What does startup disk is full mean

Apps you may no longer be using, as well as their leftovers, still remain in the Cache folder and occupy tens of gigabytes of your disk memory.

Cache files are stored in the Library folders, which you can find in the following locations:. As a result, this folder may increase substantially in size over time. By default, the Library folder is hidden on macOS, as Apple keeps their system files and protects the files from accidental removal. While the Library folder is open, you can also find another type of temporary file — log files. They are stored in the Logs folder. Please make sure that before you remove system logs, apps, and mobile devices, you no longer need them.

Language Resources is the data stored by apps for different languages. For instance, Spotify has 54 languages. Using this method, you can remove all unused languages in your applications. How many times have you downloaded files from web browsers, messengers, torrents, and mail?

When you download files from the Internet, by default they are saved in the Downloads folder, which can easily be found at this location:. All of the files in the Downloads folder usually remain unorganized and may take up several Gigabytes of free space. While you may have needed to retrieve files very rarely, for example, installation files disk images , more than half the files in Downloads are not needed and should be deleted.

Sorting the list of files by size, kind, or date will help you to quickly find out which unneeded files you have and remove them. If you use the standard macOS Mail application, the system saves them to a separate folder on your hard drive. The easiest way to find this folder is to search via Spotlight. It may sound elementary, but we frequently delete files and forget to empty the Trash. The files in the Trash still occupy your disk space, so it is recommended that you empty the Trash folder at least once a week.

To delete files from the Trash folder permanently, right click on the Trash in the dock panel and select Empty Bin. Another way to complete this task is to open the Trash and click the Empty button in the top right corner. All previous steps can be easily done by MacCleaner Pro.

MacCleaner Pro will automatically find all junk files and allow you to remove them in just a few clicks. The software tool will find all junk files in just a few seconds: Downloads, Trash, Cache, Logs, and Language Resources. Backup files consume a significant amount of disk space, as they include movies, music, and other large files. Check your Applications folder. The number of all the installed applications may sometimes exceed ; in fact, some may not be used regularly or even at all.

But please note, moving an app to the Trash just by dragging and dropping it is not enough. It will help you to remove apps both correctly and completely. Leftovers are the broken service files left after deleting the apps. Such broken service files are unnecessary and they just take up your disk memory, so you should find and remove them. Searching for them manually seems to be an impractical task. The application finds and shows these files in the Remaining Files section.

If you need to free up gigabytes of data, the best way to do it as quickly as possible is to check out your Movies folder. Video content is the biggest space-eater, as well as audio and photo files in the Music and Pictures folders.

Also check your disk for other files with large sizes. Disk Space Analyzer shows you the disk space usage in a sunburst diagram and allows you to easily manage the biggest files and folders. You can use iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive or any other online storage. Usually all cloud storage services provide some space for free. For example, Dropbox provides two complimentary gigabytes of free space. This means that you can move big files and folders from your hard drive to cloud storage.

Recommendation: use the Selective synchronization option, which allows you to delete content sent to the cloud from the hard drive. Most Mac users like good screensavers and do not limit themselves to the default collection. It is recommended that you remove unneeded screensavers. You may have created copies of documents or downloaded some files twice, and later forgotten about it. This alone can save you lots of disk space.

You can customize optimization settings flexibly, according to your needs. From old caches to backups, there are lots of unneeded files suffocating storage on Mac — most of them you never see.

This sounds obvious. They are still there , just in a different spot on Mac. Caches are system files created every time an app or a browser performs a specific task. Both browser and app caches are in fact supposed to speed up your Mac. They are kind of like task shortcuts — by remembering how an app or browser performed the task last time, they help perform it faster the next time you do it.

At the same time, app caches are files, which means they generate tons of system junk. This is why we recommend clearing cache regularly. Indeed, by manually deleting caches, you might erroneously remove some important system files. There are two ways you can avoid trouble here: 1 Back up cache folders before deleting them this is a bit tricky while backups eat up storage, just as caches ; 2 Use an advanced tool like CleanMyMac X that scans your Mac for clutter and deletes only those files that are safe to delete.

The Downloads folder is a go-to spot for all the files you save on your Mac. For sure, it has lots of stuff you might no longer need in it. To see how much space downloaded files occupy, navigate to Downloads via Finder. Click on the filter icon to filter by size and start deleting the largest files. In this case, we recommend moving large-sized files to cloud backup. The problem with iCloud is it saves all of your files, photos, and messages to backup — which is obviously a huge waste of cloud storage.

If you want a more customizable setup, use Dropshare. Dropshare allows you to drag and drop any large-sized file to cloud storage on the go. So that once you come across a file that could potentially be clogging your storage, you move it to Dropshare instantly. If you use it via Setapp, you also get 10GB of complimentary storage included in your plan for free.

In case you want a copy of your entire disk or a large amount of data, use an advanced backup app like Get Backup Pro.

WeTheGeek is an independent website and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. WeTheGeek is not affiliated with Microsoft Corporation, nor claim any such implied or direct affiliation. Disclaimer Last updated: March 04, The information contained on wethegeek. In no event shall wethegeek. External links disclaimer Wethegeek.

Please note that the wethegeek. Please note that wethegeek. However, this does not impact our reviews and comparisons. We try our best to keep things fair, objective and balanced, in order to help you make the best choice for you. Preeti Seth , For Mac For Mac Optimization. Empty Trash It may sound very simple, but most of us forget to empty the Trash and the files in Trash keeps on taking up storage space. To shred files permanently right click on the Trash in the dock panel and choose Empty Trash.

Clear Mac Cache Where cache files decrease page load time, they also occupy unnecessary storage space resulting in startup disk almost full-on Mac error message. To remove Mac cache, follow steps below: Open Finder window and select Go. Delete old iTunes Backup The recent version of iTunes creates a backup of your iTunes Library when the application is updated.

Get rid of old iOS Backups Backups are important they help to get our files back in case of virus attack or any unforeseen situation. These simple steps will help to recover space and clean Startup Disk on Mac. Delete Downloads We all download multiple files from web browsers, torrents, mails etc.

Remove Remains Remains as the name says are leftover files once an app is deleted. The window now will ask you to select a disk, volume or image. Select the disk by clicking on the disk, which is on the left. Remove Unnecessary Applications: There must be many unused applications on your Mac. Tags: Cleanup My System. Related Posts. How to Use Emoji on Mac. What Do You Think? Goldie Delcamp I am forever thought about this, regards for putting up.