A full startup disk is something that every Mac user will experience. This problem used to be known as “Startup disk full” notification. However, on newer macOS versions this message has been changed to “Your disk is almost full.”
Jul 25, 2018 That’s why you may need a Mac cleaner software which can help you free up a decent amount of disk space in just a few minutes. After carefully testing and reviewing 14 Mac cleaning apps, we believe that CleanMyMac is the best utility for most people, as it offers a great combination of useful features with a super sleek interface. You can use it to get rid of system junk and unneeded languages.
But luckily, it’s a problem that has many solutions. And in this article, we’ll go over:
- What is startup disk full?
- What's causing 'Your disk is almost full' alert?
- How to fix startup disk full?
- How to prevent 'Your disk is almost full' problem?
However, we also understand that some people are short on time and just want to fix startup disk full. So, if you’re not really interested in what it is and why it happens, just skip the next two sections and head to “How to Clean Your Startup Disk”.
Or, even better, if you’re looking how to clear space on Mac, we’d highly recommend a utility called CleanMyMac X. It'll help you clean up gigabytes of disk space in just minutes (you can download it here).
Note: if you’re running macOS Sierra (or higher), it has a built-in option of Optimized Storage that is supposed to solve the problem of the full hard drive by moving files into the cloud.
By clicking 'Manage' you can open the menu and see what Optimized storage offers. However, it moves junk and useless files to the cloud together with your fies, and eventually you end up paying for iCloud storage to store junk. So we still recommend getting CleanMyMac and actually dealing with extra files rather than simply moving them.
Now, with all that said, let’s get into what exactly “Your disk is almost full” means.
Understanding What “Your Disk is Almost Full” Means
What is a startup disk?
A startup disk, as taken from Apple Support article, is a volume or partition of a drive that contains a usable operating system. Still confused? Let’s break it down for you.
Your Mac hard drive consists of disks (or partitions). Each disk (or partition) has your Mac data on it, which consists of your operating system, applications, etc. Most Mac users have just one disk but power users may have two or more.
Let’s look at an example of a Mac with only one hard disk:
- Your Mac's hard drive is 500GB.
- It has one 'disk' on it, so all 500GB of storage is on that disk.
- The disk has an operating system (OS X El Capitan), and user data (apps, etc).
- And since you only have one disk, this is your startup disk: all 500GB.
A Mac with two disks will have the storage divided between them. The Mac drive with the OS on it is the startup disk while the other drive is just used for storage of files. It’s possible to have multiple startup disks, but most Macs will only have one.
Why your disk is almost full?
This is easy. It’s a lot like why is your fridge full? There is no more space! Your disk is almost full and this is very bad news for any drive. A hard disk should never get beyond 85% capacity (especially a startup disk) as you will experience slowness and errors the further you get above that mark.
If your startup disk is full and you get a message of warning from your Mac, this is a serious indication that you need to free up storage immediately.
What to do when your disk is almost full?
So how do you fix your almost full startup disk? The same way you solve the problem of a packed fridge - you need to clear up space, of course. To make more space on your startup disk you will need to:
- Delete files from your Mac.
- Move files to an external hard drive or cloud storage.
- Or install a second internal hard drive on your Mac.
So, now that we know what a startup disk is, we need to talk about how to fix it. Let’s take a closer look at your disk space to see exactly what is causing your disk to be almost full.
What’s Causing 'Your Disk Is Almost Full' Alert?
Short version: Take a look under-the-hood of your Mac.
Before we can see what is taking up space on your startup disk, first we have to find it:
- Hover on the Dock at the bottom of your screen and open Finder.
- Click on “Finder” in the menu bar at the top of your screen.
- Then select “Preferences…”
- In the window that opens, checkmark the “Hard disks” checkbox.
After selecting this box, your desktop should now show the hard disks on your mac, in the form of icon(s), like this:
These are disks on your Mac that you can “startup”, this is because they have operating systems (like macOS High Sierra) on them. If there is more than one of these hard disk icons that show up on your desktop, it means you’ve got multiple hard disks on your Mac. If you only have one, skip the down to “What is taking up all of my startup disk space?” section.
If you have more than one, continue with the next step:
Click on the Apple icon at the top left of your screen System Preferences > Startup Disk.
Here, again, you’ll find your hard disk(s); they’re probably named something like MainSSD or MainHD. It will also display “OS” and the version number of that OS. If you have more than one OS drive, your startup disk should be the one with the latest version of macOS running on it, but we’re going to make sure of that in the next step.
Here, again, you’ll find your hard disk(s); they’re probably named something like MainSSD or MainHD. It will also display “OS” and the version number of that OS. If you have more than one OS drive, your startup disk should be the one with the latest version of macOS running on it, but we’re going to make sure of that in the next step.
