Most of us are keen to update to a new version of macOS as soon as it is available. macOS Big Sur has been out since November 12, still, many users couldn't update their Macs straight away. It’s very frustrating if you see a message telling you that you don’t have enough space to install the new macOS. Don’t worry, though. There are lots of things you can do to fix it. We’ll show you what they are in this article.
How much space do you need for Big Sur?
While the installer for Big Sur takes up less than 16GB of space, you should make sure that you have at least 20GB of free space on your startup disk before you try to download and install it. The more free space, the better. Does microsoft office come with macbook pro. Your Mac uses disk space to store temporary files and provide storage for active apps and tasks (which is what RAM does), so you should never be running with almost no disk space left.
Delete Large Files on your Mac. Instead of deleting a hundred small files and images, first of. Check the available storage space on your Mac to ensure at least 30 GB available storage. Otherwise, you will need to remove some content from your Mac to clean up the storage space. If you don't have an idea how to clean up your Mac.
CleanMyMac X makes it very easy to free up disk space on your Mac by identifying junk files and allowing you to get rid of them with a click. It can also detect large and old files and show you the files taking up most space and uninstall applications.
How to free up space for macOS Big Sur?
Complete the following steps to ensure your Mac is ready to update to Big Sur.
1. Backup your Mac
Back up all files and data that are stored on your Mac. Preferably twice to different locations. While upgrading to Big Sur is safe, you never know when something might go wrong. If you use Time Machine or another backup tool, run a manual backup just before you upgrade. And, if you can, clone your startup disk to an external drive, too.
2. Free up disk space using CleanMyMac X
If you don’t already have CleanMyMac X installed, download it for free here. This tool will help you clear some space and delete large and old files quickly.
- Launch CleanMyMac X.
- Choose System Junk in the sidebar and press Scan.
- When it’s finished, press Clean to free up space, or Review Details to find out more.
3. Get rid of large and old files
Media files usually gobble up a large amount of disk space. And the worst thing is they are scattered around Mac’s folders, making it difficult to find and remove them. CleanMyMac X proves to be useful here:
- Choose Large & Old files in CleanMyMac X’s sidebar.
- Press Scan.
- When it’s finished, use the middle column to filter files by type.
- Check files that you want to delete.
- Press Remove.
4. Use Apple’s built-in storage management tool
Apple has provided a method for you to manage storage by showing you what is taking up disk space and making recommendations for deleting. It’s not as quick and easy as CleanMyMac X, but it can help you save disk space. Here’s how to use it.
- Click on the Apple menu and choose About this Mac.
- Select Storage and press Manage.
- In the Recommendations section, review each section in turn.
- Now go through each of the sections in the sidebar.
- Delete files or take further action, depending on what you choose.
5. Delete local Time Machine snapshots
There is one other thing you can try if you keep getting a message telling you that you do not have enough space to install Big Sur. You should only try it if you are sure there is enough space on your startup disk and that the message is wrong. And it will only work if you use Time Machine to back up your Mac.
Time Machine stores local snapshots on your Mac. Your Mac is supposed to count the space used by snapshots as free space, which is why it looks like you have enough space for the installation.
However, it seems that the installer may not realize the space is free. The solution is to delete the snapshots. This won’t remove backups on your backup disk, just snapshots on your Mac.
How to photoshop on macbook. Open Time Machine from System Preferences. Uncheck Back Up Automatically and wait some time till Time Machine deletes snapshots. Then you can turn Time Machine back on.
If you’re familiar with Terminal, you can try deleting local snapshots manually.
- Go to Applications > Utilities and launch Terminal.
- Type:
tmutil listlocalsnapshots /
- You will see a list of snapshots that look like this:
com.apple.TimeMachine.2020-10–09-002010.local
- To delete a snapshot, type:
sudo tmutil deletelocalsnapshots
- Then type the date part of the snapshot name. For example:
sudo tmutil deletelocalsnapshots 2020-10–09-002010
- Type Return and repeat for each snapshot you want to delete.
Hopefully, this helped you free up some space and update your Mac to the latest OS. If you're just preparing your Mac for the upgrade, don't forget to back up your data before you start clearing space. So you won't be afraid of losing anything important.
If there isn't enough space to download and install an update, your device temporarily removes some downloadable parts of installed apps. You shouldn't need to remove or relocate any content. If you still need more space than you have on your device, there are a few ways you can update:
How To Get More Space On My Macbook Air
- Plug your device into your computer to update using your computer.
- Delete content from your device and try to update again.
- Manage the storage on your device with recommendations.
Update using your computer
To download the latest version of iOS or iPadOS, using your computer, follow these steps:
- On a Mac with macOS Catalina 10.15, open Finder. On a Mac with macOS Mojave 10.14 or earlier, or on a PC, open iTunes.
- Plug your device into your computer.
- Locate your device on your computer. You might need to trust your device to continue.
- Click Check for Update.
- Click Download and Update.
If you see a different alert during an update, learn how to resolve it.
Delete content manually
You can check your storage to see how much space your apps use and delete the ones that you don't need. You can download your purchased apps or other content again later.
- On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, go to Settings > General > [device] Storage.
- Select any app to see how much space it uses.
- Tap Delete App. Some apps, such as Music and Videos, let you delete parts of their documents and data.
- Install the update again. Go to Settings > General > Software Update.
Manage space with recommendations
In iOS 11 and later, and iPadOS, you can get tips for how to save space and how to offload or delete apps and content that you don't need. You can download your purchased apps or other content again later.
How To Get More Space On My Macbook Air 2
- Go to Settings > General > [device] Storage.
- Scroll to the Recommendations section to see tips.
Learn more
- You can also reduce the size of your Photo library by turning on iCloud Photo Library and optimizing your device storage.
- Learn how to save space on your device with Messages in iCloud.
- Learn about storage on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.