Drive Data: The Great Wiping Controversy link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-540-89862-7_21?LI=true) if you want a link to more information.
In that case you can’t really recommend a single zero pass unless it is known exactly what brand the hard drive is and whether it falls into the category you mention. At least a random pass can be used across the board (according to Peter Gutmann it’s good for drives made after 2001) without intimate knowledge of your own hard drive.
I have a plain jane Win 7 computer. I hate to be negative but Eraser does not work completely. I can still find and recover long deleted files. ActiveKillDisk reports damaged volumes that are not damaged. Moo0 Anti-Recovery does almost nothing, majority of deleted files are still recoverable. The problem with most of the wiping programs is that they do not completely overwrite all the actual empty space and the file name storage. ShredIt provides a bogus Trial software that actually does nothing, you have buy it to really try it and if it doesn’t work there is a restocking fee if you return it.
I need a program that will completely and definitively wipe/erase all deleted files and free space.
ReplyEraser is packaging dirty baggage now
ReplyNice article. I partcularly appreciate the comments like those in the last paragraph for Eraser. Where known, a little more detail on what is included would be useful (e.g., Moo0 Anti-Recovery itself is particularly clear on what is included). Two other tools to consider:
PrivaZer – a suite similar to CCleaner; can zero freespace with other options for master file table (MFT), etc.
SDelete – one of the many Sysinternals utilities; overwrites a file, directory, or freespace; for free space it zeros (-z) or cleans (-c) (overwrites thrice — 0, 1, random); for free space, the MFT is included but filenames may remain(!); clear, brief explanation of what it does and why but description of options could be a little clearer.
ReplyThank you!
ReplyLeave a Reply
A full startup disk is something that every Mac user will experience. This problem used to be known as “Startup disk full” notification. However, on newer macOS versions this message has been changed to “Your disk is almost full.”
But luckily, it’s a problem that has many solutions. And in this article, we’ll go over:
- What is startup disk full?
- What's causing 'Your disk is almost full' alert?
- How to fix startup disk full?
- How to prevent 'Your disk is almost full' problem?
However, we also understand that some people are short on time and just want to fix startup disk full. So, if you’re not really interested in what it is and why it happens, just skip the next two sections and head to “How to Clean Your Startup Disk”.
Or, even better, if you’re looking how to clear space on Mac, we’d highly recommend a utility called CleanMyMac X. It'll help you clean up gigabytes of disk space in just minutes (you can download it here).
Note: if you’re running macOS Sierra (or higher), it has a built-in option of Optimized Storage that is supposed to solve the problem of the full hard drive by moving files into the cloud.
By clicking 'Manage' you can open the menu and see what Optimized storage offers. However, it moves junk and useless files to the cloud together with your fies, and eventually you end up paying for iCloud storage to store junk. So we still recommend getting CleanMyMac and actually dealing with extra files rather than simply moving them.
Now, with all that said, let’s get into what exactly “Your disk is almost full” means.
Understanding What “Your Disk is Almost Full” Means
What is a startup disk?
A startup disk, as taken from Apple Support article, is a volume or partition of a drive that contains a usable operating system. Still confused? Let’s break it down for you.
Your Mac hard drive consists of disks (or partitions). Each disk (or partition) has your Mac data on it, which consists of your operating system, applications, etc. Most Mac users have just one disk but power users may have two or more.
Let’s look at an example of a Mac with only one hard disk:
- Your Mac's hard drive is 500GB.
- It has one 'disk' on it, so all 500GB of storage is on that disk.
- The disk has an operating system (OS X El Capitan), and user data (apps, etc).
- And since you only have one disk, this is your startup disk: all 500GB.
A Mac with two disks will have the storage divided between them. The Mac drive with the OS on it is the startup disk while the other drive is just used for storage of files. It’s possible to have multiple startup disks, but most Macs will only have one.
Why your disk is almost full?
This is easy. It’s a lot like why is your fridge full? There is no more space! Your disk is almost full and this is very bad news for any drive. A hard disk should never get beyond 85% capacity (especially a startup disk) as you will experience slowness and errors the further you get above that mark.
If your startup disk is full and you get a message of warning from your Mac, this is a serious indication that you need to free up storage immediately.
What to do when your disk is almost full?
So how do you fix your almost full startup disk? The same way you solve the problem of a packed fridge - you need to clear up space, of course. To make more space on your startup disk you will need to:
- Delete files from your Mac.
- Move files to an external hard drive or cloud storage.
