Cleaning “Other” on Mac without using third-party applications. Cleaning dust from MacBook Clean your Mac from unnecessary files manually

Remember how fast your Mac was when you first bought it? How did it load instantly and open websites and apps smoothly? Over time, your Mac becomes filled with various applications, system updates, documents, photos and a variety of other files that cause a slowdown effect. If you want to make your Mac as fast as it was when you first took it out of the box, we've got some helpful tips for you.

1. Clear the startup list

Most of the applications you install are automatically added to the startup list, and every time you turn on or restart your Mac, the system is forced to waste resources to launch all these applications and services. As long as there are few of them, they do not have a significant impact on performance, but sooner or later this moment comes.

Fortunately, in OS X it is very convenient to control and regulate all this “economy”:

• Open system settings and go to the section Users and groups.
• Select your account in the list on the left and open the tab Login objects.
• We carefully review the list and leave only those applications that you really need immediately after starting the system. We mercilessly remove all the rest from there by highlighting and pressing the button – .

2. Update to the latest version of OS X

Your Mac should update itself, but it's a good idea to make sure your computer is running the latest OS. You can easily check this using the Mac App Store. Just open the application and go to the tab Updates. The icon will show the number of available updates, which you can download both together and individually. For the future, it would be a good idea to check and enable the automatic download and installation of updates in the section App Store system settings.

3. Putting the disk in order

One of the best ways to prevent system performance is to clear your hard drive of various files that you no longer need. The category of such files includes all kinds of logs, caches, temporary files, extensions, duplicate files and much, much more. To find and remove this file garbage, you can resort to special applications or use Disk Utility.

• Launch Disk Utility and select your hard drive from the menu on the left
• Go to the tab First aid and press the button Check, and then To correct.
• The system will start scanning and correct errors if any are found.

After that, check your home folder and other folders on the drive to see if there are caches or temporary files that you no longer need. If you don’t want to delve into the depths of the file system, it’s better to use a specialized utility.

4. Checking for gluttonous processes

If you notice a drop in performance while working on your Mac, using System Monitor you can easily determine which application is eating up all your resources.

• Opening System monitoring from folder Programs - Utilities.
• Switching between tabs CPU And Memory and looking through running processes, we find applications that consume excessive amounts of resources.
• If you find a process consuming more than 90% (not a root process), feel free to terminate it using the button Complete.

5. Delete unused localization files

Every Mac has a ton of unused language files. Usually we use Russian and English, but the rest of the localizations that developers supply their applications with remain “dead weight” on the hard drive. You can remove them manually (a very tedious process) or use some special application. For example, the same CleanMyMac can do this and when cleaning, it always, among other “garbage”, scans the file system, including for the presence of unused language files.

6. Clean the desktop

Some users prefer to store files and application shortcuts on the desktop, considering it very convenient. Not really. Because the system has to handle all of these connections over time, this approach to storing and organizing your workspace can negatively impact system performance and responsiveness. Therefore, remove all unused icons and move documents and files to appropriate folders. Better yet, check out our guide to achieving desk zen.

7. Disable widgets

Widgets are miniature applications located on a specially designated desktop. You can add as many different widgets as you like, such as a virtual aquarium, an interactive calendar or a convenient weather informer. While some of them perform useful tasks and help you, many simply consume resources, thereby slowing down system performance. Therefore, audit your Dashboard and disable or delete all unnecessary widgets that you do not use - this will free up memory and increase system responsiveness.

All of the above tips are more relevant for owners of old Macs or machines with insufficient RAM. The slowdown effect on newer computers will be almost unnoticeable or noticeable even at the most advanced stages (monitoring tools). However, in any case, prevention and putting things in order have never bothered anyone. ;)

Many Mac OS users are trying to find the reason why their devices are glitching or they are faced with the problem of low memory. The reason for all these questions may be simple “clogging” with residual files from your programs and devices. Therefore, we present to you the top best programs for cleaning Mac.

Magican

The honorable first place is occupied by the program for cleaning Mac OS - Magican. Perhaps this particular program is worthy of special attention, because it has many very interesting functions and will be useful to users who would like to receive a universal application that will monitor the state of their PC. In addition to regular cleaning, Magican can find duplicate files, large files, change applications, protect the system from viruses, remove installed programs, and show computer usage statistics. If you wish, Magican will monitor the state of the system, as well as notify it itself when cleaning is required. The main advantages of this application are functionality and free use.

