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ahostmadsen

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Dec 28, 2009
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I updated from 11.3 to 11.4. After that I have 10Gb less space. I can understand the update uses space temporarily (like the downloaded update package is 6Gb), but when will the system release this temporary space, or how do I get rid of it?
 

ahostmadsen

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Dec 28, 2009
1,109
854
It seems the system released the 10Gb again. I'm pretty much back with the same amount of HD space as before the update. It took a few hours.
 

ahostmadsen

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Dec 28, 2009
1,109
854
The reason for my post was anxiety! I got a new computer that I restored from my old computer with time machine. My old computer had around 50Gb free, which was also the case on the new computer after time-machine restore. But then the free space started to decrease, reaching below 20Gb after updating to 11.4. Like a time-bomb: I was watching it ticking down to 'out of space.' I got really worried. But now it has reversed, free space is slowly increasing, now nearly 60Gb.

Lesson: after restoring to a new computer, the Mac is doing a lot of things in the background which uses space, that will eventually come back. Slightly scary.
 
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ahostmadsen

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Dec 28, 2009
1,109
854
Well, space is down to 30Gb now. So, 50Gb->20Gb->60Gb->30Gb.

It is still doing iCloud photos synching (for about a week!), so that could in some way account for the varying amount of space.
 

ahostmadsen

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Dec 28, 2009
1,109
854
It's up at 50Gb now, same as with the old computer I restored from. Hopefully that's the final result after restore. Amazing how the free space can vary from 10-50GB. 50Gb out of 512Gb is not much, but I'm waiting for the Apple Silicon version of the 16" MBP. Then I think I will also go for 1Tb.
 

ahostmadsen

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Dec 28, 2009
1,109
854
Just to finish up. After doing the first TM backup, I ended up with 60Gb, more than on my old computer. So, 50Gb->20Gb->60Gb->30Gb->60Gb. I have to say, when it went below 20Gb and still ticking down I started to become nervous.
 
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