I only have one and it looks like this:
To make 100% sure that you know what drive is your startup disk, follow these steps:
- Click on the Apple Icon in the menu at the top-left of your screen.
- Select “About This Mac.”
- Under macOS, you’ll find a version number. Mine is 10.14.1, like so:
See how my version number in the “About This Mac” window matches the number in my Startup Disk section? Yep — That’s my startup disk. Found yours? Good.
What is taking up all of my startup disk space?
Now that we’ve identified our startup disk, let’s take a closer look at how to clear up space on Mac:
- Click the Apple Icon in the menu at the top-left corner of your screen.
- Choose “About This Mac.”
- Click Storage.
Note: If you are running an older version of OS X you may have to first click “More Info…” and then “Storage”.
Take a look at my hard drive disk:
I’ve got 500GB of storage, and about 275GB of it is free space.
So, how big is your hard disk? How much free space do you have (if any — *gulp*)? And what’s taking up the most space? It is important to consider drive capacity and data storage needs for future storage plans — we’re not just here to fix the problem for now, we’re going to make sure you never have this problem in the future as well.
Now that we have the knowledge, it’s time to take action and fix your Mac’s “Startup Disk Full” problem.
How to Clear Space on Mac (11 Ways)
Let’s go over 11 things you can do to help fix 'your disk is almost full.' These should also give you other ideas as to how else to fix it — You know your Mac better than we do!
1. Clear system storage on Mac
System storage cleanup sounds like a serious undertaking. But, technically, it boils down to just one thing: having the courage to scrap the old files.
- Search for large ZIP/RAR archives in Downloads
- Open your Desktop (Command + F3) and delete screenshots
- In Applications, sort your apps by size. Delete the largest ones
- Get rid of system junk files with a free version of CleanMyMac X
- Restart your Mac to free up RAM
2. Clean up cache files on your Mac
Cache files are files that help your Mac run programs a bit more smoothly. Think of them like blueprints for a house: your Mac has the blueprints for how a program is supposed to load/run/look, so it loads it faster; without them, it’d be like building it from scratch. However, over time, these caches can start to take up some serious space. Periodically, removing them can help free up space. And don’t worry, your Mac will create fresh, new ones after you restart your Mac. To remove caches:
- Open a Finder window and select Go in the menu bar.
- Click on “Go to Folder…”
- Type in ~/Library/Caches
Delete the files/folders that are taking up the most space. - Now click on “Go to Folder…”
- Type in /Library/Caches (simply lose the ~ symbol)
And, again, delete the folders that take up the most space.
Deleting cache files is generally safe for your Mac. And once you delete them, the applications and processes you run on your Mac will generate fresh, new ones. But, when deleting, worry more about removing them based on size rather than just removing all of them.
Also, you can check the /System/Library/Caches folder as well, but it might be better not to touch this folder without knowing what the items are. A utility that correctly cleans up these files (and pretty much everything else on this list) is, you guessed it, CleanMyMac X. It cleans up even your system caches with just a few clicks. By the way, this program is notarized by Apple.
Oh, and once you’re done with this list, restart your Mac so it can create these new cache files.
Read more: How to Clear Cache on a Mac?
3. Get rid of localization files
Localization files are also known as “language packs.” Lots of apps come with other languages that you probably don’t need. To clear up space on your Mac, delete the ones you don’t need:
- Open a Finder window.
- Go to Applications.
- Ctrl+click on an application.
- Select “Show Package Contents.”
From here, go to Contents > Resources and look for files ending in .lproj. These are the languages your app has just in case you want to use it in another language, like Spanish (es.lproj). Drag the ones you’ll never use to the Trash.
Again, a safer alternative to this would be to use CleanMyMac X. It gets rid of all of them with a click. No digging through application folders, just a cleaner Mac.
Read more: How to Delete Language Files from macOS?
4. Delete old iTunes Library backups
The more recent versions of iTunes create backups of your iTunes Library, whenever you update the application (which, to me, feels like every day). You can trash these old iTunes Library backups by:
- Opening a Finder window.
- Clicking “Go” in the menu bar at the top-left of your screen.
- Selecting “Go to Folder”
- Entering ~/Music/iTunes/Previous iTunes Libraries
They’re all dated, just delete the old ones you don’t need anymore.
5. Remove old iOS backups
Backups can tend to take up a lot of space. You can find and remove them by:
- Launching a Finder window.
- Clicking “Go” in the menu bar.
- Selecting “Go to Folder…”
- Then, typing in ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/
Get rid of all the old, outdated backups your Mac has been storing for a bit more extra space.
6. Remove iOS software updates
You can find all the unnecessary data for your devices by:
- Opening Finder.
- Selecting “Go” in the menu bar.
- Clicking on “Go to Folder…”
- And entering for iPad ~/Library/iTunes/iPad Software Updates
or entering for iPhone ~/Library/iTunes/iPhone Software Updates
Delete downloaded files for any of the devices that you are not using any more, or ones which software just already updated. Remember that after any of your devices have been updated, you don’t need those files.
