A full startup disk is something that every Mac user volition experience. This problem used to be known every bit "Startup disk total" notification. However, on newer macOS versions this bulletin has been changed to "Your disk is almost full."

Only luckily, information technology'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 deejay full?
  • How to forestall "Your disk is almost full" trouble?

However, we as well empathise that some people are short on time and just want to fix startup deejay full. And then, if you're non really interested in what it is and why information technology happens, just skip the next ii sections and head to "How to Clean Your Startup Deejay".

Or, even better, if yous're looking how to clear space on Mac, we'd highly recommend a utility called CleanMyMac X. It'll help you make clean upward gigabytes of disk space in just minutes (you lot tin can download it here).

Notation: if yous're running a newer version of macOS, it has a built-in choice of Optimized Storage that is supposed to solve the problem of the full hard drive by moving files into the cloud.

Your disk is almost full macOS Sierra

By clicking "Manage" you can open up the menu and meet what Optimized storage offers. However, it moves junk and useless files to the cloud together with your files, and somewhen, y'all stop up paying for iCloud storage to store junk. And then we still recommend getting CleanMyMac and really dealing with extra files rather than but moving them.

Now, with all that said, let's get into what exactly "Your disk is well-nigh total" means.

Agreement What "Your Deejay is Near Full" Means

What is a startup disk?

A startup disk, as taken from Apple tree Support commodity, is a volume or partitioning of a drive that contains a usable operating arrangement. Still confused? Let's break information technology down for you.

Your Mac hard drive consists of disks (or partitions). Each deejay (or segmentation) has your Mac data on information technology, which consists of your operating organization, applications, etc. Nigh Mac users have but one deejay just power users may have two or more than.

Allow'southward look at an example of a Mac with merely 1 hd:

  • Your Mac's hard drive is 500GB.
  • It has one "disk" on it, so all 500GB of storage is on that disk.
  • The deejay has an operating organization (macOS Monterey), and user information (apps, etc).
  • And since you only accept i 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 merely used for storage of files. It's possible to have multiple startup disks, but most Macs will but have one. And for proper disk cleanup on Mac, all drives are just as important.

Why your disk is near full?

This is piece of cake. It's a lot like why is your fridge full? There is no more infinite! Your disk is nearly full and this is very bad news for whatever drive. A hard disk should never get beyond 85% capacity (especially a startup disk) as you volition experience slowness and errors the further y'all get above that mark.

If your startup deejay is full and you get a message of warning from your Mac, this is a serious indication that you need to clear up storageimmediately.

What to do when your disk is about total?

So how do you set your about total startup deejay? The aforementioned way yous solve the problem of a packed fridge - you demand to clear up storage, of form. To make more space on your startup deejay you will demand to:

  1. Delete files from your Mac.
  2. Move files to an external difficult drive or cloud storage.
  3. Or install a second internal hard drive on your Mac.

So, now that nosotros know what a startup deejay 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 deejay to exist almost full.

What'south 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 deejay, first nosotros have to find information technology:

  1. Hover on the Dock at the lesser of your screen and open Finder.
  2. Click on "Finder" in the card bar at the top of your screen.
  3. Then select "Preferences…"
  4. In the window that opens, checkmark the "Hard disks" checkbox.

After selecting this box, your desktop should at present show the difficult disks on your Mac, in the form of icon(south), like this:

Startup Disk Full | Displaying your hard disks

These are disks on your Mac that you lot can "startup", this is because they take operating systems on them. If there is more one of these hd 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 downward to "What is taking up all of my startup disk space?" section.

If you have more than i, keep with the next pace:

Click on the Apple tree icon at the top left of your screen System Preferences > Startup Deejay.

Here, once again, y'all'll observe your hd(s); they're probably named something like MainSSD or MainHD. Information technology volition also display "Os" and the version number of that OS. If you have more than than one Os drive, your startup disk should be the i with the latest version of macOS running on it, simply nosotros're going to brand sure of that in the next pace.

