As years go by, your trusty old Mac may start to slow down. One of the most common reasons for a slow Mac is the lack of disk space. When your computer’s hard drive is running low on space, it causes all kinds of problems, such as slow start-up times and crashes.
When you are starting a new business, you will need a fast and efficient laptop to help you manage all the workload for your startup. If you are experiencing issues or simply want more space for your startup-related work on your PC, it is high time you freed up some space on your laptop.
5 Easy Ways to Free Up Disk Space
Here are 5 easy and simple ways to do just that.
1. Clean Your Desktop
Most of us have a messy, cluttered desktop full of downloads, screenshots, and documents we no longer need. A cluttered desktop not only makes it hard to find things but also slows your Mac down as the items take up system resources.
You can check how much disk space is available on your laptop. If you don’t know how to, simply read this tutorial on https://setapp.com/how-to/check-disk-space-on-your-mac and learn how much disk space you have. Sort through the files and delete all the items you don’t need. If you are not sure, ask yourself if you have used the file in the past 6 months. If you haven’t, you should delete it.
2. Uninstall Unused Apps
You may have installed apps on your Mac that you don’t use anymore. You will be surprised how much amount of disk space these apps use, particularly large apps such as Adobe Creative Suite. Uninstalling these applications will free up a lot of space on your hard drive.
Follow these simple steps to uninstall unwanted apps from your Mac.
- Open the Finder and go to the ‘Applications’ folder.
- Click on the app you want to uninstall and drag it to ‘Trash’.
- Right-click on ‘Trash’ and select ‘Empty Trash’.
3. Clear the Downloads Folder
The downloads folder is another place on your laptop that can quickly fill up with files you don’t need anymore. Downloads from the Internet, email attachments, and files from your messaging apps all accumulate in this folder and take up a lot of space. Clearing your Downloads folder can free up your hard disk.
Open the Finder and select ‘Downloads’. Select all the files you don’t need and drag them to the trash. Empty your trash, and voilà! You will have plenty of space on your Mac.
4. Use Storage Management
Mac has a built-in tool for managing disk space — Storage Management. This tool lets you see what is taking up space on your hard drive and helps you delete unnecessary files.
Here’s how to use it.
- Click on the Apple icon in the top-left corner of your screen.
- Select ‘About this Mac’.
- Select the ‘Storage’ tab.
- Click on the ‘Manage’ button.
- The storage management will display various recommendations for freeing up space. Follow the prompts to delete all the unnecessary files.
5. Clear Your Cache
Your laptop stores data in the cache to cut down on loading times. Over time, this cache becomes bloated and takes up valuable disk space. Here’s how to clear the cache.
- Open the Finder.
- Select ‘Go’ from the menu bar.
- Select ‘Go to Folder’.
- Type in ‘~/Library/Caches’ and press ‘Go’.
- Select all the folders in the cache folder and drag them to the trash.
- Right-click on the trash and empty it.
Final Word
When your laptop takes a lot of time to start up, it gets frustrating, especially if you have started a new business and need to use your laptop a lot. Instead of thinking about buying a new Mac, you can simply free up some space on the hard disk and see how fast your laptop becomes. Follow these 5 simple, easy-to-follow ways mentioned above to free up disk space on your Mac and enjoy a faster and smoother startup experience.