Read more: How to Delete iOS Software Updates from Mac?
7. Remove unnecessary applications
This isn’t often overlooked, but definitely under appreciated. Removing old, unused applications is a great way to get some extra space on your startup disk. Go through your applications folder and get rid of all the apps you rarely use. But make sure you remove them correctly, don’t just drag them to the Trash. If you do, you’ll leave behind tons of leftover parts and pieces, and we’re trying to get back startup disk space — It’ll kinda defeat the purpose, no?
This is another place we’d suggest using CleanMyMac X. To completely remove any application, just launch CleanMyMac 3, click Uninstaller, select your application, and then click Uninstall. You won’t have to search all over for development junk that’s left behind when Trash’ing an application. It’s incredibly easy and saves you tons of time.
8. Clean up your photo library
Photos, photos, photos. Talk about tons of space! First and foremost, select only what you can get rid of, like image copies and maybe some photos that were mistakenly taken. You know, ones of the ground or something?
Ok, once your own files are taken care of, it’s time to get rid of the files your system created. In Photos for Mac, it’s cache files. In iPhoto, it’s service copies. Both are a pain to find, but here’s how you can get rid of them.
Photos cache includes iCloud local copies (created when you view pics from your iCloud photo library on a Mac), Faces cache (generated when you use Faces), and other app-related cache. You’d be surprised how much all that takes up if you regularly use Photos. For OS versions prior to macOS Sierra, here’s the path to locate the cache:
- Open Finder and navigate to your Photos library (normally, it’s in the Pictures folder).
- Ctrl+click your Photos library, and select “Show Package Contents.”
- Open resources, and then modelresource.
You should now see a lot more folders in your Finder window. Photos cache sits in these folders, but the tricky thing is that it’s really hard to say what is safe to remove and what isn’t. Deleting the wrong file can compromise the performance of Photos, which is why we highly suggest you use CleanMyMac X to clear the cache. It only removes files that are safe to delete, never a critical file or important image.
You can download CleanMyMac X for free and see how it works, it’s so much safer than cleaning up cache manually.
9. Clean up your Downloads, Movies, and Music folders
Have a closer look at these three folders. You’d be surprised at how many downloads can accumulate when you aren’t paying attention. Clean out anything you don’t need (or don’t know) and organize the rest. It’ll take a load off your mind to know that there’s nothing excess there.
The Movies folder can be a pain, not because you’re searching through tons of files, but it can be difficult to choose what to delete. Personally, I never want to get rid of Top Gun. It’s amazing. I watched it 3 times in a row last weekend. But alas, sometimes you need to make sacrifices for your the health of your Mac. Though, what you can do with movies you want to keep is to archive them. So, archive what you wish to keep and remove the rest.
How to archive/compress a file
Archiving a file doesn’t mean to store deeper into the abyss of your Mac — but to turn the file into something smaller, into a compressed file (like .zip or .tar). By archiving a file, you shave off some memory. Archiving is essential for things you want to keep on your Mac, but don’t often use, and helps you clear up some space. And that’s what this is all about right? We’re essentially doing the hokey-pokey on your Mac. To archive a file, just:
- Ctrl+click the file you want to compress (recommended for movie files).
- Select, “Compress .”
The last place to sweep through is the Music folder. Find and remove duplicate music files first, and then clean up all the songs you downloaded on a weird Sunday afternoon cleaning the house.
10. Clean your Desktop
“Clean my desktop… but why?” Because some people’s desktops are hard to look at, that’s why. Organize your desktop and get rid of the stuff you just don’t need on there. It looks better and helps your Mac act a bit faster (I don’t know the rocket science behind this one, but it feels too good to be false). Your Mac doesn’t waste time loading all those icons and junk, just… Just clean it, please.
11. Empty out the Trash (No, we’re not joking…)
Seriously: It may sound incredibly basic, but it could free up a surprising amount of space. I forget to do it all the time. The thing is, that when you delete something, your Mac doesn’t remove it — it just moves it to the Trash. Plus, you’ve probably deleted way more than you realize, and all that could be sitting in the Trash, wasting space. So get rid of all that junk by emptying the Trash:
- Ctrl+click your Trash in the the Dock.
- Select “Empty Trash.”
- And click “Empty Trash.”
And, the easiest step is done.
A few more tips to free up space on Mac
- Delete duplicate files
Some files often have two or more copies. Check out Gemini 2 — it searches for identical files and folders all across your Mac.
2. Manage your Optimized Storage
This option comes with your operating system starting macOS Sierra. Go to the Apple menu > About this Mac > Storage
Now, click on Manage to reveal the space-saving options:
3. Erase your Junk Mail
Open your Mail app, and click Mailbox in the upper menu. Here you can erase spam and already deleted items.
