How to Check Mac Storage and Free Up Disk Space (2026 Guide)

If you’re wondering how to see storage on your Mac, checking what’s using disk space is the first step. In macOS, you can view your storage breakdown in just a few clicks to identify large files, applications, photos, and system data consuming space.

This guide explains how to check Mac storage, understand what’s taking up space, and free up storage safely. If your Mac has also started slowing down, see our guide on speeding up your Mac.

How do you check storage on a Mac?

To see storage on your Mac, click Apple Menu → System Settings → General → Storage. macOS will display your available storage and a breakdown of what’s using space, including Applications, Documents, Photos, Messages, and System Data.

You can also review Apple’s built-in storage recommendations to quickly identify opportunities to free up disk space.

Step 1: Check Mac Storage from the Apple Menu

The fastest way to see storage on your Mac is through the Storage settings panel. This view shows how much storage is available and which categories are using the most disk space.

There are a few ways to check the storage on your Mac’s hard drive. The steps differ depending on your MacOS version. 

Which MacOS are you running? You can check by hovering over the top menu bar, clicking the Apple icon on the far left, and then clicking About This Mac. 

Instructions will differ if you have Ventura or later updates, including Sonoma or Sequoia, or if you have Monterey and earlier releases. 

How to check the storage on your Mac using About My Mac 

Our first method begins with the same steps as above. Navigate to About My Mac once more. 

For Monterey and earlier: You’ll see a rectangular-shaped window with several tab options. Click Storage, and the following window will present a bar chart breaking down used and available space, sorted by file types (Like media, documents, and applications). 

For Ventura and later: These users will see a smaller About My Mac window with a single button: More Info… Once clicked, you’ll arrive at the About tab in system settings. Scroll to the bottom and click Storage Settings. 

Here, you’ll spot a bar chart illustrating your current storage usage, with different file types color-coded. Red represents documents, orange denotes applications, gray describes system data, and black is for free space. 

How to check storage on your Mac through system settings 

Accessing System Settings is simple. Click the Apple icon in the top menu bar and hit System Settings. 

Scroll down the left-hand menu bar and click Storage. You’ll then arrive at the same Storage Settings window. 

Optional: Check Mac Storage Using Terminal

If you prefer using the command line, you can also check the storage on your Mac using Terminal. 

Open Terminal (Applications → Utilities → Terminal), then enter:  

df -h 

The df -h command displays your mounted drives along with the total, used, and available disk space in a human-readable format (such as GB or TB). Look for your primary macOS volume to see how much storage is available. 

If you want to identify which folders are using the most space in your home directory, run:  

du -sh ~/*  

This command estimates the size of each top-level folder in your user account, making it easy to spot large folders like Downloads, Documents, Movies, or Desktop that may be consuming significant storage.  

While Terminal is useful for quick storage checks and troubleshooting, the Storage page in System Settings remains the easiest way to see a category-by-category breakdown of your Mac's storage and access Apple's built-in recommendations for freeing up disk space. 

Step 2: Find What’s Using the Most Space

After opening Storage settings, review each category to identify what is consuming space. Documents, Photos, Applications, and System Data are often the largest storage users on Macs with limited available storage.

Pay particular attention to large downloads, duplicate files, old backups, and applications you no longer use. These categories often provide the quickest opportunities to reclaim storage.

Below the bar chart, you’ll see a table of file types and the volume of space they occupy. Clicking the encircled i for “information” next to each will launch a pop-up detailing that category’s largest files in descending order. 

Typically, most of your space will be dedicated to apps or documents. 

Let’s look at my MacBook Pro’s hard drive. 

It looks like my Applications folder is stuffed. The largest apps are either video games or office tools. To save some space, I’d probably delete the games Ultros and Terra Memoria—I already beat them anyway. 

I’ll also ditch Microsoft PowerPoint; I rarely use it, and Google Slides is free and good enough for my purposes. 

Now, I’ll navigate to my document storage tab since it’s the largest file type by far. 

At the top, you’ll see Parallels Desktop, which I use to virtualize Windows 11, play Windows games, and use Windows applications. 

I’ll keep that, and instead I’ll delete a bunch of somewhat smaller files, such as application setup files, corrupted downloads, and already-extracted compressed files. 

And look! I saved another 5 gigabytes. 

Step 3: Free Up Storage: 10 Proven Methods

Once you’ve identified what’s using storage, you can reclaim space by removing unnecessary files, uninstalling unused applications, optimizing cloud storage, and deleting outdated downloads. These methods can help clear storage on Mac, improve responsiveness, and create more room for demanding applications.

If you use resource-intensive software such as video editing tools, development environments, or virtualization software to run Windows on Mac, keeping adequate free storage available can help maintain smooth performance and reduce update-related issues.

Apple has developed a range of simple tools to help you manage hard drive space. 

• Optimize Command
• Erase Junk Mail
• Reduce Clutter 

Here’s how to use them to your advantage. 

Empty your Mac’s trash on a regular basis 

It’s easy to forget your trash bin. It’s hidden away and easy to overlook, and it can quickly hoover up space.  

Use Optimize Command to set your trash bin to empty every 30 days (or a time frame of your choosing). This setting automatically deletes trash bin files after 30 days. I highly recommend using it. That said, if you frequently find yourself dumpster diving for needlessly discarded files, leave it off. 

Erase junk mail using Mac System Settings 

The average inbox is positively stuffed with messages—one study found respondents held an average of 8,024 emails, with 20 percent holding 21,000 plus. 

If you’re not looking to hoard a massive volume of junk mail, you can save considerable space. 

