A place for everything

Make more room for your docs and data with extra storage or cloud magic

When your Mac’s startup drive (called Macintosh HD by default, even if it’s an SSD) runs out of room, there are other places to store files. Even if you can’t upgrade internally, you can plug in external drives. Or you can keep more files in the cloud, which will probably mean upgrading your iCloud storage plan to more than the basic 5GB. Go to System Preferences > Apple ID > iCloud, click Manage at the bottom right, then Buy More Storage (or Change Storage Plan). 200GB is a good option for many people, at $2.99 per month.

DRIVE HARDER

iCloud Drive is a private online storage space that’s synced to your Mac and other devices on your Apple ID. You can create folders in it and save, copy or move files to it in apps and the Finder like a physical drive. On iPhones and iPads, only recently used iCloud Drive files are kept on the device; usually, they’re accessed from the cloud. But on your Mac, when iCloud Drive is selected in System Preferences > Apple ID > iCloud, a local copy of everything is maintained on your startup drive. If it takes up too much space, choose Optimize Mac Storage. When your drive is near full, macOS will remove local copies, though all files are still listed to access from the cloud. You can save even more space on your Mac by moving more work into iCloud Drive, but remember you may not be able to open your files if you don’t have an internet connection.

PICS AND SHOVELS

If About This Mac shows a lot of your drive is full of photos, iCloud Photos could help — but be sure you understand how it works. The best place to manage it is from the Photos app’s Preferences (on the Photos menu). As explained here, if you turn on iCloud Photos and choose to Optimize Mac Storage, rather than Download Originals to this Mac, then when you get low on space, macOS will leave only low–res previews on your Mac. When you open a photo, the full– res version downloads from the cloud. This is also a great way to ensure you can see all of your photos on any of your devices, but remember: deleting a photo on any device that’s signed in to your iCloud Photos will delete it forever from everywhere, including the cloud and your Mac. This is true even if you opt to Download Originals to this Mac.

WHAT’S UP? DOCS

If you turn on iCloud Desktop and Documents (System Preferences > Apple ID > iCloud > iCloud Drive > Options), the contents of your user account’s Documents folder, and any files on your Desktop, are

synced to your iCloud Drive and accessible from your other Macs and Apple devices. Sounds good – but if this is where you keep all your work, it could use a lot of iCloud storage. As your startup drive fills up, local copies are removed to save space — keep in mind that if you’re offline you won’t be able to access your files. If you turn the feature off, macOS has to create new local Desktop and Documents folders to which you’d have to manually copy back your files from iCloud. It may make more sense just to store some of your stuff in iCloud Drive folders.