The MacBook Pro is a powerful device, but one issue that you may have encountered is a need for more storage space. It might not be enough even with as much as 1TB of internal storage.
Your laptop can quickly become clogged up with files, documents, music, movies, and other items that take up valuable memory space.
While you could purchase additional storage solutions or opt for an external hard drive, there are also some other simple steps you can take to free up room on your computer (spoiler alert; we will also cover the external hard drive option).
Here are 11 ways to create more space on your MacBook Pro.
1. Remove Unused Applications – Check the applications installed on your laptop and delete those that you no longer use or need.
Unused applications not only take up precious disk space, but they can also slow down your processing speed. If you know how to delete files on Mac, it should not take too long to get rid of unnecessary data, including old apps.
2. Empty the Trash – It might sound obvious, but often we forget to empty out our trash folders which contain deleted files and other types of data are still taking up space on our laptops.
Emptying out the trash regularly will help keep it running more efficiently.
3. Move Files to an External Hard Drive – If you have files that you don’t need immediate access to but still wish to keep them backed up, consider moving them onto an external HDD where they’ll take up less space on your laptop yet still be accessible when needed.
4. Clear Out Your Downloads Folder – Look through the downloads folder and delete any unnecessary items, such as old documents or pictures, that were meant for temporary use only.
5. Clean Out Your Cache – Our computers store temporary data in the form of cache files which eat-up storage space over time if left unattended.
Cleaning out this cache occasionally will help clear out some much-needed room from within your system memory banks.
6. Delete Files From iMessage Conversations – If you’re using iMessage as part of your communication setup, then there’s a good chance these conversations contain shared images, audio clips, and other attachments which are taking up the space on your device.
Deleting these messages (without getting rid of the entire conversation) will help free up this otherwise occupied area of memory storage capacity in no time at all.
7. Reduce Mailbox Size in Apple Mail – Those who rely on Apple Mail for email communications need to make sure to reduce its mailbox size by archiving emails whenever possible.
This way, any messages older than a set amount of days or weeks won’t be stored, causing large chunks of disk usage being taken up unnecessarily.
8. Reclaim Disk Space Used by Time Machine Backups – Normally, Time Machine performs backups every hour; however, over time, this can build up into quite sizable portions of the laptop’s drive.
Fortunately, it’s easy enough to reclaim this back by clicking ‘Delete All’ in Time Machines preferences page, so do remember to utilize this feature if available.
9. Clear iTunes Library Duplicates – iTunes libraries can quickly fill up with duplicated songs as well as albums purchased multiple times over.
Clearing these out can free up sizable portions of much-needed disk usage, so make sure all duplicates are removed before continuing onto more complicated solutions.
10. Optimize Photos With Preview App – With macOS High Sierra comes built-in support for efficient photo optimization via the new Preview App.
Simply open any image file within this application and select the ‘Optimize Storage’ button to immediately reduce its memory size without any noticeable quality loss in resolution.
11. Uninstall Unused Widgets – Widgets are those small applications that can be installed onto your laptop’s desktop.
While they may seem helpful, widgets can also take up a lot of space over time as new versions become available.
Make sure these are only kept around if absolutely necessary, or else uninstall them altogether.
Conclusion
By following these straightforward steps, you should find that your MacBook Pro has more than enough room to store all of your important files, documents, media, and other items with ease.
Keeping up with regular maintenance will ensure that your device continues to run smoothly and efficiently for years to come.
