On my Mac, around 75% of the storage is free, which means I don’t have to worry about the Mac startup disk full issue just yet. If your computer has two startup disks (which is rare but possible), the storage is divided between the two - 250GB on each. The storage bar also shows details on what types of files are eating up the used storage.Īs you see from the screenshot, total storage is 500GB. Find this section in your System Settings instead. Note: If your Mac is running macOS Ventura, you can no longer access storage by clicking the Apple logo. Click on the Apple logo > About This Mac.To find out how much space you have left on a startup disk: In most cases, it’s called “MacHD,” “Macintosh HD,” or something like that. In the Overview section, you’ll see “Storage” with a name next to it. Click on the Apple logo > About This Mac. It’s easy if you only use one internal drive. How to check disk space on Macįirst of all, ensure you know the name of your startup disk. Read more info about scratch disks are full. Anything that goes beyond that might cause performance issues. The maximum amount of storage your files can occupy on a startup disk should be 85%. The warning message or a notification about “Mac startup disk almost full” lets you know there’s little space left on the main drive. What does “Your disk is almost full” mean? Mac power users often use external hard drives in addition to the main one, but an average user has only one - the startup disk. Since it’s essentially your main disk drive, your Mac “starts up” from this disk (hence the name). Simply put, the Mac startup disk is a hard drive containing your operating system and all the apps installed on Mac. Spoiler: Moving files to Trash isn’t going to fix it. In this article, we provide step-by-step instructions on how to avoid the “startup disk full” problem. What makes the situation challenging is that most of these Mac storage gobblers are system files you never actually see.īy keeping the Mac startup disk tidy in the first place, you can avoid numerous issues that hamper performance. This usually happens if you have too many outdated files, old logs, caches, and apps you no longer use. Running low on storage might cause your Mac to slow down or behave strangely.

Once “Your disk is almost full” notification pops up on a screen, it’s time to do some work. Make your Mac fast and secure with CleanMyMac X.

How to clear your startup disk