I just have one and information technology looks like this:

To make 100% sure that you know what drive is your startup disk, follow these steps:

  1. Click on the Apple Icon in the carte at the pinnacle-left of your screen.
  2. Select "About This Mac."
  3. Nether macOS, you lot'll observe a version number. Mine is 12.0.1, similar 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? Proficient.

What is taking up all of my startup deejay infinite?

At present that we've identified our startup deejay, permit's accept a closer look at how to clear upwardly infinite on Mac:

  1. Click the Apple Icon in the menu at the top-left corner of your screen.
  2. Choose "About This Mac."
  3. Click Storage.
    Note: If you are running an older version of OS 10 you may have to start click "More Info…" and and then "Storage".

Take a look at my hard drive disk:

I've got 250GB of storage, and nigh 168GB of information technology is free.

So, how big is your hard disk? How much gratuitous space do you have (if whatsoever — *gulp*)? And what's taking up the most infinite? It is of import to consider drive capacity and data storage needs for hereafter storage plans — nosotros're not just here to fix the trouble, for now, nosotros're going to brand sure you never accept this problem in the hereafter as well.

At present that we have the knowledge, it'due south time to take action and fix your Mac'due south "Startup Disk Total" trouble.

How to clear deejay infinite on Mac

Permit'south get over xi things yous can do to help fix "your deejay is almost full." These should also give you lot other ideas as to how else to ready it — You know your Mac better than we exercise!

1. Clear arrangement storage on Mac

easy process

Organisation storage cleanup sounds similar a serious undertaking. Just, technically, it boils down to just one thing: having the courage to flake the former files.

  1. Search for large Nada/RAR athenaeum in Downloads.
  2. Open your Desktop (Control + F3) and delete screenshots.
  3. In Applications, sort your apps by size. Delete the largest ones.
  4. Restart your Mac to free up RAM.
  5. Get rid of system junk files with a free version of CleanMyMac X.

This app gives you lot lots of possibilities to costless up infinite, especially when it comes to system junk. CleanMyMac Ten has been notarized by Apple, which basically means it's safety to use. And if you got 5 minutes, try this tool as information technology shows you lot where exactly your junk hides.

CleanMyMac X - Downloads in System Junk module

two. Make clean upwards cache files on your Mac

hard, time-consuming process

Cache files are files that help your Mac run programs a bit more than smoothly. Call back of them similar blueprints for a house: your Mac has the blueprints for how a program is supposed to load/run/await, then it loads it faster; without them, it'd be like building information technology from scratch. However, over time, these caches tin offset to take upwardly some serious space. Periodically, removing them can assistance articulate storage. And don't worry, your Mac will create fresh, new ones after you restart your Mac. To remove caches:

  1. Open up a Finder window and select Go in the menu bar.
  2. Click on "Go to Folder…"
  3. Type in ~/Library/Caches
    Delete the files/folders that are taking up the most space.
  4. At present click on "Go to Binder…"
  5. Type in /Library/Caches (simply lose the ~ symbol)
    And, again, delete the folders that accept upward the almost space.

Deleting cache files is generally safe for your Mac. And one time y'all delete them, the applications and processes you lot run on your Mac will generate fresh, new ones. But, when deleting, worry more well-nigh removing them based on size rather than just removing all of them.

Also, y'all can cheque the /System/Library/Caches folder likewise, but it might be improve 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 information technology, CleanMyMac X. It cleans up even your organisation caches with simply a few clicks.

Oh, and once y'all're done with this list, restart your Mac and so information technology can create these new cache files.

Read more: How to Clear Enshroud on a Mac?

three. Get rid of localization files

hard, time-consuming process

Localization files are also known as "language packs." Lots of apps come up with other languages that you probably don't need. To articulate up infinite on your Mac, delete the ones you don't demand:

  1. Open a Finder window.
  2. Go to Applications.
  3. Ctrl+click on an application.
  4. Select "Show Packet Contents."

From hither, 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 information technology in some other language, like Castilian (es.lproj). Drag the ones yous'll never use to the Trash.