• Download link: http://magican.en.softonic.com/mac

Clean My Mac

This application can probably be called the king of optimization programs for Mac. This application can say - EVERYTHING, at least everything you need from a PC cleaner. Clean My Mac can perform an automatic or manual cleaning procedure, it can also remove and search for programs, empty the Trash, erase extensions, and the iPhoto library. The kit also includes a “Shredder” - this is a function that will help the deleted file bypass the recycle bins and be completely destroyed. This program has only one drawback - the high price, because the application license costs $39.95.

• Download link: http://cleanmymac.ru.uptodown.com/mac

MacClean

Before us is the brainchild of the manufacturers iMobie, which gave us the above mentioned iPhone Clean Pro. MacClean can clean up junk from your Mac - and all you need to do before scanning is specify the areas in which the program will work. This is how this program works uninstaller software, cleans the recycle bin, removes large and heavy files, as well as unnecessary duplicates. And to the delight of Mac users, the program is absolutely free.

• Download link: http://macclean.ru.uptodown.com/mac

CCleaner

This application has a wide selection of cleaning areas, selection of default programs and automatic freeing of free space, and the ability to remove applications. But unfortunately, this program does not have as many features as we would like, however, free distribution and light weight make it one of the best of its kind, which is why it made it into our top.

• Download link: ccleaner.org.ua/download/

CleanApp

The program attracts everyone with its laconic interface and universal button that appears after downloading: “CleanAp, remove unnecessary things!” The application can really remove unnecessary things, while completely analyzing the system. Well, as a bonus, the program can remove programs from a Mac, manage fonts, extensions, widgets, plugins, and check the operation of the hard drive. This program has the ability to configure maintenance scripts; the program will check the system at a specified interval automatically. The full version of the application will cost the buyer $14.99, but the demo version has all the functions of the main version, but unfortunately only for 10 launches.

• Download link: www.syniumsoftware.com/ cleanapp

Most Mac users (and PCs too) sooner or later encounter the same problem: the free space on the hard drive is literally melting before our eyes, and after six months you begin to be bothered by a message like “Memory is almost full.” Today I will tell you how to find out what exactly is eating up space on your Mac and how to fix it.

1. Empty your Downloads folder

Oddly enough, the folder where all files from your browser are downloaded by default is a real “black hole” that sucks in electronic waste. Its size increases by a couple of tens of megabytes day by day, and in just 3 weeks it turns into a dump of unnecessary documents, application distributions and old pictures.

That is why periodically look into this folder and remove garbage or move important files to other places. To simplify this process, use.

2. Get rid of unnecessary apps

This may be too obvious, but still: go through your applications folder and get rid of those that you don't need at all. And there is no need to say that “this is all very important,” because we know that this is not so and if you want, you can easily find a couple of useless programs that have not been launched for several months. will perform a deep clean, removing internal data, caches, and more.

3. Remove Large Unused Files with DaisyDisk

Sometimes there may be files on your Mac that you either don't know about or have successfully forgotten. Thus, you may have tens of gigabytes of useless junk lying around. Utilities like DaisyDisk are great for finding such files, as they clearly show which files take up the most space on your hard drive.

4. Set up synchronization with Dropbox and Google Drive

Over the years, our cloud storage has grown to quite a decent size, especially considering various promotions for the distribution of free space (like the one Google recently organized). And by default, copies of all “cloud” files are stored on the local Mac hard drive, occupying a decent part of it.

If you do not often use some files, then feel free to disable synchronization of unnecessary folders in Dropbox: go to “Settings”, go to the “Account” section and set up “Selective synchronization”.

You can also go deeper and completely abandon storing local copies of files by installing. This utility will mount cloud storage like a regular flash drive: all data is loaded in real time. The only thing you need is a high-speed Internet connection.

5. Upload your iTunes Library to the Cloud

For those who buy movies and music from the iTunes Store, there's also a good way to free up extra gigabytes by not storing local copies on your Mac. All you need to do is delete copies of the files manually and use the built-in, online streaming, or subscribe to.

