Erase Free Disk Space Mac

Other methods to clear Purgeable disk storage on Mac. Since Purgeable disk space is storage the Mac has determined can be cleared out when needed, simply using the Mac will typically cause the purgeable storage capacity to change (both growing and shrinking. Manually clearing caches and temporary files can sometimes reduce the purgeable space.

You’ll also want to read “OS X: About Disk Utility‘s erase free space feature. ” A note at the end starts to get to the heart of the matter. With an SSD drive, Secure Erase and Erasing. Clear your Photoshop cache. Photoshop has an in-built solution for deleting specific. Sep 28, 2021 Of course, all of them will help free up disk space on Mac. But if you are looking for an easy to use solution Disk Analyzer Pro is the best storage analyzer for Mac. In addition to this, if you know of any other great disk space analyzer for Mac, do let us know in the comments section. FAQs: Best Disk Space Analyzers for mac.

Sep 08, 2021 • Filed to: Solve Mac Problems • Proven solutions

Every time you delete any file or document on the Mac hard drive it creates free space. This free space can be utilized for storing other data. However, if this free space doesn’t get overwritten, then it can be used to retrieve the previous data that it held using a data recovery tool. Now, if you are selling the hard drive of your Mac and don’t want the person buying it to recover the documents that you deleted then you must erase free space on Mac hard drive. However, make sure that the erasure is done securely without damaging the hard disk.

Part 1: How to Erase Free Space on Hard Drives in Mac OS X

You will have to use the Disk Utility app provided by your Mac OS X toerase free space on Mac hard drive. It offers you the chance to overwrite on the free space left on your hard disk so that no one can retrieve the data that was previously stored on it. However, do keep in mind that this method for free space erasure is only applicable for traditional hard drive and won’t work on SSD versions that utilize flash memory.

1. The initial step is to start the Disk Utility app. This app is located in the utility menu which can itself be found in the Applications menu. You can use the Launchpad for launching this app as well.
2. If the hard drive whose free spaces you want to erase is an external hard disk then you would have to connect it to the Mac and then select it from the menu located on the left-hand side of the screen.
3. Click the Erase free space button after opening the Erase tab.
4. Pick the level of erasure you want and then click the Erase free space to start the overwriting process on the hard drive’s vacant spaces.

1. There are three different erasure options available to you which are Fastest, Secure, and Most Secure. Fastest option overwrites the free space just once while Secure and Most Secure options do that three and seven times respectively.
2. Select any of the erasure options that you like and then click the Erase free space button.

Part 2: How to Secure Erase Free Space on Hard Drives in Windows

Although the Disk Utility app of Mac OS X can erase free space on Mac hard drive, there is a chance that it might not be able to do so in a secure manner. To make sure that the erasing of the free space is completed without any damage to the hard drive then using a data erasure tool is the best option. There are various such tools available on the internet but the best one among them isStellar BitRaser for File. It can secure erase free space on hard drives and ensure that the deleted data can’t be recovered.

• Completely erases the data, ensuring that it can’t be recovered using any data recovery tool.
• Supports multiple data erase algorithms that can be used for erasing data.
• Provides a search feature for quickly search the file or document which needs to be erased from the hard drive.
• Offers the chance to erase the chat history of messaging services like Yahoo and Skype.
• Capable of erasing all traces of internet activity including the internet history maintained by popularly used browsers.

Step 1: Download Stellar BitRaser for File on your Windows PC, take out the hard drive on Mac, and connect it to Windows computer.

Step 2: Click the 'Erase Unused Space' option on the left, to select your Mac hard drive.

Step 3: Selected your Mac hard drive and click the 'Erase Now' button to process.

Step 4: After a while, the Mac hard drive erase complete and you can reboot the system.

While other data erasure tools take several passes to erase the free space on a hard drive, Stellar BitRaser only requires a single pass to erase it permanently. However, if you feel the need to take another pass then you can take two more passes. This will ensure beyond doubt that the free space on your Mac hard drive is erased forever.

