Your MacBook is screaming. That little notification—"Your disk is almost full"—isn't just a suggestion anymore. It’s a threat. Suddenly, Photoshop won't open, your browser feels like it’s running through literal mud, and you can’t even download a tiny PDF without the OS throwing a tantrum. It’s frustrating.
Apple’s SSD pricing is basically a tax on our sanity. Most of us are living on 256GB or 512GB drives, which honestly fills up in about five minutes if you take photos or edit any kind of video. But here is the thing: most of what's eating your soul (and your storage) isn't your stuff. It’s the "Other" or "System Data" junk that macOS hoards like a digital packrat. If you want to free up space on MacBook units effectively, you have to stop looking at your Documents folder and start looking at the hidden corners of your Library.
The truth is that macOS handles file management differently than Windows. It’s aggressive with caching. It loves to keep local snapshots of your backups. It thinks it's helping you. It's not.
The Secret "System Data" Monster
If you click the Apple logo, go to System Settings, and check your Storage, you’ll probably see a massive grey bar labeled "System Data." It's infuriatingly vague. What is it? It’s usually a mix of old Time Machine snapshots, cache files from apps like Spotify or Premiere Pro, and leftover "residue" from apps you thought you deleted months ago.
MacOS creates "Local Snapshots" for Time Machine. This happens when your external backup drive isn't plugged in. The OS says, "Hey, I'll just save these backups on the internal drive for now!" That's great until you have 40GB of backups sitting on a drive that only has 5GB left.
Open Terminal. Type tmutil listlocalsnapshots /. If a list pops up, those are the culprits. You can thin them out manually. It’s one of those weird power-user moves that instantly recovers 20GB without deleting a single one of your actual photos.
📖 Related: Why the CH 46E Sea Knight Helicopter Refused to Quit
Why Trashing Apps Isn't Enough
Most people think dragging an icon to the Trash "uninstalls" an app. It doesn't. Not even close. When you drag a program like Chrome or Zoom to the bin, you’re only deleting the executable file. You’re leaving behind gigabytes of support files in ~/Library/Application Support.
I’ve seen instances where a 200MB app left behind 15GB of cached data. It’s ridiculous. Tools like AppCleaner (which is free and legendary) are better because they actually hunt down those stray files. But if you're doing it manually, you need to go to your Library folder. Hold the Option key, click "Go" in the Finder menu, and select Library. Check the "Caches" folder. Delete the stuff for apps you don’t even use anymore. Just be careful—don't delete everything blindly.
The Hidden Weight of Messaging Apps
We don't talk enough about Telegram or WhatsApp Desktop. These apps are storage vampires. Every meme, every 4K video of a cat, and every "happy birthday" GIF sent to your group chat is saved locally on your Mac. Telegram, by default, might be set to keep media "Forever."
Go into Telegram settings. Look for Data and Storage. Move that slider from "Forever" to "1 week." Boom. You just saved 12GB. Same goes for iMessage. If you’ve been using the same MacBook for three years, your "Messages" folder in the Library is probably a graveyard of high-resolution attachments you forgot existed.
Your Downloads Folder is a Graveyard
Admit it. You have six different versions of the same PDF in there. You have .dmg installers for apps you installed in 2022.
👉 See also: What Does Geodesic Mean? The Math Behind Straight Lines on a Curvy Planet
The Downloads folder is where storage goes to die. Sort it by "Size." You’ll be shocked. Often, the biggest space-wasters are disk images (.dmg) that you used once and never ejected. Once an app is in your Applications folder, you do not need that installer anymore. Delete it. Burn it with fire.
The iCloud "Optimized" Lie
Apple tells you to "Optimize Mac Storage" in your iCloud settings. It sounds like a dream. It moves your files to the cloud and keeps "low-res" versions on your Mac.
The problem? It’s inconsistent. Sometimes macOS decides to download a 5GB video file just because you clicked it once, and then it forgets to "purge" it back to the cloud when you’re done. If you really want to free up space on MacBook laptops, you have to be the boss of your own files. Use a dedicated external SSD—like a Samsung T7 or a SanDisk Extreme—for your heavy lifting. Keep your "Work in Progress" projects on the Mac, and kick everything else to the external drive.
Managing Large Files Effectively
- Find the behemoths: Use the built-in storage manager (Apple Menu > System Settings > General > Storage). Click the little "i" next to Documents. It shows you a list of every file over a certain size.
- Xcode is a hog: If you are even a hobbyist developer, Xcode's "Derived Data" is likely eating 30GB of your life.
- Mail Attachments: If you use the native Mail app, it downloads every attachment to your drive. If you have a decade of emails, that’s a massive problem.
The Nuclear Option: Clean Installs
Sometimes, your Mac is just... messy. Years of OS updates, various beta versions, and app residue can create a "sludge" that no cleaning app can fix. If you’ve spent three hours trying to find an extra 5GB, it might be time for a clean install.
Back up your essential files to a physical drive. Wipe the Mac. Reinstall macOS. It feels like getting a brand-new computer. The performance jump is usually significant because you’re also clearing out background processes that have been sucking up RAM since the Obama administration.
✨ Don't miss: Starliner and Beyond: What Really Happens When Astronauts Get Trapped in Space
Stop Ignoring the Trash
It sounds stupid, but people forget to empty the Trash. Or, they forget that Photos has its own "Recently Deleted" bin. And Mail has a "Trash" folder. And if you use Adobe Premiere, it has its own "Media Cache" that doesn't care about your system Trash.
You have to empty all of them. Each one is a separate pocket of wasted space.
Actionable Steps to Take Right Now
- Audit your "Caches" folder: Open Finder, press Shift + Command + G, type
~/Library/Caches, and see which apps are hoarding data. Delete folders for apps you no longer have. - Check the "Relocated Items" folder: After macOS updates, Apple often puts "incompatible" files in a folder on your desktop or in
/Users/Shared. Usually, this is just junk. - Find and kill duplicate files: We all have them. Three copies of the same photo album. Use a dedicated duplicate finder to nix them.
- Offload your Photos Library: If your photo library is 100GB, move the
.photoslibraryfile to an external drive. Hold Option while opening Photos to select the new location. This keeps your internal drive lean for actual work.
Don't let your MacBook suffocate. SSDs perform worse as they get closer to 100% capacity because the controller can't perform "wear leveling" efficiently. You aren't just losing space; you're losing speed. Clear the junk, move the big files to an external drive, and keep at least 15-20% of your drive empty for the OS to breathe.
Moving Forward
Start by identifying your largest files through the System Settings storage tool. Move your heavy video and photo libraries to a high-speed external SSD. Finally, use a tool like AppCleaner for all future app removals to ensure no "ghost" files remain in your Library folders. This proactive approach prevents the dreaded "Disk Full" warning from ever returning.