Disk cleanup: what to clear on the Mac mini and the laptop

Last updated Sunday 18 October 2026, 6:42am Pacific. Read only: nothing on this page changes any file.

On Saturday 17 October the Mac mini shut down when its disk filled up completely (0 GB free). Afterwards, helper sessions listed everything on both computers that takes a lot of space: 150 items on the Mac mini and 72 on the laptop, each with a recommendation. The notes on each item were written on Saturday 17 October. Nothing has been deleted or moved.

How to use this page
  1. Each item already has our recommendation selected. Change only the ones you disagree with (a changed item gets a blue outline).
  2. To look at an item first: tap Copy path, then in Finder press Cmd+Shift+G, paste, and press Return.
  3. At the bottom, tap Copy my choices and paste the list to the Chief of Staff. Sessions then do what a tool can: the deletes, and online-only wherever a tested tool works (Google Drive, iCloud Drive, and Dropbox on the laptop). Two kinds are left for you, and the Chief of Staff sends you a short list of each: Dropbox folders on the Mac mini, which only Finder can make online-only (right-click the folder, Make online-only), and the few caches that are cleared inside their app.
What each choice means
  1. Make online-only (Dropbox, Google Drive or iCloud Drive): the files stay safe in the cloud and still show in Finder, but stop taking space on the computer. Opening one downloads it again. Nothing is lost.
  2. Move into Dropbox, make online-only: for items outside every cloud drive. They go into Dropbox first, then off the computer.
  3. Delete: gone for good (caches and temp files rebuild themselves).
  4. Keep: leave it as it is.

How sure we are: High safe to do; Medium probably right, look at the folder first; Low a guess.

Space your choices free up

Each bar is everything on this page for that computer. The coloured parts follow your choices as you change them; the number on the right is the space they would free (online-only, moved and deleted together). Three big folders count in full although only their older subfolders go, so the real figure is lower.

Mac mini items Laptop items Copy my choices

Mac mini (150 items, biggest first)

The Mac mini's disk holds 926 GB; 78 GB was free at 5:33am Sunday 18 October. Of the 64 items set to Make online-only, 59 are in Dropbox. On this Mac those can only be done in Finder: right-click the folder, Make online-only. (This Mac runs the older kind of Dropbox, which no command can reach.) The other 5 are in Google Drive, and a session can do them.

Laptop (72 items, biggest first)

The laptop's disk holds 460 GB; about 13 GB was free on Saturday at 3:38pm. Dropbox here can be made online-only by a session's tool; folders the laptop's sessions read every day stay on it for now. Google Drive takes almost no space here (it streams), so no Google Drive items are listed.

Copy my choices

This copies a short list: for each computer, the item numbers under each choice, then any you changed from our recommendation. Paste it to the Chief of Staff.

Source: the Mac and laptop disk surveys of Saturday 17 October (both item lists and their summaries). Your choices are remembered in this browser only.