--- title: "Emergency Space: when the disk is full right now" url: https://storagestudio.us/wiki/emergency-space category: "Freeing up space" tags: ["free up space", "emergency space", "recycle vault", "local snapshots"] summary: "Emergency Space is for a disk that is full right now. It lists what you could free, safest options first, picks the smallest safe set that reaches your goal, keeps a copy of anything it removes, and can be stopped at any time." updated: 2026-10-01T05:34:42.000Z --- # Emergency Space: when the disk is full right now Emergency Space is for a disk that is full right now. It lists what you could free, safest options first, picks the smallest safe set that reaches your goal, keeps a copy of anything it removes, and can be stopped at any time. **Emergency Space** is the screen to open when your Mac's disk is full right now. It shows what is using your space and lists your options, **safest first**, each with how much it would free. Nothing happens until you choose. Anything it removes is copied first wherever there's room, so you can put it back (an option tells you when a copy can't be kept), and you can stop it at any time. Open it from the More menu (•••) → **Emergency Space…** (shown in red, at the top of the menu). When your Mac runs low on space, the warning notification also offers **See What's Using It**, which opens the same screen. ## Step by step 1. **Let it look.** On a very full disk this can take a few minutes. Options appear as they're found, so you don't have to wait for it to finish before choosing. 2. **Pick a goal.** Next to **Aim for**, choose **30 GB free**, **50 GB free** (the default) or **100 GB free**, then click **Choose for me**. It ticks the smallest, safest set of options that reaches your goal and stops there. You can tick and untick rows yourself too. 3. **Check the total.** The bottom of the screen shows **Selected** and how much you'd have free afterwards. If the options it's allowed to choose for you fall short of your goal, it says by how much. 4. **Click Free up space.** A review opens first: **Review what will move**. Nothing has happened yet. Each choice is opened up one level so you can see what's inside, and anything that will be removed rather than moved is listed separately. 5. **Confirm.** Click **Free up space** in the review to start. A progress view shows what's done, what's being removed now, and how much has been freed so far, measured on your disk. ```mermaid %% caption: How Emergency Space goes from a full disk to a finished run flowchart TD A[Open Emergency Space] --> B[Options appear, safest first] B --> C[Pick a goal and click Choose for me] C --> D[Click Free up space] D --> E[Review what will move] E -->|Cancel| B E -->|Free up space| F[Work runs one folder at a time] F --> G{Stop clicked?} G -->|Yes| H[Finishes the current folder, then stops] G -->|No| I[Done: see what was moved and removed] H --> J[Carry on later from where it stopped] ``` *Flowchart — How Emergency Space goes from a full disk to a finished run. Outline:* - Open Emergency Space - leads to Options appear, safest first - Options appear, safest first - leads to Pick a goal and click Choose for me - Pick a goal and click Choose for me - leads to Click Free up space - Click Free up space - leads to Review what will move - Review what will move - Cancel: leads to Options appear, safest first - Free up space: leads to Work runs one folder at a time - Work runs one folder at a time - leads to Stop clicked? - Stop clicked? - Yes: leads to Finishes the current folder, then stops - No: leads to Done: see what was moved and removed - Finishes the current folder, then stops - leads to Carry on later from where it stopped ## What it offers, in order The options are grouped by what they cost you, safest group first: | Group | Examples | |---|---| | Returns space without deleting anything | Release space held by automatic backups | | Removes files that rebuild themselves | An app's cache, temporary files, Storage Studio's own rebuildable files, downloaded updates and leftover installer downloads | | Moved to your fast drive, not deleted | Big folders, moved with a shortcut left behind | | Deletes files — you can still recover them | Anything that's really your data | **Choose for me** only ever picks from the first three groups. Deleting your own data is never chosen for you, however full the disk is: you tick those rows yourself. An app's folder is never offered whole: only the part the app rebuilds by itself, never its settings, sign-ins or history. Big folders it won't touch are listed under **Big folders we're leaving alone**, with the reason. Your Trash isn't part of the plan. If it's holding space, a separate note says how much, with an **Open Trash** button, because emptying it can't be undone. See [The Trash and the space it holds](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/the-trash). ## Stopping safely While it's working, a **Stop** button is always visible, in the progress view and on the main screen. Stop *finishes the folder it's already started, then stops. Nothing is left half-removed.