6. Put photos and videos away

It's unlikely that you look at photos from your last vacation or videos from your brother's birthday every day, but they constantly take up memory on your Mac. It is not at all necessary to store them on a local hard drive; you can move them to an external HDD or SSD drive, or to special cloud media libraries, such as Google Photos. To choose the most optimal one, take a look at my service data.

7. CleanMyMac 3 will do all the work for you

And finally, the simplest option is to use it, which was created specifically to clean up your Mac and free up treasured gigabytes. The application does everything: from cleaning cache and garbage to searching for large files and photos. The program is paid and costs a lot, but you will forever forget about manually cleaning your Mac.

conclusions

As you may have noticed, some advice is banal, but we most often underestimate it. If you have something to add, do not be indifferent - write in the comments. And, yes, don’t forget to empty the trash at the end, this is the easiest and most effective way.

We present to your attention another portion of tips on how, using simple commands in the Terminal, you can make changes to the system, open settings and enable functions that are not available in other ways. Some operations will seem fun, some will seem quite complicated, but all of them serve only one thing - to make working with Mac OS X and some other applications even more comfortable.

We remind you that when working in the Terminal you should be careful with commands that begin with sudo . These are system-level commands that, if used incorrectly, can cause serious problems in Mac OS X, even crashing the system. Therefore, these commands must be entered as carefully as possible and exactly as indicated in the instructions. Typically, when working with such commands, you are required to enter the administrator password, which is entered blindly.

CLEANING MAC OS X

For some it will be a secret, for others not, but Mac OS X has a self-cleaning feature. Absolutely without user intervention, the system cleans itself, removing various temporary files and other garbage. There are three levels of cleaning - daily, weekly and monthly. Each type of cleaning is carried out strictly according to a schedule, at the same set time, usually at night. So, for example, daily cleaning is performed every day at 3:15 am, weekly - every Saturday of the week at 3:15 am, and monthly - every first day of the month at 5:30 am. But there is one feature - automatic cleaning is performed only if the Mac was turned on at a specific time. If the computer was turned off, the cleaning session will be delayed.

• Unscheduled launch of the self-cleaning system in Mac OS X

There is no need to wait for the next scheduled auto-cleanup or leave the computer on all night. Using a few Terminal commands, you can independently perform an unscheduled auto-cleanup of the system. To do this, open the Terminal and enter:

sudo periodic daily
sudo periodic weekly
sudo periodic monthly

It is not necessary to enter all three commands and perform all three types of self-cleaning at once; you can, for example, limit yourself to one or two cleanings.

After self-cleaning is completed, you will need to restart the computer, and this can be done directly in the Terminal, without having to reach for the “apple” with the mouse.

• Cleaning extensions and system cache in Mac oS X 10.6.x.

It may be necessary if strange glitches related to system drivers occur. We enter the indicated commands one by one, not forgetting to press after each RETURN:

sudo rm -rf /System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kext.caches/Startup/Extensions.mkext
sudo rm -rf /System/Library/Caches/

Then we correct the access rights (of course, this can be done in Disk Utility, but why do we need to open several applications at once):

sudo diskutil repairpermissions /

After completing all operations, we reboot. This completes the cleaning - you can start clogging the system again :)

No matter how stable OS X is, you still can’t do without occasional cleaning of this system from all kinds of garbage. Experienced users can do this manually. And for those who do not have sufficient knowledge or time, special utilities will help.

It would probably not be a great exaggeration to call the CleanMyMac utility one of the most famous among all those designed for cleaning OS X. And its third edition has become even more functional and has received an even more advanced cleaning algorithm. At the same time, the advantage of CleanMyMac 3 lies not only in the ability to clean out garbage from the system that appears as a result of using the computer, but also files that were present there initially, but you never needed.

CCleaner

CCleaner

MainMenu

A good competitor to CleanMyMac 3 and CCleaner. It provides quite a wide range of opportunities not only for cleaning, but also for fine-tuning the system, as well as various useful additions, such as maintaining the clipboard history. The utility is available in two variations: MainMenu and MainMenu Pro, which differ from each other in functionality (and, of course, cost). All features are accessed through a special additional menu in the menu bar, which is how the utility got its name.

