Select the box next to Free Up Purgeable Space and click Run.

Choose Maintenance from the sidebar on the left.

Download and install CleanMyMac X (there's a free download available).

If you want to release that space before then, you can't. This tool identifies space on your startup disk that contains files that macOS doesn't need but which are only deleted when your Mac is running really low on storage. One of the new features in CleanMyMac X is the 'Free up purgeable space' tool in the Maintenance utility.

Don't take our word for it, though - well-known tech blog called CleanMyMac X 'the simplest way to keep your Mac clean.'

1. Get rid of purgeable space with CleanMyMac XĬleanMyMac X is one of our favorite tools for freeing up space as well as doing general maintenance on a Mac. However, there are other ways you can fix the problem to free up space on your Mac or get rid of the other volumes in a container message. How to delete other volumes in a container? Unfortunately, reclaiming the storage space isn't as simple as just getting rid of the other volumes since they are crucial to the OS. If you see that message, the other volumes likely take up much more space than they should because something has gone wrong. Those 'other volumes' are the recovery, preboot, and virtual volumes. But sometimes, you'll see part of the box colored gray and the description 'other volumes in container.' Recovery volume Most of the time, the box looks like the image above. For example, in macOS, your startup container has the main boot volume - usually called Macintosh HD - as well as the Recovery volume, Preboot volume, and volume for virtual memory like swap files.īefore we discuss what 'other volumes' in the container are, let's look at where the message appears in the Storage tab of About this Mac.Īfter a short time, when macOS has calculated it, you'll see a colored bar describing how your storage is allocated. As well as having multiple containers on a physical disk, a container can have multiple volumes. APFS gets rid of the concept of partitions and replaces them with containers. In HFS+, the file system replaced by APFS could split a disk into different partitions. What is other volumes in container on Mac

One thing we should talk about, though, is 'other volumes' in a container because it might be mentioned on screen from time to time, especially if you use the Optimize Storage feature. When Apple released macOS High Sierra, it introduced a new file system, APFS, and brought lots of under-the-hood changes to the way your Mac stores data, but thankfully, we don't need to get into those. But to help you do it all by yourself, we’ve gathered our best ideas and solutions below.įeatures described in this article refer to the MacPaw site version of CleanMyMac X. So here’s a tip for you: Download CleanMyMac to quickly solve some of the issues mentioned in this article.

How to get rid of other on mac storage