damaged version of iOS taking up too much space to install Venture update how to erase it?

I seem to be in a cycle of jammed up disk space on my iMac trying to upgrade to Ventura. The initial error was that the file was corrupt and couldn't be opened so it asked to reinstall it. I try to reinstall but my disk is full. How to start over and erase the corrupted file to create the space for the new IOS?

iMac 24″, macOS 12.2

Posted on Dec 3, 2022 9:37 PM

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Posted on Dec 3, 2022 10:05 PM

Normally there should be an /Applications/Install macOS Ventura listed. You can navigate to Applications in Finder and it's safe to delete 'Install macOS Ventura'.


But if you are that low on free space you are going to need to make more room than what the installer occupies when downloaded. You are going to need at least 20-30GB of free space.


Honestly, if your disk is that full you are going to have all sorts of problems. You should have at a minimum around 200-300GB of free space or you'll end up with performance problems.


There's a free App from The OmniGroup that can help you identify what's taking up all the space and there's a paid App in the Mac App Store as well which is a bit nicer to use.


OmniDiskSweeper (free)


DaisyDisk (paid)





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Dec 3, 2022 10:05 PM in response to WindsorCastle

Normally there should be an /Applications/Install macOS Ventura listed. You can navigate to Applications in Finder and it's safe to delete 'Install macOS Ventura'.


But if you are that low on free space you are going to need to make more room than what the installer occupies when downloaded. You are going to need at least 20-30GB of free space.


Honestly, if your disk is that full you are going to have all sorts of problems. You should have at a minimum around 200-300GB of free space or you'll end up with performance problems.


There's a free App from The OmniGroup that can help you identify what's taking up all the space and there's a paid App in the Mac App Store as well which is a bit nicer to use.


OmniDiskSweeper (free)


DaisyDisk (paid)





Dec 4, 2022 2:32 AM in response to WindsorCastle

To add some additional points


1 - Is the User Profile accurate iMac 24″, macOS 12.2 Monterey


2 - The current version is Monterey is 12.6.1


3 - Attempting to upGrade to Ventura macOS 13 is usually best done when the existing version of macOS is totally up - to - date.


4 - Suggest using the suggestions already presented by Previous Contributor and make space on the drive with at least 15% - 20% of the Entire Drive Capacity as free space.


5 - Once all those conditions are achieved, then and only then attempt the upgrade to Ventura

Dec 4, 2022 11:00 AM in response to WindsorCastle

You seem to have the M1 iMac 24", one of the new ones. The storage is not upgradable.


You can use iCloud, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, or Dropbox to offload most of your data from the internal disk. Working on active files and projects is best done locally on the internal storage then you can move it to the cloud. This how most office workers do things. They download files from the server and work on them locally then upload back to the server when done. Frees up space locally. The cloud is nothing but someone else's servers over the Internet. All the cloud providers have enormous data centers and they hold the data for you.


Other options would be some external USB / Thunderbolt4 disks for backups and offloaded storage. But that requires understanding file management and moving stuff around all the time and ensuring you are backed up. If one of those external disks die, there could be data loss.


Another option, especially if you require a large amount of storage and need to expand that storage would be to purchase a NAS (Network Array Storage). NAS uses RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks). It's an appliance that plugs into your network with Ethernet and acts as a sort of private cloud server. The most popular brand is Synology and it has a web page to control it. It can act as an Apple Time Capsule allowing for over-the-air Time Machine backups. You can create network shares and multiple people can access the files. You can set security and permissions per user. All point, click and easy to do. A Synology will have at least 2 disks and some have 8 or more. Most household users have either the 2 disk model or a 4 disk model. The cost of a NAS might seem a bit high but when you compare the cost of an ongoing cloud storage subscription to a NAS and the fact the NAS will always be faster on the local network than the Internet... At some point the numbers make sense when you can justify the need.

Dec 4, 2022 3:03 AM in response to ghr165

Either way, the Numerical Values supplied earlier or the Percentages of Total Drive Capacity


A drive with a Total Drive Capacity of 128 GB or 256 GB can not have 100 GB or 300GB of Empty Space. Right ?


That same drive capacity 128 GB or 256 GB at 20% Empty Space would range from 25.6 GB to 51.2 GB Empty Space


I think and stand to be correctly by Previous Contributor, the values provided may have been quoted with the Drive having a Capacity of 1 TB

Dec 4, 2022 3:32 AM in response to ghr165

The reply above was in Direct Response to the defined perimeters the user provided


" Re point 4: this is a better estimate than 200-300GB when many laptop systems have 128GB or 256GB total disk space. "


Should the user wish to redefine the perimeters, that is fine. The respect remains unchanged


When a knowledgeable use such as @ James Brickley make a suggestion or any other contributor offers suggestion >>


There has been sufficient advise offered for the User to make an informed and educated choice what the next course of action is required for this computer.


The suggestions have been put forth on a volunteer basis, in good faith and in the best interests of the computer.


Dec 4, 2022 9:58 AM in response to James Brickley

Thanks — I see now that I have many large files to clean up and delete…i thought most everything was on the cloud but I’m too prolific in my interests and save many unnecessary docs and screen shots and Adobe scans etc. Your advice to have much more free disk space is news to me…will take the day creating space and a much better behaved IMac! Thank you.

Dec 4, 2022 10:04 AM in response to Owl-53

Yes I now realize I have only a 256GB flash drive so I’m moving almost files to cloud except for applications I guess. This has been going on for a couple of weeks of wasted time…so it would have been good to know in advance what the user strategy needed to be to have a functional iMac given the limited storage. Can I easily increase the local storage capacity?

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damaged version of iOS taking up too much space to install Venture update how to erase it?

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