Whether you want to download the latest software update or a new application, hard drive space is of utmost importance. However, in today’s cloud computing environment, we have gotten used to not paying much attention to our hard drive space until we find ourselves at the end of a “disk too full” message. That’s why, to avoid such surprises, you should keep a check your Mac’s free hard drive space. We’re here to help you with the how!
Running low on space or want to know how much you have left? Here are a few ways you can check your Mac storage.
Using ‘About This Mac’
‘About This Mac’ contains a lot of information about your device, from software updates to display options and much more. To open this window, you need to click on the Apple logo in the menu bar. You can find it on the top left corner of your screen.
Once you click on the Apple logo, a drop-down menu will appear. Click on the ‘About This Mac’ option. A new menu window will appear having five tabs, including Overview, Displays, Storage, Support, and Service. Click on the Storage tab, and macOS will take a few seconds to display your hard drive storage.
Typically your drive will be called Macintosh HD. Below the name, you can see the total amount of storage on your hard drive. The same pane will display the full available storage on your computer and a graph of the kinds of media and the storage they occupy in different colour schemes. Hovering your cursor on a particular colour will reveal which section it represents—for example, Apps, Photos, Other, System, etc.
You can also manage your storage from this menu. Notice a Manage button on top of the bar graph? Clicking on the button will take you to a new window from which you can manage storage on your Mac. With macOS’s inherent storage management, you can get relevant recommendations to remove old and large files. You can also manage your data with the help of iCloud, and remove movies and series downloaded from the Apple TV app.
Apart from the recommendations section, you can also check for various media, files, or applications taking up space on your Mac. In addition, users can directly delete unwanted applications, files, or media from the window.
Also Read: The Mysterious ‘Other’ that Keeps Your iPhone Storage Always Full
Using ‘System Information’
Another method to check for storage on your Mac is via the ‘System Information’ window. You can access it by holding down a shortcut key. Click on the Apple logo in the top left-hand corner of your screen and hold down the Option key. You will notice that the ‘About This Mac’ tab changes to ‘System Information’ once you press the Option key. Next, click on ‘System Information’ and navigate to the Storage section. In the Storage tab, you can view the total and free capacity of your hard drive.
Using Finder Preview
Your Mac’s Finder allows you to check all your files and folders in Preview by pressing the spacebar. For instance, if you click on a file and press the spacebar, a window will pop up to give you a preview of its contents. In a similar format, you can check for available storage on your hard drive. Follow these steps to check for the available space.
- Go to your desktop and under the ‘Finder’ menu, select Preferences.
- Under the General tab, click on Hard disks.
- Your hard drive with the name Macintosh HD should be visible on your desktop.
- Select Macintosh HD and press the spacebar.
- Keep the spacebar pressed to view the total and available storage on your Mac.
Using Finder Window’s Status Bar
The status bar in the Finder window has the capabilities to display available storage space at all times. Thus, if you always want to know how much space you have left on your device, you can make use of the Finder window’s status bar. Follow the steps below to enable the status bar for Finder.
- Open a new Finder window via the Finder icon on your desktop’s dock.
- Select the View option from the top menu bar.
- Under the View drop-down menu, select Show Status Bar.
- You can also hide/unhide the status bar in the Finder window using the Command + / shortcut.
We hope this guide was helpful for checking your Mac’s free hard drive space! Is there another topic you’d like us to make a guide on? Tell us in the comments.
