storage almost full on macbook air os el capitan

[dannydeathdisco]

I'm showing 1.86gb left of storage space... i have an external hard drive that i can dump everything on to ... the yellow other bar is showing 54.34GB ..

i run dr.cleaner ..

i am a computer idiot so please make explanations clear ..

i also have no money to buy expensive or inexpensive software to clear the stuff

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello and welcome.

First off, I don't recommend Dr Cleaner, as it has been known to cause more issues than it is worth, including overall sluggish performance.

That said, I would look to see how much space is taken by all of the folders (Desktop/Documents/Downloads/Movies/Music/Pictures/etc.) in your Home folder, and we can go from there. For many folks, multiple downloaded copies of software installer disk images take a lot of space, as does video.

Let us know what you find and we can recommend from there.

C

 

[dannydeathdisco]

Hello and welcome.

First off, I don't recommend Dr Cleaner, as it has been known to cause more issues than it is worth, including overall sluggish performance.

That said, I would look to see how much space is taken by all of the folders (Desktop/Documents/Downloads/Movies/Music/Pictures/etc.) in your Home folder, and we can go from there. For many folks, multiple downloaded copies of software installer disk images take a lot of space, as does video.

Let us know what you find and we can recommend from there.

C

thanks
Desktop - 1.3mb
Documents 1.49GB
downloads - 1.43 gb
music - 2.49gb
movies 389KB
pictures - 3.32GB

spot none really taking up much room

 

[Cory Cooper]

OK, thanks for the additional information.

-Are there other users on the Mac?
-How large are the Macintosh HD > Applications and Macintosh HD > Library folders?
-Do you use the Apple Mail app and do you have a Gmail account setup in it?
-Do you use GarageBand at all?

C

 

[dannydeathdisco]

OK, thanks for the additional information.

-Are there other users on the Mac?
-How large are the Macintosh HD > Applications and Macintosh HD > Library folders?
-Do you use the Apple Mail app and do you have a Gmail account setup in it?
-Do you use GarageBand at all?

C

no other users

applications - 17.62 GB
library 7.62 GB
i use apple mail and yes have gmail on it
have garageband but don't use it

 

[Cory Cooper]

Gmail has been know to "run wild" on Macs and fill up the hard drive by downloading/synching/archiving multiple copies of emails.

-Do you have any mailboxes only on your Mac, that you cannot see if you login to Gmail via a browser?
-Is Gmail setup as IMAP on your Mac in the Mail app?

Also, log files can become corrupted and cause massive amounts of hard drive space to be taken up. An Apple Store Genius can usually check for these pretty easily and correct - are you close to a store?

C

 

[dannydeathdisco]

Gmail has been know to "run wild" on Macs and fill up the hard drive by downloading/synching/archiving multiple copies of emails.

-Do you have any mailboxes only on your Mac, that you cannot see if you login to Gmail via a browser?
-Is Gmail setup as IMAP on your Mac in the Mail app?

Also, log files can become corrupted and cause massive amounts of hard drive space to be taken up. An Apple Store Genius can usually check for these pretty easily and correct - are you close to a store?

C

not sure what you mean by mailboxes on my mac that i cant see if i login to gmail via browser

gmail yes is set up as imap

not near an Apple store but can get to one but as I'm out of warranty they will charge a small fortune

 

[Cory Cooper]

not sure what you mean by mailboxes on my mac that i cant see if i login to gmail via browser

In the Mail app, you will see the mailboxes listed on the left side of the window...if not, click the Mailboxes button. You will see a list that shows any mailboxes you have created and where they are - On My Mac, Gmail, etc.

Also, do you happen to have Steam installed?

C

 

[dannydeathdisco]

In the Mail app, you will see the mailboxes listed on the left side of the window...if not, click the Mailboxes button. You will see a list that shows any mailboxes you have created and where they are - On My Mac, Gmail, etc.

Also, do you happen to have Steam installed?

C

ah right .. yes i have 4 accounts on my mac mail.... 2 gmail accounts, one outlook and one other .

don't think i have steam