Deleted User Account to Adjust Storage Space - FAILED

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Level 1

8 points

Deleted User Account to Adjust Storage Space - FAILED

Hi! I'm using MacBook Air (13-inch, Early 2015) running macOS Sierra. My storage capacity is 121 GB. But my other profile account was using around 50 GB of my storage. So I decided to remove my profile account to add 50 GB to my main profile account. To my surprise this did not work. I had 20 GB left and so adding around 50 GB should give me around 70 GB of available storage. That did not work though...any solutions so that I can gain more storage space?

Thanks!

MacBook Air, OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)

Posted on May 25, 2017 4:43 AM

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Answer 1

Eric--F

Community Specialist

May 25, 2017 6:27 PM in response to Ron Mike

Hello Ron Mike,

Thanks for asking the Apple Support Communities about reclaiming the space on your MacBook Air. Here are a few options.

First, after you delete a profile or account, you will have an option to save the data in a disk image. If you choose that option, you will be using some space for the disk image, but should reclaim the rest of it. After you complete the removal of the account, make sure you restart your computer.

The next thing to check is to see what is actually taking up the space on your hard drive. If you have a large amount of "Other & Purgeable" using up your space, please check this help article: What is ‘Other‘ and ‘Purgeable‘ in About This Mac? . After removing items, restart your Mac.

If you still have issues, reindexing spotlight. How to rebuild the Spotlight index on your Mac

Thanks and have a great evening.

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Answer 2

rose_10

Community Specialist

May 25, 2017 6:44 PM in response to Ron Mike

Hello Ron Mike,

Thanks for continuing our troubleshooting here in the Apple Support Communities. The only way to check if the user is saved in a disk image is to check the folder containing it. this help article: OS X El Capitan: Restore a deleted user states you can check for this data by:

1. Click Finder

2. Click Go

3. Click Go to Folder

4. Type /Users/Deleted Users in the window that pops up.

5. Press return.

Any info in that folder is from deleted users. If it does not equate to the same amount of data that you are trying to reclaim, please try reindexing Spotlight as discussed in the previous reply.

Thank you once again and have a wonderful evening.

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Answer 3

Ron Mike Author

Level 1

8 points

May 25, 2017 6:27 PM in response to Eric--F

Hi! Thanks for the reply! How do I know if I used disk image? I can't remember whether I chose that option or not. Also majority of my storage is used by System data. Like 55.95 GB is used by system data. But before I deleted the user profile only around 32 GB was used by System Data. Around 23 GB was used by user profile.

As for the 'Other and Prugeable' only 700 MB is used.

Thanks!

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Answer 4

Ron Mike Author

Level 1

8 points

May 25, 2017 7:00 PM in response to rose_10

Thanks for the reply sarah_s1! I can't seem to find the /Users/Deleted Users directory. I did find the /Users directory but not the Deleted Users directory.

I did see the user profile which was deleted inside the Users directory. However, I can't access the files because I don't have permission.

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Answer 5

AppleJoe

Community Manager

May 25, 2017 7:54 PM in response to Ron Mike

Hello Ron Mike,

The folder you are seeing that is from the deleted user that you don't have permissions to access is a saved version of your deleted user. If you are sure you will never need to restore the data from the user or have a Time Machine backup with the user saved on an external drive, you can delete it, then restart the computer.

Have a great day.

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