MainMenu

Onyx

The main purpose of the Onyx utility is to fine-tune the system to suit your needs. This is a good way to access hidden OS X settings without resorting to the Terminal, which novice users, for obvious reasons, don’t really like to use. However, the matter is not limited to settings, and this utility can also help in removing various garbage, be it all kinds of logs, application caches, temporary files, etc.

The latest Mac models come with relatively small capacity SSDs. As a result, users very quickly discover that the disk is completely full of data. Even a very modest iTunes or iPhoto library can fill almost the entire 128 GB drive. To solve the problem with available memory in OS X, you can turn to third-party applications.

The biggest hogs of hard drive space are files and folders that users have forgotten about or that have grown without their knowledge, like iPhone and iPad backup folders. Many will agree that working on a clogged computer is pure hell. But by using specialized utilities, you will again remember the times when your MacBook was brand new and clean in every way.

Please note: Before you start using such applications, it is recommended that you create a backup copy in Time Machine.

DaisyDisk

Once you open DaisyDisk, you'll be presented with a chart that visualizes the files, including the ones you need and the ones you don't, on your Mac. Having launched a search in the file system, the utility, brought to full automation, will select unnecessary software and display the results. All you have to do is remove all the “offal” that was taking up space and slowing down the system.

In order to fully scan the files on the drive, DaisyDisk previously required about 2 minutes. After updating, this takes a matter of seconds. (It's worth keeping in mind that you'll need a device with an SSD and the latest quad-core processor to experience the speed difference.)

You can download DaisyDisk ($10, demo version available).

GrandPerspective

GrandPerspective also graphically shows the state of the Mac's file system. When launched, the utility will prompt you to select the desired directory to scan. By determining which folders and files take up the most space, you can easily find unnecessary ones among them and delete them, freeing up maximum space with a minimum of effort.

Scanning approximately 14 GB of disk space (occupied by files) with GrandPerspective takes about a minute of the program's time. What can be inconvenient in the case of GrandPerspective is the need to “click” on the squares or hover over them to find out what kind of file is hidden behind them. Otherwise, this app does its job perfectly.

You can download GrandPerspective (for free).

Disk Inventory X

The purpose of Disk Inventory X is to clearly visualize the contents of your hard drive to quickly find problem areas. When you launch the application, you are prompted to select a storage medium for analysis. Both internal and external drives (Time Capsule, USB flash drives, etc.) will be displayed here. After which the processing of the content will begin, which will take from 1 to 5 minutes (depending on the size of the disk). Upon completion, a directory tree will appear on the left, and a visual representation of information according to data types will appear on the right.

Now it’s a small matter: select the most capacious files in the list, make sure that they are unnecessary, and delete them from memory. Disk Inventory X will not allow you to delete those folders that the system needs and that require administrator access rights to them.

You can download Disk Inventory X (for free).

Bonus: Finder

If you do not want to download third-party software, you can use standard Mac tools. You can use Finder to determine the largest files on your computer. To do this, from the desktop you need to press Command+F to open a new search window, then in the filter line in the first field select “File size”, and in the second - “Greater than”. Other fields can be "100" and "MB".

If for some reason you decide to sell your Macbook Air or give it to someone else for a while, you will definitely need to clear some data from your account. Read this manual to learn how to do it correctly and quickly.

First of all, you will need to make a new account. Name it "admin" or something like that and create a simple password. From this account, you will be able to delete personal data and files from your previous account, as well as other user credentials. This method is quite simple, but it can take quite a lot of time, up to 10-12 hours. If you are not in a hurry, then this solution is quite suitable for you. A faster way is to format the HDD or SSD. For complete safety, do not be lazy to make a backup copy of the contents of your computer. Format the disk and install the appropriate operating system.

Quit the applications and don't forget to turn off additional features like "find my mac". If necessary, disable authorization and make a copy of the content in applications such as iTunes, iCloud and iMessage.

After reinstalling the system, when you turn it on, the Mac will offer you a new setting of data such as country, time zone and others. Leave this setup for the next owner and don't complete it by turning off your Mac air.

The new owner will receive a computer without unnecessary files that he does not need, and all your data will be safe.

macOS Sierra and later can free up space by storing content in the cloud. New tools make it easy to find and delete large or unnecessary files.