Open Mail, then right-click the mailbox containing the most messages (whether it’s your Inbox, drafts, or Sent folder). 

Select Erase Deleted Items, then Erase Junk Mail. Voila! 

Reduce clutter with Mac system settings 

Monterey or earlier: Those still on macOS Monterey or earlier can use Reduce Clutter, a tool that helps you sort through files to determine what can be deleted. It’s halfway down the Recommendations window. 

After clicking Reduce Clutter, start by selecting Review Files. 

You’ll see five tabs: Large Files, Downloads, Unsupported Apps, Containers, and File Browser, which may help you decide what to delete. 

Once you select a tab, you’ll see a list of the largest associated files in descending order. If you spot an expendable file, right-click and select Show in Finder. MacOS will open the folder containing the file. Select Delete to remove it. 

Managing Your Mac’s Hard Drive Using Parallels Toolbox for Mac and Windows 

Parallels Desktop, our virtual machine solution, enables you to run Windows apps on Mac (and so much more). It also provides handy MacOS tools in Parallels Toolbox (included in your subscription).  

For instance, Clean Drive scans your hard drive for a wider array of file types and locations, including cache files, mobile app data, and iTunes temp files. 

First, download and install Parallels Toolbox. Open the Toolbox, click the Library tab at the top, and scroll down until you see Clean Drive. Once clicked, the tool will scan your drive for nine types of overlooked files and recommend deletions. 

Despite just running Apple’s tools previously, I found a whopping 5.51 GB free. Time to download more games I’ll later forget to delete. 

Even the confirmation window looks slick.

Looking for an easier way to manage your Mac?  

Parallels Toolbox includes tools that help locate large files, optimize performance, free up storage space, and simplify routine Mac maintenance—all from a single application. 

If you need to run Windows applications alongside macOS, you can also try Parallels Desktop Pro free for 14 days and experience seamless Windows-on-Mac performance without rebooting. 

Save yourself energy (and stress) and get your Mac’s storage under control 

Whether you opt for more or less storage, you’ll be glad you learned how to check your Mac’s storage and how to free up disk space for all your projects, papers, decks, and more that you need to succeed at work or at school.

Now go forth and continue to download mountains of .dmg files, videos, and large PDFs—that is until you need to make space for more. 

Parallels Toolbox includes a plethora of extra applications designed to make Mac management easier. With your Parallels Desktop for Mac subscription, you can access over 50+ tools! 

Quick Summary

To check storage on your Mac, open Apple Menu → System Settings → General → Storage. macOS will show your available storage and a breakdown of what’s using space.

To free up storage, focus on removing large files, unused applications, duplicate downloads, old backups, and other unnecessary data. Reviewing storage regularly can help maintain Mac performance and reduce low-storage warnings.

Regularly checking Mac storage helps prevent performance issues and low-space warnings. Whether you’re managing large media libraries, development tools, or applications used to run Windows on Mac, maintaining available disk space helps your Mac perform more efficiently.

If you’re running resource-intensive Windows applications, you can try Parallels Desktop Pro free for 14 days to experience a seamless Windows and macOS workflow on one device. 

FAQ

How do I check my storage space on a Mac?

You can check your Mac’s storage space in a few steps:

1. Click the Apple menu () in the top-left corner of your screen.
2. Select System Settings (or About This Mac on older versions of macOS).
3. Click General, then choose Storage.

Your Mac will display how much storage is being used and how much is available. You’ll also see a breakdown of what’s taking up space, such as apps, documents, photos, and system files.

How can I tell how much memory I have on my Mac?

To check how much RAM (memory) your Mac has:

1. Click the Apple menu ().
2. Select About This Mac.
3. Look for the Memory section.

This will show the total amount of memory installed on your Mac, such as 8 GB, 16 GB, or 32 GB of RAM.

How do I check the size of my Mac?

If you want to check your Mac’s screen size and model details, you can do it through the system information:

1. Click the Apple menu ().
2. Select About This Mac.

The overview page will show your Mac model, chip, display size, and year (for example, “MacBook Pro 14-inch”).

If you’re referring to storage size instead, you can check it in System Settings → General → Storage.

How many GB of storage does a Mac have?

The amount of storage on a Mac depends on the model and configuration you purchased.

Common storage sizes include:

• 256 GB
• 512 GB
• 1 TB
• 2 TB or more

You can check your Mac’s exact storage capacity by going to Apple menu () → About This Mac → Storage, where the total available storage will be displayed. 

What is system data on Mac? 

System Data includes caches, logs, temporary files, local snapshots, and other macOS resources. The size can fluctuate over time as macOS manages storage automatically. 

Why is my Mac storage full? 

Mac storage often fills up because of downloaded files, photos, videos, application data, local backups, caches, and system files that accumulate over time. Checking Storage settings helps identify which categories are consuming the most space and where cleanup opportunities exist. 

How do I clean up Mac storage fast? 

The fastest ways to free up Mac storage include deleting large files, uninstalling unused applications, emptying the Trash, clearing old downloads, and enabling Apple’s built-in storage recommendations. Start with the largest storage categories first for the quickest results. 

How do I see what’s taking up space on my Mac? 

Open Apple Menu → System Settings → General → Storage. macOS provides a storage breakdown showing how much space is used by apps, documents, photos, messages, system data, and other categories. 

How much free storage should a Mac have? 

For optimal performance, it’s recommended to keep at least 10–20% of your Mac’s storage available. Running with very little free space can affect system performance, software updates, virtual memory usage, and normal macOS operations.