How To Free Up Other Storage On Mac

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MacBook storage issue is still a relevant one in 2021. The promised 1 TB of storage — which is the capacity of the MacBook Air 2020 — will still be not enough for many. We generate more and more content on our devices and use apps that are bursting with cache files. This is what creates the cryptic category of “Other” storage on Mac.

On recent macOS versions, this storage category is labeled “other volumes in container.” Which, of course, doesn’t make it any less cryptic. This category contains junk files as well as important ones. That’s why you have to learn to check the storage on Mac properly.
So let’s figure out what Other Storage is and how to remove Other from your Mac.

What is Other on Mac Storage?

However, there is a better way for you to free up system storage Mac. You will be able to clear your Mac’s system storage in no time. All the methods on how to clear system storage on Mac that we have included in the next part can all be done just by one program – the iMyMac PowerMyMac. How to Remove “Other” Storage Space on Mac OS X and Free more Space? Some people say that they have so much of space available that they really don’t need to free up some of it. No, not at all, your disk will ultimately fill up and even.

Simply, Other storage on Mac consists of files that do not easily fall into the clearer category labels like 'Audio.' The types of 'Other' files would include:

  1. Documents like PDF, .psd, .doc, etc.
  2. macOS system and temporary files.
  3. Cache files like user cache, browser cache, and system cache.
  4. Disk images and archives like .zip and .dmg.
  5. App plugins and extensions.
  6. Everything else that doesn’t fit into the main macOS categories.

Like this file:

What’s this? A song? An unknown archive? Why on Earth does it weigh 200 MB?

How to check Mac disk space usage

A few years back, Apple introduced “Optimized Storage,” a great feature for finding out how your disk space is structured. This is how to check the storage on Mac.

  1. Open the Apple menu (top right corner)
  2. Now, click About this Mac > Storage

Is your disk approaching full capacity? Now, click “Manage.” The sidebar to the left is really enlightening. This is the only place where on your Mac, it shows the size of your apps, books, and documents in gigabytes.

Where is Other Storage on a Mac

To show you where it is, let’s look at your Library. This is where your macOS keeps application components, widgets, and various cache archives. This part of your Mac is hidden from view for a reason. Messing up a few folders here may break your Mac. But let’s take a look:
Click on Finder > Go (in the top menu).
Now paste in: ~/Library/Caches

See those small folders? This is where your “Other” storage is. You’ve found it. Now, we'll see what's possible to delete.

How to delete Other Storage on Mac

You can’t entirely get rid of Other on Mac, but you can reduce how much storage space it takes up. We’re now going to look at each of the six types of Other files and show you how to clean up your Mac. We’re going to walk you through deleting useless documents, junk system files, system slowing cache files, old backups, and all sorts of other junk.

1. Remove documents from Other Storage space

You might not think that pure text documents take up a lot of space, but you may be surprised at the size of some .pages and .csv files. And that’s before you start adding images, downloading ebooks, and creating big presentations. Soon your Other documents can start to get out of hand.

To find and remove large and unneeded documents from Other Storage manually:

  1. From your desktop, press Command-F.
  2. Click This Mac.
  3. Click the first dropdown menu field and select Other.
  4. From the Search Attributes window, tick File Size and File Extension.
  5. Now you can input different document file types (.pdf, .pages, etc.) and file sizes to find large documents.
  6. Review the items and then delete as needed.

Luckily, there’s a much quicker and more thorough way. By using a CleanMyMac X you are presented with a clear view of all the massive files occupying your Other space.

To locate large hidden files in all folders with CleanMyMac:

  1. Download CleanMyMac X and click the Large & Old Files tab.
  2. Click the big Scan button to start the search.
  3. Now, review the results broken down into different categories: archives, documents, movies, etc.
  4. Look through your files and delete the ones you no longer need.

What’s great about this method is that you can sort the files by their size and thus free up space most effectively. And there’s a special category for Other files that don’t fit into either category. CleanMyMac X also locates .DMG files and archives the Other storage often comprise. These files can be moved to another folder/separate disk or could be removed securely.

Now, try it and see how it helps you slim down Other storage on Mac. Deleting your old files alone can recover you tons of space, but there are more space hoggers that fall under the Other data category.

2. Clean up Other space of the system and temporary files

Every second your Mac is on, the macOS creates and piles up system files — logs, for example. At some point, the system needs these files, but they quickly become outdated and just sit there, wasting your disk space. And guess what, they are in the Other Mac storage category, too.

