We’ll assume that you’ve already been confronted by System or System Data taking up an astonishing amount of storage on your Mac and are thinking that you’d quite like that 50GB or so back. If you aren’t sure how to see how much disk space your Mac has read: How to check how much disk space you have. You may also find that you can’t install an update to macOS if you don’t have enough free storage. If your Mac is low on storage it can cause problems – you might see a message that your start-up disk is almost full, for example, and if you ignore that you might find you can’t even start up your Mac! Low storage can also slow your Mac right down and cause other issues stopping it from running at its best. Then expand them when you need to use them again.ĭid you empty the Trash? When you move a file to the Trash, its storage space doesn't become available until you empty the Trash.Download Free Edition 2023 Can you delete System on the Mac?įirst we’ll address why you might want to delete System or System Data on your Mac – and whether you should. If you don't want to delete certain files, you might be able to save space by compressing them.

Check the Users folder on Macintosh HD for any shared files that you no longer need to share.

If your Mac is set up for multiple users, delete users that no longer need access to your Mac. Or ask them to follow the steps in this article after logging in to their user account. Also check the Users folder on Macintosh HD for any undeleted data belonging to deleted users.

If you use your Mac to back up your iPhone or iPad, you can delete old backups.Also choose Mailbox > Erase Deleted Items. If you use the Mail app for your email, choose Mailbox > Erase Junk Mail from the menu bar in Mail.

Delete files in your Downloads folder. Open this folder from the Dock, or by choosing Go > Downloads from the menu bar in the Finder.

Delete music, movies, podcasts, or other media, especially if it's media that you can stream or download again as needed.

You can also delete files that you no longer need. If you have another storage device, such as an external drive connected to your Mac, you can move files to that device. Media files such as photos and videos can use a lot of storage space, so you can take steps such as these:

Clear space on mac startup disk