I'm trying to reinstall Ventura but at a start of the installation disk shows only 20 GB capacity (I need more, around 30 GB to proceed). But the thing is I have around 120 GB free space on my harddrive. At a start Finder shows only those 20GB but after several seconds it recalculates to the right size of 120 GB. Anyone experienced this problem?
MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.13
Is user profile accurate " MacBook Pro 13 ", macOS 10.13 " ?
Manage Storage
It is generally a good computer practice to alway keep at least 15% to 20% of the Total Drive Capacity’s as Empty Space.
Allowing the computer to drop below these guidelines may eventually, cause unintended consequences.
There is Purgeable Space and there is Empty Space.
Purgeable Space which is Controlled by the Operating System. When the Operating Systems decides the computer needs additional Empty Space, it will move a portion of the Purgeable to Empty space
AFAIK - there is no User Actions to hasten this transition from Purgeable to Empty Space
It can day or longer before this will occur
The links below will assist in identifying what is taking up space on the Internal Drive and provide possible ways to remove data that is under the direct control of the User ( Home Folder ) .
Rebuild the Spotlight index on your Mac
What is “Other” storage on a Mac, and how can I clean it out?
Free up storage space on your Mac
How to delete Time Machine snapshots on your Mac.
Often caused if the Time Machine Drive has not been attached to the computer and TM Backup is set to run on a Schedule.
TM Backup will make Snap Shot on the Internal Drive awaiting the TM Backup Drive to be attached.
Only then will the Snaps Shots be transferred to the External Drive and deleted the Internal Drive.
See used and available storage space on your Mac
Locate backups of your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch
Notation - If the user is using a cloning software like Carbon Copy Cloner - suggest tweaking the Safety Net Feature in this software. It may be making additional Snap Shots that are not being Cloned to the Eternal Drive. If this should be the case, these Snap Shot could be using additional space on the drive
The final word from Apple on Managing the " Other/ System Data “ Category
Other / System Data: Contains files that don’t fall into the categories listed here. This category primarily includes files and data used by the system, such as log files, caches, VM files, and other runtime system resources. Also included are temporary files, fonts, app support files, and plug-ins. You can't manage the contents of this category. The contents are managed by macOS, and the category varies in size depending on the current state of your Mac.
Is user profile accurate " MacBook Pro 13 ", macOS 10.13 " ?
Manage Storage
It is generally a good computer practice to alway keep at least 15% to 20% of the Total Drive Capacity’s as Empty Space.
Allowing the computer to drop below these guidelines may eventually, cause unintended consequences.
There is Purgeable Space and there is Empty Space.
Purgeable Space which is Controlled by the Operating System. When the Operating Systems decides the computer needs additional Empty Space, it will move a portion of the Purgeable to Empty space
AFAIK - there is no User Actions to hasten this transition from Purgeable to Empty Space
It can day or longer before this will occur
The links below will assist in identifying what is taking up space on the Internal Drive and provide possible ways to remove data that is under the direct control of the User ( Home Folder ) .
Rebuild the Spotlight index on your Mac
What is “Other” storage on a Mac, and how can I clean it out?
Free up storage space on your Mac
How to delete Time Machine snapshots on your Mac.
Often caused if the Time Machine Drive has not been attached to the computer and TM Backup is set to run on a Schedule.
TM Backup will make Snap Shot on the Internal Drive awaiting the TM Backup Drive to be attached.
Only then will the Snaps Shots be transferred to the External Drive and deleted the Internal Drive.
See used and available storage space on your Mac
Locate backups of your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch
Notation - If the user is using a cloning software like Carbon Copy Cloner - suggest tweaking the Safety Net Feature in this software. It may be making additional Snap Shots that are not being Cloned to the Eternal Drive. If this should be the case, these Snap Shot could be using additional space on the drive
The final word from Apple on Managing the " Other/ System Data “ Category
Other / System Data: Contains files that don’t fall into the categories listed here. This category primarily includes files and data used by the system, such as log files, caches, VM files, and other runtime system resources. Also included are temporary files, fonts, app support files, and plug-ins. You can't manage the contents of this category. The contents are managed by macOS, and the category varies in size depending on the current state of your Mac.
When I plugged in my external drive (Time machine) it shows correct size now and I can proceed to the installation. Thank you!
Follow on thought.
Should the Internal Drive have a Total Drive Capacity of 120 GB, this would indicate the drive maybe a tiny 124 GB Drive
Yes, Apple used to sell these tiny drives at one time, which IMHO, it should not have or the user needed to make a Custom purchase and gotten a larger drive. That would have Future Proofed the needs for a newer version of macOS
It is generally a good idea too have at least 50 GB of Empty Space on the drive when upGrading to macOS 11, macOS 12 and macOS 13.
This would allow the Full Version of the newer OS ( about 12. xx GB ) to download, then expand and only then come the Installation process.
Good work 👍
You are welcome for the Tip to allow TM Backup to run Before attempting the upGrade
Leaving the Internal Drive with many TM Backups Snap Shot pending will occupy space on the drive
Solved, Helpful, and Apple recommended posts - Apple Support
can't reinstall Ventura, MacBook Pro M1 shows wrong disk capacity