Once more, a safer culling 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 Linguistic communication Files from macOS?

4. Delete duplicate files

medium, tedious process

Even if you have the most organized Mac on a planet, duplicates happen ane way or another. It can be a file you've mistakenly downloaded twice or a post attachment you've opened several times. Regardless of how they appeared, those files sit on your Mac and gobble up storage.

But finding and deleting them is a time-consuming process if you do it one by one. So hither's what you tin can practice for a unproblematic Mac disk cleanup:

  1. Open the Finder app on your Mac
  2. Motility cursor over File and click New Smart Folder
  3. Click the "+" button in the upper right corner and choose the type of files you desire to see
  4. Now sort them past name to speedily spot duplicates.

Remember to pay attention to the date of cosmos to make sure you continue the true original, non the copy.

While this is the best way to remove duplicates manually, it takes lots of your time and dedication. It'd be much easier to exit this to Gemini two: The Duplicate Finder.

This app chop-chop scans your Mac for indistinguishable and similar files and allows you to delete them within minutes. It keeps your originals safe and helps you easily think files deleted past accident.

five. Remove old iOS backups

medium, tedious process

Backups can tend to take up a lot of infinite. You can find and remove them by:

  1. Launching a Finder window.
  2. Clicking "Go" in the menu bar.
  3. Selecting "Go to Folder…"
  4. Then, type in ~/Library/Application Back up/MobileSync/Backup/

Become rid of all the quondam, outdated backups your Mac has been storing for a fleck more extra space.

6. Remove big and old files

medium, tedious process

Keeping many large files on your Desktop and in Documents slows downward the system. And if you delete but a couple of these enormously large files, you tin go half of your storage back.

Let'due south open the familiar About this Mac pane once again. If you click Manage, yous'll meet this window for sorting files.

While this musical instrument is good for finding large files, it misses a lot of things. Encounter that "Other" category that takes upwardly 38.GB?

To deepen your search for massive files, use this tool from CleanMyMac X. It'south called Large & Erstwhile files finder.

Archives selected in LAOF module of CleanMyMacX

It'due south much more helpful equally it shows y'all lots of other categories of files, like Athenaeum. The app breaks your files past Size and Last Used.

To come across this instrument in activity, download the complimentary edition of CleanMyMac Ten. And click the Large & Former files at the bottom of the sidebar.

7. Remove unnecessary applications

medium, time-consuming process

This isn't oftentimes overlooked, only definitely nether-appreciated. Removing old, unused applications is a corking way to go some extra infinite on your startup disk. Go through your applications folder and get rid of all the apps you rarely utilize. But make sure you remove them correctly, don't just drag them to the Trash. If you exercise, you'll leave behind tons of leftover parts and pieces, and we're trying to go back startup disk infinite — It'll kinda defeat the purpose, no?

This is another identify we'd suggest using CleanMyMac X. To completely remove any application, only launch CleanMyMac 10, click Uninstaller, select your application, 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. Move your Photos and Docs to the cloud

hard, tedious process

When your local storage is total to the brim, your Mac volition starting time uploading this data to iCloud. But only if y'all have this setting enabled. Is your Photos app synced with iCloud already? Permit's check.

  • Open Applications and discover the Photos icon.
  • Launch Photos and click on Preferences in the pinnacle menu.

Ticking the box iCloud Photos will connect your Photos library to iCloud. And what'due south more important, if yous select Optimise Storage, some function of your Photo library will be moved to iCloud. This mode you macOS saves precious space. The free iCloud plan allows you lot to free up at least five GB worth of storage.

