Manage Other And Apps Storage On Mac

What is 'Other' on your Mac's storage and how to remove or clear it?

1. How To Manage Other Storage On Mac
2. How To Manage Macbook Storage

Computer storage or disk space is the amount of data (measured in 'bytes') that a drive is capable of holding. Mac computer users can check how much disk space is available on their systems by clicking the Apple menu () at the top left of the screen and selecting 'About this Mac', and then selecting the 'Storage' tab. Despite this, even basic information can seem confusing at first, especially with regard to Mac hard drive categories. Mac users often become aware of disk space when a message stating that 'there is not enough free space' appears when downloading files from the Internet. When checking the status of storage on your system, you may notice the category 'Other' occupies a great deal of space.

Files under this section may seem redundant, not important, and can be deleted, but we recommend that you read through this article before removing any files. Commonly, third-party applications invite you to clean the hard drive quickly, but if the 'Other' category is targeted, you might lose important files. In fact, this particular section does store files that are junk files (for example, cache and temporary files), so you need to differentiate between those and the important files. In this article, we describe files listed under the 'Other' category and show how to safely remove some unnecessary data.

Table of Contents:

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May 21, 2020  How to check your iPhone or iPad's storage from your Mac in macOS Catalina. In macOS Catalina, Apple has split up iTunes into three different apps, Podcasts, Music, and TV. That doesn't mean you can't connect your iPhone or iPad to your Mac anymore, though. It just means it's moved. Connect your iPhone or iPad to your Mac running macOS Catalina. All that is required to Check and Manage Storage on Mac is to click on the Apple Logo located in the top menu bar of your Mac and click on ‘About This Mac’ option in the drop-down menu. Apart from this there are other ways to check and manage the current status of storage space occupied by various files and programs on your device.

1. Jun 25, 2018  Click on your desktop or the Finder icon from the Dock. Select the Apple Menu icon in the upper left corner of the screen. Click on About This Mac. Select Storage. Your Mac breaks down its storage categories as follows: Apps, Movies, Photos, Audio, Backups, and — that annoying, undescriptive category — Other.
2. If you want to manage your storage on Mac and free up more space, you can also perform the feature - Manage Apps & Extensions. Choose 'Manage Apps & Extensions' tab and click the 'View Items' respectively on 'Uninstall Apps' and 'Remove Extensions' for loading all the apps and extensions on your Mac.

How to check the storage status on your Mac?

If you are running low on free space, we recommend that you check how much space each category consumes - this will help you to decide what to clean to achieve the best results. To check Mac hard drive usage, click the Apple logo in the top left corner of the screen, and then select About this Mac. Choose the Storage tab. You will see a line with different colors indicating the categories - hover over each to check its title and amount of storage consumed.

What contains in the Other category?

Many users report that this confusing category consumes a lot of hard drive memory, thus prompting them to seek methods to clear the category or reduce the amount of space taken. Before proceeding, you must determine what data is hidden within this particular group of content. The title ('Other') can be misleading, since there are not only junk files, but also important personal files. Below, we clarify this category and include some examples of what 'Other' contains:

• Common documents and file types, such as PDF, doc, PSD and some others.
• Any type of compressed files, including disk images, zips, dmg, iso, tar and many more archive type files.
• User's personal data.
• Some files in the system folders of Mac OS, such as temporary files, swap, voices, etc.
• Files such as application support, iCloud files, screen captures, and similar.
• Cache items, including browser cache and locally-stored message media content.
• Fonts, app accessories, application plug-ins, and extensions.
• Various data and file types that are not recognized by Spotlight, such as virtual machine hard drive, Windows boot camp partition, and a number of other type files.

These files are just a small sample of those that might be contained within the Other category. You might prefer not to lose certain file types, whereas others can be removed without any particular consequences (for example, system caches, temporary files, and other junk files). So, the 'Other' category is a collection of data that includes miscellaneous file types not suitable for any other existing category. Now we have a clear view of this category, we can use methods to clean this group of junk files.