These files are mostly temporary, but they never actually go away unless you do something about it. The difficulty is that Apple hasn’t made it easy to clear out system files. There’s a good reason for this – people often delete things they shouldn’t.

Let's inspect your Library folder

To manually find where a majority of apps temporary files live, navigate to ~/Users/User/Library/Application Support/. In this folder, you will find your applications, and some searching will reveal a lot of space being taken up. For example, you may have gigabytes worth of old iOS backups in
~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup

You could delete these manually, but a much safer and faster method is to use a specialist cleaning app like CleanMyMac X. It has a System Junk module that specifically looks for useless system files and knows what’s safe to delete.

Here’s how to easily remove system files from Other Storage:

  • Go to System Junk in CleanMyMac X.
  • Hit Scan.
  • Hit Clean.

That’s pretty much it. Seriously. If this is the first time you ever cleaned your Mac, you’ll see that the OS X Other storage tab has shrunk considerably after the system junk cleanup.

Free Up Storage Space On Computer

Using this method, I also deleted 16.69 GB of 'System Junk' from my MacBook.

3. Delete cache files from the Other data section

Cache files are not just another invisible storage hog. They are often one of the worst offenders, often taking up gigabytes of precious space. The three main types of cache are – browser, user, and system. Cache files are meant to help your system work faster, but they get bigger and bigger over time, eventually slowing your system down.

To manually clear cache files on Mac:

  1. Navigate to Go > Go To Folder.
  2. Type in ~/Library/Caches and click Go.
  3. Click-hold Option and drag the Caches folder to your desktop as a backup in case something goes wrong.
  4. Select all the files in the Caches folder.
  5. Drag them to the Trash.
  6. Empty Trash.

Follow the same steps for /Library/Caches (without the “~”) and ~/Library/Logs. Cache files sit in numerous folders, and with a little patience, you can clean them out manually (read more detailed instructions on clearing cache).

Did you know: Each time you rotate an image, its copy is automatically created on your drive. So, just 4 rotations are enough to turn a 2.5 MB file into 10 MB of disk space occupied.

4. Remove app plugins and extensions from Other storage

Another cool way to manage storage on Mac.
While apps are, unsurprisingly, categorized as Apps on the Storage bar, their add-ons are under the Other storage category. Compared to some types of files, app plugins and extensions probably won’t take up as much of your Mac's Other space. Still, every bit counts. Since extensions can sometimes cause other problems on your Mac, why not remove the ones you don’t use to be safe and free up some extra Other storage space at the same time?

Tracking down all your add-ons can be a hassle. Some you’ve forgotten you had (like that nCage extension for Chrome), others you didn’t know of in the first place.

Here’s how to manually remove extensions from Chrome, Firefox, and Safari.

To remove extensions from Safari:

  1. Open Safari browser.
  2. Go to the Safari menu and click Preferences.
  3. Select the Extensions tab.
  4. Select the extension you want to remove and click “Uninstall.”

To remove extensions from Chrome browser:

  1. Open Chrome.
  2. Click the three-dot icon in the top-right corner.
  3. Click More tools > Extensions.
  4. Disable or remove as you choose.

To remove extensions from Firefox:

  1. Open Mozilla Firefox browser.
  2. Click on the burger menu in the top-right corner.
  3. Choose Add-ons.
  4. From the Extensions and Plugins tabs, disable and remove whatever you want.

Important! If you’re not sure what a plugin does, don’t rush to remove it. Try disabling it first and see if your apps and your system work as expected. You can always remove that add-on later. Also, note that Chrome extensions can’t be deleted automatically. But if you’d like to get rid of them, we’ll list these extensions for you and tell you how to do that manually.

5. Clear Other space of disk images and archives

Normally, archives and images are files you keep for a reason. However, if you think you might have accumulated some useless .zip and .dmg files on your Mac, then you should definitely clear them out as well.

You can find these files using Spotlight search:

  1. Open Finder.
  2. Type DMG/ZIP in the search field.
  3. Select Search: This Mac.
  4. Sort the results by Size.

Finder will show you all files of the format you’ve specified, sorted by size. You can clean out those you don’t need.

To safely and easily remove all your old unused disk images, CleanMyMac X has a dedicated tool within the System Junk module. Everything is categorized, so you have a better understanding of what you’re removing.