For you to use Stellar BitRaser for File to erase free space on Mac hard drive, you need to take it out from your Mac first. The reason for this is that this data erasure tool isn’t compatible with Mac OS X and works only on Windows. So, you need to connect the Mac hard disk to a Windows PC before you erase the free spaces on it using Stellar BitRaser for File.

In short, deleting data on the Mac hard drive doesn’t securely erase it. It just creates free space that can be used for recovering the deleted data using a data recovery tool. So, you need to erase free space on Mac hard drive. The Disk Utility app of Mac OS X can be used for the erasure of these free spaces. However, for secure erasure, you need to make use of a reliable data erasure tool like Stellar BitRaser for File. It can erase the vacant spaces on your Mac hard drive and make sure that the data that they contained previously can’t be retrieved using anyprofessional Mac data recovery tool.

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As time goes on, there will be more and more files on your Mac computer and the available disk space will be less and less. Then, you will need to take some measures to free up disk space on Mac. MiniTool Software writes this post to show how to clear disk space on Mac automatically and manually.

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How to Check Storage on Mac?

After you use your Mac computer for a long time, there should be more and more files on the drive. Is it necessary to clear disk space on Mac? First, you can go to check how much storage is available on your Mac and then make a further decision.

How to check storage on Mac? Here are the things you should do:

1. Click the Apple menu (the Apple logo) that is on the top-left side of the Mac Desktop and then select About This Mac.
2. Switch to the Storage section and you can see the storage information of the Mac drive, including how much disk space is available on Mac.

You can also see that there is a long bar with different colors of segments. Each segment of the bar stands for a storage space that is used by a category of files. You can move the pointer over each segment to get more information.

It is OK if the available disk space is still enough. However, if the system says your disk is almost full or there is not enough space to save new files, you will need to clear storage on Mac if you don’t want to upgrade the drive on your Mac to a larger one.

Do you know how to free up disk space on Mac? If you have no idea, this post will be helpful for you: we will show you how to let Mac automatically clear disk space and how to manually free up disk space on Mac.

How to Clear Disk Space on Mac Automatically?

There is a Manage button in the Storage section. You can click it to access the Storage Management interface and then manage storage on your Mac.

The Storage Management feature will show you some recommendations for optimizing storage on your Mac computer. These recommendations include Store in iCloud, Optimize Storage, Empty Trash Automatically, and Reduce Clutter. If some of these recommendations have been turned on, you will see fewer options.

How to clear storage on Mac? You can make full use of these four recommendations to manage and free up disk space on your Mac.

How to clear storage on Mac

1. Store in iCloud
2. Optimize Storage
3. Empty Trash Automatically
4. Reduce Clutter

Store in iCloud

You can use this feature to save all files, photos, and messages in iCloud to save much disk space for your Mac.

Click the Store in iCloud button in the Storage Management interface and choose what you want to store in iCloud:

Desktop and Documents

This option allows you to save all files on these two locations to iCloud Drive. When storage space is needed, only the recently opened files are kept on your Mac and you can even work offline. Your files stored in iCloud will be shown with a downloaded icon. You can click the Download button to download the original file when necessary.

Photos

If you select this option, all your photos and videos with their original and full-resolution will be saved in iCloud Photos. Photos with space-saving (optimized) versions will be kept on your Mac when storage space is needed. If you want to use the original photos or videos, you can just click them to open and download.

Messages

You can select this option to store all messages and attachments in iCloud to save disk space on Mac. Like the Desktop and Documents option, only the recently opened messages and attachments are saved on your Mac computer when storage space is needed.

After checking the option you want to use, you need to click the Store in iCloud button to save the settings.

Optimize Storage

You can use this feature to automatically delete the Apple TV movies and TV shows that you have already watched and keep the recent email attachments on your Mac to clear disk space.

After clicking the Optimize button, you will see two options: Automatically remove watched movies and TV shows and Download only recent attachments.

Automatically remove watched movies and TV shows

When this feature is enabled, your movies and TV shows that you have purchased from the iTunes Store and already watched will be removed from your Mac when storage space is needed. If you want to watch a movie or TV show, you can click the Download button to download it again.

