Folders in the Updates folder are taking up 8.8 GB of my storage and I can't seem to delete them.

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Level 1

10 points

Folders in the Updates folder are taking up 8.8 GB of my storage and I can't seem to delete them.

I'm looking to clear up some storage and I ran disk inventory X and found my updates folder was taking up 8 GB of space.

When I tried to delete the folders, it shows me this:

There are 7 folders in the folder, each of them with similar contents. I am on an administrator account and I'm running macOS 10.14.6. How do I delete these?

Screenshot of the folders:

MacBook Air

Posted on Apr 26, 2021 2:41 AM

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Answer 1

BDAqua

Level 10

245,573 points

May 9, 2021 10:01 AM in response to nerelly

richar___d

8 months ago

·

edited 4 months ago

It should be safe to remove the subfolders of /Library/Updates, but don't remove the folder itself. The subfolders must be removed in macOS Recovery because they're protected by System Integrity Protection (SIP):

Warning:

This procedure should only be used when macOS states that no updates are available despite the presence of downloaded updates on the system volume. Normally, macOS will automatically remove updates after they're installed.
You must enter the commands exactly as they're written, otherwise the results could be disastrous. Don't add or remove any spaces.
The name of the system volume must be Macintosh HD.
You should abort the procedure if an error occurs on step 6.

Boot macOS Recovery.
Open Disk Utility.
Mount the volume Macintosh HD.
Close Disk Utility.
Choose Utilities → Terminal from the menubar.
Type the following, and then press return:

https://www.reddit.com/r/MacOS/comments/ih69ro/can_i_delete_the_updates_folder/

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Answer 2

BDAqua

Level 10

245,573 points

Apr 26, 2021 10:07 AM in response to nerelly

What is in those folders?

Start wit this...

Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at startup), does the problem occur in Safe Mode? Could take 10 minutes.

Safe mode attempts to repair Disks & clears lots of caches & loads safe Drivers, & prevents loading of 3rd party extensions, so if Safe Mode works try again in regular boot.

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Answer 3

nerelly Author

Level 1

10 points

May 9, 2021 2:29 AM in response to BDAqua

Uh, after the safe boot, I checked the updates folder and found it empty. But once I returned to normal boot, it's back again, this time taking 10.6 GB of space.

Here's a screenshot of the contents of one of the folders:

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Answer 4

nerelly Author

Level 1

10 points

May 10, 2021 9:55 PM in response to BDAqua

Thanks.

After looking through this thread, I'm thinking of quickly disabling SIP, deleting the folders, and enabling it back again. Would that be safe? I checked my software updates and installed the Mojave security update which I had missed, so there are no updates needed right now.

Also, I found out the reason I didn't see the updates in safe boot was because I opened the folder in Macintosh HD, instead of the one in Macintosh HD - Data.

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