Storage Optimization in macOS Sierra and later can free up space by storing content in the cloud and downloading it on demand. When you need to free up storage space, files, photos, movies, email attachments, and other rarely used files are automatically transferred to the cloud for storage. Each file remains in the state it was in when it was last saved and is loaded when you open it. Your most recently used files and optimized versions of your photos remain on your Mac.

If you have not yet updated your operating system to Sierra, .

First, choose About This Mac from the Apple () menu, then click Storage. You'll see an overview of free space and space occupied by files of various categories, including programs, documents and photos:

Click the Manage button to see storage optimization recommendations. Fewer options will be presented if some are already enabled.

iCloud storage

iCloud stores files using the storage capacity in your current iCloud subscription. If you need more iCloud storage, starting at 50GB for $0.99 per month, directly from your Apple device. .

Storage optimization

Click the Optimize button, then choose one of the following options.

Optimized storage for movies, TV shows, and email attachments does not use iCloud storage.

Automatic Trash Emptying

The Empty Trash Automatically option permanently deletes files that have been in the Trash for more than 30 days.

Removing garbage

The Remove Junk option helps you find large files and files that may no longer be needed. Click the Browse Files button, then select any file categories in the sidebar, such as Programs, Documents, GarageBand, iOS Files, iTunes, or Trash.

Where are the settings for each function?

• Choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, click the iCloud tab, then click the Options button next to iCloud Drive. iCloud Storage enables the Desktop and Documents Folders and Optimize Mac Storage options. To disable iCloud Drive completely, uncheck iCloud Drive.
• In the Photos app, choose Photos > Preferences, then click iCloud. The iCloud Storage feature enables options and Optimize Mac Storage.

• In iTunes, choose iTunes > Preferences, then click More. The Optimize Storage feature enables the Automatically delete watched movies and TV shows option.
• In Mail, go to Mail > Preferences and open Accounts. The Optimize Storage feature in the Account Information section of your mail account selects Recent and None in the Load Attachments drop-down menu.

: In Finder, choose Finder > Preferences, then click More. The "Empty Trash Automatically" feature enables the "Delete items from Trash after 30 days" option.

Other ways to automatically save space in macOS

macOS Sierra and later automatically takes additional steps to conserve space:

• detects duplicate downloads in Safari and keeps only the latest version of the download;
• reminds you to remove used program installers;
• removes old fonts, languages ​​and dictionaries that are no longer used;
• Clears cache, logs, and other unnecessary data when you need to free up space.

Freeing up storage space manually

Even without using the storage optimization features in macOS Sierra or later, you can take steps to free up storage space.

Even the fastest and most powerful computers become clogged with unnecessary files over time, and Apple computers are no exception. A large amount of junk on your hard drive can take up a lot of free space and also affect the speed and stability of your computer. Is there a way to quickly find and delete all those junk files that are slowing down your Mac OS?

Luckily, there's Movavi Mac Cleaner, a simple and convenient tool that will scan every corner of your system, show you what's taking up disk space, and safely remove all unnecessary files. Free up gigabytes of space and speed up your computer now - download Movavi Mac Cleaner and follow our step-by-step instructions to clean up your Mac drive.

1. Install a Mac OS X cleaning program

Open the installation file and follow the on-screen instructions on your Mac to help you install the program correctly. Once installation is complete, launch Mac Cleaner.

2. Scan the system

As soon as you launch Mac Cleaner, the program will immediately begin checking your computer for junk. When the scanning process is completed, the screen will show the total amount of space occupied by unnecessary files.

3. Clean up your Mac drive

To quickly clean your Mac of debris, click Start cleaning. Thus, the program will erase all unnecessary cache and log files, and also delete files located in the Recycle Bin.

You can also delete unnecessary files manually. Notice the tabbed panel on the left side of the interface. In the tab System cleaning you can choose to delete cache and log files by clicking on the corresponding switches. If you want to delete individual files, click Details opposite the desired category. Next, mark the files you want to get rid of and click Start cleaning.

Open the tab Removing languages. In it you can remove all unnecessary application localizations and other language files that you will most likely never need. Just check the boxes for unnecessary localizations and click the button you already know Start cleaning.

Tab Large and old files will help you quickly find and delete “heavy” files that have been on your computer for a long time and, probably, you no longer need. To erase these files from your hard drive, check them and click Start cleaning.

