The most common entry-level storage capacity for a new Mac is 128 GB SSD. Today, you’ll find most new Mac computers have SSD with smaller storage capacities in entry-level MacBook, iMac, Mac mini, and more. An SSD drive will read and write much faster than a traditional rotating HDD due to the lack of movement and usage of flash storage. The physical difference dictates a difference in speed in which the hard drive will read or write. The difference is simple the SSD has no moving parts, versus the HDD which does have moving parts. There are two physical types of hard drives: a solid-state drive (SSD) and a traditional hard disk drive (HDD). This is usually a hard drive that is physically inside your Mac.įor more advanced users, I’d like to address some additional options you have with your startup disk.Įvery hard drive is a high-capacity and self-contained storage device containing a read-write mechanism.

The startup disk is the hard drive where your computer’s operating system and applications are installed.

How to Manage Your Startup Disk Storage Moving Forwardįor basic users, I want to start at the very beginning by providing some insight and defining what the Mac startup disk actually is.

What to Do When the “Startup Disk Is Full” Notification Pops Up.

If you’re looking for helpful tips to speed up the performance of your Mac, read Why Is My Mac Running Slow? 5 Quick Tips to Speed Up Your Mac! Note: this article covers how to free up extra space on your startup disk within macOS®. While writing this piece, I saved a whopping 57.84 GB of data took time, patience, and help from Parallels Toolbox utilities for Mac. Don’t worry, there is a version of Parallels Toolbox for Windows, too! However, I want to dive right into my powerful tips to help you clear space on your Mac without spending hundreds of dollars or wasting your most valuable resource: time. Seeing this startup disk notification on your MacBook® or iMac® can be alarming and worrisome-but never fear, there are plenty of options for users to try and free up space on your Mac hard drive. This notification indicates a lack of free storage on your Mac hard drive. Please delete some files.” The scary notification looks very similar to this: Mac® users everywhere dive into panic mode when that dreaded warning pops up: “Your startup disk is almost full.

How to free disk space on mac