4. Delete system junk with CleanMyMac X
Again, this is an incredible utility when it comes to cleaning your startup disk. And this app is notarized by Apple, meaning it's safe.
Again, this is an incredible utility when it comes to cleaning your startup disk. And this app is notarized by Apple, meaning it's safe.
To avoid the annoying “your disk is almost full” error, download the free edition of CleanMyMac X.
Once you've installed the app, click on the System Junk tab. It will cleanup caches, logs, language packs, binaries, Photo copies, outdated backups, Trashes, and more.
Once you've installed the app, click on the System Junk tab. It will cleanup caches, logs, language packs, binaries, Photo copies, outdated backups, Trashes, and more.
Full Startup Disk Prevention
We’ve cleaned up a few things on your Mac, and hopefully it’s given you more ideas as to what else you can clean. But, let’s take a look at how much space you saved from cleaning the list above. Remember how we checked your Mac’s free space? Open that window again and see how much space you’ve freed up:
- Click the Apple Icon in the menu at the top-left corner of your screen.
- Choose “About This Mac.”
- Click Storage.
Note - If you are running an older version of OS X you may have to first click “More Info…” and then “Storage”.
You’ve probably got a bit more space, and you’ll want to keep it that way. The only way to prevent a “your disk is almost full” is by keeping your Mac clean. We’d recommend a complete cleaning every 2–3 weeks.
Say goodbye to the 'Your startup disk is almost full” message.
So, we’ve now covered everything that we wanted to share with you. Hopefully, this has helped you fix that full startup disk problem. Your startup disk should now be quite a bit lighter (we hope). Oh, and if you liked this article, get social with it to help others in need. And if you really liked this article, subscribe to our email list — we’ve got more guides on the way. And we’ve also got a utility that’ll help you out a ton in the long run: CleanMyMac X. It helps you clean your entire Mac with just the click of a button. It’s incredibly easy to use and works like a charm.
These might also interest you:
Utilities • Updated on Aug. 9, 2019
Mac devices are normally great, you know. It has a smooth User Interface, a smoother integration and most importantly the smoothest workflow. However, there is a slight problem: storage space optimization. People are always worried about losing storage space on their macOS devices. More often than not, there are some system interventions as well.
There are many third-party macOS apps that let you get more free space on your Mac. And, CleanMyMac is one of the popular options out there. However, we wanted to test not just CleanMyMac but also other Mac cleaning software in the market. In this article, you will find our review of CleanMyMac and whether you’ve to spend money on this Mac cleaner software.
Quick navigation
Background
Starting with macOS Sierra, Apple offered an elegant space-clearing solution feature, Optimized Storage.
Optimized Storage in macOS Sierra and later can save space by storing your content in the cloud and making it available on demand. When storage space is needed, files, photos, movies, email attachments, and other files that you seldom use are stored in the cloud automatically. Each file stays right where you last saved it, and downloads when you open it. Files that you’ve used recently remain on your Mac, along with optimized versions of your photos.
The feature helps us deal with junk like duplicates, old email attachments and downloads – and automatically sifts through them to delete the files or move them to the cloud.
But, instead of deleting them, it mainly moves the junk files to iCloud. The result of the optimization is more free space on your hard drive and many-many gigabytes of cloud storage taken up.
While it’s an amazing built-in feature, it doesn’t help many heavy Mac users.
Why you need a Mac cleaner software
You can guess the first reason on your own. It’s not possible to keep paying Apple according to the storage space taken up. As we said, Optimized Storage would be moving your junk files to iCloud. As it happens, the iCloud space is limited. When you cross the 5GB free limit, you will have to start paying for the extra space you are getting. When you have GBs of junk data to keep on the cloud, this doesn’t make sense.
Using a Mac cleaner software, you will be able to do this without iCloud. The point is that you don’t have to spend extra money if you can find free space in your Mac itself. Apart from storage optimization and space-saving, there are some other reasons below why you need a Mac cleaner software.
- Mac cleaner software helps you remove GBs of application language data, which is often unused.
- These tools can also remove cache files on regular basis, saving a lot of space.
- System Log files are stored by System Apps that runs from the moment you boot up to OS X Desktop.
- Photos(iPhoto) Stores cache files, temporary data, backup data, photos, videos and thumbnails which takes several gigabytes in few months usage.
- iTunes Stores plenty of Media data and temporary files, settings into your Hard disk drive, whose too-small SSD is constantly on the verge of filling up.
- If you use XCode or other Development Tools, then the application stores tons of user data, application data for rendering and run time purposes.
- There are other Development junk files, such as support files, Caches, Frameworks and temporary files are stored and left.
- Your Mail Attachments from year old emails that you wanted to delete are stored locally under your Mail App.
