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Help needed freeing up storage after iPhoto transfer

Hello All,


I've been trying to research this, but am not having much luck. Obviously I'm on a Macbook Air, I had about 22GBs of photos in my iPhoto library. I moved the library to a harddrive to help free up memory, which was fine. I deleted the old file on the machine, but when I go to "About this mac" to check and see the reduction marked "photos" on the bar graph, it still reads the same size library. I have emptied the trash and have also restarted. I know I pulled the iphoto library from the correct place, I just don't know why the storage still reads the 22GB usage. Any suggestions?

MacBook Air, Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on Dec 30, 2012 6:14 PM

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7 replies

Dec 30, 2012 7:28 PM in response to ktice007

“You may notice a difference in available space statistics between Disk Utility, Finder, and Get Info inspectors. This is expected and can be safely ignored. The Finder displays the available space on the disk without accounting for the local snapshots, because local snapshots will surrender their disk space if needed."


About Time Machine's "local snapshots" on portable Macs

Dec 30, 2012 8:33 PM in response to Linc Davis

Thanks for the reply... disk Utility and Finder both show the same amount of space taken up, while get info shows the picture file to be less than 1 GB. If the readings are to be ignored, then how might I know the amount of space actually being used? Thanks for the article... it makes sense with regard to the local snapshot space being surrendered when necessary. Can you explain why the photo storage space would not be accurate? Since they are photo files, it doesn't seem to me that the photo "space" and the storage "space" would be used and consequently reflected the same way. Can you explain this? Can I expect it to update itself at some point? Sorry if redundant.

Dec 30, 2012 8:44 PM in response to ktice007

...how might I know the amount of space actually being used?


The relevant statistic is available space; that is, the space available for the addition of data without your having to delete any other data. The space occupied by local snapshots is being used, temporarily, but it's also available, and is counted as such by the Finder. You don't have to care how much space the local snapshots take up. Think of it as free space that's being put to good use, instead of just being wasted.

Dec 30, 2012 9:27 PM in response to ktice007

The "storage" tab found in About This Mac does not provide an accurate status for how much space you have available. I have never been able to understand the time lags between its being updated and then there are those mysterious Time Machine "backup" snapshots which must serve some useful purpose but they make the "storage" tab not very useful when you have a SSD and want to know exactly what space is left.


The only way to see exactly what space you are using and have left is to select your Macintosh HD and do Get Info. That tells you what you have, and any time lag there can be resolved by logging out and back in. If you deleted 22 GB of files, you should see 22 GB more in space available when doing Get Info, assuming that you emptied the Trash.


I sugest you also download OmniDiskSweeper (free) or WhatSize (small fee) to find out where your space is being used.

Dec 30, 2012 10:33 PM in response to ktice007

If 22GB of photos have been removed, why isn't 22GB of space available?


It is, if you did what you said you did. Look at the Info window.


How do the time machine snapshots and photo library relate?


The deleted files are in the local snapshots, in case you change your mind later. If you don't change your mind, you never need to think about them again. Eventually they'll be deleted permanently. Don't second-guess this process. Just believe what the Info window tells you.

Dec 31, 2012 6:08 AM in response to Linc Davis

Thanks for the logout/login tip. I started questioning myself when the memory didn't show up and actually did some searching on the computer and found the photo jpgs stored in an additional file. I must have trasferred it accidentally at some point over the summer. I did delete the file and emptied the trash. Get Info on MacHD reflects properly, while I'm seeing something different in About this Mac, but now I understand why. Thanks all!

Help needed freeing up storage after iPhoto transfer

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