Mac computers are distinguished by their practicality, convenience and speed of operation. At the same time, it is worth noting that the speed of operation may decrease somewhat, which is facilitated not only by the obsolescence of the device, but also by a decrease in the available amount of memory. Macbooks are distinguished by a limited amount of internal memory, which is soldered on the board. Many users use external drives in the form of SSDs, but it is not always convenient and practical. It is especially difficult to use an SSD on trips, because an external drive takes up space.
Reducing the amount of available internal memory contributes to a large number of duplicate files, which in 90% of cases are simply not needed by the user. Their occurrence is associated with a variety of reasons, but often these are synchronization errors, accidental copies and other errors. Let’s look in this article in more detail how to quickly and easily delete duplicate files on a Mac. The article will be especially useful for owners of Macbooks with 256 GB of internal memory, who often experience problems with a lack of memory.
How to find duplicate files on Mac
Deleting duplicate files is much easier than it might seem at first glance. On a Mac, there are several ways to delete and find duplicate files. Here are a few methods:
- Built-in search. You can use the built-in Spotlight function to search for duplicate files. To find duplicates, open Spotlight (press Command + Space), enter the name of the file or part of it and search. Then, among the results, find files with the same name or content.
- Applications for finding duplicates. There are third-party applications specifically designed to find and delete duplicate files on Mac. Some popular applications in this area include Gemini 2, Duplicate File Finder, Easy Duplicate Finder and others. Download and install one of these applications, launch it and follow the instructions to find and delete duplicate files.
- Manual search. If you prefer a manual approach, you can search for and delete duplicate files yourself. At the same time, it is important to pay attention to the file names, creation dates and sizes. You can manually browse folders and subfolders on your Mac by comparing files and removing duplicates. We should immediately note that this is not the best way, because it requires a lot of time.
Regardless of the chosen method, before deleting duplicates, it is recommended to create backup copies of files in case of erroneous deletion or data loss. Also be careful and check the files before they are permanently deleted to make sure that they are indeed duplicates.
Remember that deleting duplicate files can help free up disk space and organize the file system on your Mac. Most users note the acceleration of the device, which affects not only the performance of everyday tasks, but also when working on a laptop.