- Your Mac can slow way down and exhibit all sorts of misbehavior if you run out of disk space entirely (or come close to it).
- If you are preparing your Mac for sale, then you will want to give it a bit of a clean before you show it off to a potential customer.
When you use a Mac cleaner software, you can take care of all these in a single click. You don’t have to worry about visiting individual directories and getting things cleaner. In short, a Mac cleaner software will help you intoxicate your Mac in every manner. Now that you have an idea, we will check out the best Mac cleaner software available right now.
CleanMyMac X is the best Mac cleaning software
We had to use a number of Mac cleaning apps in order to find the best one. In the process, however, we had to set some reference points. We had used the following criteria to find the most effective tool for cleaning a Mac.
- Does the software have an intuitive and easy User Interface?
- Does the app make it easy to search for junk, cache and broken files in the system?
- Does it help you make full uninstalling procedures with all the unnecessary apps, so you can remove out-of-date software and applications in the proper way.
- Can you locate duplicates and similar files named differently in your system?
- Does the app provide smart deletion? This supposes evaluating how safe it is to delete each file and whether its removal will not be felt by the user of the operation system.
- Does it clean a digital history? After the work of a good cleaner, nobody ever has the chance of determining what pages were recently opened and what information was sent or received.
- Does the app provide rich tools for organizing and maintaining the OS X system?
- Does it add the extended support of the new Apple File System (APFS)?
- Is the app available in different languages? A universal solution is usually a multi-language one so it can be used effectively in different countries and by different users.
After checking 20+ Mac cleaning apps out there in the market, we decided that CleanMyMac X is the best option for most people. Coming from a trusted developer like Macpaw, CleanMyMac X was a part of our preliminary list from the beginning.
What is CleanMyMac X? Why call it X?
CleanMyMac is an all-in-one cleaning software for devices running macOS. It’s developed and distributed by a company named Macpaw, which develops other utility programs as well. However, CleanMyMac can be by far the biggest success — for all the good reasons.
With the 10th anniversary edition, CleanMyMac has completed its transformation into a comprehensive cleanup, optimization, and management tool. Why call it X? Macpaw explains:
Firstly, because this year it’s our 10th anniversary and the X is our tribute to that and the first CleanMyMac created by Oleksandr Kosovan back in 2008. Next up, we believe this version is much more than another numerical in the line — it is X times better.
Macpaw developers have done a great job at making this special version of the Mac cleaning software even special. We were amazed to find such a huge number of features in this package.
What does CleanMyMac X do?
CleanMyMac X lets you clean your Mac device from every aspect. You can get rid of unwanted files, optimize performance of apps and even take care of some maintenance tasks. There are also some additional features like Software Uninstaller and Updater. Altogether, it’s a 360-Degree cleaning package for Mac.
The tool can also help you deal with optimization. Experts suggest that you should use both CleanMyMac X and Optimized Storage from Apple. This way, you will find enough space to store files on Mac, while moving junk stuff to available iCloud space.
This quick promo from Macpaw will showcase how-it-works:
What’s new in CleanMyMac X?
The new CleanMyMac X cares for all Macs (starting from macOS 10.10 versions). Let’s have a quick look at the top features.
- Smart Scan lets you perform a single scan, which would understand the condition of your Mac, help you take decisions thereafter.
- CleanMyMac Assistant is a virtual assistant for useful advices. When you perform certain actions, you will be given the right prompts
- Malware Remover is an additional module in CleanMyMac X. This module will scan your Mac for an immense variety of malware and remove them instantly.
- Optimization module that helps you keep your Mac snappy and performance-friendly. This module will scan your device for various agents and services that work in background.
- Space Lens analyzes your macOS disk and understand the files taking up space.
- 3x Faster Scans are also offered by CleanMyMac X. When compared to CleanMyMac 3, you’ll be able to finish scanning files/apps/system as quickly as possible
These features surely make CleanMyMac X one of the most comprehensive Mac cleaner software out there.
Is CleanMyMac X safe to use?
A BIG YES.
Just like its previous versions, CleanMyMac X is 100% safe to use. You don’t have to worry about threats like data theft or privacy violation. Macpaw is a trusted company when it comes to user-privacy and the essential forms of data management.
Coming to the software, CleanMyMac X does not tamper with your Mac’s core settings. There are a number of exceptions and rules to make sure that system files are not affected. Even if you try to remove these files manually, you will be notified.
Altogether, CleanMyMac X offers one of the best levels of security and privacy for Mac users.
We believe it’s something great to start with.
Our review of CleanMyMac X
So far, you have been given the perfect outline of CleanMyMac X and how it works. Now, we will move onto our hands-on review of CleanMyMac X. We have been using this software for a week on our MacBook Air, and we’ve made up some impressions already. In the following section, you will find a comprehensive yet brief review of CleanMyMac X.
