Google Translation:
sekerpare wrote:
Öncelikler Merhabalar.
I wanted to download EA Games' Sims 4 Game. It requires 21 GB of storage space. When I go to About This Mac>Storage, I see 43 GB of free space on my 121 GB flash storage. But the game does not download due to insufficient disk space. In fact, when I first tried to download it, I had 20 GB of free space. It said that I needed to create 3.3 GB of free space. I deleted some documents, applications and freed up space on my HD, so I had 43 GB of free space, and the warning it gave changed. It says 6.6 GB of space needs to be freed up, I don't understand... I made reinstallation, deletion and initialization options, unfortunately nothing changed.
Unfortunately most places in macOS list "Available" space instead of "Free" space. The two items are completely different indicators of the amount of storage space.
Free space is the amount of storage that can be immediately used by the user.
Available space consists of both Free space and Purgeable space. Purgeable space is storage that will be released at some unknown time in the future.
Free space = Available - Purgeable space
Available = Purgeable space + Free space
It is very unfortunate that Apple places the Available space value everywhere, but hides the Free space value. The only place macOS actually lists the actual Free space value is within Disk Utility. Within Disk Utility click the "Data" volume on the left pane of Disk Utility. On the right pane of Disk Utility, you will see the Free space value just below the storage bar graph. Or you can calculate the Free space value using the formula I listed above.
FYI, many times storage space is being consumed by hidden APFS snapshots which are typically used by backup software. Normally these backup snapshots will be automatically deleted a day to a week after the backups have successfully transferred to external media. However, sometimes a backup snapshot may remain for faster access to the most recent backup, but some backup software may allow for multiple snapshots to remain for various amount of time. Check the backup app's settings to see if they can be configured. Here is an Apple article with instructions for viewing & deleting APFS snapshots:
View APFS snapshots in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support
Even if you delete large amounts of data, that data may still remain in the hidden APFS snapshots. If you copied a large amount of data to another location within the same APFS volume, then you have only a single copy of that data on the drive due to how the APFS file system works. You are only making a new link to the original data. So if you delete that data, you must remove both (or rather all) copies before any storage space is released.
Unfortunately a 120GB SSD is barely large enough for macOS and a small number of apps & files. Most Macs do not allow you to upgrade internal storage (or memory) after purchase. Even if the Mac is able to have its SSD upgraded with a third party SSD, it is not always easy to do. Usually it is easiest to install macOS to an external USB3 SSD and boot from the external SSD (assuming the Mac has USB3 ports...only 2012+ have them).
FYI, it is usually best to provide the exact model of your Mac when asking for assistance online so that we could advise on possible upgrade options if available, although you can check with OWC which lists any all possible upgrade options for a specific model Mac. You can get the exact model by clicking the Apple menu and selecting "About This Mac", or by entering the system serial number on this Apple page to check its coverage which will also provide you with the exact model number:
Check Your Service and Support Coverage - Apple Support
