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User profile for user: Captain Lardnicus
Captain Lardnicus Author
User level: Level 1
38 points

I empty trash and available space goes DOWN?

This is ridiculous...


How can I reclaim this space without wiping my entire drive and starting over?


I delete TERABYTES worth of files now and the disk continues to fill up...

MacBook Pro

Posted on Feb 16, 2021 6:51 PM

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User profile for user: HWTech
HWTech
User level: Level 9
60,440 points

Posted on Feb 16, 2021 7:47 PM

macOS 10.13+ uses the new APFS file system where an APFS snapshot will retain deleted data until the APFS snapshot is deleted. Usually these snapshots are deleted automatically after about a week or after all your backups have been completely transferred to your external backup drive(s). macOS creates APFS snapshots when updating/upgrading the OS.


If you need the space immediately make sure all your backups are completely transferred to your external media. Then if you still don't have room, then you can use the information in this article to thin or delete APFS snapshots:

https://derflounder.wordpress.com/2018/04/07/reclaiming-drive-space-by-thinning-apple-file-system-snapshot-backups/



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User profile for user: HWTech
HWTech
User level: Level 9
60,440 points

Feb 16, 2021 7:47 PM in response to Captain Lardnicus

macOS 10.13+ uses the new APFS file system where an APFS snapshot will retain deleted data until the APFS snapshot is deleted. Usually these snapshots are deleted automatically after about a week or after all your backups have been completely transferred to your external backup drive(s). macOS creates APFS snapshots when updating/upgrading the OS.


If you need the space immediately make sure all your backups are completely transferred to your external media. Then if you still don't have room, then you can use the information in this article to thin or delete APFS snapshots:

https://derflounder.wordpress.com/2018/04/07/reclaiming-drive-space-by-thinning-apple-file-system-snapshot-backups/



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I empty trash and available space goes DOWN?

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