- Or install a second internal hard drive on your Mac.
So, now that we know what a startup disk is, we need to talk about how to fix it. Let’s take a closer look at your disk space to see exactly what is causing your disk to be almost full.
What’s Causing 'Your Disk Is Almost Full' Alert?
Short version: Take a look under-the-hood of your Mac.
Before we can see what is taking up space on your startup disk, first we have to find it:
- Hover on the Dock at the bottom of your screen and open Finder.
- Click on “Finder” in the menu bar at the top of your screen.
- Then select “Preferences…”
- In the window that opens, checkmark the “Hard disks” checkbox.
After selecting this box, your desktop should now show the hard disks on your mac, in the form of icon(s), like this:
These are disks on your Mac that you can “startup”, this is because they have operating systems (like macOS High Sierra) on them. If there is more than one of these hard disk icons that show up on your desktop, it means you’ve got multiple hard disks on your Mac. If you only have one, skip the down to “What is taking up all of my startup disk space?” section.
If you have more than one, continue with the next step:
Click on the Apple icon at the top left of your screen System Preferences > Startup Disk.
Here, again, you’ll find your hard disk(s); they’re probably named something like MainSSD or MainHD. It will also display “OS” and the version number of that OS. If you have more than one OS drive, your startup disk should be the one with the latest version of macOS running on it, but we’re going to make sure of that in the next step.
Here, again, you’ll find your hard disk(s); they’re probably named something like MainSSD or MainHD. It will also display “OS” and the version number of that OS. If you have more than one OS drive, your startup disk should be the one with the latest version of macOS running on it, but we’re going to make sure of that in the next step.
I only have one and it looks like this:
To make 100% sure that you know what drive is your startup disk, follow these steps:
- Click on the Apple Icon in the menu at the top-left of your screen.
- Select “About This Mac.”
- Under macOS, you’ll find a version number. Mine is 10.14.1, like so:
See how my version number in the “About This Mac” window matches the number in my Startup Disk section? Yep — That’s my startup disk. Found yours? Good.
What is taking up all of my startup disk space?
Now that we’ve identified our startup disk, let’s take a closer look at how to clear up space on Mac:
- Click the Apple Icon in the menu at the top-left corner of your screen.
- Choose “About This Mac.”
- Click Storage.
Note: If you are running an older version of OS X you may have to first click “More Info…” and then “Storage”.
Take a look at my hard drive disk:
I’ve got 500GB of storage, and about 275GB of it is free space.
So, how big is your hard disk? How much free space do you have (if any — *gulp*)? And what’s taking up the most space? It is important to consider drive capacity and data storage needs for future storage plans — we’re not just here to fix the problem for now, we’re going to make sure you never have this problem in the future as well.
Now that we have the knowledge, it’s time to take action and fix your Mac’s “Startup Disk Full” problem.
How to Clear Space on Mac (11 Ways)
Let’s go over 11 things you can do to help fix 'your disk is almost full.' These should also give you other ideas as to how else to fix it — You know your Mac better than we do!
1. Clear system storage on Mac
System storage cleanup sounds like a serious undertaking. But, technically, it boils down to just one thing: having the courage to scrap the old files.
- Search for large ZIP/RAR archives in Downloads
- Open your Desktop (Command + F3) and delete screenshots
- In Applications, sort your apps by size. Delete the largest ones
- Get rid of system junk files with a free version of CleanMyMac X
- Restart your Mac to free up RAM
2. Clean up cache files on your Mac
Cache files are files that help your Mac run programs a bit more smoothly. Think of them like blueprints for a house: your Mac has the blueprints for how a program is supposed to load/run/look, so it loads it faster; without them, it’d be like building it from scratch. However, over time, these caches can start to take up some serious space. Periodically, removing them can help free up space. And don’t worry, your Mac will create fresh, new ones after you restart your Mac. To remove caches:
- Open a Finder window and select Go in the menu bar.
- Click on “Go to Folder…”
- Type in ~/Library/Caches
Delete the files/folders that are taking up the most space. - Now click on “Go to Folder…”
- Type in /Library/Caches (simply lose the ~ symbol)
And, again, delete the folders that take up the most space.
Deleting cache files is generally safe for your Mac. And once you delete them, the applications and processes you run on your Mac will generate fresh, new ones. But, when deleting, worry more about removing them based on size rather than just removing all of them.