* Afterwards, **Carry on** picks up exactly where it stopped. Folders already done aren't done again. You can close the progress view at any time. Moving files carries on in the background, and **Show progress** on the main screen brings the view back. If an app is using something in the plan, that item is skipped and the app is named. You can choose to close it (you're asked first) and reopen it afterwards with **Reopen**. ## Seeing what it removed When the run finishes, the progress view shows how much was freed and lists the folders already removed and those not touched. Everything removed is in the [Recycle Vault](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/recycle-vault): click **Open Recycle Vault** to see it and put anything back. Anything moved appears in **What's Using Space** with a one-click **Move back**. See [Reviewing, stopping and checking a clear-up](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/reviewing-a-clear-up). If Emergency Space finds nothing it can offer safely, it says so plainly: *Nothing here is safe to offer you.* That means your space is being used by things it won't touch on your behalf. [What's Using Space](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/storage-inspector) shows the full picture so you can decide yourself. - **What's the best app to free up space on a Mac?** If you want space back without losing files, the best approach is "move, don't delete." Storage Studio relocates big apps and folders to an external drive (with a shortcut left in place so they still open), reclaims space macOS is holding in old snapshots, and keeps cloud files online-only — all… (https://storagestudio.us/faq) - **How do I free up space on my Mac?** Empty the Trash, clear app caches, remove old downloads, and move large apps and folders you rarely use to an external drive. Storage Studio does all of this in one tap with Tuhi — it clears caches and rarely-used files, reclaims old local backups, and keeps cloud files online-only, previewed… (https://storagestudio.us/faq) - **How do I get more storage on my Mac without deleting my files?** Pair your Mac with an external SSD and offload what you don't need on the startup disk. Storage Studio moves large apps, folders, and media to the external drive and leaves a shortcut in the original spot, so you reclaim space while keeping every file — nothing is deleted. (https://storagestudio.us/faq) - **Is it safe to clear the cache on a Mac?** Yes — app caches rebuild automatically, so clearing them safely reclaims space; the only risk is deleting the wrong thing by hand. Storage Studio clears only known-safe caches and rarely-used files, shows a preview first, and never touches your personal files without asking. (https://storagestudio.us/faq) See also: [Temporary files you can't see](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/temporary-files) · [Why deleting files doesn't always give the space back](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/why-deleting-doesnt-free-space) · [Restoring something from the Recycle Vault](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/restoring-from-the-recycle-vault) · [Where did my space go?](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/where-did-my-space-go) · [Pausing or stopping everything](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/pausing-and-stopping) ## What links here - [Clearing app caches safely](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/app-caches) - [Freeing up space: the options](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/freeing-up-space-overview) - [How Storage Studio deletes things](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/how-deletions-work) - [How much space Storage Studio itself uses](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/storage-studios-own-footprint) - [I moved files but my free space didn't go up](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/space-didnt-come-back-after-a-move) - [Is Storage Studio slowing my Mac down?](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/is-storage-studio-slowing-my-mac) - [Local snapshots](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/local-snapshots) - [Pausing or stopping everything](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/pausing-and-stopping) - [Reviewing, stopping and checking a clear-up](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/reviewing-a-clear-up) - [Storage Inspector](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/storage-inspector) - [Temporary files you can't see](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/temporary-files) - [The Home screen](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/the-home-screen) - [The Recycle Vault](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/recycle-vault) - [The Trash and the space it holds](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/the-trash) - [Where did my space go?](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/where-did-my-space-go) - [Where to start: pick your goal](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/where-to-start) - [Why deleting files doesn't always give the space back](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/why-deleting-doesnt-free-space)