How To Free Up The Other Space On Mac

October 11, 2019Nicole Jones

Ok well I was looking at my mac storage and I have 1.15 GB Free out of 499.25 GB. From this 319.93 GB are from the Other section (yellow bar). I want to free a TON of space up.
If you need to clear off space from your Mac's hard drive, there are some places you should look first. You may have some old iPhone backups, installers,.

After drinking your first cup of coffee, it is time to start your day with your computer. However, the popping-up message says “Your disk is almost full”. You need to optimize storage to save space on Mac. The dreadful Mac storage is almost full message make you realize that how much stuff stored on your Mac. Well, you may get shocked that “Other” takes up the most storage space.

What is Other on Mac storage? It is easy to understand about “Audio”, “Movies”, “Photos”, “Apps” and “Backups”. But what does “Other” mean in Mac storage? Is there any way to clean up Other storage on Mac? Luckily, you can figure out what is Other storage on Mac and how to remove files from Other storage in details here.

Part 1: What You Need to Know about Other Storage on Mac
What Is Other on Mac Storage
How to Check Other Storage on Mac
Part 2: How to Delete Other Storage to Free Up Disk Space on Mac
1. Remove Unwanted Documents to Free Up Other Storage on Mac
2. Delete Cache Files in Other Mac Storage
3. Clear Large Files and Folders to Clean Up Mac Other Files
4. Clean Up App Plugins and Extensions from Other on Mac Storage

The app(s) using large amounts of storage space in Other, and the best way to free up that storage space, will depend on the app(s) installed. Hopefully the above information enables you find the files on your drive that are taking up the most space. You can then free up needed space by deleting those files or moving them to an external drive. If you do not have time to explore what “Other” storage is, but you need to quickly clear Other Storage and recover disk space on your Mac, use the special software tool, MacCleaner Pro. This all-in-one solution will help you to remove tons of useless files, such as caches, unneeded extensions, deleted apps’ support files, duplicate files, and system junk files. It can be used to view your storage in a variety of ways that allow you to make informed decisions regarding which files you should delete to clear Other space on your Mac. Here are step-by-step instructions to free up disk space on your Mac’s hard disk: Download Disk Drill for Mac. The free download will allow you to clean up your storage.

Part 1: What You Need to Know about Other Storage on Mac

Let’s solve the first question together. What is Other storage space in Mac OS X? Which category should Other belong to? Just read and get your answer.

El capitan install disk. Using New Disk Utility Clean Install OS X El Capitan from USB Boot Disk. How To Clean Install OS X El Capitan Using Disk Utility. Clean Install OS X El Capit. Install El Capitan from the installation disk. Create the macOS X 10.11.6 El Capitan Install Disk from official sources. As the hdiutil tool is proprietary, we do not have the choice to use an macOS to create the ISO file. I have used macOS 10.11 to create this ISO. I created a USB disk with a bootable El Capitan as per this documentation. Plug-in your USB key on a turned-off computer. Start your Mac, press immediately OPTION (aka ALT) Select the Orange icon (aka a USB stick) labelled El Capitan. If it does not detect it after 10 sec and you only see your hard-drive. Try another USB port and wait 10 sec again. If the drive isn’t named Untitled, the procedure won’t work.) Make sure the El Capitan installer (or at least a copy of it), called Install OS X El Capitan.app, is in its default location in your main Applications folder (/Applications). Select the text of the following Terminal command and copy it. Sudo /Applications/Install OS X El.

What Is Other on Mac Storage

Generally speaking, all Mac files that cannot be divided into “Apps”, “Photos” and other categories are Other files. These are some data types that are stored in Other storage on Mac.

System and temporary files about macOS, like logs, preferences files and more.
Cache data from browser, apps, photos, system, etc.
Documents in pdf, doc, psd, csv, etc.
Personal information.
Browser history, cache, downloads and more.
Archives and disk images in zips, dmg, iso, tar, etc.
App support, app accessories, iCloud files, screen saver, fonts, updates and other file types not recognized by Spotlight.

How to Check Other Storage on Mac

Unfold the “Apple” menu.

Choose “About This Mac”.

Click “Storage” to check the Other storage space on Mac.

Part 2: How to Delete Other Storage to Free Up Disk Space on Mac

After knowing what is Other on Mac storage, you need to take measures to delete Other storage on Mac. It is impossible to entirely get rid of Other on Mac. But you can clean up your Mac Other storage in multiple aspects. It is true that you can find and delete each Other file manually. If you want to get a quicker way to clear Other storage on Mac, Aiseesoft Mac Cleaner is your first choice. You can download the free version from its official site.

1. Remove Unwanted Documents to Free Up Other Storage on Mac

Way 1: Manually Delete Other Documents on Mac

Close all windows. Press “Command” and “F” keys on the desktop.

Click “This Mac” on the top.

From the first drop-down menu, replace “Kind” with “Other”.

Choose “File Size” and “File Extension” in the popping-up “Search Attributes” window.

Input different document file types and file sizes to access large documents.

Check and delete the files you don’t need.

Way 2: Quickly Delete Large and Old Files from Other

Free download, install and run Mac Cleaner.

Click “Cleaner” to access all Mac cleaning tools. Then choose “Large & Old Files” in the main interface.

Click “Scan” to start the scanning process.

Click “View” to review the classified files via “> 100MB”, “5 MB to 10 MB”, “> 1 Year” and “> 30 Days”.

Click “Clean” to delete the selected files and delete Other files on Mac.