Also, you can check the /System/Library/Caches folder as well, but it might be better not to touch this folder without knowing what the items are. A utility that correctly cleans up these files (and pretty much everything else on this list) is, you guessed it, CleanMyMac X. It cleans up even your system caches with just a few clicks. By the way, this program is notarized by Apple.
Oh, and once you’re done with this list, restart your Mac so it can create these new cache files.
Read more: How to Clear Cache on a Mac?
3. Get rid of localization files
Localization files are also known as “language packs.” Lots of apps come with other languages that you probably don’t need. To clear up space on your Mac, delete the ones you don’t need:
- Open a Finder window.
- Go to Applications.
- Ctrl+click on an application.
- Select “Show Package Contents.”
From here, go to Contents > Resources and look for files ending in .lproj. These are the languages your app has just in case you want to use it in another language, like Spanish (es.lproj). Drag the ones you’ll never use to the Trash.
Again, a safer alternative to this would be to use CleanMyMac X. It gets rid of all of them with a click. No digging through application folders, just a cleaner Mac.
Read more: How to Delete Language Files from macOS?
4. Delete old iTunes Library backups
The more recent versions of iTunes create backups of your iTunes Library, whenever you update the application (which, to me, feels like every day). You can trash these old iTunes Library backups by:
- Opening a Finder window.
- Clicking “Go” in the menu bar at the top-left of your screen.
- Selecting “Go to Folder”
- Entering ~/Music/iTunes/Previous iTunes Libraries
They’re all dated, just delete the old ones you don’t need anymore.
5. Remove old iOS backups
Backups can tend to take up a lot of space. You can find and remove them by:
- Launching a Finder window.
- Clicking “Go” in the menu bar.
- Selecting “Go to Folder…”
- Then, typing in ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/
Get rid of all the old, outdated backups your Mac has been storing for a bit more extra space.
6. Remove iOS software updates
You can find all the unnecessary data for your devices by:
- Opening Finder.
- Selecting “Go” in the menu bar.
- Clicking on “Go to Folder…”
- And entering for iPad ~/Library/iTunes/iPad Software Updates
or entering for iPhone ~/Library/iTunes/iPhone Software Updates
Delete downloaded files for any of the devices that you are not using any more, or ones which software just already updated. Remember that after any of your devices have been updated, you don’t need those files.
Read more: How to Delete iOS Software Updates from Mac?
7. Remove unnecessary applications
This isn’t often overlooked, but definitely under appreciated. Removing old, unused applications is a great way to get some extra space on your startup disk. Go through your applications folder and get rid of all the apps you rarely use. But make sure you remove them correctly, don’t just drag them to the Trash. If you do, you’ll leave behind tons of leftover parts and pieces, and we’re trying to get back startup disk space — It’ll kinda defeat the purpose, no?
This is another place we’d suggest using CleanMyMac X. To completely remove any application, just launch CleanMyMac 3, click Uninstaller, select your application, and then click Uninstall. You won’t have to search all over for development junk that’s left behind when Trash’ing an application. It’s incredibly easy and saves you tons of time.
8. Clean up your photo library
Photos, photos, photos. Talk about tons of space! First and foremost, select only what you can get rid of, like image copies and maybe some photos that were mistakenly taken. You know, ones of the ground or something?
Ok, once your own files are taken care of, it’s time to get rid of the files your system created. In Photos for Mac, it’s cache files. In iPhoto, it’s service copies. Both are a pain to find, but here’s how you can get rid of them.
Photos cache includes iCloud local copies (created when you view pics from your iCloud photo library on a Mac), Faces cache (generated when you use Faces), and other app-related cache. You’d be surprised how much all that takes up if you regularly use Photos. For OS versions prior to macOS Sierra, here’s the path to locate the cache:
- Open Finder and navigate to your Photos library (normally, it’s in the Pictures folder).
- Ctrl+click your Photos library, and select “Show Package Contents.”
- Open resources, and then modelresource.
You should now see a lot more folders in your Finder window. Photos cache sits in these folders, but the tricky thing is that it’s really hard to say what is safe to remove and what isn’t. Deleting the wrong file can compromise the performance of Photos, which is why we highly suggest you use CleanMyMac X to clear the cache. It only removes files that are safe to delete, never a critical file or important image.
You can download CleanMyMac X for free and see how it works, it’s so much safer than cleaning up cache manually.
9. Clean up your Downloads, Movies, and Music folders
Have a closer look at these three folders. You’d be surprised at how many downloads can accumulate when you aren’t paying attention. Clean out anything you don’t need (or don’t know) and organize the rest. It’ll take a load off your mind to know that there’s nothing excess there.