How to clear Other category on Mac running macOS Sierra or later

Some users believe that newer versions of the Mac operating system are well optimized and never run out of free space, but this is not actually correct. Although Sierra and later versions are much better optimized, these system do run out of free space, especially when small capacity hard drives are installed. Even if you are running a system with considerable hard drive space, overfilling it will result in reduced system performance. Fortunately, mac OS Sierra and all later versions include a useful feature called Optimized Storage. Once this tool enabled, the Mac will automatically cleans its hard drive from old or unused files by transferring data to iCloud. All files moved from your computer to cloud storage will be accessible through a website (from which you can later download them to your Mac). Additionally, if you experience significant loss of storage space on macOS High Sierra, read this guide.

Manually clear Cache files on your Mac computer

To remove cache data from your computer, you simply need to visit a specified destination where the files are stored. Launch Finder, which can be found in the Dock. Click Go in the menu at top of the screen and select Go to Folder. Type the following destination, ~/Library/caches and click Go.

In the new window, you will see a list of caches saved from active applications. Select the folder of the program from which the cache you wish to remove. Right-click or control-click on it. In the menu, select Move to Trash. Repeat this procedure with all applications.

How to remove old iOS device backups in iTunes

Creating a backup of the iDevice regularly is a good idea, however, this can result in significant space being occupied by old, unnecessary drive images - especially when backups can take up to 5 Gigabytes. Therefore, removing outdated disk images is advisable. Launch the iTunes application and open Preferences by clicking iTunes in the menu at the top of the screen. In the new window, select the Devices tab. You will find a list with all stored backups of your iDevice. Items in list will have the name of your mobile device and date the backup was created. We recommend that you keep the latest backup, but if you have a copy in the iCloud, you may proceed to complete cleanup. To finish the process, select one of the items and click the Delete Backup button.

How To Manage Other Storage On Mac

Clear up your downloads folder on Mac

The Download folder does not apply any tools for automatic clean-up. Furthermore, clicking it in the Dock only displays a number of recent files. Therefore, many users forget to remove unused data from this area, resulting in a build-up of occupied storage space. To remove files stored under the Downloads folder, launch Finder. Click Go in the menu at top of the screen and select Downloads. Alternatively, click the keyboard shortcut: Option, Command, and L, when finder is launched. A list with all remaining files under Download the folder will appear. Select the content you no longer require and right-click or control-click to enter the menu. Select move to trash, or if you wish to save some content, you can move it to an external drive. When you have finished moving your data, remember to empty the Trash. To perform this action, simply right-click on the Trash bin icon in Dock and select Empty Trash.

Use Combo Cleaner to clean up your computer faster

Using third-party software to clean up your computer is quick and simple. We suggest using Combo Cleaner, which offers features such as disk cleaner, big files and duplicates detector, and others.

Video Showing how to clear 'Other' storage category on Mac:

If you own a Macbook, you might have come across the ‘other’ folder on Storage that takes a considerable amount of space without giving any idea about what it is for. Do you know you can clean this ‘other’ storage folder in your Macbook and have an enhanced storage capacity which otherwise is occupied? Well, not many know how to clean up the other storage folder from their Mac to free some space. Let us discuss what is it and how to clean it up.

Bonus Tips: If you want to recover deleted iPhone messages or other important data from iOS devices, you can always use Gihosoft iPhone Data Recovery for Mac.

How To Manage Macbook Storage

• Option 1: Delete Cache from Mac ‘Other’ Folder
• Option 2: Use Smart Folder Finder to Clear Mac ‘Other’ Storage
• Option 3: Use ClearDisk to Delete ‘Other’ in Mac
• Option 4: Use AppCleaner to Clear ‘Other’ on Mac
• Option 5: Delete Mac ‘Other’ Folders by Self-check the Hard Disk

What is ‘Other’ on Mac Storage

o be precise, this is a storage folder that can be found in all your devices running Mac OS. It contain cached data, archives and disk images, temporary files, personal user data, and many other folders though the manufacturers did not clearly explained what it should contain and what it will not.

