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High Sierra wouldn't remove 320GB+ purgeable space. Please HELP!

I think this screenshot pretty much explain the problem. The system report I have 424GB free space, but 325GB is purgeable. For whatever reason, Although the system report I have 424GB free space, the yellow bar "System" alone takes up 366GB space!!


The reason system was so big because I copy a 300GB file to the desktop yesterday. After I delete the file, I notice the TimeMachine complain there is not enough space to backup. And then all a sudden the backup needed space go from 220GB and jump up to 551GB as you can see in the screenshot. The Timemachine is actually backing up the 300GB file that I deleted yesterday.



Anyway got a clue how to fix this?


User uploaded file

Posted on Oct 13, 2017 8:57 PM

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Posted on Oct 14, 2017 9:13 AM

Not quite the way it works after the new file system APFS, tthis is all new issue after High Sierra with APFS.


About Time Machine local snapshots - Apple Support

How local snapshots use storage space

Time Machine in macOS High Sierra stores snapshots on every APFS-formatted, all-flash storage device in your Mac or directly connected to your Mac. Time Machine in earlier macOS versions stores snapshots only on the internal startup disk of Mac notebook computers.

To make sure that you have storage space when you need it, snapshots are stored only on disks that have plenty of free space. When storage space gets low, snapshots are automatically deleted, starting with the oldest. That's why Finder and Get Info windows don't include local snapshots in their calculations of the storage space available on a disk.

Published Date: Sep 26, 2017

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Question marked as Best reply

Oct 14, 2017 9:13 AM in response to Eau Rouge

Not quite the way it works after the new file system APFS, tthis is all new issue after High Sierra with APFS.


About Time Machine local snapshots - Apple Support

How local snapshots use storage space

Time Machine in macOS High Sierra stores snapshots on every APFS-formatted, all-flash storage device in your Mac or directly connected to your Mac. Time Machine in earlier macOS versions stores snapshots only on the internal startup disk of Mac notebook computers.

To make sure that you have storage space when you need it, snapshots are stored only on disks that have plenty of free space. When storage space gets low, snapshots are automatically deleted, starting with the oldest. That's why Finder and Get Info windows don't include local snapshots in their calculations of the storage space available on a disk.

Published Date: Sep 26, 2017

Oct 14, 2017 8:44 AM in response to DerekLeung

You do realise that you should not be backing up to same disk that your operating system and your files are. Backups should be kept on an external drive, local back ups are a temporary measure when your 'on the road' when your back at home you then get Time Machine to back up to your external drive.

What on earth file needed to be 300Gbs?

Nov 1, 2017 2:24 AM in response to Eau Rouge

Strange there are people who don’t want to understand the original problem and think that questioner is completely stupid. (No offense) You should focus to the solution, if you have any.

There are many people like we who are walking in the same shoes.

We can’t create a TM backup to TimeCapsule because there is not enough free space for local snapshot or we can’t copy a big file or folder because local TM snapshot occupies the free spaces.


This is a High Sierra bug (or feature) that you can’t disable local TM snapshots.

Solution: Reclaim storage back from "System" | MacRumors Forums


Only solution to disable TM backup completely and use a third-party backup like CCC.


Regards,

Zsolt

High Sierra wouldn't remove 320GB+ purgeable space. Please HELP!

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