Not enough disk space

[hellfried]

Right now trying to install Big Sur over Catalina brings up the error message warning lack of space. Both my laptops have only 128G of space and they are pretty full up. My question is, when Big Sur is officially launched, does that mean I can only do a clean install and I can't upgrade from Catalina?

 

[Fishrrman]

"Both my laptops have only 128G of space and they are pretty full up"

The solution is as simple as it gets:
REMOVE a lot of "the stuff" that is filling up the drive.
Then try again.

 

[jazz1]

I recently had to "burn my iMac" to the ground, and reinstall the OS due to wake from sleep crashes. It seemed to clean up a lot of junk that was hogging space on my iMac. Then I just pulled over stuff I really cared about from Time Machine.

Also, and I'm putting a target on my back, I recommend Clean-My-Mac. It works great on cleaning up system junk, as well as identifying space hogs. Get ready for some Clean-My-Mac "hate" posts. I feel like Ben Franklin flying a kite in a thunder storm by recommending that app.

I also have used the System Prefs. "About this Mac" and then "storage" tab. It will give you an idea of what you can live without. Do you have some old 32bit apps. you need to get rid of. Both this "storage tab" and Clean-My-Mac

Finally, I store a lot of my stuff in the "iCloud". Pictures, documents, .pdf, ect.

My next iMac will definitely have double the storage space that I think I need!

 

[hellfried]

I fully understand the nuke what is not needed approach but I was hoping to just install Big Sur over my existing OS. Upgrading to a new version of the OS has never involved deleting anything prior.

 

[flowrider]

"Both my laptops have only 128G of space and they are pretty full up"

The solution is as simple as it gets:
REMOVE a lot of "the stuff" that is filling up the drive.
Then try again.

Not really - The answer is to repurpose those ridiculously small drives and replace them with SSDs of a decent size.

Lou

 

[Weaselboy]

I fully understand the nuke what is not needed approach but I was hoping to just install Big Sur over my existing OS. Upgrading to a new version of the OS has never involved deleting anything prior.

Last Week on My Mac: Control-Space

Updating Big Sur can cause the storage required by the system to double in size. Snapshots appear to be the cause. What’s the solution?

eclecticlight.co

I just saw this article this morning. What is happening is Bir Sur is keeping a "snapshot" of the old OS version, and that is using up your disk space. So you may need to do a clan Big Sur install, then import your data.

Presumably, if you did have the space for these snaphots, they would be purged off in 24 hours like regular snapshots. But that does help you get your upgrade done.

 

[hellfried]

Last Week on My Mac: Control-Space

Updating Big Sur can cause the storage required by the system to double in size. Snapshots appear to be the cause. What’s the solution?

eclecticlight.co

I just saw this article this morning. What is happening is Bir Sur is keeping a "snapshot" of the old OS version, and that is using up your disk space. So you may need to do a clan Big Sur install, then import your data.

Presumably, if you did have the space for these snaphots, they would be purged off in 24 hours like regular snapshots. But that does help you get your upgrade done.

Thanks for this. I just hope that this is sorted out when the GM is released.

 

[dumiku]

Right now trying to install Big Sur over Catalina brings up the error message warning lack of space. Both my laptops have only 128G of space and they are pretty full up. My question is when Big Sur is officially launched, does that mean I can only do a clean install and I can't upgrade from Catalina?

I also have 128GB, I needed 50GB of free, just move the big stuff install and move it back, for me it was Logic, Garageband, some plugin folders and others, the install takes time tough
I had 20GB of free space so I just free 30 more