When I empty trash hard drive space stays the same

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When I empty trash hard drive space stays the same

I had about 100 Gb of movie files on my MacBook Pro that I deleted hoping to recover some hard drive space. After I emptied the trash I noticed that my available hard drive space didn't change.

Has anyone else seen this issue and found a solution? I have seen a lot of traffic on the internet related to time machine local snapshots, but I shouldn't have to run terminal commands to recover hard drive space when I empty the trash.

I do have Daisy Disk and I suspect it is in the Hidden Spaces > Still Hidden, because when I emptied the trash the size of this Hidden Spaces went up by the same amount that I just deleted. Unfortunately Big Sur locks those files down and I can't delete them.

Not sure what it is about Big Sur that is causing this issue.

MacBook Pro with Touch Bar

Posted on Jan 1, 2021 6:00 AM

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Answer 1

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DaveGarratt

Level 1

127 points

Jan 1, 2021 1:30 PM in response to SupaDupaFly

Launch the Terminal (from Applications > Utilities), and then copy and paste this command and press Return:

tmutil listlocalsnapshots /

The Terminal will show a list of local snapshots with names like

com.apple.TimeMachine.2018-03-01-002010.

To remove a snapshot:

Copy and paste this command:

sudo tmutil deletelocalsnapshots

Type a space and then paste in the date portion of the snapshot.

Press Return, and finally press Return.

Altogether, using the example snapshot above, that looks like:

sudo tmutil deletelocalsnapshots 2018-03-01-002010

If it deletes properly, you’ll see

Delete local snapshot '2018-03-01-002010'

in the Terminal as the response.

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Answer 2

Jan 1, 2021 7:55 AM in response to SupaDupaFly

Sometimes I have found that when you click on the apple symbol - about this mac - storage it seems to force the O/S to have a quick recalculate and this can make finder change the free space which is displayed.

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Answer 3

SupaDupaFly Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 1, 2021 1:16 PM in response to SupaDupaFly

So I took a closer look at Daisy Disk and upgraded to the stand alone version. Mine was bought using the app store and it doesn't do as good a job scanning my files. The good news is that the publishers allow me to upgrade to the stand alone version.

Long story short I have almost 190 gigabytes of Time Machine back up snapshots on my computer. WTF does time machine store this stuff locally? Stupid Time Machine.

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Answer 4

Jan 1, 2021 1:00 PM in response to SupaDupaFly

Have you tried booting into recovery mode and running Disk manager First Aid ?

I have a strange snapshot file on my system which takes up 115gb and does not seem to use the same naming convention as Time Machine backups. I suspect it maybe a Catalina backup before Big Sur upgrade but I don't know if the system will remove it at some point. Definitely some odd things going on.

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Answer 5

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,222 points

Jan 1, 2021 7:51 AM in response to SupaDupaFly

An SSD cannot immediately make that space available. It has to run its garbage collection routine to re-enable the bits that were used. That doesn't happen immediately, either.

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Answer 6

SupaDupaFly Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 1, 2021 10:56 AM in response to DaveGarratt

I did try the about this mac - storage earlier but still the same issue happened. I see the same free hard drive space in finder, get info, about this mac - storage, and even disk utilities.

As far as garbage collecting on SSD drives goes, I might think that is the issue, but this has never done this in the past. I have deleted gigabytes of data off my SSD in the past without issue. Not sure what is going on now though.

I thought that maybe my time machine localhost snapshots were the issue, but i forced a few time machine backups and still I see the same issue where I am not recovering hard drive space when I delete a massive amount of data.

I do appreciate the responses though, thanks.

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Answer 7

Jan 1, 2021 12:29 PM in response to SupaDupaFly

If you want a graphical display of disk usage by folder then you might want to look at a program called Daisy Disk. I think it's available both on the app store and from the vendors website. You can drill down into any folder and expand the view.

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Answer 8

SupaDupaFly Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 1, 2021 12:52 PM in response to DaveGarratt

That is very helpful, but I already stated that I had Daisy Disk installed. I don't see how Daisy disk can help, since the problem I have is emptying the trash doesn't show any hard drive space recovered. I deleted over 100 gigabytes of data and the amount of free space didn't change. I suspect the problem might be in the hidden space that Daisy Disk shows, but Daisy Disk won't show the contents. I already emailed Daisy Disk for help with that issue.

I suspect the problem might be that the trash isn't being emptied properly, but troubleshooting that is a little outside of my skill set.

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Answer 9

SupaDupaFly Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 1, 2021 1:20 PM in response to DaveGarratt

Hey Dave, I did try the recovery mode first aid. I really hoped that would do it. I wish there was a tool built into the OS that would delete these Time Machine snapshots and what not. I hate having to install third party apps to keep my hard drive clear.

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When I empty trash hard drive space stays the same

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