Glossary

Built-in disk

Your Mac's built-in disk is the storage inside the Mac itself, which holds macOS, your apps and your files. Storage Studio's job is to keep room free on it.

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Your Mac's built-in disk is the storage inside the Mac itself — the startup disk that holds macOS, your apps and your home folder. On today's Macs it is a fast solid-state drive.

It matters because macOS and your apps need free room on it to work: to install updates, and for the temporary files they write while you use them. When it gets close to full, apps can start to fail.

Storage Studio's whole job is keeping room free on this disk. It shows how full it is, warns you when it runs low, and frees space by clearing caches, by moving folders and apps to your external drive, and by making cloud files online-only. In the Apps window, apps that are still on this disk are listed on the Internal tab.

See also: Freeing up space: the options · Where did my space go?

glossaryfree up space

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…
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…
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.
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.

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