  1. Go to the System Junk module in CleanMyMac X.
  2. Click Scan and when it’s done, click Review Details.

Now you get a detailed overview of some ultra-specific categories of files that are normally invisible to you. Among those, you’ll see Unused Disk Images (another name for DMG installations). Then, there’s Old Updates — you would like to remove those too. Old Updates are past versions of update packages that you already got installed.

Do you often use graphic editors like Photoshop or Sketch? Then, you’ll probably be fascinated by the Document Versions feature. If you click on the Document Versions tab (System Junk > Scan > Review Details), you’ll be able to see how much of your space is taken by large document re-edits. Imagine a 60 MB Photoshop file cloned 10 times with just slight differences. In CleanMyMac X, you can delete these intermediate revisions. And, handy enough, the program keeps just the original file and its final revision on the drive.

6. Get rid of everything else from Other disk space

Even Other storage space has its own “other” files, and no, the irony of that statement is not lost on us.

Other storage on Mac can also include:

  • Files in your user library (screen savers, for example).
  • Files Spotlight search doesn’t recognize.

Typically, they won’t be as big of a share of Other data on your Mac as cache files and other items we’ve cleared out. However, if you’re determined to clean out as much Other Mac storage as possible, here’s how you can delete screensavers:

  1. Open Finder.
  2. In the Menu bar, select Go > Go to Folder.
  3. Type this: /System/Library/Screen Savers/ and click Go.

You’ll see the screen saver files now — they are lightweight, but for the sake of being thorough, you can trash them as well.

As for files, Spotlight doesn’t recognize, they are rare. They could include files like Windows Boot Camp partitions or virtual machine hard drives. If you don’t recall putting anything like that on your Mac, you probably have nothing to look for.

7. Remove application logs and support files

Apps on your Mac generate and store lots of files, which are mainly logs and support files. After you delete the application, those files lay still on your hard drive occupying space and doing nothing. So it’s a good idea to remove those.

  1. Open Finder.
  2. Press Command-Shift-G and go to ~/Library/Application Support

Look for the folders that have the same name as the app you’ve deleted. You can safely move those to Trash.

Arlo pro. Then, go to the following locations to delete other app-related files:

~/Library/Logs

~/Library/Containers

And it's done! Hopefully, you managed to free up some GBs in the Other storage section.

How much can you expect to delete from Other storage on Mac?

You’ll never remove the Other data section from Mac entirely, nor should you want to. It’s perfectly fine to have space taken up by necessary files, whatever category label they have. What is not okay is valuable storage space being wasted. Having a monthly cleanup can help you remove old, unneeded files and keep your hard drive organized.

By Adela D. Louie, Last updated: February 1, 2021

Having labels is one great way for us to work easier and that we would know things easily. Same through with using your Mac device. Everything that you have on your Mac device comes with a certain label wherein it will help you find sort of stuff easily.

However, when you go through the storage detail of your Mac, there is one that confuses a lot of users. And this is the one indicated with the “Other” label.

And with that, users would like to know how to delete other on Mac thinking that this is only a waste of space. But before we proceed with the process of deleting Other on Mac, let us go ahead and learn more about it.

Part 1: What Is “Other” on Mac Storage?

The Others file on your Mac device is known to where it contains files that no longer match those of the specific ones: ln such as the following.

  1. Archives and images from the disk that is in .zip, and .iso format.
  2. The personal user data.
  3. Files that are under the user’s library such as your iCloud files, Application support, your screen savers, and more.
  4. Your caches.
  5. Your plugins, fonts, and extensions.
  6. Your documents in PDF file, .doc, .psd, and more.
  7. Those files that cannot be recognized by the Spotlight app on Mac.

All of the files that are included in the Others folder are those files that are not movies, apps, music, or a backup so this means that everything that is under the Other folder is useless. And if you would like to remove some of them and free up space on your Mac, then here is what you need to do.

Before you go and remove them, you must first go on and check on the memory storage of your Mac. So with that, all you need to do is to go to your Apple icon from the menu bar and then select on About This Mac. And from there, go ahead and choose Storage.

Part 2: The Best Way on How to Delete Other on Mac

So, to remove those files that are under your Others folder in your storage, you will be needing a powerful tool to do so. This way, you will also be able to do the job as quickly and as possible. And with that, one of the most recommended Mac apps that you can use is the PowerMyMac by FoneDog.

The FoneDog PowerMyMac will be able to help you in deleting all of the unwanted files that you have on your Mac device and this will include items that you have under the Other folder in your storage. The FoneDog PowerMyMac is very easy to use and very powerful as it can remove anything from your Mac with just one click on a button. This program will make your Mac as good as new.