To free up additional disk space, remove unused applications, as well as files remaining on the disk from programs that were previously removed. To do this, open the tab Uninstaller and select a section User Applications, OS X Applications or Leftovers. Check the box next to the programs or files you want to erase and click Delete.

When I first purchased the MacBook, it loaded so quickly and opened applications and pages on the Internet so quickly! But over time, a lot of unnecessary files have accumulated on it, which are really of no use, but they take up an unforgivably lot of space. Therefore, if you have already deleted a number of your personal unnecessary files, but still do not understand where the space goes, it will be useful for you to learn how to clear memory on a MacBook.

How to get rid of residual files

Many MacBook models come with little free hard drive space. This space is immediately filled with residual and temporary files. To free it from various debris:

• Close applications that are not currently needed.
• Don't forget to empty your trash.
• Pay attention to the “downloads” folder, it is clogged with a huge number of temporary small unnecessary files.
• Restart MacBook.
• Install software to clean your system of junk.

In the "downloads" folder, you can sort files by weight and remove the largest unnecessary ones. A chaotic mess often accumulates there.

When you restart your MacBook, it automatically deletes residual system files, most of them. Therefore, rebooting your laptop from time to time is simply necessary to free up space in the process.

Cleaning programs

There are several programs designed to clear temporary files, and with them the browser cache. This software searches for residual and outdated files, and can be used to remove applications that are no longer needed. When uninstalling applications through additional software, you can get rid of unnecessary directories that the system itself can skip.

Memory cleaning programs are downloaded through the AppStore. Programs such as CleanMyMac, AppTrap or OmniDiscSweeper can help clean up disk space. Some programs are provided completely free of charge, but there is also paid software.

Clearing the browser cache

While the user spends time on the Internet, his browser’s cache becomes clogged with a huge number of temporary files necessary for the correct display of the pages he opens. Therefore, when the browser starts to work very slowly, and the space on your hard drive is clogged with unknown temporary files, you need to clear the cache.

1. Open the Safari browser (which is what most MacBook owners use).
2. Open options.
3. Select the settings item and find the “advanced” tab in it.
4. Find the item "clear cache" and select it.
5. Wait until the temporary files are deleted and turn off the browser.
6. Re-enable the browser to continue working.

With cleaning programs and periodic monitoring of excess data, you can keep your MacBook running at optimal performance.

One of the reasons is insufficient free space on the hard drive. In this article, we will share tips with which you can free up space on your Mac hard drive.

In contact with

Remove disk images

For many Mac users, in the folder Downloads there are a large number of disk images with programs that were needed only for installing programs, and now just take up space on the disk. To get rid of disk images once and for all, open the folder Downloads V Finder. Then enter the phrase "disk image" in the search field. Now you can immediately delete all .dmg and .iso files that are taking up space on your hard drive.

Removing email attachments

If you use the standard Mail application in OS X, then when you view attached files, the system saves them to a separate folder on your hard drive. Over several months of working with an email client, the folder size can grow to several GB.

The easiest way to find this folder is to use. In the search box, enter "Mail Downloads".

If this method does not work, then use the function Finder– go to the folder Shift+Cmd+G. Enter in the field:

~/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail/Data/Library/Mail

Clearing the cache

We often hear advice that you need to clear the cache if you have any problems with your browser. However, OS X stores a large number of cache files, and not only related to the browser. You can find all the cache files in the ~/Library/Caches folder. You can also use the special Cocktail program - the most convenient utility for deleting cache files and more.

The free version has a limit of 10 launches, later you can buy a license for $20.

Remove unnecessary program files

If you, like me, often install new applications to try out and then delete them, then you probably know that files associated with them still remain on the system. To easily remove these files, use the free AppTrap program.

AppTrap constantly works in the background, and is activated only when you delete an application to the trash. At the same time, in the window AppTrap The files associated with this program will appear. You can leave them or also add them to your cart.

When you download several movies or TV series and then delete them after watching, you may wonder where the free space on your Mac’s disk went?

That is, even after deleting files, disk space may not be freed up. The same thing can happen not when deleting files, but when moving them to an external drive.

A very pressing problem for people working with graphics. When working with video, for example, the cache can store both 10 and 25 GB - this is not the limit, it all depends on the volume of source materials. When working with 3D software, the numbers are slightly smaller.

