It works exclusively within your Home folder, but each time it launches it will still prompt you to select it, an extra step that seems unnecessary. HD Cleaner is about as lightweight as a disk-scanning app gets. HD Cleaner ($5) you can quickly access the folders where they’re hiding without needing to forage through the fountain of files you probably want to keep. No matter how you use your Mac, you’ll find that most of your space-clearing sessions focus on the same cluster of files, mostly located in your Home folder. HD Cleaner focuses on the files in your Home folder. And if you’re looking for something specific, a handy built-in search bar will cut down on the blind guessing. Moving in and out of circles is a breeze, and anything that isn’t locked by the system can be deleted without needing to leave the app. But I found Disk Graph to be a bit more forensic with its scanning, as it catalogued every nook and cranny, right down to the files tucked away in the hidden Library folder. Once it’s done scanning-a quick process that routinely finished up before the progress bar’s estimate-you’ll get the usual sunburst of colored bars. But that’s a relatively minor inconvenience when you can get up close and personal with every file residing on your drive.ĭisk Graph can dig deeper than some other utilities. Unlike the other utilities here, it doesn’t automatically recognize installed or mounted drives-you’ll need to open a volume using a standard navigation window and add it to your favorites to keep it there. While you can’t actually delete anything within the main window (and most system files are completely locked away from view), right-clicking on a file or folder tree brings up a menu with options for Get Information, Reveal in Finder, and Quick Look, which I found particularly useful.ĭisk Graph ($2) displays your hard drive’s data as an interactive infographic that you can explore and erase with ease. Disk Inspector’s presentation makes it easy to spot where the largest files are hiding. When it’s finished you’ll get a cool circular analysis of what’s inside your Mac-or whatever drive you tell it to scan-but it’s not just eye candy. You can easily spot large files with Disk Inspector.Īfter clicking the play button, it’ll take about a minute for Disk Inspector to do its thing, but as it works an animated radar scanner gradually reveals the contents of your drive. With a highly visual interface, the app presents a graphical interpretation of everything stored on your hard drive, from photos and PDFs to preference files. Disk InspectorĮven if your hard drive is packed with files that pre-date OS X,ĭisk Inspector ($8) will dutifully keep its eyes on all of them for you. It’s not nearly as comprehensive as some of the other apps I tested, but Disk App does an admirable job of quickly clearing out space, even sorting through your documents to find the largest ones, in case you want to shuffle them off to an external drive. Finding the right one for your needs can be arduous work, but to get you started, I took a look at five of them. A quick scan of the Utilities section will reveal an abundance of disk cleaners and inspectors that all promise to seek out the cruft that might be taking up necessary room and help you reclaim some of the space you’ve lost. But if you don’t have the time or patience to run maintenance scripts and root out browser caches, there are more than a few willing hands to help you out in the Mac App Store. Even if you don’t obsessively download full seasons of Breaking Bad, there are countless ways for your hard drive to get filled up with stuff you don’t need anymore-much of it buried in deep, dark folders you never see.įrom clearing caches to deleting old mail attachments and forgotten files, a little diligence can go a long way toward keeping that precious space clear. Whether your Mac has an old-school spinner or high-capacity Fusion Drive, it could always stand to gain a little extra room.
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