Why does the Big Sur OS download sizes differ?
Why does the Big Sur OS download require 16.94GB but the actual file is less than 12.5GB? Did I download a partial copy?
MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 11.6
Question marked as
Best reply
DCarlson93 wrote:
Why does the Big Sur OS download require 16.94GB but the actual file is less than 12.5GB? Did I download a partial copy?
I do not see this as an issue—the installer package has to service many different Mac models over many different years of manufacturer/ accommodating many different macOS accessing the download...and is tailored accordingly.
in the upgrade notes:
"Big Sur states that you will need 35.5 GB of free storage when upgrading from High Sierra or newer, and 44.5 GB when upgrading from an older versions." yet another discrepancy in exact size...
If you are having an issue then please state what that issue is...
If you successfully download the installer, if it did not launch/ or you quit the launch it will be sitting in your Applications folder "Install macOS Big Sur.app" —you can launch it from there like any other app.
Once you run the upgrade the installer is removed from Applications.