One of the issues that we all encounter with our Mac is the lack of space. It doesn’t seem like a problem at first, but as time goes by, purging the Mac drive becomes a major thing to consider. Thankfully, there are different methods you can use when it comes to purging the drive. And if you do it right, the results you are getting will be second to none. Here’s what you need to take into consideration.
What Does Purgeable Mac Drive Space Mean?
Simply put, this contains files that Mac OS sees as suitable for removal. But it won’t remove that until you are running out of space on the drive. The way you check for any purgeable space is you enter the storage settings on your Mac and if there is any purgeable space, you will see it as a section with white and gray stripes onto it.
Is it safe to clear that? Yes, but unfortunately your Mac won’t do that unless it absolutely has to. And it’s extremely important to try and purge the drive to the best of your capabilities, as that remaining space could end up being extremely useful more often than not.
Use A Mac Cleanup Tool
If you want to purge Mac hard drive effectively, a cleanup tool is the right way to go. For starters, this will allow you to remove the purgeable space, and it will also help remove a lot of unnecessary files. It truly is the best way to keep your Mac in a very good shape. And the best part is that it will provide much-needed resources you can use for anything else that you see fit.
Restart Your Mac
Yes, something as simple as restarting your Mac is crucial here. It will help remove stuff that’s temporary and it might help purge space as well. The advantage is that you can easily restart your Mac in just a minute or two, go and grab some drinks or eat something, and by the time you come back, this will be ready and good to go.
Use Optimized Storage
It’s a great Mac feature that will remove files that can be purged whenever that’s a possibility. The upside is that you can do this as many times as you want, and it’s adaptable to your requirements.
Plus, it does offer you the option to turn this off whenever you see fit. It’s just well-worth using, especially if you have space to purge on your device.
Remove Purgeable Space Via The Terminal
- You need to enter the Terminal and in here you want to paste the “mkdir ~/largefiles” command and press Return.
- After that, you want to write the “dd if=/dev/random of=~/largefiles/largefile bs=15m” command and then press Return as well.
- A few minutes later, use the “cp ~/largefiles/largefile ~/largefiles/largefile2” command and you can then run the same command as well, changing largefile2 to a different name.
- Lastly, write “rm -rf ~/largefiles/” and then press Return. At the end, just empty the trash and you will be fine.
Clear The Cache Files
Removing Cache files is a great idea and for that, you need to go to the Library folder. Here you want to check Caches and delete everything that you don’t need. It’s actually a great idea to remove stuff that is not in use, because it will be very handy and it will streamline the way you work. The upside is that you can clear the cache often, and it’s up to you to decide how often you want to do this process.
Disable Any Time Machine Backups
Clearly, the Time Machine backups eat up a lot of space. You enter the Time Machine settings and in there you want to set up these backups to take place manually. That way, you just do the backups only when you need them. It does help immensely, since you can purge a lot of space that would just be wasted otherwise.
Is it a good idea to use third party apps to purge the hard drive? Yes, it’s automated, and usually it helps you save a lot of time and effort. The downside is that naturally, you can end up with viruses and data loss. Hence the reason why you always want to use apps that you can trust and which you know you can always rely on.
Closing Thoughts
We highly recommend using these tips if you want to purge your Mac and clear it from any unwanted content. It’s a great idea to use these ideas, because they work great, and they can provide outstanding value. Yes, there will be some trial and error to handle everything, but if you don’t rush and you use automated tools, that will help save a ton of time. Plus, it helps you make the most out of your available space.