The Movies folder can be a pain, not because you’re searching through tons of files, but it can be difficult to choose what to delete. Personally, I never want to get rid of Top Gun. It’s amazing. I watched it 3 times in a row last weekend. But alas, sometimes you need to make sacrifices for your the health of your Mac. Though, what you can do with movies you want to keep is to archive them. So, archive what you wish to keep and remove the rest.
How to archive/compress a file
Archiving a file doesn’t mean to store deeper into the abyss of your Mac — but to turn the file into something smaller, into a compressed file (like .zip or .tar). By archiving a file, you shave off some memory. Archiving is essential for things you want to keep on your Mac, but don’t often use, and helps you clear up some space. And that’s what this is all about right? We’re essentially doing the hokey-pokey on your Mac. To archive a file, just:
- Ctrl+click the file you want to compress (recommended for movie files).
- Select, “Compress .”
The last place to sweep through is the Music folder. Find and remove duplicate music files first, and then clean up all the songs you downloaded on a weird Sunday afternoon cleaning the house.
10. Clean your Desktop
“Clean my desktop… but why?” Because some people’s desktops are hard to look at, that’s why. Organize your desktop and get rid of the stuff you just don’t need on there. It looks better and helps your Mac act a bit faster (I don’t know the rocket science behind this one, but it feels too good to be false). Your Mac doesn’t waste time loading all those icons and junk, just… Just clean it, please.
11. Empty out the Trash (No, we’re not joking…)
Seriously: It may sound incredibly basic, but it could free up a surprising amount of space. I forget to do it all the time. The thing is, that when you delete something, your Mac doesn’t remove it — it just moves it to the Trash. Plus, you’ve probably deleted way more than you realize, and all that could be sitting in the Trash, wasting space. So get rid of all that junk by emptying the Trash:
- Ctrl+click your Trash in the the Dock.
- Select “Empty Trash.”
- And click “Empty Trash.”
And, the easiest step is done.
A few more tips to free up space on Mac
- Delete duplicate files
Some files often have two or more copies. Check out Gemini 2 — it searches for identical files and folders all across your Mac.
2. Manage your Optimized Storage
This option comes with your operating system starting macOS Sierra. Go to the Apple menu > About this Mac > Storage
Now, click on Manage to reveal the space-saving options:
3. Erase your Junk Mail
Open your Mail app, and click Mailbox in the upper menu. Here you can erase spam and already deleted items.
4. Delete system junk with CleanMyMac X
Again, this is an incredible utility when it comes to cleaning your startup disk. And this app is notarized by Apple, meaning it's safe.
Again, this is an incredible utility when it comes to cleaning your startup disk. And this app is notarized by Apple, meaning it's safe.
To avoid the annoying “your disk is almost full” error, download the free edition of CleanMyMac X.
Once you've installed the app, click on the System Junk tab. It will cleanup caches, logs, language packs, binaries, Photo copies, outdated backups, Trashes, and more.
Once you've installed the app, click on the System Junk tab. It will cleanup caches, logs, language packs, binaries, Photo copies, outdated backups, Trashes, and more.
Full Startup Disk Prevention
We’ve cleaned up a few things on your Mac, and hopefully it’s given you more ideas as to what else you can clean. But, let’s take a look at how much space you saved from cleaning the list above. Remember how we checked your Mac’s free space? Open that window again and see how much space you’ve freed up:
- Click the Apple Icon in the menu at the top-left corner of your screen.
- Choose “About This Mac.”
- Click Storage.
Note - If you are running an older version of OS X you may have to first click “More Info…” and then “Storage”.
You’ve probably got a bit more space, and you’ll want to keep it that way. The only way to prevent a “your disk is almost full” is by keeping your Mac clean. We’d recommend a complete cleaning every 2–3 weeks.
Say goodbye to the 'Your startup disk is almost full” message.
So, we’ve now covered everything that we wanted to share with you. Hopefully, this has helped you fix that full startup disk problem. Your startup disk should now be quite a bit lighter (we hope). Oh, and if you liked this article, get social with it to help others in need. And if you really liked this article, subscribe to our email list — we’ve got more guides on the way. And we’ve also got a utility that’ll help you out a ton in the long run: CleanMyMac X. It helps you clean your entire Mac with just the click of a button. It’s incredibly easy to use and works like a charm.