The similar logic applies to your Documents and other files. To gear up the cloud backup with iCloud drive, become to Organisation Preferences > Apple tree ID > iCloud.

nine. Make clean up your Downloads, Movies, and Music folders

medium, tedious process

Have a closer wait at these three folders. Yous'd be surprised at how many downloads tin accumulate when y'all aren't paying attention. Clean out annihilation you lot don't demand (or don't know) and organize the rest. It'll accept a load off your mind to know that at that place'due south nothing excess in that location.

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. Information technology'south amazing. I watched it 3 times in a row last weekend. But alas, sometimes you need to make sacrifices for the health of your Mac. Though, what you can do with movies you want to continue is to archive them. And so, archive what y'all wish to go along and remove the rest.

How to archive/shrink a file

Archiving a file doesn't mean to store deeper into the completeness of your Mac — but to plough the file into something smaller, into a compressed file (like .aught or .tar). By archiving a file, you shave off some memory. Archiving is essential for things yous desire to keep on your Mac, simply don't often use, and helps you articulate up some space. And that's what this is all nearly right? Nosotros're substantially doing the hokey-pokey on your Mac. To archive a file, just:

  1. Control-click the file you want to shrink (recommended for movie files).
  2. Select, "Compress ."

The last place to sweep through is the Music folder. Notice and remove duplicate music files showtime, and and so clean upwardly all the songs you downloaded on a weird Sunday afternoon cleaning the business firm.

10. Make clean your Desktop

easy process

"Clean my desktop… but why?" Considering some people'southward desktops are hard to look at, that'southward why. Organize your desktop and go rid of the stuff y'all merely don't need on there. It looks better and helps your Mac human activity a chip faster (I don't know the rocket scientific discipline behind this i, but information technology feels too skillful to exist fake). Your Mac doesn't waste product time loading all those icons and junk, just… Just clean it, delight.

11. Empty out the Trash (No, we're not joking…)

easy process

Seriously: Information technology may audio incredibly basic, merely it could clear a surprising amount of storage. I forget to practise information technology all the time. The thing is, that when you delete something, your Mac doesn't remove information technology — it merely moves it to the Trash. Plus, you've probably deleted fashion more than 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:

  1. Control-click your Trash in the Dock.
  2. Select "Empty Trash."
  3. And click "Empty Trash."

And, the easiest step is done.

A few more tips to clear storage on Mac

    ane. Manage your Optimized Storage

    This option comes with your operating system starting macOS Sierra. Go to the Apple menu > Almost this Mac > Storage

    Now, click on Manage to reveal the space-saving options:

    two. Erase your Junk Mail

    Open your Mail app, and click Mailbox in the upper bill of fare. Here you can erase spam and already deleted items.

    Full Startup Disk Prevention

    We've cleaned upward a few things on your Mac, and hopefully, it's given you more ideas equally to what else you can clean. Only, let'southward have a look at how much infinite y'all saved from cleaning the list above. Remember how we checked your Mac'south free space? Open up that window once again and meet how much space y'all've cleared up:

    1. Click the Apple Icon in the menu at the elevation-left corner of your screen.
    2. Choose "About This Mac."
    3. Click Storage.
      Note - If you are running an older version of macOS y'all may have to kickoff click "More Info…" and and so "Storage".

    Y'all've probably got a fleck more than infinite, and y'all'll want to go along it that way. The only manner to prevent a "your deejay is about full" is by keeping your Mac clean. We'd recommend a complete cleaning every 2–3 weeks.

    Say bye to the "Your startup deejay is almost full" message.

    Nosotros've told you how to delete storage on Mac in multiple ways. Hopefully, this has helped yous gear up that full startup disk problem. Your startup disk should now exist quite a bit lighter (we promise). Oh, and if you liked this commodity, go social with it to help others in need. And if you actually liked this commodity, subscribe to our email list — we've got more guides on the way.  And nosotros've also got a utility that'll help you out a ton in the long run: CleanMyMac X. It helps yous make clean your unabridged Mac with just the click of a button. It'due south incredibly easy to use and works like a charm.