Hi,
I recently checked that "other volumes" in my container was taking more than 60gb of space. It cannot be mounted, removed or cleared. I read in another post that this is controlled by the system and not to be meddled with.
Is it normal for this volume to be so large? Is there anything that I can do? Attached below is a screenshot of my storage usage.
Thanks.
MacBook Pro, macOS High Sierra (10.13), null
However, before doing anything, always make sure you have a backup: Back up your MacIf you see more than one disk in the Storage area of System Information, your system has multiple volumes.
The APFS file system in macOS High Sierra features space sharing and fast directory sizing. When a single APFS container (partition) has multiple volumes, the container’s free space is shared and can be allocated to any of the individual volumes as needed. Each volume uses only part of the overall container, so the available space is the total size of the container, minus the size of all volumes in the container. This overall amount of used space, including other volumes in the container, is indicated by a crosshatched area.
To learn more about partitions, see Partition a physical disk.
Step 4 is what we're looking at.Apple File System (APFS) allocates disk space on demand; however, you can manually manage APFS volume allocation if required.
Important: As a precaution, it’s best to back up your data before creating new partitions on your device.
Select an existing APFS volume in the sidebar, then click the Add Volume button
.
Enter a name for the new APFS volume.
Click the Format pop-up menu, then choose a format.
APFS: Uses the Apple File System format, recommended for volumes using macOS High Sierra.
APFS (Encrypted): Uses the Apple File System format and encrypts the partition.
APFS (Case-sensitive): Uses the Apple File System format and is case-sensitive to file and folder names. For example, folders named “Homework” and “HOMEWORK” are two different folders.
APFS (Case-sensitive, Encrypted): Uses the Apple File System format, is case-sensitive to file and folder names, and encrypts the partition. For example, folders named “Homework” and “HOMEWORK” are two different folders.
If you want to manually manage APFS volume allocation, click Size Options and enter values in the fields:
Reserve Size: The optional reserve size ensures that the amount of storage will remain available for this volume.
Quota Size: The optional quota size limits how much storage the volume can allocate.
When you’re done, click OK.
Click Add.
Thank you for your response, Sarah.
Actually, I had tried all of this before I started this discussion. I guess I will provide some background as to what may have resulted in this. I tried installing windows on my mac via Bootcamp, but Bootcamp hanged while partitioning my drive. It was in that state for over 20 minutes. I had used Bootcamp a few times before and it never took longer than 5 minutes to work.
I had to hard-reboot my mac. Once I logged back in, I saw that I had lost around 60gb of memory (the exact amount that I allocated for the windows installation). Is there anything else I can do to reclaim this space?
did you solve this problem? I am suffering same situation with you pls help me ;(
did you solve this problem? I am suffering same situation with you pls help me ;(
Well, I got an update and it automatically sorted itself out. I think that the OS will automatically find and add the missing storage once you run out of space.
Other volumes in container is >60gb
