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Deleted 250GB, but free space didn't increase on HD? (Not using Time Machine)

Loa

Loa

macrumors 68000
Original poster
May 5, 2003
1,725
76
Québec
Hello,

After finding out that I had a huge folder (250GB) that I didn't need by using GrandPerspective, I deleted it (placed in trash, emptied trash). When I refreshed GrandPerspective, it indicated that I had, indeed, freed 250GB of data.

But in Finder, Disk Utility and About this Mac, I still have the same amount of free space as I had before.

I'm not using Time Machine.

Thanks!
 
Loa said:
Hello,

After finding out that I had a huge folder (250GB) that I didn't need by using GrandPerspective, I deleted it (placed in trash, emptied trash). When I refreshed GrandPerspective, it indicated that I had, indeed, freed 250GB of data.

But in Finder, Disk Utility and About this Mac, I still have the same amount of free space as I had before.

I'm not using Time Machine.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
What does Disk Utility show in "Available" as Purgeable?
;JOOP!
 
A Fishrrman simple-minded question:
Have you:
a. Shut down, all the way off
and then
b. Rebooted
???
 
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The data might be held up in a snapshot. Even when you're not backing up with Time Machine, MacOS takes regular snapshots so you can roll back mistakes. It keeps them for 24 hours, so it can take over 24 hours for space to be freed up. Sometimes the system will free up snapshots sooner if space is critical.

You can see the snapshots in Disk Utility. Open it up and select Macintosh HD, then View menu -> Show APFS snapshots. You'll see them listed at the bottom of the window. You can remove them if you like to free up space, but the system WILL clean them up eventually so I always recommend you leave them be unless you're desperate.
 
Ok, quick answers:
-Purgeable = 35GB (after a 250GB folder delete)
-Full shut down and reboot has been done twice, no change in available space.
-Snapshots: got 2 of them, both at 8.2GB, one of them greyed out.

Thanks!
 
Loa said:
Ok, quick answers:
-Purgeable = 35GB (after a 250GB folder delete)
-Full shut down and reboot has been done twice, no change in available space.
-Snapshots: got 2 of them, both at 8.2GB, one of them greyed out.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
How about Disk Utility : First Aid?
;JOOP!
 
Loa said:
Ok, quick answers:
-Purgeable = 35GB (after a 250GB folder delete)
-Full shut down and reboot has been done twice, no change in available space.
-Snapshots: got 2 of them, both at 8.2GB, one of them greyed out.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
I bet the data is held in those snapshots, and if you remove them the space will be freed up.
 
Well they've already been deleted by the system. And sadly the available space hasn't changed.
 
OP never mentioned what type of folder they deleted.

Can see the situation, for example, where if you delete an old iPhotos library, you really haven't deleted anything as the new/current Photos library was hard-linking to the old library: one reference is removed (iPhotos) but file remains on disk due to Photos using it.
 
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NoBoMac said:
delete an old iPhotos library, you really haven't deleted anything as the new/current Photos library was hard-linking to the old library
Click to expand...
It is actually a possiblity I examined, but I don't think it's the case. When I upgraded from my 2009 Macp Pro to my current Studio, I copied the entire "old" iTunes library to the Music folder of the Studio. I then made a regular copy of that folder, then locked the first one (to protect it in case the importation process went wrong).

3 months later, with everything working fine, I unlocked that "original and out of date" folder and trashed it.

Unless Monterey automatically made hard-links, I don't think it was the case.
 
Try a space analyzer app such as DaisyDisk scanning as administrator. It will often tell you where your space is going.
 
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Ok, here are some strange results about what free space I actually have:
DaisyDisk = 1.3TB
GranPerspective = 1.2TB
Get Info = 1.36TB
Disk Utility = 1.32TB
About this Mac = 1.36TB

It seems to me that calculating free space should be a simple process...
 
Download DiskWave from here:
It's small in size and free.

Open DiskWave and go to the preferences.
Put a checkmark in "show invisible files".
Close preferences.

The DiskWave window shows you all your volumes and drives in plain English (no ridiculous graphical formats).
Click on any item "on the left".
Now, you'll see what's ON the volume, listed in order of "largest to smallest".
You can easily locate what's eating up your space.
 
I love DiskWave's interface, but right now it's not calculating folder sizes. I've clicked and reclicked the little scan icon, let the app run 10 minutes, but nothing. Haven't seen anything in the prefs regarding this either.

Sadly right now it's useless.
 

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Loa said:
Ok, here are some strange results about what free space I actually have:
DaisyDisk = 1.3TB
GranPerspective = 1.2TB
Get Info = 1.36TB
Disk Utility = 1.32TB
About this Mac = 1.36TB
Click to expand...
Strange? Surprisingly close, I would say.

Loa said:
It seems to me that calculating free space should be a simple process...
Click to expand...
You wish! First say what you mean by free space. Is any of the disk free? A disk is just a humungous bucket full of stuff. Nothing is blank - but some of it is linked to useful stuff and some is not. "Free" is just a shorthand for the not useful stuff, or maybe the not very useful/important. Are areas disk used for caches (and snapshots) free or just available - does that count as free because macOS will delete some of that if needed?

In other words, defining free is not a simple process. But get that done and the calculation may be easy. Actually the main distinction is between 'available' and 'unused'. Available - space available for you or macOS to use even if it currently has some medium term unimportant content. Unused - areas of the disk that the APFS file system has listed as not having any useful content.

Or in further words: Don't worry about it. Well not until your free space (by any definition) is at 20% or less.
 
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Loa said:
I love DiskWave's interface, but right now it's not calculating folder sizes. I've clicked and reclicked the little scan icon, let the app run 10 minutes, but nothing. Haven't seen anything in the prefs regarding this either.

Sadly right now it's useless.
Click to expand...
According to the DiskWave website, "DiskWave requires Mac OS X 10.6 and a 64 bit Intel CPU minimum.

DiskWave fully supports Mac OS X 10.10 Mavericks." The website hasn't been updated in 6 years. It may be a compatibility problem.
 
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"I'm on 12.5.1 M1 and it's clearly not working correctly."

Just tried DiskWave on my 2021 MacBook Pro 14" running Monterey, and it seems to work ok.
What isn't working "correctly" for you?
 
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