alison2050

Q: Storage space not released on emptying trash

I have now deleted over 1Gb of files in order to make space from iPhoto, emptied it's trash, which lands in the main system trash, which upon deletion doesn't release any space.  If anything the space used on disk is slowly creeping up as I watch it, without downloading or editing any files, and the deletions have no effect.

 

Confused, disappointed and in need of help...

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2013), iPhoto library

Posted on Mar 28, 2016 3:04 AM

Close

Q: Storage space not released on emptying trash

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by OGELTHORPE,

    OGELTHORPE OGELTHORPE Mar 28, 2016 3:15 AM in response to alison2050
    Level 9 (52,313 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 28, 2016 3:15 AM in response to alison2050

    Try the options in these links:

     

    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201583

     

    http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/trash.html

     

    Download from the Internet OmniDiskSweeper and Grand Perspective (both free) and open them. They will show all of your files and the respective sizes. Transfer to an external HDD or delete files you no longer want on your MBP.

     

    Do not forget to empty trash. Only then is space allocated for new data.

     

    Ciao.

  • by Terence Devlin,

    Terence Devlin Terence Devlin Mar 28, 2016 4:49 AM in response to alison2050
    Level 10 (139,532 points)
    iLife
    Mar 28, 2016 4:49 AM in response to alison2050

    If you trashed 1 gig of data from iPhoto at one go then it's very likely the app didn't clean up properly.

     

    How much free space on your disk right now?

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Mar 28, 2016 9:18 AM in response to alison2050
    Level 10 (207,963 points)
    Applications
    Mar 28, 2016 9:18 AM in response to alison2050

    For information about the Other category in the Storage display, please see this support article. If the display seems to be inaccurate, try rebuilding the Spotlight index.

    Empty the Trash if you haven't already done so. If you use iPhoto, empty its internal Trash first:

              iPhoto ▹ Empty Trash

    In Photos:

              File Show Recently Deleted Delete All

    Do the same in other applications, such as Aperture, that have an internal Trash feature. Then restart the computer. That will temporarily free up some space.

    According to Apple documentation, you need at least 9 GB of available space on the startup volume (as shown in the Finder Info window) for normal operation—not the mythical 10%, 15%, or any other percentage. You also need enough space left over to allow for growth of the data. There is little or no performance advantage to having more available space than the minimum Apple recommends. Available storage space that you'll never use is wasted space.

    When Time Machine backs up a portable Mac, some of the free space will be used to make local snapshots, which are backup copies of recently deleted files. The space occupied by local snapshots is reported as available by the Finder, and should be considered as such. In the Storage display of System Information, local snapshots are shown as Backups. The snapshots are automatically deleted when they expire or when free space falls below a certain level. You ordinarily don't need to, and should not, delete local snapshots yourself. If you followed bad advice to disable local snapshots by running a shell command, you may have ended up with a lot of data in the Other category. Ask for instructions in that case.

    See this support article for some simple ways to free up storage space. A common waste of space is old iTunes backups of mobile devices. As illustrated in this support article, select the Devices tab in the iTunes preferences window, select the backups you want to delete, and click Delete Backups. Keep at least one backup of each device that you still use.

    You can more effectively use a tool such as OmniDiskSweeper (ODS) to explore the volume and find out what's taking up the space. You can also delete files with it, but don't do that unless you're sure that you know what you're deleting and that all data is safely backed up. That means you have multiple backups, not just one. Note that ODS only works with OS X 10.8 or later.

    Deleting files inside a photo or iTunes library will corrupt the library. Changes to such a library must be made from within the application that created it. The same goes for Mail files.

    Proceed further only if the problem isn't solved by the above steps.

    ODS can't see the whole filesystem when you run it just by double-clicking; it only sees files that you have permission to read. To see everything, you have to run it as root.

    Back up all data now.

    Install the app in the Applications folder as usual. Quit it if it's running.

    Triple-click anywhere in the line of text below on this page to select it, then copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.

    security execute-with-privileges /A*/OmniDiskSweeper.app/*/M*/* 2>&-

    Launch the built-in Terminal application in any one of the following ways:

    ☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

    ☞ In the Finder, select Go Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

    ☞ Open LaunchPad and start typing the name.

    Paste into the Terminal window by pressing command-V. You'll be prompted for your login password.

    The application window will open behind other open windows. When you scan a volume, the window will eventually show all files in all folders, sorted by size. It may take a few minutes for the app to finish scanning.

    I don't recommend that you make a habit of doing this. Don't delete anything as root. If something needs to be deleted, make sure you know what it is and how it got there, and then delete it by other, safer, means. When in doubt, leave it alone or ask for guidance.

    When you're done with the app, quit it and also quit Terminal.

  • by etresoft,Apple recommended

    etresoft etresoft Mar 28, 2016 12:42 PM in response to alison2050
    Level 7 (29,178 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 28, 2016 12:42 PM in response to alison2050

    Hello alison2050,

    The iPhoto database is special. It occupies the same space as the newer Photos database. Deleting anything from iPhoto isn't going to help recover disk space. Generally, deleting only 1 GB of data isn't going to help either. Depending on the size of your hard disk, it is best to keep about 10-20% of your disk free at all times. Those are the thresholds the operating system uses to run some automatic clean-up tasks. For an older machine with a mechanical hard drive, those automatic clean-up tasks can slow down your machine. For a newer machine like yours, with an SSD drive, that 20% buffer is useful to prevent running out of disk space. An SSD is very fast, but it can also fill up in an instant, leading to catastrophic damage. Speaking of catastrophic damage, you haven't mentioned if you have a backup or not.

     

    I wrote a little diagnostic program to help show what state your machine is currently in. Download EtreCheck from http://www.etrecheck.com, run it, and paste the results here. EtreCheck is perfectly safe to run, does not ask for your password to install, and is signed with my Apple Developer ID.

     

    Disclaimer: Although EtreCheck is free, there are other links on my site that could give me some form of compensation, financial or otherwise.