Failed to update xcode even though I've 200gb left of storage

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nuttynibbles Author

Level 1

8 points

Failed to update xcode even though I've 200gb left of storage

Hi,

I'm unable to update to xcode 13.2.1. I received the following error prompt:

Looking further into `var/log/install.log`, I see that it failed because of insufficient space available.

```

2022-03-03 08:34:33+08 MyMBP installd[836]: PackageKit: Install Failed: Error Domain=PKInstallErrorDomain Code=107 "There is not enough space available on “Macintosh HD” to install the software. An additional 32.37 GB is required." UserInfo={NSLocalizedDescription=There is not enough space available on “Macintosh HD” to install the software. An additional 32.37 GB is required., NSURLVolumeURLKey=file:///} {

NSLocalizedDescription = "There is not enough space available on \U201cMacintosh HD\U201d to install the software. An additional 32.37 GB is required.";

NSURLVolumeURLKey = "file:///";

}

```

This is strange because under about this mac, it shows about 200gb available.

Another strange thing is before I updated to macOS Monterey 12.2.1, my available disk space was only 20gb. After the update, I suddenly have 200GB available. Thats puzzling.

So I opened up Disk Utility, and I saw this:

So the actual available space left is 64GB? Previously xcode only requires 40GB to install.

I'm using a mbp 13 inch retina early 2015

Does anyone know about this or experienced this before?

MacBook Pro Retina

Posted on Mar 2, 2022 4:57 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

etresoft

Level 8

46,512 points

Mar 2, 2022 6:26 PM in response to nuttynibbles

The "available" storage is meaningless. That is the amount of storage that could be made "available", if the operating system thinks you really need it. It will do this on its own schedule, not necessarily when you need it.

The only meaningful value is the "Free" amount on the hard drive in Disk Utility.

My guess is that you were completely out of free storage. You tried to install Xcode and it failed. That failure triggered some of the system processes to delete some files and convert some of that "available" storage into truly "free" storage. So now, with 64 GB free, I think it should work if you try it again.

You are probably going to need to free up a lot more storage. Xcode is a beast. In addition to the huge download and the huge app, it wants a huge amount of temporary space inside your home directory.

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Answer 2

Mar 2, 2022 5:06 PM in response to nuttynibbles

Macintosh HD - Data is your data partition, and it’s ~168 GB in size.

Turn off Time Machine snapshots, and get some backups going.

You’ll probably also need to off-load everything and re-partition and re-load to merge that remaining 64 GB free space into your main data partition.

Was Boot Camp or some other partition-using app possibly previously installed?

I wouldn’t look for less than a terabyte for a development Mac, given the option. Xcode and the rest have all been growing in size.

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Answer 3

nuttynibbles Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 3, 2022 1:03 AM in response to nuttynibbles

hi @MrHoffman and @etresoft,

thank you for the respond.

I came home to find free disk space is now about 110gb.

@etresoft you're right, the installation failure triggered the o.s to perhaps release some disk space or update the true available space.

I managed to update xcode but @MrHoffman, i think I will eventually upgrade my ssd to 1Tb. With all the xcode updates and development files, i will eventually left with little space.

Thank you.

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Failed to update xcode even though I've 200gb left of storage

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