Download only recent attachments

If you select this feature, Mail will automatically only download the attachments that you have recently received. If you want to use other attachments, you can manually download them.

If you don’t select this feature, Mail will download the attachment only when you open the email or attachment, or you want to save the attachment to your Mac computer.

After selecting the options you want to use, you need to click Optimize to execute the operations.

Empty Trash Automatically

You can use this feature to make Mac automatically and permanently remove the files that have stayed in the Trash for more than 30 days.

After clicking the Turn on button that is next to Empty Trash Automatically, you need to click the Turn On button to enable this feature.

Reduce Clutter

You can use this feature to identify files and delete the files you don’t use anymore.

Click the Review Files button that is next to Reduce Clutter and then find the large files or files you may don’t want to use and show them in categories including Applications, Documents, Music Creation, Photos, or Trash.

online, free Disk Space

You can access each category to see the files in it. For example, in Documents, the files are sorted in Large Files, Downloads, Unsupported Apps, and File Browser. You can click into each sort to find the files you don’t need, select them, and click Delete to remove them from your Mac.

Tips: For macOS Sierra or Later Versions

If you are running macOS Sierra or later, the system can automatically take these actions to clear disk space on Mac:

• It can automatically find the duplicate downloads in Safari and only save the most recent downloaded version.
• It will remind you to delete the used app installers.
• It can remove the old fonts, languages, and dictionaries that you don’t need for a long time.
• It can clear caches, logs, and unnecessary files when storage space is needed.

How to Free up Disk Space on Mac Manually?

Of course, your Mac can’t do all jobs to free up disk space on Mac. When necessary, you can manually do some things to release free space for new data.

• If you have downloaded some music files, movies, as well as some other media to your Mac, you can go to check which ones are needless and then delete them.
• You can access the Downloads folder to find and delete the files you no longer use.
• You can also move some files to an external data storage drive to free up much disk space.
• You can compress files to free up disk space as much as possible.
• You can go to the Mail app to delete both unneeded and junk mail, and erase the deleted mail from Trash in Mail.

Are you bothered by the disk you inserted was not readable by this computer when using an external hard drive on a Mac computer. Now, get some solutions here.

What If You Delete Important Files by Mistake

You should be careful when you clear disk space on Mac because you may remove some important files by mistake. However, if this sad thing happens finally, what should you do to rescue the lost files?

You can first go to Trash to check whether you can find your needed files. If yes, you can directly restore them from Trash. If you can’t find them, you will need to use a professional Mac data recovery software to get them back.

You can try Stellar Data Recovery for Mac, free Mac data recovery software, to recover deleted Mac data. This software is specially designed to recover data from a Mac computer. It has a trial edition and you can use it to scan the drive on your Mac and see whether it can find your needed files. You can go to the download center to get the trial edition.

Here is a guide on how to use Stellar Data Recovery for Mac to rescue your deleted files.

1. Open Stellar Data Recovery for Mac.

2. In the Select What To Recover interface, you can see some buttons. If you want to recover all types of files, you can turn on the button for Recover Everything. If you only want to recover some certain types of files, you can just turn on the buttons for these types.

3. Click Next to continue.

4. Select the drive you want to recover data from. If you want to perform a deep scan, you can turn on the button for Deep Scan that is on the bottom-left side of the interface.

5. Click Scan to start the scanning process.

6. When the scanning ends, you can see the scan results interface. The scanned files are sorted by three types: Classic List, File List, and Deleted List. Since you only want to retrieve deleted files, you can switch to Deleted List and then find the files you want to recover.

7. This software allows you to preview the scanned files. You can double-click on the file to preview it.

You can’t use the trial edition of this software to recover your Mac data. You need to activate it and then check your needed files to recover.

Bottom Line

After reading this post, you should know how to clear disk space on Mac. Besides, you also obtain a dedicated Mac data recovery software to help you rescue your lost and deleted Mac data. Should you have any related issues, you can let us know in the comment or contact us via [email protected].

How to Clear Disk Space on Mac FAQ