2. Delete Cache Files in Other Mac Storage

Way 1: Manually Delete Cache files from Other Data Storage

Choose “Go to Folder” from the “Go” drop-down list in the Finder.

Type “~/Library/Caches” and press “Enter” to locate the “Caches” folder.

Make a copy of the Caches folder with your external hard drive if necessary.

Drag and drop all files within the Cache folder to Trash. Empty Trash on Mac.

Repeat the above steps with “/Library/Caches” and “~/Library/Logs” to clean up Other storage on Mac.

Way 2: Quickly Delete User Cache Files to Free Up More Space

Launch Aiseesoft Mac Cleaner.

In the “Cleaner” section, click “System Junk” in the first place.

Click “Scan” to find system cache, application cache and more junk files.

Choose “View” to have a check. You can preview and select the system cache and application cache you want to delete.

Click “Clean” to remove cache files from Other on Mac storage.

3. Clear Large Files and Folders to Clean Up Mac Other Files

Way 1: Manually Delete System and Temporary Files from Other on Mac

Open Finder. Unfold the “Go” list. Then choose “Go To Folder”.

Type “~/Users/User/Library/Application Support/” or “~/Library/Application Support”. Later, click “Go” to go to the destination folder.

Open the certain folder to find and delete useless system files.

Way 2: Quickly Clean System Files and Logs from Other Storage Space

Open Mac Cleaner. Choose “System Junk” in the “Cleaner” section.

Click “Scan” to scan for all system junk files in a short time.

Click “View” to access system cache, application cache, system logs, user logs and localization. You can see how many Other storage those files use.

Select and preview the outdated system files.

Click “Clean” to delete Other on Mac flexibly.

4. Clean Up App Plugins and Extensions from Other on Mac Storage

Way 1: Remove Extensions and Plugins from Safari

Open Safari. Choose “Preferences” from the list.

Click “Extensions” to access all Safari extensions.

Click “Uninstall” to uninstall a Safari extension.

Way 2: Remove Extensions and Plugins from Google Chrome

Run Google Chrome.

Find and click the three-dot “More Tools” on the top right corner.

Choose “Extensions” from its submenu.

Disable any Chrome extension or plugin you do not want to use anymore.

Furthermore, you can also use the built-in app uninstaller, duplicate finder, file manager, unarchiver, file hider, system performance monitor and more here. In a word, you can delete Other on Mac and speed up Mac in clicks. Mac Cleaner is 100% safe to use. You can preview, filter, organize and select any Mac file before cleanup. The whole process will not cause data overwritten. You will never know how fast your Mac computer can be before running Aiseesoft Mac Cleaner. Well, why not free download the program to have a try right now!

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The limitations of Mac storage often create a problem that prevents the Mac from running smoothly, which results in inconvenience to every user. With that said, we take a look at the four ways to free up the storage space on the device manually, according to Apple.

How to Free Up Storage Space Manually on Your Mac

1. Store the contents of the device to the iCloud storage.

iCloud is an online storage service that enables Mac users to save their files and other data online. This is a safe and secure place for your files. It will save the files automatically after editing or modifying its contents. Also, a user can always check and access these files online, anywhere and anytime. All Apple users have a free 5 GB storage space in iCloud and can subscribe to more storage through monthly subscription

To use the iCloud, go to the 'Apple menu'. After, you will see the option 'About this Mac.' Click it.
Once you see this on the screen, select the 'Storage.'
Then, click 'Manage.'
Click the 'Store in iCloud' and it is done.

For documents stored in iCloud, you can always download these documents locally on your Mac anytime. For photos and videos, the iCloud will store full resolution images and videos. It can also save the messages and attachments.

2. Uninstall unused or unnecessary applications in the device.

Sometimes, there are unnecessary applications in the device that occupy spaces in the storage. To free up the storage, users can uninstall these applications.

Read Also: How to clean up your Mac quickly? Outbyte MacRepair's Guide

This can be done in three easy steps, per Tech Solutions:

Choose the 'Finder' in the device's dock.
Then, click 'Go.' After, browse the options, find and click the 'Applications.'
After clicking it, it will show you all the applications in your Mac. Browse through the applications and choose those applications that are unused and unnecessary. To uninstall each application, drag the application's icon to the Trash icon that you will see in the dock. Continue doing this until you have uninstalled all the unneeded applications.

3. Empty trash

The items in the Trash can also occupy space in the storage. There are two options you can choose from. You can manually empty the Trash once in a while or enable the feature that automatically and permanently delete all the items in the trash every 30 days.

Free Up Disk Space On Macbook Air

To delete manually, click the Trash icon in the device's dock. Browse through the items and delete the items that you do not need anymore. You can also select all and empty the Trash.
To enable the feature that will automatically and permanently delete all the items in the trash every 30 days, follow the instructions in storing in iCloud above mentioned. However, this time, browse and choose the 'Empty Trash Automatically' and click 'Turn On..'.

4. Free up a large storage space on the Mac

You can use an external storage to help maximize the storage of the device. These external storage devices are: USB flash drives, external hard drive, SD or Micro SD card, and external port adapters. There are four steps to move the items from the Mac to an external storage device, per Business Insider.

Check for an available port on your Mac device and plug the external storage device.
After plugging it in, it will appear in the finder and the desktop of the device.
Copy or move the items or files that you do not need currently and are often unused in the Mac.
Lastly, after copying and moving the items in the external storage, delete all the original documents and other items in the Mac to free up storage.

Related Article: Mac Running Slow? Here Are 4 Tips to Help Improve Its Speed

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