MacBook memory "full"

[kelper]

Hi,I've had my MacBook since 2009, I back it up regularly, but recently it's been saying its memory is full.
I've gone into "about this mac" and it's telling the truth, most of the memory is full of something called "others".
What is others and how do I clear it?!
I don't want to start deleting random things, so is this something I can deal with or should I find an apple expert?
Thanks

[Cindy34]

Try seeing if you can clear some temp files

Freeing up space

Then once you have some space to install software, try

CleanMyMac to remove stuff on a regular basis. Probably cheaper than paying someone to do it for you (unless you know a mac expert who does things for free)

[Cindy34]

WhatSizeMac shareware version may help you locate a big file which may be something you don't want anymore, such as a video/movie.

When was your last backup? Be careful deleting things, I would aim to find something to remove like a sound file, video file, so that you free up enough space to install CleanMyMac, then use cleanmymac to determine what can be safely removed.

[Cindy34]

CleanMyMac free trial will clean up to 500MB. That should be enough to get you going again.

[NathalieM]

I had the same problem with my 2009 Macbook Pro last year. My OH freed up space for me but I noticed it started to fill up again. I didn't want to delete too many old pictures and documents so I removed most of my music instead, but the problem kept coming back.

He has now upgraded my hard drive but I don't think that's possible with an Air because of the smaller parts.

Refurbished iMacs are a great option if everything else fails and you don't want to spend too much on a new laptop or computer. They are cheaper than retail so you will save a lot of money .

[micah]

What do you back it up to? Do you have a lot of video files?

You could start by opening safari and deleting all cookies and saved files, you can do it just be resetting I think, under the file option.

Move anything you can to a back up drive- hard disks are cheap these days.

My technique tends to be to order the Mac drive by size, use view options in the finder. Go through all the files, largest first, and see if anything flags up.

Restarting a few times can help clear up space too, and run software update .

[rootypig]

Just get yourself an external hard drive (you can get a terabyte pretty cheap these days) and transfer all your big files (photo and video is a good start) onto that. And watch out because statistically your hard drive might be about to conk out anyway (unless it's solid state, but unlikely with the age of your machine), so get your back up sorted NOW.

NB if you move things to a hard drive i.e. copy and then delete them from your machine, you need to then back them up somewhere else. For things you really care about e.g. baby pics, the rule of thumb is three copies. DH and I have an external hard drive each (LaCie rugged) with important photos on, and then most of them are also on our desktop, and some are in cloud storage.

Boring, but necessary!

[Steven021]

Well, look into your bin, trash files and unwanted files folder and junk files. Clean it through system setting or just follow these simple steps to clean up your macbook


Steven,