It’s only a matter of time before you encounter the dreaded “Your disk is almost full” message. To deal with this problem, you might attempt to free up disk space on Mac or think of purchasing an external disk. While there’s nothing wrong with it, but sifting through each file manually will be time-consuming. So, to make things easy and help deal with Mac storage, we will enlist the best disk space analyzer and Mac storage manager.

These storage manager utilities, by scanning your Mac, will help find out what exactly is taking up space.

Step 1 – Checking Available Disk Space. In order to successfully free up some disk space on your Mac, you first need to know what is actually eating up so much precious space. To do this, click on the Apple menu in the top left corner and then choose the “About This Mac” option. Free Up Space On Mac. Right click it and choose “Get Info” option. You will see “Capacity” of drive, “Available” and “Used” space. If you find your disk space is running out of space, you might need to clean up your Mac in order to free up disk space on your Mac.

So, without any delay, let’s know more about the best disk space analyzers for Mac.

Now that you know how to check disk space on Mac manually let’s learn how to manage disk space using Mac disk usage analyzer tools.

Best OS X Disk Space Analyzer and Storage Manager Apps to Free Up Disk Space on Mac

1. Disk Analyzer Pro – Excellent macOS disk usage analyzer

Pricing: Free

Compatible OS: Mac OS X 10.8 and higher & Windows

Disk Analyzer Pro is one of the best Mac storage analyzer tools. This tool is available for free, which helps view drive consumption by file size, type, date, ownership, and attributes. Not only this, but Disk Analyzer Pro also identifies large files and folders, gives options to view the top 100 files by size and top 100 oldest files, thereby helping delete and de-clutter unwanted files from Mac.

Overall, it is a great tool that helps free up disk space on Mac and recover disk space in no time.

Features:

online, free Disk Space

• Shows a complete list of folders and subfolders on drive sorted by file size
• Displays folder properties like name, path, and size
• For easy sorting groups data into categories
• Provides built-in File Explorer
• Customizable scan settings

2. DaisyDisk – state-of-the-art disk space analyzer for Mac

Pricing: $9.99 Free Trial Available

Compatible OS: macOS 10.10 and higher

DaisyDisk is a stylish Mac check disk space tool that scans the disk and shows all files and folders in an interactive visual map. You can preview the contents of the file and delete it if you don’t need it anymore.

Moreover, all the changes made to the Mac are updated in real-time; this helps keep a check on the amount of disk space recovered.

Overall, DaisyDisk is an excellent Mac disk analyzer that helps recover storage space occupied by unwanted files. Using its free version, you can sweep hard disk drives and use the space intelligently.

Features:

• Fast and safe disk space analyzer
• Cost-effective storage manager
• Helps recover hidden and purgeable space
• Visualizes hard disk usage & helps free up space
• Scan multiple disk and folders at the same time

3. GrandPerspective – Easy to Use Mac Disk Usage Analyzer

Pricing: $2.99 (AppStore) Free when downloaded from Sourceforge

Compatible OS: macOS 10.10 and higher

GrandPerspective is a nifty tool to check the storage on Mac. Using it, you can manage your disk, spot files & folders taking up storage space, and free up disk space on Mac. For visualization, it uses a treemap, and each file is shown as a rectangle with an area proportional to the file’s size.

In general, it is a good option for novice users that helps free up space and manage data. Upon launch, the disk space manager asks the user to select a folder or disk that needs to be scanned. Once done to view the scan results hover the mouse pointer over the block; this will display the file name and size at the bottom of the window.

Features:

• Shows files and folders in the Finder
• Give the option to search the file by name.
• Multiple view support
• Uses treemap for disk usage visualization
• Analyses cloud storage

4. Disk Inventory X – Professional Mac Disk Space Analyzer

Pricing: Free

Compatible OS: macOS 10.3 and later

Disk Inventory X is another free disk analyzer tool for Mac. The app via treemap shows an overview of all disks in a machine. The size of each file is specified, and more specific data about each file is also available. The data is presented in an organized list that helps analyze the entire disk. To use this storage organizer utility, open the File menu > select the drive/folder to scan. Once the scanning is done, you will see a graphical treemap with information about storage space. Using this information, you can look for the largest files and delete the unwanted ones.

Features:

• Easy to use
• User friendly
• Treemaps to present detailed information
• Selection made in the treemap graph gets synced with a finder-like view.
• Allows zooming into folders

Also Read: Top 10 MacBooster Alternatives For Optimizing Your Mac

5. OmniDiskSweeper – Mac Check Disk Space Utility

Pricing: Free

Compatible OS: 10.5 and higher

OmniDiskSweeper is also a free disk space utility for finding and deleting big files on Mac. Upon launch, select the drive > click Sweep Selected Drive > once done click on a folder, and head to any file that takes significant space. This functionality makes OmniDiskSweeper a great tool to free up disk space.

Also, based on the macOS you are using, the application offers different download versions.

Features

• Small yet effective app
• Fastest and effective storage space recovery tool
• Provided detailed information about each scanned file
• Scans shared folders
• Let’s sweep external & disk drivers located on the network.

