Other volume in AFPS Startup Snapshot is taking up 400+gb that i cannot use

Question

Level 1

8 points

Other volume in AFPS Startup Snapshot is taking up 400+gb that i cannot use

Hi, I have a APFS SnapShot volume that has a 'Other Volume' which is 431.67GB! (See 3rd screenshot).

It looks like it's the same size as the data in the 4th screenshot. How can I free up this Other Volume????

I had 2 partitions originally, Partition 1 was 500gb that I used with the OS/documents/downloads etc, and the other Partition 2 was completely empty. I then selected the 2nd empty Partition and pressed '-' to delete the partition so I could merge the 2 partitions together but now I have this huge mess of a 'Other Volume' that is not letting me do anything. Please help.

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 13.3

Posted on Apr 16, 2023 4:58 PM

Answer 1

DarkFruit Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 17, 2023 1:48 AM in response to Barney-15E

oh god, I just checked the MacBook specs from my amazon order last year and the drive is 512GB ffs my bad.. all is good is then! thanks

Answer 2

etresoft

Level 9

60,830 points

Apr 17, 2023 4:30 AM in response to DarkFruit

DarkFruit wrote:

I had 2 partitions originally, Partition 1 was 500gb that I used with the OS/documents/downloads etc, and the other Partition 2 was completely empty. I then selected the 2nd empty Partition and pressed '-' to delete the partition so I could merge the 2 partitions together

Perhaps you never actually did that last part. That other 500 GB you are looking for is simply unallocated disk space.

You will need to erase the entire hard drive and reinstall the operating system. This time, use the default settings.

Answer 3

Barney-15E

Level 10

125,838 points

Apr 16, 2023 6:45 PM in response to DarkFruit

DarkFruit wrote:

diskutil list shows 500gb and 494gb. How do I access that 494gb? Is my question not clear?

It doesn't. It shows the the drive is 500GB. The boot and recovery files take up 6 GB, leaving 494GB.

Your Data takes up 414GB.

Answer 4

DarkFruit Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 16, 2023 5:26 PM in response to DarkFruit

This is my disk util list. As you can see below The disk 3s7s1 is showing as 9.1g but clearly is not in the 3rd pic above. How do I access and store files in the part disk3s3 showing 414.3gb as I think this is the 'other volume' that's showing in disk utility. Thanks

Answer 5

DarkFruit Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 17, 2023 2:40 AM in response to Barney-15E

Something dodgy is happening, I definitely have 1tb. I've downloaded OmniDiskSweeper which is showing 797gb used but 494GB Total. The 500gb partition I deleted trying to merge into the other OS 500gb Partition has disappeared. I'm going to contact apple support of chatgpt as this is confusing and I've lost half of my disk space!

Answer 6

etresoft

Level 9

60,830 points

Apr 16, 2023 5:25 PM in response to DarkFruit

All of that is normal. The macOS file system format is very complicated.

Answer 7

DarkFruit Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 16, 2023 5:33 PM in response to etresoft

So is that 431.67GB in the other volume lost forever? How can I access it and add files for normal use?

Answer 8

Barney-15E

Level 10

125,838 points

Apr 16, 2023 5:46 PM in response to DarkFruit

It is on your Data volume. I.e., it is your data.

See your fourth screenshot.

Answer 9

DarkFruit Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 16, 2023 5:52 PM in response to Barney-15E

The MacBook has a 1tb drive, the 4th screenshot is only 500gb. Which is why I want to access the 400+gb data in the other volume in the 3rd screenshot that I am not able to see or do anything with.