How To Free Up Disk Space on Mac Hard Drive (5 Best Ways)

The Mac Pro is one of Apple’s most powerful computer models. The story began in 2006 when the first-generation Mac Pro was introduced. It marked the third addition to Apple’s desktop lineup, which still exists today, including the Mac Pro, iMac, Mac Mini, and the most recent iMac Pro.

Now, there’s a bit of drama during the Mac Pro’s lifespan and why Apple is sticking to tiny hard drives that fill up quickly even in 2021. Well, this is one of the questions that every Apple user eagerly wants to know; however, where the other competitors offer at least 512GB of storage, why does Apple only offer 256GB in their base models?

Well, that’s still a mystery because only Apple knows this. But you can utilize the 256GB tiny hard drive on your Macbook. There are many ways to free up disk space on your Mac hard drive. But how? Let’s see.

Also Read: Macbook System Storage: Why So Much Space?

List of Best Ways To Free Up Disk Space on Your Mac Hard Drive

Here, we have mentioned several methods that you can use to free up the disk space on your MacBook’s hard drive. But follow them carefully, as one wrong step will cost your data. So, now let’s get started:

Method 1: Uninstall Applications That You Cannot Use

We always ignore this as we unnecessarily download and install many applications we have no use for, which will harm our system in the long run. So, deleting those applications we cannot use frequently is always better.

To do so, you can simply follow the steps as we have mentioned below: 

1. Firstly, open the Finder > Applications Tab. Now Choose App You want to delete.
2. Now, you can either click on it and choose the Move to Trash option or directly drag it to the trash.

That’s it. But, hold on! Some relics of the application are still present on your Mac. So, to remove them completely follow the path: Spotlight Search > Library > Search for the application > Delete all the files related to it.

Method 2: Delete the Old iTunes Backups of Your iPhone / iPad

If there is more than one backup of your iPhone and iPad data on your MacBook, then it is obvious that your device has started lagging. So, if you use iTunes to back up your iPhone’s data on your Mac, we suggest you delete them manually. Here are the steps that you need to follow: 

1. Open the Finder app and select your iTunes device (iPhone or iPad) from the sidebar.
2. Then, select the Manage Backups option and choose the backup you need to delete.
3. After that, hit the Delete Backup button. Then, if you ask for confirmation, click on the Delete button.

However, you can also use a third-party application to delete the old iTunes backups of your iPhone and iPad. However, we do not recommend this as it may cause severe issues with your privacy.

Method 3: Remove Language Files from Mac

A language file is responsible for the language interface of any application you use on your MacBook. However, the application that you have used on your Mac will use the pre-installed language files.

But sometimes, unnecessary language files are installed on your system that take up a lot of storage space. So, we have to delete those language files. Let’s see how.

1. First, go to the application folder and right-click on the application to open the drop-down menu.
2. Then, click on the Show Package Contents. This will reveal the content folder.
3. Now, open it and locate the Resources folder. Then, open it.
4. After that, locate and open the sub-folder named .lproj.
5. Now, inside this folder, you’ll get the language folder name indicating what lang they are. For example, en.lproj or pl.lproj.
6. Now, you can select all the languages you wish to delete and move them to the trash. But don’t forget to empty your trash bin further.

Method 4: Clean Up Your Downloads Folder

You can check if there are any large files in your MacBook downloads folder. If so, we recommend you delete them as they also occupy a lot of storage space. Also, check if any failed or incomplete downloading process appears in the downloading folder.

Method 5: Empty Your Trash Cans

We always delete the files from our system but forget to delete them from the trash bin. So, it is very important to empty our trash bin regularly. To do so, follow the steps we have mentioned below: 

1. Firstly, click on the Trash icon found in the Dock. 
2. Now, you have two options:

• • Delete a single item by right-clicking on the item and selecting the Delete Immediately button. 
  • To delete all files from the Trash bin, Click the Empty button at the top right corner of the Finder window.

These are some methods for freeing up disk space on your Mac hard drive. We hope this guide has helped you. If you know of any other options, let us know in the comment section. We will update this guide further.