Now you can think about it: if every program on the computer makes records for itself, how much volume they can take from the hard drive. And if you add to this the files in the recycle bin, outdated Time Machine backups, files that are copied by iTunes into my documents, Browser caches (Safari, Chrome, Yandex, etc.) - the number adds up quite a bit.

Do you still have questions: Where does the disk space go? I think now you have another question, how to clean it all up!

Clearing the disk of temporary files and program caches

Emptying the Trash

In some cases, a message may appear stating that it is impossible to delete files, this is due to the fact that the files, even when moved to the trash, continue to be used by programs such as Bittorent, Skype, etc.

It can be solved by turning off running third-party programs or rebooting if these programs are not installed in your startup!

Quit all running applications using a keyboard shortcut cmd+Q.

By the way, there is also a convenient keyboard shortcut for emptying the trash can.

When you're in the Finder, just tap Shift + Option + Command + Delete and the basket will be cleared immediately without confirmation.

To empty the trash with a pop-up confirmation window, click: Shift + Command + Delete

Although I think you have already done this, so let's move on to more interesting actions.

Clearing Browser Cache

If you spend a lot of time on the Internet and have never cleared your browser cache and cookies, then they can take up quite a lot of space on your hard drive. Cleaning in different types of browsers is the same, but has slight differences!

Safari. In the left corner (next to the apple) click on safari and select clear history, the important point is to select “All history” in the next window.

Chrome and Yandex. Similar situation. In the right corner, click on the button with dots - history - history - clear history. We select everything except the saved passwords for all time and clean it.

It's the same in other browsers...

To clear the cache from other programs, such a simple method is not always available.

1. We use the utility to clear the cache and temporary files. For example CCleaner, it will clear all temporary information for you.
2. Open the window Finder and using a combination Shift+cmd+G go to ~/Library/Caches directory, select all files and folders with cmd+A and move everything to Cart. If prompted, enter your password.
3. Once again using the keyboard shortcut Shift+cmd+G, now go to the /Library/Caches folder. Do the same thing - delete all files and folders.

Afterwards we empty the trash and reboot!

Continue to free up free space on your Mac drive

On Mac laptops starting with OS X Lion (10.7), if you have Time Machine enabled, the function of creating file system snapshots, also called local backups, should have been enabled along with it. The purpose of this feature is to supplement Time Machine backups when the external drive or Time Capsule you configured to store backups on is not connected.

In general, this is a rather useful function, it should be noted, because if you delete something really important, but it’s not on the disk with Time Machine, you can get very upset.

On the other hand, when you are not aware of such care for your files, and after deleting files, the disk space remains occupied, then you can also begin to get nervous and have trouble sleeping.

According to the Apple support site, when there is free space left on the disk:

• less than 20%, then Time Machine starts deleting snapshots, starting with the oldest;
• less than 10% or less than 5 GB, then Time Machine deletes all local backups except the most recent (new) one and stops creating snapshots.

The easiest way to find out if your free space is taken up by these local backups is to use the About This Mac utility.

1. Select About This Mac from the Apple menu  (top left corner).
2. In the window that appears, click on the “More Info” button.
3. Open the “Storage” tab.

Archives (Backups) are those same local backups.

Deleting local backups

If you need free space here and now, then this can be easily done by running and executing the following command there:

sudo tmutil disablelocal

After which you will need to enter the administrator password. This command will disable the creation of local snapshots and delete those already created.

I myself like to make backups, and this has helped me out several times, so I would advise you to then turn on the function of creating local copies back:

sudo tmutil enablelocal

To create an instant backup of the current system state, run the following command:

Utilities for finding large files

If you haven’t turned on Time Machine, and even after disabling the creation of instant snapshots, you still don’t have enough free space, and you don’t know who took it all, then utilities for finding large files and directories that take up the most can come in very handy places..

You can use DaisyDisk to search. It has a simple and intuitive interface, and you can immediately see which folder has consumed the most gigabytes.

Conclusion

If you've lost free space on your Mac's drive and you can't find the reason, then you should consider doing the following:

• Empty trash.
• Clear program, browser and system caches.
• To restart a computer.
• Check if the space is occupied by local backups.
• Use a utility to search for large files and delete unnecessary files.

How do you solve the problem of lack of free disk space?