CleanMyDrive 2 Review: Purge Hidden Files From External Drives For Free

Various digital data storage devices. Usb sticks, external hard drive, SD cards, mini and micro SD cards, laptop and smartphone. Flat lay.

 CleanMyDrive is an all-encompassing utility for cleaning up your Mac’s storage space and improving its performance! This new update brings major improvements in speed so that you can free up more room on your drive with less effort than before – it’s as simple as dropping files into folders or deleting them outright; there are also options within these menus where users may choose between various types offered by different apps (such as selecting specific kinds).

BlueHarvest is a small Mac utility that helps to keep hidden OS X metadata off my storage devices. This includes network-attached storage, USB thumb drives, and other removable volumes. In this post, I am sharing CleanMyDrive 2 review which is the best alternative to BlueHarvest.

Usually this data does not take up much space, but can become bloated or corrupted especially for pieces of hardware frequently moved between Macs and Windows computers.

It is because the two operating systems use different file formats for their information about files on these types of media.

For years I’ve used BlueHarvest as an easy way to remove unwanted files from any type of portable volume including external hard disks, flash drives etc.

These usually don’t take up too much room however over time they tend to get bloated with unnecessary meta data which will eventually corrupt your device if you move it around.

Unnecessary files may be slowing down your Mac. These so-called “service junk” includes invisible system files with confusing names like .DS_Store, .Spotlight, and Thumbs.db.

Also, unnecessary resource folks deleted but not emptied from the trash yet. In most cases though they will simply rebuild these when needed. So, there is no need to remove them unless you are certain of their purpose in your computer’s performance.

If you’re looking for an alternative to BlueHarvest that’s free, MacPaw recently released a new version of its utility app. The latest update has added some features while keeping others from the original release in 2017.

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Purge the junk

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CleanMyDrive 2 is an application that lives in the OS X menu bar. Although it’s not as comprehensive of CleanMyMac 3, this utility focuses on three specific tasks:

  • cleaning junk from removable drives,
  • copying files to different locations easily by clicking a button rather than dragging and dropping them,
  • and makes ejecting volumes easier through some simple clicks instead of traditional drag-and-drop methods.

It is a Mac application that allows users to easily protect their data. Users can access all of the files on each mounted volume by clicking “Grant Access”. This takes only a moment before scanning and displaying content as colors in thin rainbow lines.

Features:

The software not only shows you how much space different types of files are taking up on your drive, but also allows the user to delete any type of file with a simple click.

It has 4 categories: Apps, Audio, Movies and Photos. Other is for miscellaneous spaces taken up by other kinds of media or important documents that don’t fit into one category alone.

Cleaning out these pink colored Junk files will free us from having to worry about filling our storage back up too quickly—before we’re aware!

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With just a few clicks, leftovers can be wiped away completely leaving behind plenty of room for new material as well as some leftover breathing room if needed along the way.

There are a couple of exceptions to the list: Network drives and Time Machine volumes. These two media types don’t have fuel gauges, so they can’t be ejected normally.

However, these devices will show up in Other by default since there isn’t anything available for scanning them specifically.

There is no notable exception that shows up on your drive’s volume list with its own category without being able to select it or eject it from this menu .

With network drives and time machine backups showing everything under “other,” you wouldn’t know if one of those was causing an issue when trying to uninstall software unless you were aware how things work beforehand.

Eject all

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With CleanMyDrive’s drive types, no volume is safe from being ejected. One type that can’t be ejected is the startup disk. But this and other volumes can be individually hidden from CleanMyDrives view by clicking a gear at left.

Other drive types have additional options including automatic cleanup, one-click erase, or keep volumes mounted which ignores any eject commands.

 

Features:

CleanMyDrive does more than just automatically eject connected disks. Users can set up custom shortcuts, disable notifications for each volume mount or eject, and restrict scanning to smaller drives in the Preferences section of CleanMyDrive.

Additionally users are able to drag files onto CleanMyDrives icon on their dock without having go into Finder first.”

While all of the aforementioned functionality is free, one optional feature requires in-app purchase: Change Disk Icon. This offers eight pink (“Noble Flamingo) or green (“Mint Chameleon”) icons for $3 each. Customizing your files with cute designs would be a small price to pay if you want them on hand at any time!

CleanMyDrive is a minimalistic app that makes it easy to clean up your Mac. Although lacking the robust features of BlueHarvest (notably the ability to clean network drives). The tool looks great and does what it promises.

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However, you’ll see an occasional ad for other MacPaw software. But once it dismisses them, they won’t appear again in future sessions.

I would prefer if there was a way to remove these ads entirely with an in-app purchase instead though! The app also has dark theme available when “Use dark menu bar and Dock” from General pane of System Preferences are selected on macOS preferences page.”

Also Read: EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Pro Review

 

FAQ’s on CleanMyDrive 2 Review: Purge Hidden Files From External Drives For Free

Is CleanMyDrive 2 free?

The CleanMyMac products are capable of cleaning your Mac's hard drive. However, the external drives we use every day, such as usb sticks, also collect junk. You can remove this junk using CleanMyDrive 2. It's free to download on the App Store.

What features of CleanMyDrive 2 can be used on internal drive?

- Completely redesigned user interface. - File copying to any disk with drag-and-drop simplicity. - Detailed storage legend for every drive. - Mount and unmount notifications.

How do you clean up an external hard drive on a Mac?

Backup files before erasing Connect the hard drive to your computer, power it on and launch Finder. ... Click the Go menu and select Utilities. ... Select the external hard drive (left; sorted Internal, External, and Disk Images) and click the Erase button. ... Enter a Name, select the Format and Scheme, and click Erase.

What is clean my drive 2?

CleanMyDrive 2 is a lightweight disk manager for external and internal drives. It provides quick access to any drive with detailed information on space usage, and cleans hidden junk from external disks. It's lightning fast and easy to use, with a convenient interface that opens right from the OS X menu bar.

Bottom line

CleanMyDrive is back with a completely redesigned user interface that makes it easier than ever to eject junk files from external drives.

There are some in-app ads which may be annoying, but they’re easy enough to close out of. At least the app’s free! It delivers on what it promises well.

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Vashishtha Kapoor is a professional blogger and an avid reader of technology. Vashishtha writes about WordPress customizations, iphone and apple devices, server administration and ad-tech topics.