6. Disk Cartography – Clever Disk Space Analyzer for Mac

Pricing: Free

Compatible OS: macOS 10.8.5 and higher, later 64-bit processor

When you are dealing with low storage space on Mac, Disk Cartography proves to be a beneficial macOS disk space analyzer. The application helps identify large files and folders that take up a large chunk of disk space. Moreover, the application scans the content of individual directories, USB sticks, external disks, etc. Once the scanning is done, the application shows a tree view representation of the analyzed folders, displaying the largest files and directories.

To sum up, Disk Cartography is an excellent Mac Disk Space analyzer.

Features:

• 3 display modes: by disk Space, Percent or File Count
• Real-time scanning results
• Automatic and manual filters to sort by file/folder type, size, or name
• Color-coded folder names to identify the largest folders
• Visual maps of disk, folder, and sub-folder sizes

Also Read:11 Best App Uninstaller For Mac to Remove Unwanted Apps

7. Disk Space Analyzer – Powerful Mac Storage Analyzer

Pricing: $ 9.99 Free trial available

Compatible OS: macOS 10.10 and above

Another powerful storage checker for Mac that helps free up disk space and organize data. This utility allows you to find the largest file on Mac. This means if you encounter Startup Disk is almost full, you can quickly free up disk space using this disk cleaner utility. The application scans different hard drives and even hidden system files that take up the most space on your disk.

To recover space, you need to select the disk and scan the system for the bulkiest files. Nonetheless, Disk Space Analyzer also scans cloud storage folders.

Features:

• Fast Scanning
• Display list of 25 biggest files and folders
• Finds even hidden files on Mac
• A drop-down list to show files
• Scans external disk

8. WhatSize – Disk space checker and manager

Pricing: $29.99

Compatible OS: macOS 10.12 and higher

WhatSize is a disk space manager for Mac that helps check disk usage and find the largest files occupying unnecessary space on the hard disk. Using this simple shareware tool, you can view all the files stored on Mac and free up disk space.

Moreover, this intelligent tool suggests ways to reclaim storage space and remove duplicates that clutter Mac and consume unnecessary space.

Features:

• Chart display to visualize disk usage
• Help find space wasters
• Finds duplicates
• Quickly measures the size of storage devices.
• To stay up to date uses the latest macOS technologies to stay.

9. Disk Drill

Pricing: starts at $89.00

Compatible OS: macOS 10.12 and higher

Disk Drill for Mac is an excellent disk space analyzer that allows you to see hard drive usage and locate items that can be deleted or moved to another drive to free up space on Mac.

The scan results are presented intuitively; this helps manage data efficiently.

Besides, Disk Drill allows the user to select different views, according to file types. Also, you can use this tool to recover deleted files.

This means it is a comprehensive disk space analyzer and data recovery tool for Mac users.

Features:

• Helps detect and delete duplicates
• Does not scan system files
• Three display modes for better disk management
• Thoroughly scans your Mac.
• Help recover deleted files too.

Also Read: How To Clean Your Mac For Smooth Performance – Step By Step Guide

10. NCDU

Pricing: Free

Compatible OS: macOS 10.10 and higher

Unlike the other OS X disk space analyzer apps discussed above, this one is different. Ncdu is a command-line check disk space usage analyzer that uses the Ncurses interface. Designed to find space-hogging files on remote servers, this tool also works well on desktop systems. Is based on du command and is much faster.

Once installed, launch Terminal and type ncdu/ to start scanning. To navigate through the items, use arrow keys.

Features

• Fast, simple, and easy to use
• Different options to enhance disk-related information
• Lets you export information on an output file
• Allows using file comparison apps
• DU command-based storage analyzer utility

Bonus Tip:

If you are not comfortable installing and using third-party apps, try using the Mac search function within the Finder. This will help locate large files. To use it, you just need to set a file size to look for, and you are all set.

The finder search function will easily locate large files for you.

Conclusion

This is it; you can use any of the utilities explained above to analyze the disk. Which one is the best? The answer depends on the skills you possess. Of course, all of them will help free up disk space on Mac. But if you are looking for an easy to use solution Disk Analyzer Pro is the best storage analyzer for Mac.

In addition to this, if you know of any other great disk space analyzer for Mac, do let us know in the comments section.

FAQs: Best Disk Space Analyzers for mac

1. How do I analyze disk space on a Mac?

To analyze disk space on Mac, you can use Disk Analyzer Pro offered by Systweak. Once installed, launch the app, select the drive to scan. Upon scan completion, analyze the results, and remove the largest & oldest files that are no longer required and take unnecessary space. This will help free up space and optimize Mac in no time.

2. How do I find the largest files on my Mac?

To find the largest files on Mac, you can either use Finder and search for files using File Size criteria. Or can use Disk Analyzer Pro. The app offers a unique feature to enlist the top 100 largest files.

3. How much free disk space should a Mac have?

As a rule, Mac should have a minimum of 6-10 GB free space. This much free space is required to install updates and let Mac function smoothly.

4. How do I find out what’s taking up my disk space?

To find out the apps taking up most storage space, you can use disk space storage analyzer tools or use the Storage manager. But using a storage manager will not be beneficial as you will have to sift through each file manually. Hence, we recommend using Disk Analyzer Pro.

