How to maximize disk space using macOS Sierra's new storage management features

Freeing needed disk space is becoming easier, thanks to new macOS Sierra storage management enhancements. Learn ways to manage storage locally and in iCloud using these features.

By Erik Eckel | October 4, 2016, 9:16 AM PST

Maintaining sufficient disk free space is a long-running challenge that became more difficult when SSDs—typically possessing smaller storage allocations—arrived. Fortunately, storage management tools ease the strain.

Apple's recently released macOS Sierra operating system includes new storage optimization features that simplify managing and freeing disk space. You can access these file management and storage tools by clicking the menu bar's Apple icon, selecting About This Mac, and clicking the Storage tab to access the Manage button. The Manage button opens the new disk management utilities (Figure A).

Figure A

macOS Sierra includes disk management features to help Mac users administer file storage and free space.

macOS Sierra provides recommendations, which include storing all Desktop and Documents folders in iCloud. Clicking the Store In iCloud button prompts the operating system to store files from those locations in iCloud and keep only recently opened files on the local disk, when storage space is required. Those preferences can be modified within System Preferences, should users change their

Apple building $45 million research center in Beijing to develop new hardware

by Rich McCormick Sep 30, 2016, 12:52a


Apple is building a $45 million research facility in Beijing, the Wall Street Journal reports, focusing on the creation of new hardware. The company's first Chinese research center will employ 500 people and will develop computer hardware, communications, audio, and visual equipment, the Zhongguancun Science Park Administrative Committee said in a post on social media, shedding more light on Chinese expansion plans that CEO Tim Cook first detailed last month.

TIM COOK SAID APPLE WOULD BUILD AN R&D CENTER IN CHINA LAST MONTH

Tim Cook promised to invest more in China during a visit to the country in August, pledging to open such a research and development facility in the country in 2016. Apple declined to comment to the Wall Street Journal about the planned facility, which is reportedly set to be placed in a new science park in Beijing's Wangjing district, but it would be the latest in a string of investments the company has made in the country in an effort to shore up sliding sales, including $1 billion in Didi Chuxing, a ride-hailing app seen as China's Uber.

China has been both a base of manufacture for Apple's devices and an important market for their sale, but Apple has faced a turbulent time in the country lately. Chinese authorities shut down the iBooks and iTunes Movies services earlier this year — a move that reportedly prompted Tim Cook's first of two visits to the country in one year to smooth over relations with government officials. Despite these issues, Cook said in August that Apple remained "very optimistic about the long-term opportunities in Greater China," and that it would continue to invest there. This new R&D facility certainly seems to be proof of that plan.