iCloud sync fails with "Not enough local storage" despite "Optimize Mac Storage" being enabled

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iCloud sync fails with "Not enough local storage" despite "Optimize Mac Storage" being enabled

I have a photo library of about 200,000 photos in iCloud totalling about 1 TB of storage space. I want to have this library available on my Mac as it's much easier to manage the library there than on my iPhone.

However, even with the "Optimize Mac Storage" option turned on, Photos is refusing to sync my photo library with the error message "Not enough local storage".

My photos library is on a dedicated 100GB volume that I'm not using for anything else. The volume is showing 88.9GB of 100GB used, but with an available capacity of about 70GB since most of the used space is purgeable. So the actual disk usage is only about 11GB, which I presume is what Photos needs to store the thumbnails and metadata.

There should therefore be plenty of space for Photos to continue syncing the library, since it can just purge whatever space it might need.

I've tried some tricks found online for forcing Mac to purge purgeable space on a volume, like creating large files and deleting them again, but this doesn't appear to be working (I get a similar error that there isn't enough space on the volume).

I have tried deleting and recreating my Photos library, which worked for a while before filling up again and giving the same error. As it takes many days for my library to finish the initial sync, this isn't really a feasible workaround.

Does anyone have any suggestions for additional things I might try?

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 14.1

Posted on Dec 23, 2023 10:14 AM

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Answer 1

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léonie

Level 10

201,379 points

Dec 23, 2023 11:56 AM in response to Bj-macintyre

How much storage is your Photos Library currently using in iCloud? When you wrote "Totalling about 1 TB of storage space", did you meant the size of your library or your total iCloud subscription?

I doubt, that your 200000 photos will fit into 70GB of available storage, even optimized. When you stopp syncing your library with iCloud and then want to resume the syncing, Photos will estimate the amount of storage required based on the worst case estimate that all photos in iCloud are different from the ones currently in your local library. So you will need initially additional free storage (not available storage) for all photos from iCloud, at least optimized.

My library has currently 65000 photos and videos, and the working copies (thumbnails, faces, etc) require currently 90GB of local storage.

If you are sure, that your photos are all in iCloud, you could remove your Photos Library completely from your external drive and move it to a different drive. Then create a new, empty library on the volume, where you want to keep your photos and try to sync this empty library with your iCloud Photos Library. Then you will see, if 100GB of free storage are sufficient to sync your iCloud Photos Library.

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Answer 2

Bj-macintyre Author

Level 1

4 points

Dec 23, 2023 1:30 PM in response to léonie

Hello,

Thanks for the reply!

The size of the library is 1TB; I have a 2TB iCloud subscription.

If I recreate the library, the initial sync completes successfully and I can use the library completely as I would expect to be able to - all thumbnails are there and I can open and edit anything I want to. But after a few days of use it stops syncing new photos with the “not enough storage” error.

The same library is using 30GB on my iPhone so I’m fairly certain 100GB should be more than enough. As mentioned in the original post, my Mac is also reporting only 11GB of used, non-purgeable space on the volume. So I would think that if photos decides it needs more than 10GB to sync the few hundred photos it’s missing, it should be able to purge some of the older stuff it has downloaded.

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iCloud sync fails with "Not enough local storage" despite "Optimize Mac Storage" being enabled

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