How to Clean the ‘Other’ from Mac Storage

As the Other storage folder on Mac contains a host of files, one has to go inside clicking various options in sequence to get hold of the cached and get rid of them. There are different methods through which one can get the job done. and Let us discuss them one by one.

Option 1: Delete Cache from Mac ‘Other’ Folder

First check with the memory storage so that you can have an basic idea of the present storage occupied. If the Mac storage ‘Other’ folder is occupying negligible space; you do not need to take the pain of cleaning them. However, if it is occupying considerable space then clean it following the steps below. After cleaning, check the memory storage again and you can see the space gained.

• Click the icon that represents the Finder and press Cmd + shift + G and it will open up the ~/ library/caches, ~/Downloads, and ~/Documents/Logs
  
• Visit each folder, to check the contents in them as you might not want to delete all your stuff in that folder.
• Choose the folder from which you want to remove the cache and right click it to delete. When files are downloaded from the internet in your Macbook, some are stored in the ‘Other’ folder. You can click Move to Trash after selecting the folder you want to delete.
  

Option 2: Use Smart Folder Finder to Clear Mac ‘Other’ Storage

• Another way to clear the mac storage “other” folder is by using the smart Folder Finder. With the instructions below one can free up space on Mac.
• Click Cmd + F on the Mac and search for the “other” folder in “This Mac.” After getting this option, one needs to choose “Other” in the drop-down menu of Kind.
  
• Tick the desired ‘file size’ in the window that appears “OK” button.
• Also, as you specify the file size and file extension, a list of files would be shown. Select the unwanted file and delete them.

Option 3: Use ClearDisk to Delete ‘Other’ in Mac

To delete the mac storage ‘Other’ folder, in a most comfortable way, one can follow these straightforward steps and regain some storage space.

• One can use the ClearDisk that is a unique tool available on all Mac devices.
• Select the list of folders and other applications by ticking the box placed against each item in the drop-down menu and then clicks on the icon “Clean” to remove them and acquire some storage space.

Option 4: Use AppCleaner to Clear ‘Other’ on Mac

If you did not go for cleaning process or a reinstallation for a long time on your Mac, then it is most likely that some large folders have been created by some of the applications to occupy your limited space. If they are not containing much imporant files, you may clear them with the particular program, “AppCleaner” available in the system. This is useful since that some new software can only be installed if you successfully deleted the old service files. Use the AppCleaner and Uninstall Pro that comes with Mac to clear the ‘Other’ storage and enjoy more space.

Option 5: Delete Mac ‘Other’ Folders by Self-checking the Hard Disk

If all the above methods failed to clear the ‘Other’ storage on your Mac, you can try exploring the hard disk and manually delete the files in the ‘other’ by yourself. You should carefully examine the hard disk so that no necessary file or folders get deleted. You may find many files and folders occupying massive space in the hard disk that is not needed for your work and can be deleted. Use the Disk Expert for scanning your drive to get the list of the biggest space consuming files and folders and delete those that are not necessary.

Conclusion

In this age of increased internet surfing to gather more information, the total usable storage of a digital device like Mac is essential in storing many types of files that are required for work or entertainment. However, many unwanted files also get downloaded to Mac while surfing the internet, and they occupy much of the spaces in the Mac storage ‘Other’ folder. One can get much third party software to clean their Mac devices, but it is always better to follow any of the above processes to get the extra space and stay relaxed without the worries of running short of disk space. In addition, you can make the machine run faster along with gaining the storage space. Calculating the storage space before cleaning up and after cleaning you will have a rough idea as to how much space has been gained. Last but not the least, you can as well free the device by transferring the downloaded files to external disk drives.

If you have any other problem or suggestion, welcome to share with us in the comment.

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