Design
A revamped User Interface is one of the best features in CleanMyMac X, you know. It’s got a lot of rounded corners, brightly-colored icons, faux transparent backgrounds, and a nice ombre effect throughout. It’s simply beautiful, and it helps everyone manage their Mac without feeling like rocket science.
Once you have downloaded and installed CleanMyMac X on your Mac, you will be able to see the Welcome Windows. As it says, you can start a Smart Scan to understand the basic issues with your Mac. It needs to be noted that you will be finding not only the issues but also the areas of potential improvement. Just hit Scan button and CleanMyMac X will be exploring your Mac device for the possible scenarios.
Apart from Smart Scan, CleanMyMac X is divided into five main sections — Cleanup, Protection, Applications, Speed and Files. We will go through these sections individually, but now, keep in mind that all these options are accessible from the sidebar. You have a way-out if you just wanted to check your Mac for some potential malware threats.
You can also go into the individual features. For instance, you will find a feature named “Trash Bins” under the Cleanup module. You can open this section if you just want to remove Trash content from your Mac in a single click. Similarly, apart from module-based clearing, CleanMyMac X lets you go deep into stuff. The best part of all these is that each window tells you what the particular feature would do.
Last but not the least, CleanMyMac X Interface consists of CleanMyMac Assistant as well. You can access the feature by clicking the icon on the top-right portion of the window. It’s a really useful feature. If you cannot find a particular section, you can simply ask the Assistant. There is also a Silent Mode where the Assistant does not provide voluntary response.
Altogether, the design aspect of CleanMyMac X is top-notch. We haven’t seen many Mac cleaner UIs that make the cleaning process this easier.
Functions
As we said earlier, CleanMyMac X is a super-feature-rich iteration of the cleaning tool. Compared to the old versions, you have a lot of functions to explore. To make things easy, CleanMyMac X has broken down things to five sections. We’ll have a look at all the five now.
Cleanup
This is where you intoxicate your Mac — that is, where you get rid of the unwanted stuff. Depending on the various needs, you can choose from the five available options as well.
System Junk Scan takes care of the junk files in your Mac. User cache files, log files and old updates etc. will be detected by CleanMyMac X. All this information is smart-selected and you can remove them without any fear about system crashes.
Photo Junk does two things mainly. First, it would optimize the photograph library you have in your Mac. In the second part, it would remove local iCloud cache files as well. Thanks to smart-select, CleanMyMac X will not tamper your important photographs.
Mail Attachments is a great feature if you use native mail clients on your Mac. There is a chance that email attachments are taking up so much space. This feature of CleanMyMac X would remove all the attachments while optimizing the whole data storage section.
iTunes Junk is perhaps the most important feature in CleanMyMac X Cleanup section. This will remove junk files related to the iTunes application, such as device backups, old updates, copies of iOS apps etc. You would also get rid of broken downloaded files, which may be taking up space.
Trash Bins is also a superb cleaning feature in the Cleanup section. Instead of cleaning bins from individual drives, CleanMyMac X lets you do that in a single click. You will also be able to bypass Finder errors that you may otherwise come across.
Considering all these, Cleanup section of CleanMyMac X is quite comprehensive. From our test, CleanMyMac X removing the massive amounts of unused junk. One of the best examples of this is when it scrubs the junk out of iTunes. Before reviewing CleanMyMac X, we had no idea that iTunes left so much junk scattered all over our computer. Before this turns in to a rant about iTunes, the reason that made an impression on us is that it demonstrates the level of thought put into this software. CleanMyMac is thorough.
Protection
Of course, your Mac needs protection. Understanding this, Macpaw has added some security and privacy-oriented features in the latest CleanMyMac X.
Malware Removal is the biggest feature in this sector. With this, you will be able to scan your Mac device to find possible threats like viruses, adware, spyware etc. CleanMyMac X is using trusted malware databases to recognize the threats. The database is regularly updated as well. Of course, we couldn’t find any malware in our device, but you should give it a try. It’s quite unscientific to say that Macs cannot get malware. So, as something that can protect your Mac from further trouble, this feature is just awesome for CleanMyMac X.
Privacy is yet another useful section in the CleanMyMac X Protection section. You will be able to deal with many aspects of digital privacy here. For instance, CleanMyMac X will remove browsing traces, such as your browsing history and autofill data. Chat data from apps like Skype and Messages will also be taken care of by the powerful engines. In the results, CleanMyMac X actually lets you go deep into every app and see what can be used to trace you — and remove them all.
If you ask us, Protection section of CleanMyMac X offers us peace of mind.
Speed
Optimization part of this section helps you recognize and quit apps that take up a lot of resources. If you did not know, hung applications can keep consuming a lot of resources. CleanMyMac X will recognize such apps and quit them. This section also shows you the Login Items and Launch Agents. In short, CleanMyMac X lets you optimize how your Mac behaves when it’s booted up.
