What Is Other Storage on a Mac and How to Delete It

board business chip close up
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

When you evaluate your Mac’s storage usage, you may notice that the ‘Other Storage’ section is looking to take up a significant amount of space. This article will demonstrate what this enigmatic storage space is, where it can be found, and how to clear Other on a Mac.

On macOS Big Sur and earlier versions, you can find ‘Other’ in your memory breakdown. This section of storage is marked “Other Volumes in Container” on your Mac if you have a more latest macOS.

What is Other Storage? 

Your Mac organizes all of the files you save on it into a few memory groupings, such as apps, documents, and so on. Anything that does not integrate into one of these categories will be classified as ‘Other.’ As you can see, Other storage can grasp a variety of items, ranging from superfluous installer files that you ought to have removed a long time ago to important PDF documents that you never want to lose. As a result, there is no simple way to manage this storage. But we know which one is the best. Continue reading to find out more!

Clean Up Other Storage on Mac

Once you’ve identified the folders that consume disk space and contribute significantly to the Other storage category, it’s time to delete them.

Is it Secure to Delete ‘Other’ Storage on Mac?

You can make more room on your Mac by deleting files from the “Other” storage. However, removing those files is not completely risk-free because not all files under the Other label are garbage or unneeded.

And website stockpiles and cookies from Safari, Google Chrome, and Firefox may be replayed the next time you visit that page, which isn’t a big deal. However, clearing caches on Mac may result in the loss of browser history and difficulties running a specific app if its variations are deleted.

(Visited 77 times, 1 visits today)
Craig Zedwick
I'm a chemical engineer and operations leader, but in my spare time I love technology, building computers, and DIY projects. I like to dive deep into researching new topics, so my articles tend to focus on that same level of detail to help others like me to learn as much as they can.