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Some questions for any Mac/computer experts.
1/ How do you actually stay on top of Other and System files taking up storage space? I have 35GB of Other which currently means I don't have enough space to upgrade my OS (have 25GB free but apparently it isn't enough). But I've no idea what files can be safely deleted without messing up something major. I've just ran CleanMyMac but there's still loads of stuff left.
2/ I've got stuff backed up on iCloud. Maybe I'm being stupid, but how can I change it so that some stuff is only on iCloud and so free up space on the actual computer?
2/ I've been swithering about a new laptop for about a year now. My MacBook Air is from 2012 and currently running Catalina. But it works fine for most things I do (battery is about shot though). Should I accept it's just old now and needs replacing, or is it worth persevering to clear out and maybe get a new battery?
High thee to an Apple store. Make sure you have with you; 1. a look of stoicism, 2. Your credit card.
When they tell you the answer, try to be nonchalant as you comply with point 2, Refer to point 1 as often as is required.
You could consider a fresh install after a carrying out a full back up then reinstalling from said back up what you want/need - This usually significantly reduces the amount of "other" documents etc. I had to do this recently on an iPad but looking at doing the same for my iMac in the near future.
When did you last do a full re-boot, not just a close the lid? This can often release data that's been grapped by apps.
Talking of apps - do you need all of them? Stuff like GarageBand, iMovie and Keynote take a lot of space and can be deleted.
Just go through everything. Sort items in your folders by size and see what's taking up the space.
If file size isn't showing, in Finder click View > Show View Options > select Calculate all sizes.
I have to do this all the time on my MacBook as it's only got a 250gb hard drive.
Two easy places to clear any excess clutter are the Downloads folder which can accumulate a lot of guff and also to make sure you're actually emptying the trash.
I had an issue with a similar vintage iMac that turned out to be the result of a corrupted log file somewhere in the system library that was growing at a crazy rate - as fast as I was deleting bulky old files to make space the log file would grow to fill the space.
To track down any large files or folders that might be hogging space in the finder window click 'View' - 'Show view options' and click 'calculate all file sizes'
Then, viewing in list view, and with the files ordered by file size, start from Go- Computer and work your way methodically through all the folders, arranging all the files in size order (and probably having to set calculate all file sizes' as you go)
If your disk is very full it can sometimes be a bit of a struggle for the machine to calculate those sizes quickly so will maybe need a bit of patience
That should point you to where there might be any large files or folders cluttering things up. You can then decide if it's something you want to keep, archive off onto an external drive, delete or whatever. Mail attachments might be a big folder, message attachments maybe. If theres anything very big in the system or library google it and see if it's something that can be deleted. In the case of my rogue log file, which should have been a few kb but and grown to hundreds of GB, deleting it just meant the system produced a new non corrupted log.
If thats not yielding any obvious offenders - its possible a rogue file can be 'hidden' and theres a procedure you can do (that I can't remember) to make hidden files visible and allow you to search those
Fun to type all that again after the site fell over as I pressed 'post' 🙂
If you use TimeMachine, and haven’t ran it for a while, plug it in and run it. There could be older snapshots there waiting to be backed up.
Bookmarking this thread as I have the same problem
2012 I'd just get a new one. Or perhaps a nearly-new 2nd hand model of some sort. Macs do have a good lifespan but that's pretty much prehistoric. Mine's 2020 and I'm considering a change but it's had a hard life both physically and computationally and is developing problems (the well-known Touch Bar flicker among other things).
There's an application that shows not only file sizes but also directories which may be more useful. Disk Inventory X maybe? Yes that's the one. I use that when trying to free space.
If you use TimeMachine, and haven’t ran it for a while, plug it in and run it. There could be older snapshots there waiting to be backed up.
That's what I was thinking but I seem to recall (maybe incorrectly) that old snapshots get deleted if disc space is required, but I would do that backup anyway, partly to see if that does clear up some space but mainly to, er, do a backup.
Then I would start at Folder at Macintosh HD (or whatever your hard drive is called). That should give you 4 folders:
Applications
Library
System
Users
Do "Command I" on each in turn to check the size of those. That should give you a clue where the issue is (or at least just rule out some massive folders like Movies and Music.
2012 I’d just get a new one.
Yes I bit the bullet last year and went from a 2012 Pro to an M2 Air. Pricey but brilliant.
My iMac won’t boot at all. Is it fixable? 2018 I think
Not sure if your Mac supports anything higher than Catalina?
Deleting apps like GarageBand if you don’t use them is a good idea. GarageBand includes loads of samples too.
DiskInventoryX is great for seeing where space is being taken up. But if you aren’t confident in what you can delete it’s probably not much help. I tend to Google any massive files it finds and see if it’s safe to delete them and usually it hasn’t caused any problems.
New MacBook Air due in a month or two so would hold off from doing anything impulsive. I really like my M2 MacBook Air but your 2012 is a design classic and if it still does what it needs for you then why get rid?
Not sure if your Mac supports anything higher than Catalina?
Correct.
your 2012 is a design classic and if it still does what it needs for you then why get rid?
I really liked my 2012 Pro but it was getting slow. Maybe a solid state hard drive would have improved it but the OS could not be updated and the OS it could support had reached end of life and would receive no further security patches. So I decided it was time for an upgrade.
I realised my 2013 Air with a small memory was just failing to hold its own (and it had a weird de lamination of the screen). As above, walk into store, credit card ready and brace yourself. The data swap from old to new was painless and under an hour.
1. You need to go through your Macs hard drive to see what you have put in different places thats taking up space. A restart and pwrmissions repair in Disk Utility might help.
2. Long time Apple user but never liked iCloud. Could buy an external hard drive and move so.e files to that. I do that and use Time Machine to back everything up from the main boot drive and the external drive. Then also use a 3rd party cloud based backup package that also backs up both the boot drive and external drive.
3. If it truns all the software you need, have a look for a used battery. Or a broken laptop with a good battery to swap into yours.
Apple icon in the top left, then ‘About this Mac’, then select the ‘Storage’ tab from the window that pops up. You can list files by decreasing size in varying categories (applications etc). I’ve just replaced a 2012 MacBook Pro with a MacBook Air and haven’t regretted it… 🙂
I've got a 2014 Air running on BigSur it has served me well but it is at the end of its life. The new M3 chip Air is meant to come out between March and June and I'd probably replace it with one of them.
I did replace the battery join lockdown which was a really simple job that took about 10 minutes from start to finish with a battery off Amazon that still seems to be going strong now.
Thanks all. Have managed to free up some space which is probably as good as I'm going to get. I'll keep an eye out for new model later this year.