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I'm trying to free up storage space on my macbookair and despite deleting files in documents it still says I am using 79.18GB,. I cant seem to permanently erase files as I can't see them

I'm trying to free up storage space on my macbookair and despite deleting files in documents it still says I am using 79.18GB,. I cant seem to permanently erase files as I can't see them.

Thanks for any advice.

Regards Robyn

Posted on Mar 22, 2021 7:58 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 23, 2021 1:52 AM

What is “Other” storage on a Mac, and how can I clean it out?

See used and available storage space on your Mac


Purchase reasonable large USB External Drive and move as much of Photo, Videos, Music, Podcasts, iOS Backup off the internal drive and to the external drive.

15 replies

Mar 23, 2021 12:05 AM in response to rmmcewan

Hi Robyn,


Welcome to the Apple community where some of us try to do our best to help each other


I'm no expert, but there is something you might want to try:

Sometimes the deleted files do not show up, because they are still in the trash, and still count.

Even when the trash is emptied, they may not register ... until you "Restart".


Apple has a support page that may be useful to you:

How to free up storage space on your Mac:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206996


If none of the above helps you reach a satisfactory position:

Please feel free to post again, preferably giving details of which year MacBook Air ,

and which operating system you have installed on it.

(Might need to cllick the Apple icon on the left, in the top menu bar, select "About this Mac" for the info.)

That might help someone give you more specific, or expert, help. if needed.


Cheers

Mar 26, 2021 1:40 AM in response to rmmcewan

Thank you Robyn,

Good to know you are seeing a difference.

I understand one should always try to keep 50Gb free space, at least.


You must be doing quite ok.

It is great you are aware to monitor keeping plenty of space free.

Some folks get quite a shock if their system becomes overloaded.


Apple has more articles online if you are interested.

Eg: about managing storage:

Optimise storage space on your Mac

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/system-information/sysp4ee93ca4/11.0/mac/11.0


Cheers


Apr 16, 2021 3:14 PM in response to Aryae C

Hi Aryae C


There are "other" :) discussion threads on "Other" storage, that would likely answer all you queries.

This thread (link below) seems to give good advice, and has links to useful "How to" articles from Apple Support.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252652178


I understand files stored on the desktop take up more memory /storage space than the same files put into a "Desktop" folder.

Sometimes there is a lot of storage space used up by the Trash Bin. You might want to check and/or empty it.

(You likely won't see the amount of storage differ until you "Restart" your computer.)


Hope this helps you :)

Apr 16, 2021 10:14 AM in response to rmmcewan

I have this same issue. Roughly 110 Gb is stored on "Other." This is more than all my personal data (pictures, music, documents, email, etc) combined. And I'm reaching the limit of my available 250 Gb storage.


I tried Apple support and the person I spoke with wasn't much help. Then I tried making hidden files visible, checking them out, and discovered that the Library folder in my Home/Username folder had over 100 Gb. So my question to Apple support is, how can I identify which of the files in this Library folder need to be kept, and which can be removed?

I'm trying to free up storage space on my macbookair and despite deleting files in documents it still says I am using 79.18GB,. I cant seem to permanently erase files as I can't see them

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