Storage space is always important, no matter which device you are working on. It becomes more important when you have 128GB or even 256GB SSD. Your Mac will start showing faults like slowing down or not performing at its fullest. At some points, you might even get a message ‘Your startup disk is a full warning.
Henceforth it is essential to know what is using up the space on your disk and clear the files that are taking up the space. Another main reason why you need free space is to install the macOS updates. First, you need to have a little information about it what is in other storage on Mac and its ways to delete it.
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What are the Ways to Delete Other Files?
We have already mentioned that just by selecting others, you cannot delete them and decline 30 GB of space. However, you can locate and delete a few file types in the other category and hence can acquire some space.
With the help of a finder, you can delete files from others. You can search by file type or can search in the library folder. You need to have some idea about where to look and what exactly there are. Some file types are easy to locate and can be deleted safely. Below we have given a brief idea about how to handle them.
If it’s a normal file, then follow the given steps. First, you need to locate them in the finder. Then right-click on the file. Finally, choose the Move to Trash option. It is important to clean the trash files, or else they will be still on the Mac. And for that right, click on the bin and select empty trash. For more, follow the provided guidance
Deleting The DMG Files And Other Space
The process to locate and delete the program installer is easy. Surprisingly, they take up most of the space. Through the finder, you can locate and delete the files.
- First, you need to click on the desktop and open the finder.
- Then select the This Mac option, and in the search box, type dmg.
- After that select Kinds: Disk image and finally hit the enter option.
- All the .dmgs will appear, and you can safely delete them.
- Press command +A to select all and then right-click on the selected area. Finally, hit the Move To Trash option.
- Enter the password to confirm it. Lastly, empty the trash where all the files have been stored.
Deleting The Temporary Files
Temporary files are quite common. They can be vital to performance, but later they become outdated. We have mentioned the guidance down below.
- First, you need to open the Finder option and then select the Go option from the menu bar.
- Now select the Go To Folder option and type ~/library. At the end, press Enter button.
- After that, locate the application support folder.
Deleting The Cache Files From Other
Another major reason why space is decreasing is due to the cache files present in others. We have given the instructions on how to delete the system cache from Others.
- First, you need to open the finder option and then select Go, followed by Go To Folder.
- Now type Library/caches/ and finally select the Go option.
- If you want, you can open the folder and check which files need to be deleted safely.
Time Machine Snapshots
Time Machine snapshots can be the reason why you are decreasing space on Mac. This time Machine software back up your Mac to an external drive. Also, it even creates local snapshots on your Mac.
These snapshots are only stored if there is enough space, and it will delete the old one to store the new one. You will get easy ways to remove the local snapshots from your hard drive. You only need to remove the backups from the Mac.
Removing The Application Logs And Support Files
Apps generate and store a lot of files that are mainly log and support files. These files occupy space in the hard drive after deletion. It will be a good idea to delete them. We have given guidance to resolve the space-taking issue.
- To begin with, open the finder and press command shift G. Then, go to the ~library/application support. Search for the app that has the same name which you have deleted.
- After that, go to the given locations to delete the other app-related files.
~/library/logs
~/library/containers
- If you want you can also check the following location to get rid of the app leftovers.
~/library/caches/
~/library/caches
~/library/internet plug-ins/ etc.
What Are The Things Present In Other Storage On Mac?
When you are about to free up space, we assume that your priority would be About This Mac. Here you will find a handy tool that will help you in managing your storage. And over here, you might have noticed the Other category.
The About This Mac gives you some clues like an overview of what is present there and taking up space on your Mac including messages, apps etc. To get a view we have provided the steps that you might follow.
- First, you need to click on the Apple logo that is situated in the top left corner.
- After that, go to the About This Mac option.
- Now choose the Storage option and wait for a few minutes for the calculation.
- You will witness a bar chart representing the types of files that are taking up space on your Mac. Different colours will be representing different files, and Others will be the containing the maximum storage.
- Then click on the Manage option, and a screen will appear. Over here you will be able to make various tweaks to your system for instance select the store files in iCloud or even review files to reduce clutter.
- If you want, you can also make various adjustments in the section of storage just by clicking on them, like the applications, documents etc. After that, you can delete that you want to increase the storage.
- But you might see that a few options are in grey which means you won’t be able to access Other here at all. Now you might be clear that the Others not just contain music, files etc but more than that.
- The other contents are system files that might not fit those types. Most of the contents that are stored might not be required any longer. Thus they are dumped in the Other category.
How To See The Contents Present In Other?
To know what type of contents are present in the Other, you are in the right place. With this information, you will be able to see what was taking space in the Mac. Henceforth you need to open the Finder and then move to the Library.
This is the place where the majority of the contents are stored. Depending on the setup of the system the Library folder might not be visible in the normal Finder window.
We have mentioned the steps that you might follow to get the desired result.
- First, you need to open Finder and then click on the Go option from the menu bar.
- After that, select the Go To Folder option.
- Now type /library and then press enter.
- A long list be presented of folders on the screen which might contain files deemed by MacOS.
- Some of the files might even suggest stepping away. However, you will get a few folders that you can easily and safely delete. Before you do delete it, it would be better to go through the details as it might affect the system of the Mac.
What Are The Things That The User Can Delete?
You can delete files, but you need to be very careful. As mentioned, some files present in the Other might affect the working of the system. The safest files that you can remove are .dmg files that are left from the time of installation and backups.
We have talked about this in more detail. When you go closer to the cache files and other types of files, you can quickly run into trouble. For instance, in case you delete a cache from any old app won’t be harmful.
But deleting the one from the recent app might forget all your preferences and other details. If you don’t have any idea about some things, then it’s better to leave them alone. We also recommend running a complete backup before removing anything to avoid disaster.
Conclusion…
So this was all about the ways to delete others in MacBook storage. The storage issue is a common problem. After going through the above information, it will guide you to create more space. Other related information is also given.
