How do I resolve 'Not enough disk space' and 'changes cannot be saved' errors in Final Cut Pro 12.4?

Question

How do I resolve 'Not enough disk space' and 'changes cannot be saved' errors in Final Cut Pro 12.4?

Ever since I updated to Final Cut Pro 12.4, I've been getting a "Not enough disk space" error whenever I add something to the timeline, despite having more than enough free space (2TB of storage). Once I press "OK", nothing happens, and I can continue editing as normal. I also noticed that if I leave FCP open for a while without using it, I get a "changes cannot be saved" error that closes my library. Everything is fine once I reopen it, but it's something I've noticed that never happened before this past update.

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: New Update Storage Bug?

MacBook Pro 14″, macOS 27.0

Posted on Oct 18, 2026 3:42 PM

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Answer 1

joema

Level 4

1,711 points

Oct 19, 2026 7:53 AM in response to DarrenEsquire

When investigating areas like this, Finder and System Settings alone are insufficient because “available” can include purgeable space that is still occupied. Apple explicitly distinguishes this from physically free space.

To see the actual available free space, immediately after you get one of those FCP errors, do this:

System Information > General >Storage > All Volumes

Note, it may take a few seconds for the "All Volumes" button to appear.

Ensure this includes all of the below, and make sure you are not exporting to or using any type of network or cloud storage for this procedure. Also ensure you do not have a camera card mounted on the Mac.

Directly-attached disk holding FCP library
Directly-attached disk holding FCP media files
Directly-attached disk receiving FCP output being exported

How much actual free space does that indicate on all volumes?

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Answer 2

Oct 19, 2026 1:33 AM in response to DarrenEsquire

Maybe the problem is not on the media drive, but the system drive.

Low free space on the system drive can cause lots of issues.

How much free space there?

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Answer 3

Oct 18, 2026 6:30 PM in response to DarrenEsquire

Hi(bonjour),

May be it’s related to disk permission. Verify if Final Cut Pro has access to write on the SSD.

Michel

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Answer 4

Oct 18, 2026 6:05 PM in response to Old_Video_Guy

No need to sound condescending. My drive is 4TB in total. It's an external SSD I've used for the past two years with no problems. I update, and then I get a storage error. And yes, my FCP libraries are stored on the drive.

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Answer 5

Oct 18, 2026 5:26 PM in response to DarrenEsquire

Are sure that you really have 2TB of FREE space? Or is that just the total size of the drive?

Exactly WHERE is that 2 TB of space you think you have? Is it on the system drive or external storage?

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