Is formatting an external SSD used for FCPX libraries a solution for overcoming the problem of 'purgeable space'?

After formatting the drive I have been using the drive and it has no problem so far. As can be seen in the screenshot I have attached to my reply to Luis, it has nil purgeable data so far. I feel the main reason for this piling up of purgeable data has been this: I have been using this drive for nearly 3 years, constantly creating new events and either moving or deleting the events after exporting the projects. In future, I will create fresh libraries for every new project and once done, I will move/delete the events and trash the library. I hope that this workflow will not create trouble for me in the future.

Regards

Somanna

Hello Luis. Nice to see your reply. I have already formatted the thunderbolt SSD drive earlier today. After copy/pasting all the libraries I had copied to the Stepney SSD, I did some deletion of unwanted libraries, finished exporting one project and this is the info of the drive that was overflowing earlier with +860 GB of [un] purgeable space.

I have been regularly using another drive to backup the data work done on the thunderbolt drive but haven't ever used it to back up other drives through Time Machine or CCC.

Regards and take care

Dr. Somanna

A very good morning to you dear Ian! I am very glad to receive this reply from you! I have already copied all the libraries to a brand new spare SSD drive [named Stepney!] and the actual size of all the data is only 80 GB.

I am using the filled up thunderbolt drive as my scratch disk. I have 'template libraries' according to the type of my creative content I make [family, Christian songs, TV messages and social videos]. After finishing a project I either delete the event or move the event to another dedicated spinning drive named LIBRARY. I did realise that the purgeable stuff was increasing in size over the time, but thought that the OS would get rid of them and make space for newer inputs. Only when the error message crept up yesterday, I had to remedy the situation. Deleting the Library generated files hadn't helped and so wouldn't restarting in safe mode. After reading in some thread that this purgeable stuff can be 'un-purgeable' I became anxious and hence approached you experts for guidance in this matter. No thread that I have read has suggested formatting of the drive.

Learning from what has transpired, I guess I need to change my workflow. I have to create a new library for every project I make; after exporting the project, I either move the event or delete the event, and then delete the library from the scratch disk. I hope this change in workflow will not have a build up of purgeable space.

Regards and take care.

Dr. Somanna

Thank you for responding. I regularly disable background rendering.

Regards

Dr. Somanna