Maintenance part of CleanMyMac X section is even better. In a single click, you can improve performance of drives, eliminate application errors and improve search performance. Indeed, CleanMyMac X does a lot of things in the background. The tool will show you a bunch of options like Cleaning RAM, Flush DNS Cache and Reindex Spotlight. Select the ones you need and hit the ‘Run’ button. You’re all good to go.
We really loved these features, mainly because we had a snappier Mac experience after using them.
Maintenance part of CleanMyMac X section is even better. In a single click, you can improve performance of drives, eliminate application errors and improve search performance. Indeed, CleanMyMac X does a lot of things in the background. The tool will show you a bunch of options like Cleaning RAM, Flush DNS Cache and Reindex Spotlight. Select the ones you need and hit the ‘Run’ button. You’re all good to go.
We really loved these features, mainly because we had a snappier Mac experience after using them.
Application management
Application Management section of CleanMyMac X can be divided into just two. Both these features, though, are just awesome.
Uninstaller in CleanMyMac X not only shows your applications but also helps you uninstall them effectively. Instead of checking out individual apps, CleanMyMac X will list the apps based on name or size. You can also filter apps based on categories like Store, Vendor and Usage nature. At the end of the day, you can select as many apps you want and uninstall them completely. CleanMyMac X makes sure that the apps are removed from your system 100%.
Updater does exactly what you thought it’d do from the name. It lists the updates available for the apps you have installed on the device. Compared to the App Store or official websites, data is represented in an easy-to-use manner. You can hit the Update button to update the apps individually.
Updater does exactly what you thought it’d do from the name. It lists the updates available for the apps you have installed on the device. Compared to the App Store or official websites, data is represented in an easy-to-use manner. You can hit the Update button to update the apps individually.
We’re not big fans the Updater, but Uninstaller can be productive at times.
File management
Just like Applications, Files section of CleanMyMac X has two features only, but both are awesome, at least for us.
Large & Old Files feature of CleanMyMac X lets you find large and old files on your Mac. Not only that, the tool will display all the files based on directory, size and access date. For instance, you can know the files you haven’t accessed for a month or so. This makes really easy to remove files, which may be consuming a lot of space from your Mac.
Shredder feature allows you to remove sensitive files with 100% confidence. For shredder option, in our opinion, it’s useful for Macs that run spinning hard disk drives (HDDs), but not for SSDs (solid-state drive), because emptying the Trash is enough to make those files unrecoverable due to the way TRIM enabled SSDs manage data.
Large & Old Files feature of CleanMyMac X lets you find large and old files on your Mac. Not only that, the tool will display all the files based on directory, size and access date. For instance, you can know the files you haven’t accessed for a month or so. This makes really easy to remove files, which may be consuming a lot of space from your Mac.
Shredder feature allows you to remove sensitive files with 100% confidence. For shredder option, in our opinion, it’s useful for Macs that run spinning hard disk drives (HDDs), but not for SSDs (solid-state drive), because emptying the Trash is enough to make those files unrecoverable due to the way TRIM enabled SSDs manage data.
Again, be careful with shredder option because you won’t be able to get your data back if you accidentally “shred” the wrong file or folder.
Long story short, CleanMyMac X lets you stop worry about data security and files taking up space.
Availability and pricing
CleanMyMac X works on macOS 10.10 and later, including the newly released macOS Mojave. A free trial version is available for download.
Macpaw is charging $39.95 per year for a subscription to CleanMyMac, or $89.95 for a one-time purchase. You can purchase it from official website store, or get it from SetApp subscription.
Our final take on CleanMyMac X
If you ask us, CleanMyMac X is a great addition to any Mac out there. According to our experience, we were able to save a lot of storage space and enhance performance of our MacBook Air, enormously. Considering the amount we have to pay, we believe the program is just awesome. That’s also the reason why we stick to the opinion that CleanMyMac X is the best Mac cleaner software out there right now.
Pros:
- Beautiful interface.
- Simple and safe cleaning.
- A full range of cleaning options and advanced tools like an uninstaller, general maintenance, online privacy functions, etc.
- Smart – You will be notified of important files before cleaning.
Cons:
- The Monitoring Menu isn’t that effective.
Other options for consideration
This is not to say that CleanMyMac X is the only option when you need a Mac cleaner software. In fact, we’d come across some of the coolest options too. So, if you are not ready to spend on CleanMyMac X, you can try one of the following tools.
CCleaner Professional ($24.95)
For years, the standard in PC cleaner software has been CCleaner, and now Mac users can benefit from the experience that the Piriform developers bring to the table. CCleaner Professional is quick and easy to use program, which speeds up your Mac and secures it. Although CCleaner has a free version, there are only two basic features described on the website as “faster computer” and “privacy protection”. At the premium level with price $24.95 you have Automatic Browser Cleaning, Real-time Monitoring, Automatic Updating and what they call “Priority Support”.
