How do I do a clean up on my Mac?

Running out of disk space on your Mac can hinder productivity and slow down your system. In this guide, we’ll explore powerful macOS utilities and command-line tools to locate and clean up the largest files and directories. Follow along to free up space while maintaining optimal system performance.

Step 1: Analyze Disk Usage with Finder

The Finder is macOS’s built-in file explorer and provides an intuitive way to view folder sizes.
Steps:

• Open Finder
• Navigate to the folder you want to analyze
• Switch to List View (View > As List)
• Go to View > Show View Options or press Cmd + J. Check the Calculate all sizes option.
  

Step 2: Use “About This Mac” Storage Insights

Leverage macOS’s About This Mac feature for a categorized overview of disk usage.

• Click on the Apple icon and select About This Mac.
• Go to the Storage tab.
• Click Manage… to review large files by category, including Applications, Documents, and Trash.
  

I found that the large files on my Mac consume 175GB. Let’s remove those unwanted ISO files from the system.

This way, I removed around 100 GB of unwanted space from my system.

Step 3: Identify Large Files via Terminal

For advanced users, macOS’s Terminal provides precise control over disk usage analysis.

sudo du -h / 2>/dev/null | sort -hr | head -n 20 

The command sudo du -h / 2>/dev/null | sort -hr | head -n 20 is a powerful pipeline often used to identify the largest directories or files on a Linux system. Here’s a breakdown:

Command Explanation

• The sudo runs the command with superuser privileges to ensure access to all files and directories.
  
• The du stands for “disk usage.” It calculates the size of directories and files. The -h makes the output human-readable (e.g., 1K, 234M, 2G instead of raw bytes).
  
• The / specifies the root directory as the starting point for calculating disk usage.
  `The / specifies the root directory as the starting point for calculating disk usage.
  
• The 2>/dev/null redirects error messages (from file descriptor 2) to /dev/null, effectively discarding them. This suppresses “permission denied” errors and other irrelevant messages.
  
• The sort -hr pipes the output of the previous command into the next command.
  
• The sort sorts the output.
  
• The -h sorts in human-readable format (understands sizes like K, M, G).
  
• The -r sorts in reverse order, displaying the largest items first.
  
• The head -n 20 displays the first few lines of the input limits the output to the top 20 entries.
  

Step 4: Clean Up with Disk Utility

Use Disk Utility to remove unnecessary snapshots or partitions:

• Open Disk Utility from Spotlight (Cmd + Space > search for Disk Utility).
  
• Select your primary disk and look for APFS Snapshots.
  
• Delete unused snapshots to reclaim space.
  

Step 5: Automate Cleanup with Third-Party Tools

Install tools like DaisyDisk or GrandPerspective to visualize disk space usage.

Example:

• Install DaisyDisk from the App Store.
  
• Scan your disk and identify space hogs with an interactive map.
  

Best Practices for Regular Maintenance

• Empty Trash regularly.
  
• Uninstall unused apps with a command:
  

sudo rm -rf /Applications/UnusedApp.app 

• Clear browser cache and logs.
  

Conclusion

Reclaiming storage space on your Mac doesn’t have to be daunting. Whether you use Finder, Terminal, or third-party tools, this guide equips you with the know-how to tackle large files and keep your Mac in optimal condition.