AndrewSavill

Q: EL Capitan wont install it says not enough space, but I have 90GB

I have a macbook pro 2011, currently running osx 10.7.5, I downloaded the app store El Capitan, the installer process all went well until it displayed message "Cannot install because there is not enough space on target disk", yet when I go hy HD it says there is 90Gb available. Please help. Thank you

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on Mar 24, 2016 3:37 PM

Close

Q: EL Capitan wont install it says not enough space, but I have 90GB

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Mar 24, 2016 6:24 PM in response to AndrewSavill
    Level 10 (208,000 points)
    Applications
    Mar 24, 2016 6:24 PM in response to AndrewSavill

    First, the App Store will not allow an installation that would leave less than the minimum amount of available space on the startup volume that Apple considers necessary, which is about 9 GB. The app is downloaded as a compressed archive that will usually expand to about twice its size. Both the archive and the expanded files will be present at the same time, so the actual amount of space needed is about three times the size of the archive.

    If you're trying to add a large amount of data all at once, and you get an alert of insufficient space, then from the menu bar, please select

               ▹ System Preferences... ▹ Time Machine

    If there is a closed padlock icon in the lower left corner of the preference pane, click it to unlock the settings and authenticate. Turn Time Machine OFF, then back ON. Close the window.

    Restart the computer. Test.

  • by AndrewSavill,

    AndrewSavill AndrewSavill Mar 25, 2016 7:10 AM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 25, 2016 7:10 AM in response to Linc Davis

    Thanks for the reply. I turned TIme Machine on and off several times. I have made a fresh backup. I have restarted my computer several times. But still I am getting the attached error message "OSX could not be installed on your computer. The target disk is too small for this operation. Qut the installer to restart your computer and try again" My HD is showing I have 80GB available… What do you suggest?

    image1.JPG

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Mar 25, 2016 7:24 AM in response to AndrewSavill
    Level 10 (208,000 points)
    Applications
    Mar 25, 2016 7:24 AM in response to AndrewSavill

    This procedure is a diagnostic test. It makes no changes to your data.

    Please triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:

    df -Hl | pbcopy

    Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.

    Launch the built-in Terminal application in any one of the following ways:

    ☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

    ☞ In the Finder, select Go Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

    ☞ Open LaunchPad and start typing the name.

    Paste into the Terminal window by pressing the key combination command-V. I've tested these instructions only with the Safari web browser. If you use another browser, you may have to press the return key after pasting.

    Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign ($) to appear below what you entered.

    The output of the command will be automatically copied to the Clipboard. If the command produced no output, the Clipboard will be empty. Paste into a reply to this message.

    The Terminal window doesn't show the output. Please don't copy anything from there.

    If any personal information appears in the output, anonymize before posting, but don’t remove the context.

  • by AndrewSavill,

    AndrewSavill AndrewSavill Mar 25, 2016 7:33 AM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 25, 2016 7:33 AM in response to Linc Davis

    Filesystem                          Size   Used  Avail Capacity  Mounted on

    /dev/disk0s2                        251G   175G    75G    70%    /

    localhost:/JndBP9VlW6LDxwrK_Uq9Wn   251G   251G     0B   100%    /Volumes/MobileBackups

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Mar 25, 2016 8:21 AM in response to AndrewSavill
    Level 10 (208,000 points)
    Applications
    Mar 25, 2016 8:21 AM in response to AndrewSavill

    Although the error message is not the same, I suggest that you follow the instructions in this support article:

     

    Installer reports "OS X could not be installed on your computer" or "This disk cannot be used to start up your computer"…

  • by AndrewSavill,

    AndrewSavill AndrewSavill Mar 25, 2016 8:46 AM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 25, 2016 8:46 AM in response to Linc Davis

    Thanks for the suggestion, I followed every step, but exactly the same message and no installation.

     

    What next?

  • by AndrewSavill,

    AndrewSavill AndrewSavill Mar 25, 2016 8:48 AM in response to AndrewSavill
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 25, 2016 8:48 AM in response to AndrewSavill

    Screen Shot 2016-03-25 at 15.47.04.png

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Mar 25, 2016 9:32 AM in response to AndrewSavill
    Level 10 (208,000 points)
    Applications
    Mar 25, 2016 9:32 AM in response to AndrewSavill

    I see that you have an aftermarket SSD, and a kind not famous for reliability. Check the manufacturer's website for a firmware update. Try repairing the startup volume in Disk Utility. To do that, you'll have to start up in Recovery mode.