Must Read:

How to Clean Your Mac's Hard Disk Drive?

SSD (Solid State Drives) is fast, stable, and offers great performance. Unfortunately, compared to HDDs (Hard Disk Drives), the capacity-to-cost ratio is not good. There are, however, methods to free up hard drives to obtain additional capacity for computer systems, including the macOS.

Certain data and files are important, and you will not want to delete or move them. However, some files are redundant and can be removed without consequences. If you know which files you can safely delete, you can free up this space. Although the Windows operating system is known for inefficient clutter, the macOS also produces unnecessary files that take valuable disk space. In this article, we describe some methods on how to clean macOS disk space.

Video showing How to Obtain Free Space on Your Mac's Drive

Table of Contents:

It is recommended to run a free scan with Combo Cleaner - a tool to detect malware and fix computer errors. You will need to purchase the full version to remove infections and eliminate computer errors. Free trial available. Combo Cleaner is owned and operated by Rcs Lt, the parent company of PCRisk.com read more.

Inspect the drive to ensure that the system is running out of free space

Some issues relating to lack of storage might be difficult to determine and can even be a result of fake error logs. So, first, ensure that the system is, in fact, running out of free space. There are two methods to check available space on a hard drive:

1. Access the Apple menu and select About this Mac. Choose the Storage tab.
2. More detailed information can be found within the Disk Utility feature, which is located in the Applications folder under Utilities. Once Disk Utility is launched, select the drive connected to the Mac.

Begin by cleaning Trash

Once you are sure that the drive is actually full, the next step is to simply clean the computer (as if you were cleaning your home: you empty the trash). Open the Finder menu and choose Empty Trash. Bear in mind that some applications, such as Mail, iMovie, iPhoto, and others, have their own Trash. To clean those apps, follow the steps below:

Mail

1. Click Mailbox and choose Erase Deleted Items.
2. Select In All Account and Mailbox.
3. Finally click Erase Junk.

Alternatively, to avoid permanently losing your files, choose to archive your emails by following the steps below.

iPhoto

1. Click on iPhoto from the menu at the top of the screen.
2. Choose Empty iPhoto Trash.

iMovie

1. Click on File from the menu on top of your screen.
2. Select Move to Trash or File.
3. Then choose Move Rejected Clipsto Trash.

Mac Free Disk Space

Clear unnecessary Downloads

The Downloads folder stores all files downloaded from the Internet. Often, these are forgotten after use and continue to use storage space. This is an excellent area to address when looking to free up space on your drive. Delete all redundant Download files.

Mac Os Free Disk Space

1. Open Finder.
2. In the sidebar, choose the Downloads folder. Disk image (.dmg) files commonly occupy the most unused storage space.

Remove unused applications

Unused apps in isolation might not take up a great deal of space, but the amount of hard drive storage used by them collectively can be significant. Furthermore, removing apps on Macs is simple, especially those installed through App Store.

1. To delete them, open Launchpad.
2. Click and hold the program's icon you wish to remove.
3. When the icon starts to animate, click the Delete (x) button.
4. To delete any other app, drag the icon to Trash and then empty Trash.

Make space without losing any data

The best way to gain extra space on the Mac is to move non-executable files such as photos, movies, documents, and any large files, to add external storage, for example, an external drive, USB drive, DVD/CD drive, or cloud storage.

Compress large items

Another method to obtain some free space is to compress files. Compressed files remain on the computer but occupy less space. On the other hand, this can be less efficient than deleting or moving files to external storage. To find the largest files on the drive, follow the steps below:

1. Open Finder from the sidebar.
2. Select the Device (the label you provided) and type criteria into the search field.
3. When your search location appears (for example, This Mac), click the Add (+) button.
4. Click the first drop-down menu, and choose Other.
5. Find the logical size option, enable it, and then click OK.

6. Choose the 'is greater than' condition and type the amount (i.e., 50 Mb).
7. To compress items, right-click or hold Control and left-click it, and then select the Compress 'name' option.

If you are using an earlier version of macOS:

1. Click Go from the Finder menu and select Home.
2. Choose File, click Find and open the Find menu.
3. Find the File size option.
4. Choose the 'is greater than' condition and type the amount (i.e., 50 Mb).
5. To compress items, right-click or hold Control and left-click it, and then select the Compress 'name' option.
6. To archive, your emails, open the Mail application and select a folder you wish to archive (e.g., Inbox).
7. Drag it to the desktop. The mbox folder will appear on your desktop.
8. Right-click it or use the Control and left-click combination, and select Compress 'Inbox.mbox'.
9. Now you can delete your messages from Mail.

Delete unnecessary temporary files, system caches, and logs

System stores several System logs and temporary files - deleting them will increase the available space on your drive. To clean the system from this type of file, we recommendCombo Cleaneror other third-party applications.

Clear the browser cache storage

Browsers store website data such as cookies and cache information. Cleaning these hidden files might free up storage space. To clean up Safari, simply click Safari on the menu at the top of the screen and select Clear History. Browsers such as Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox can be cleaned similarly.