So to start cleaning up your Mac device here is a quick step that you can easily follow.

Step 1: Download PowerMyMac from FoneDog

Go ahead and open the FoneDog website and then download the PowerMyMac application. Then have it installed on your Mac.

Step 2: Run PowerMyMac

And then, after completing the installation process, go ahead and open the program. On the main interface, you will see the system status of your Mac. Aside from that, you will also be able to see three modules at the top of the program. From those modules, go ahead and choose on Cleaner.

Step 3: Choose Folder to Clean

Then, when you choose on Cleaner, a list of categories will appear on your screen. These categories are included under the Other folder in your Mac. So to begin with, let us go ahead and select on System Junk.

How To Free Up Other Storage On Mac

Step 4: Scan Process

How To Free Up Other Storage On Mac Air

Forza 4 dlc. Once that you click on a category under Cleaner, the FoneDog PowerMyMac will then let you scan your Mac. You can do that by clicking on the Scan button on your screen. From here, just wait for the program to finish the process.

Step 5: See the Scanned Result

After the process of scanning your Mac device, then you will be able to see the result on your screen. All you have to do is to click on the View button.

Step 6: Choose Files to Remove from Mac

Then on the result page, there is a list of another category that is under the System Junk option. You can click any of those for you to view each item that they contain. And from there, you can also choose those that you would like to remove from your Mac. Do that by clicking on them one by one or by using the Select All button at the top of your screen.

Step 7: Clean Up Your System Junk

And once that you were able to choose those files to remove from your Mac, then it is time to clean up. All you need to do from here is to click on the Clean button at the lower right corner of your screen and the cleaning process will begin. Just wait for it to finish and you are all done.

NOTE: You can do the same steps if you want to clean up other areas on your Mac
device aside from your System Junk.

Part 3: 4 Ways on How to Delete Other on Mac

Now that you know what the Other folder in your storage is, then it is now time for you to delete them or the files that you no longer need from your Mac device. This way, you will be able to free up more of your storage space on your Mac.

Way #1

Go ahead and launch the Finder app on your Mac. Press the Cmd + Shift + G button for you to go through each folder below.

  • ~/Library/Caches
  • ~/Downloads
  • ~/Documents/Logs

How To Make Space On Mac

So, by default, those folders that we have indicated above contains all of the downloads that you get from the internet, installations, pkg files, and more. So from here, all you need to do is to remove all of those that you think you no longer need or unnecessary to have on your Mac.

Way #2

Aside from the first method above, there is another way for you to delete other on your Mac device. And this is by using the Smart Folder Finder on your Mac. All you need to do are the following steps.

Step 1: Press the key Cmd + F on your keyboard. Then the search tab will then show up under “This Mac”.

Step 2: And from there, simply click on 'Other' folder.

How To Free Up Other Storage On Macbook Pro

Step 3: Then on the next window that will show up on your screen go ahead and click on the “Filesize” and then click the “OK” button.

Step 4: And from there, go ahead and enter the file size and this will allow your Mac to show you files that are under that size of files. Email sender deluxe full cracked.

Step 5: So from there, all you need to do is to choose all of those that you no longer need and delete them.

Way #3

If you have not made any clean reinstallation on your Mac device, then the tendency is that your applications will make a huge folder of all of your system files. And if this is the case, you will be needing an application cleaner and uninstaller for you to go with this process. Those kinds of tools will help you in deleting your service files and at the same time, open any application that you have just like the first time you are doing opening it.

How To Free Up Other Storage On Macbook Pro

Way #4

If you were able to try all of the tricks that we have indicated above and you were not able to see any changes to your storage space on your Mac and in your Other folder from your storage, then what you will be needing to do is to search through your hard drive and look for all the files and folders that is eating up most of your memory storage.

This is because there is a chance that some of them are hidden. So, for the benefit of your convenience, you will be needing an application that will help you in scanning the hard drive of your Mac device. This way, you will be able to find those files and folders that are eating up a huge space on your Mac and have them removed.

Part 4: Conclusion

'Other' folder in your storage is not an alarming concern on your Mac that you need to eliminate. This folder just contains those files that do not recognize by your system. So if you would want to delete Other on Mac, then you have to do through your Mac to make sure that you are not removing any important files that you have. You can make use of the FoneDog PowerMyMac to make your job easier as well.

>Tricks >5 Ways on How to Delete Other on Mac in 2021
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