how do I create more space after deleting files?

[islandgal1791]

I have a mac book pro running el capitan (version 10.11.15) mid 2010 with 4GB of memory

I have deleted numerous files including movies ( i have a youtube channel but I do transfer movie files onto external hard-drive then delete them from hard-drive) music, photos and yes I have emptied the trash bin.

I go to click storage upon the about my mac and it states i have 213.73 GB of memory still stored.

is there something else I should look into deleting? are there files on my computer that I do not need that I can delete? i've tried downloading several apps that are supposed to tell you exactly what is being used but no matter what I delete it still says my storage is almost full.
i've tried researching this on my own but have to be honest i'm afraid to try something at this point b/c I don't wanna make matters worse.

if someone can please help me out. I'm starting to feel like this is affecting how the computer preforms b/c it won't shut down properly anymore.

thanks in advanced.

 

[thats all folks]

what applications do you use? many video and image manipulation programs create cache, proxy, render and pre-render files.

 

[Willo34]

Maybe try this program:
http://www.titanium.free.fr/maintenance.html

 

[snaky69]

I have a mac book pro running el capitan (version 10.11.15) mid 2010 with 4GB of memory

I have deleted numerous files including movies ( i have a youtube channel but I do transfer movie files onto external hard-drive then delete them from hard-drive) music, photos and yes I have emptied the trash bin.

I go to click storage upon the about my mac and it states i have 213.73 GB of memory still stored.

is there something else I should look into deleting? are there files on my computer that I do not need that I can delete? i've tried downloading several apps that are supposed to tell you exactly what is being used but no matter what I delete it still says my storage is almost full.
i've tried researching this on my own but have to be honest i'm afraid to try something at this point b/c I don't wanna make matters worse.

if someone can please help me out. I'm starting to feel like this is affecting how the computer preforms b/c it won't shut down properly anymore.

thanks in advanced.

Your spotlight index is the one generating the graph with the space used. It simply has not updated yet. Your space has already been cleared.

Look in disk utility if you don't believe me.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

Download this small, free utility called "DiskWave:
https://diskwave.barthe.ph

Just launch it, and you'll see what to do next.
TIP: Set up preferences so that normally-invisible files are made VISIBLE.

It should show you what is "eating up" your drive space.

 

[Weaselboy]

I go to click storage upon the about my mac and it states i have 213.73 GB of memory still stored.

It looks like you have Time Machine turned on. What happens when you do that is files emptied from the trash, don't realy get deleted, rather they get moved to a hidden /.MobileBackups folder and they stay there until the disk approaches 80% full. You can read a bit about it here.

sudo du -hs /.MobileBackups

If you run this command in Terminal it will show how much data is in that hidden folder. You can just ignore it and wait for the OS to delete it, or you can briefly turn Time Machine off then back on and the space will zero out.

None of the GUI disk space apps will show this space since it a hidden, system folder.

 

[islandgal1791]

Your spotlight index is the one generating the graph with the space used. It simply has not updated yet. Your space has already been cleared.

Look in disk utility if you don't believe me.

i looked under disk utility and it says the same thing?
[doublepost=1471013121][/doublepost]

OP:

Download this small, free utility called "DiskWave:
https://diskwave.barthe.ph

Just launch it, and you'll see what to do next.
TIP: Set up preferences so that normally-invisible files are made VISIBLE.

It should show you what is "eating up" your drive space.

i go to click on the website and it says that 'the connection is not private'
not sure what to do
[doublepost=1471013347][/doublepost]

what applications do you use? many video and image manipulation programs create cache, proxy, render and pre-render files.

the only stuff i really use my computer for is imovie but like i said whatever vidoes i have i transfer them to my external hard drive...i go on google regular internet use, i use imessage, i barely use itunes anymore which is why i'm using spotify...all the stuff in my application folder i don't really use
[doublepost=1471013801][/doublepost]i tried to redo the spotlight and i don't think it worked...i have no clue what i'm doing anymore =(

 

[sonspot]

Don't forget to empty the trash bin

 

[grahamperrin]

Not forgotten:

yes I have emptied the trash bin.

 

[JackieInCo]

Your spotlight index is the one generating the graph with the space used. It simply has not updated yet. Your space has already been cleared.

Look in disk utility if you don't believe me.

This is true. I find it can take several hours sometimes for the space to show up in finder.

 

[Hustler1337]

Download Disk Utility X - it's a really good visual tool that maps out your hard drive and shows what files and file types are using up your hard drive space. It becomes much easier to find which folder or files are the largest files on your hard drive. Once you identify the culprits, check if it's something you need or don't need and delete where appropriate.

Also, when you uninstall an app, use an app such as AppCleaner which removes any associated files, user files, caches etc related to the app you wish to uninstall. Manually deleting apps often leaves behind these files which can be quite large for some apps.

Hope that helps