Freeing up space on Mac

freeing_up_space_Mac.md

Freeing up space on Mac

Last update: Jun 3, 2020

After working with "Your disk is almost full" notification for a long time, I decided to research and create a cleanup list.

This recipe was applied on a Xamarin developer environment and has freed up over 80GB space but It could be used in several context because there are shared folders between the different technologies.

Basics:

• Check and try to remove unused/old Xamarin projects, there are some of them sized on more than 500Mb.

• Check Downloads folder, sort by Size and remove unnecessary files.

• Try to use only one Android simulator approach, VS android simulators or Genymotion. The first one are located on: $USER > .android > avd , and the second one are located on: $USER > .Genimotion.

Do you think I will share common tips?, well … NO! Let's gain more free space!

Juicy:

Path	Action
$USER > .nuget > packages	delete all folders, some of them will be restored but many of them not
$USER > Library > Caches	delete all folders
$USER > Library > Logs	delete all folders
$USER > Library > Developer > Xcode > iOS DeviceSupport	delete all folder from unused iOS versions
$USER > Library > Developer > Xamarin > android-sdk-macosx	delete folders, according to the sdk we are not using
$USER > Library > Developer > Xamarin > Archives	delete all folders which contain date in their name, NOT remove Preferences folder
$USER > Library > Developer > Xcode > Archives	delete all folders which contain date in their name
$USER > Library > Developer > CoreSimulator > Caches	delete all folders
$USER > Library > Developer > CoreSimulator > Devices	delete all folders - Warning - Xcode will recreate fresh instances there for you when you run the simulator again, but keep in mind you´ll lose data that´s written to the device like sqlite files, apps settings and the apps itself.

⚠️ Previous to delete folders/files from trash, check all emulators are still working fine. On my case I hadn't any issue, but some developers had faced issues like this.

I hope it has been useful for you!
If you'd have more tips or improvement to add, please let me know and I could update the file 💪🏽

Seba thanks for sharing this. It would be helpful if you also mention the date you created or last edited this file :)

Seba thanks for sharing this. It would be helpful if you also mention the date you created or last edited this file :)

Saamer, yes sorry, I did not add any date on the document, It is from Jun 3, 2020.
I will add this date to the document but also you could see this on the Revisions tab.

Thanks for your feedback 💪