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Why OS shows a different available space than the Disk utility? What should I do?

I deleted and moved a lot of files but the available space still remains the same. I need that space. How should I reclaim it?

Posted on Sep 29, 2020 11:48 AM

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Posted on Sep 29, 2020 5:46 PM

Recovering the free space when deleting from an SSD is not instantaneous. The drive must run its garbage collection routine to reset the old storage so it can be used again.

I don't know how long that takes, but I don't imagine it should take more than overnight.


And, the Storage Displays are always wrong (at least you should assume that), so make no decisions based on them.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Sep 29, 2020 5:46 PM in response to alejandro67

Recovering the free space when deleting from an SSD is not instantaneous. The drive must run its garbage collection routine to reset the old storage so it can be used again.

I don't know how long that takes, but I don't imagine it should take more than overnight.


And, the Storage Displays are always wrong (at least you should assume that), so make no decisions based on them.

Sep 30, 2020 9:01 AM in response to alejandro67

alejandro67 wrote:

Well... The problem is that I needed that space to install a program but the installer sees it as taken. That was my problem.

I realize that. Unfortunately, I simply don’t have a good answer for you. If you wait 24 hours or so, the space may finally be released as local snapshots are deleted. You can force the issue by running the following command in the Terminal:


/usr/bin/tmutil thinlocalsnapshots / 10000000000 4

Why OS shows a different available space than the Disk utility? What should I do?

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