Freed space?

[ChrisDx]

I moved 250 GB of files to iCloud and deleted them from my HD (and emptied the Trash) but I did not gain 250 GB of space on my HD. Why?
I'm on a mid-2011 iMac 27" running 10.13.6 with a APFS formatted 1TB SSD. The moved files are mostly images [psd, jpg, and tiff].

 

[Bigwaff]

Can you describe how you moved the files to iCloud? How did you verify the files were copied to iCloud?

 

[Lifeisabeach]

I moved 250 GB of files to iCloud and deleted them from my HD (and emptied the Trash) but I did not gain 250 GB of space on my HD. Why?
I'm on a mid-2011 iMac 27" running 10.13.6 with a APFS formatted 1TB SSD. The moved files are mostly images [psd, jpg, and tiff].

In your iCloud Drive preferences, if you have "Sync this Mac" enabled, then you didn't simply move the files to iCloud. iCloud synced the files back to your Mac.

 

[ChrisDx]

Can you describe how you moved the files to iCloud? How did you verify the files were copied to iCloud?

I dragged and dropped the folder with the files from my HD to iCloud. Then I clicked the Delete icon in Finder for the folder that was on my HD.

 

[Slartibart]

Assuming that icloud sync is off as @Lifeisabeach explained; you are using iCloud drive - it will take a while till all 250Gb will be copied to iCloud. After that you should see a significant increase in free space. It is recommended to restart.

 

[gilby101]

I dragged and dropped the folder with the files from my HD to iCloud. Then I clicked the Delete icon in Finder for the folder that was on my HD.

Assuming that icloud sync is off as @Lifeisabeach explained; you are using iCloud drive - it will take a while till all 250Gb will be copied to iCloud.

That part is right.

But: After the files have been copied to Apple's iCloud servers, they will remain on the Mac unless there is pressure on free space. This is because iCloud Drive is a synchronisation services, not an archive.