If your hard disk starts to run out of space, your computer can become increasingly slow, and a full disk can also hinder you from being able to access programs you need to do your job.
Broom is an app for Mac OS X Snow Leopard and later operating systems that will monitor the available space on your hard disk and alert you when it’s getting full so that you can delete some of the unnecessary folders and files taking up space.
The app can live in your menu bar and constantly monitor how much space you have available. When you click on the broom-shaped icon, you can see how much of your hard disk is being used. When the disk gets close to being full, Broom’s icon turns red, and you get an alert. (You can set the point at which you want to be notified that your disk is running out of space.)
To free up some space, simply click on the “Broom this Mac” button in the alert window, and the app will show you a list of all of the folders and most of the files on your hard disk, arranged by size, so you can choose which ones to delete.
You can also click on the “places” tab in the “Broom this Mac” screen to see a list of the most common places on your disk where you can free up space along with a helpful explanation of what’s contained in each place.
If you’d rather not have Broom run constantly in the background, you can switch it to stand-alone mode. Then, it will sit in the dock, and you can see how much space is available on your hard disk and clean it, if necessary, by clicking on the app.
Broom costs $2 in the Mac App Store.