There are 3 tabs – “Cleaner”, “tools” and “option”. These 3 ways CCleaner helps you remove junk files, trash files, unused data, unwanted files and software and many more such things which decrease mac’s performance, enabling it to run faster and smoother. It also removes cookies, browsing history and saved passwords, making your online browsing more secure, so no one can misuse your online. CCleaner cleared almost 3000 files in one go from my system. So, it is effective.
Though CCleaner Professional has many helpful features, it lacks in some things. CCleaner for Mac is beta version , it is not fully featured. Some features are missing from it which are available in the original version. CCleaner is limited to some browsers such as Safari, Firefox and chrome to delete cookies and trash files from them. Windows version of CCleaner has more features.
Intego Mac Washing Machine X9 ($29.99)
Intego Mac Washing Machine is a Mac cleaner that makes it easy to get rid of junk files that slow down your Mac.
This app completes three separate but complementary functions. It scans for unused or obsolete files that can be deleted, it identifies duplicate files, and it lets you manage your desktop. Through the app’s intuitive interface, you can quickly access all features and have your computer running more smoothly in no time.
Overall, the app is fine. It’s definitely worth checking out if you are looking for an app that helps you organize your storage drives and removes unnecessary files.
But here is no quick-look support for files preview and the trial version of this app can only complete the preliminary steps of each function. You get to see what each phase of the scanning process looks like, but to get any real functionality you’ll have to pay $29.99 for an unrestricted license.
Macbooster 7 (start from $2.49/month)
MacBooster from IObit is a powerful Mac maintenance tool for cleaning up Mac computers, and offers good functionality for its class. MacBooster and CleanMyMac X have quite similar functionality, offering users a number of cleaning options and tools: system cleanup, finding duplicates, deleting large files, uninstalling applications, protecting your Mac from virus and malware, etc.
Start by clicking Clean and Boost for example and four sections – Internet Security, System Cleanup, System Optimization and Disk Clean – are scanned for errors, threats and redundant files. You’re shown how much space will be removed or how many issues require fixing, then find yourself invited to the click the Fix button.
We really like Macbooster’s performance boost tool, which basically lets you shutdown low-level services to speed up your Mac further. If you’re a power user looking to deep-clean your Mac, give the 14-day trial a whirl, after that, it requires a $2.49/month subscription.
DaisyDisk ($9.99)
DaisyDisk is a beautiful yet different disk space analyzer that scans the drives on your Mac and gives you a visual overview of what’s eating up space on your Mac. It displays files in a pinwheel-shaped disk map, letting you quickly locate and clean up large files. You can use the built-in QuickLook preview to see what you might want to get rid of (you can also reveal in Finder to take a closer look).
There’s a collection drawer where you can stage files (or entire segments) for trashing. Once you’ve browsed through and collected things you don’t need, one click clears them out. DaisyDisk is available for just $9.99 from the Mac App Store as well as from their own website (standalone edition). The standalone edition from their own website offers some additional features since it is not bound by Apple’s sandboxing rules.
We really like DaisyDisk’s design with its circular visualizations! But it’s important to note that DaisyDisk does not warn you if you delete something that is needed for your system or even for any application. So please use DaisyDisk carefully.
AppCleaner (free)
Why do you let your pretty Mac get cluttered with apps? AppCleaner is a small and simple utility we’ll include it anyway, because it comes in handy when it comes time to uninstall an application and it is FREE. Sure, the Mac makes it a lot easier to get rid of unwanted software than Windows, but don’t be thoroughly cleaned — even if you’ve dragged a Mac application icon into the Trash, that doesn’t delete the Mac app’s entire footprint. Often times the app will leave behind configuration files, cache folders and other remnants that occupy disk space.
AppCleaner does a serviceable job of locating all the files associated with the app, and provides an index so you know just how much space they’re taking up. Once you’ve got them all accounted for, click the Delete button and banish them forever.
Wrap up
In short, CleanMyMac X is an all-around great Mac maintenance tool for most people because it offers a great combination of useful features with a sleek interface of amazing power and beauty.
Of course, if you’re a power user, you will probably prefer to perform cleaning operations on your own via Terminal or other OS X system apps.
But if you’re a bit uncomfortable with diving into Terminal, and think about that time, and possible confusion, CleanMyMac is about as good as you’re going to find when it comes to apps of this nature.
It should also be noted that CleanMyMac X is used by more than 5 Million Mac users across the globe. Just in case you didn’t know, it’s recommended by popular websites like TheNextWeb and MacWorld, which also show the trustworthiness. And, if nothing is enough, you can take our words that CleanMyMac X will speed up and secure your Mac like never before.
You can download CleanMyMac X for free from Macpaw official website.
It’s also available on Setapp.