I'm trying to help my girlfriend with her MacBook Pro, which is around four years old and nearly out of storage. It's showing that she's used 119 out of 121 GB, but her messages account for 20 GB and photos 10 GB. The system data is almost 52 GB! I've attempted to sync everything to iCloud, but it hasn't actually cleared any space despite the availability on iCloud. I've also followed various tips online to free up disk space, but nothing seems to help. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
3 Answers
It's great that she uses iCloud, but remember that it often keeps some files cached on the Mac. Go into the settings and enable the option to save space by downloading files only when she needs them. System data can take up a lot of space too, but be cautious with third-party cleaning apps.
If all else fails, consider investing in an external hard drive. You can set up Time Machine to back up the laptop and then wipe it clean. After that, you can restore just the necessary files from the external drive.
It sounds like her MacBook is quite old with that limited storage. I'd recommend backing up everything she needs and doing a clean install of macOS. That way, you can start fresh and avoid storing larger files like photos directly on the Mac. Instead, keep them in the cloud or on an external drive.
That's a solid plan! Just make sure she has a reliable backup of her data before taking that step. It's better to be safe with important files.
Totally agree! Also, look into apps like DaisyDisk to see what's really taking up space; it can help identify cached files that could be cleared.