Not possible to update to Sequoia 15.3.1 due to (incorrect) space issue on MAcbook Air M1 2020

When updating to the new MacOS Sequoia 15.3.1 the system reports that the target drive (an external drive) has not enough space and needs 1,23 Gb more, however the drive reports to have 149 Gb available. Also another drive with almost 500Gb available is reported as not enough space.


Removing files from the 1st drive (roughly freeing up 4 Gb the downloaded stops again (later) but complains now that there is even more shortage (2.63 Gb). I already went to an external drive as the internal one complained always when updating the OS (and it is quite small 128 Gb).


I have run firstAid to see if there were any container issues, but no result. Checked if hidden files were the issue, but also a nono.


Is there anyone that can give me advice?

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 15.0

Posted on Mar 2, 2025 2:03 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 2, 2025 3:16 PM

hedzerfromson wrote:

When updating to the new MacOS Sequoia 15.3.1 the system reports that the target drive (an external drive) has not enough space and needs 1,23 Gb more, however the drive reports to have 149 Gb available. Also another drive with almost 500Gb available is reported as not enough space.

Removing files from the 1st drive (roughly freeing up 4 Gb the downloaded stops again (later) but complains now that there is even more shortage (2.63 Gb). I already went to an external drive as the internal one complained always when updating the OS (and it is quite small 128 Gb).

I have run firstAid to see if there were any container issues, but no result. Checked if hidden files were the issue, but also a nono.

Is there anyone that can give me advice?


SSD like to have 15-20%+ free storage


see if there is anything here.


Turn off Tme Machine temporarily


Boot into Safeboot mode when you go to run the install

 Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support


Review first the following:


Nice list here posted by D.I. Johnson— reducing “System Data”

MacBook Pro System Data file is huge - Apple Community




free vs available disk space huge difference, what is going on?

“The "available" storage is the amount of used storage that the operating system could automatically delete if it felt that it was really necessary. The "free" storage is the amount that you can actually use for something.

There are system processes that run in the background and automatically delete some of the "available" storage and convert it to "free". If you completely run out of storage, then those system processes will try a little harder. When you "delete" files you are just hinting to the operating system that you don't need those files anymore. The operating system will eventually remove them, but on its own schedule.

Certain tools will allow you to force the issue and manually clean up some of this storage and manually delete local snapshots. But that is only temporary. “


ref: Free vs available disk space huge differe… - Apple Community





5 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 2, 2025 3:16 PM in response to hedzerfromson

hedzerfromson wrote:

When updating to the new MacOS Sequoia 15.3.1 the system reports that the target drive (an external drive) has not enough space and needs 1,23 Gb more, however the drive reports to have 149 Gb available. Also another drive with almost 500Gb available is reported as not enough space.

Removing files from the 1st drive (roughly freeing up 4 Gb the downloaded stops again (later) but complains now that there is even more shortage (2.63 Gb). I already went to an external drive as the internal one complained always when updating the OS (and it is quite small 128 Gb).

I have run firstAid to see if there were any container issues, but no result. Checked if hidden files were the issue, but also a nono.

Is there anyone that can give me advice?


SSD like to have 15-20%+ free storage


see if there is anything here.


Turn off Tme Machine temporarily


Boot into Safeboot mode when you go to run the install

 Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support


Review first the following:


Nice list here posted by D.I. Johnson— reducing “System Data”

MacBook Pro System Data file is huge - Apple Community




free vs available disk space huge difference, what is going on?

“The "available" storage is the amount of used storage that the operating system could automatically delete if it felt that it was really necessary. The "free" storage is the amount that you can actually use for something.

There are system processes that run in the background and automatically delete some of the "available" storage and convert it to "free". If you completely run out of storage, then those system processes will try a little harder. When you "delete" files you are just hinting to the operating system that you don't need those files anymore. The operating system will eventually remove them, but on its own schedule.

Certain tools will allow you to force the issue and manually clean up some of this storage and manually delete local snapshots. But that is only temporary. “


ref: Free vs available disk space huge differe… - Apple Community





Mar 3, 2025 6:50 AM in response to hedzerfromson

As next step I tried in save mode a reInstall when selecting the SSD (MacOS partition 500Gb and 149Gb available) which holds the OS Sequoia 15.0.1 the installer tells me there is 1.23Gb unsufficient space. However when I select the other partition on the SSD (data partition 500Gb with 476Gb available) it also states the partition has 1.23Gb shortages!!


SO I believe it is not disk space related as this is too coincidental.

Mar 3, 2025 6:33 AM in response to leroydouglas

leroydouglas wrote:

SSD like to have 15-20%+ free storage

see if there is anything here.

Thanks for quick response:


My MacOS SSD drive reports in info (save mode as suggested) available 159 Gb (of 500 Gb) so this seems not the issue. In save mode installation reports the same shortage (1.23 Gb) as before. I will try the other Partition which has over 400 Gb available of 500 Gb and let you know


This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Not possible to update to Sequoia 15.3.1 due to (incorrect) space issue on MAcbook Air M1 2020

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.