Deleting files doesn't free up storage space

I'm a long-time Mac user with a 2010 MacBook Pro (320GB) now running Mavericks. About a week ago I screwed up my iTunes and tried to restore from Time Machine. But I can't because I only have 38GB free and the TM backup is about 40. So I moved big files over to my attached drive to free up space. But no matter how much I move (and it's been tens of GB) I still only have 35-38GB free (It varies across this range for no apparent reason). The storage allocated to Movies and Pictures decreases, but rather than free space increasing, the mysterious category Backups does. I now have 124GB allocated to Backups. Yes, I delete the files and empty trash after moving all these files from my system. And I restart and even wait overnight hoping that the system cleanup routines that run in the dark of night will do their magic. I have tried several times doing the TM restore of iTunes and each time I get the message that I don't have enough free space. Can anyone tell me how to break free of this. I would sure be greatful. Thanks.

Hello friends !
I just found out the way to easily fix the ' actual free space not showing ' problem in Mac OS X 10.9.2.
1. Turn off your macbook ( i used a macbook ) and remove all external storage devices ( portable hard drive, usb drive, flash drive etc )
2. Turn on your macbook and wait for ' WELCOME SCREEN SOUND ', and soon after you heard it press and hold ' SHIFT ' key on your keyboard. You must not press the key before welcome screen sound. It should be pressed just after the sound.
3. It will take you to a white color window with some progress bar at bottom. This may take few minutes.
4. Macbook will take you to the login page where you need to type your password to enter. Top right corner you will see a text ' Safe Boot Mode ' in RED. If you see so you're doing it right, if no please follow the procedure again.
5. Then computer will take you to desktop but you will notice that the computer performs very slowly. Then click and open ' TRASH BIN '. You will see all your deleted files are still in your Trash Bin. So click ' EMPTY ' button on top right corner of the window.
6. You are done ! Right click on the Hard Drive Icon on desktop and then GET INFO. You will be happy to see your empty space back.
Hope this will help you guys !
Thanks,
Dileesha Amarasena.

Similar Messages

HT201250 Since time machine backed up my computer does that mean I can delete files so I can increase storage space on my hard drive?

Since time machine backed up my computer does that mean I can delete files so I can increase storage space on my hard drive?

NO!
Time Machine is not an Archival Backup. It will keep files for a while, but if it needs the space, it will delete files that no longer exist on the hard drive.
Get a couple external drives and move the files to both of them.

Deleting files doesn't free up space on external drive

Hi all,
I've actually found the answer to my initial query, I would imagine its a common issue. But I have a couple of questions.
When you delete files from an external HD the amount of space available doesn't change and according to what I have found, you need to empty your trash in order for free space to be recognised.
Basically I'd like to know...
1. Why this is the case. I like the fact that external files are added to the local trash in case you mistakenly deleted anything but considering it's been moved to another file system why would it not free up space?
2. Is there a way to delete certain files from the trash? In a case where I wanted to free up space on an external drive but didn't want to empty my trash.
Many thanks
Mikee

Expaning a bit on #1 -
Every volume (volume = a drive/disk or a partition on a partitoned drive) has its own Trash, which is actually an invisible, specialized folder.
For user interface convenience, the Trash folders for all mounted volumes are displayed as a common item, the visible Trash.
One way to see this is to place something on a removoable, writeable volume such as an external drive into the Trash. When you open the Trash you will see the item in there. Then dismount the external drive, and look in the Trash again - the item will be gone. Remount the external drive, and look in the Trash again - the item will be back.
If you have things in the Trash from different volumes, you can also do a Get Info on one from each volume; the pathname for the item (shown in the Where info line in Get Info) will reveal that the items are actually on separate volumes.

My iphone 5c storage is almost full and I need to delete some pictures to free up some space, I pay iCloud for extra storage but I'm afraid if I delete it off my phone that it will delete it from iCloud, is that true? I can't afford to lose these pictures

My iphone 5c storage is almost full and I need to delete some picture to free up some space. If I delete the pictures off of my phone, will they be deleted off of iCloud as well? I cant afford to lose these pictures.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4083
Then take pics etc off iphone into a secure location on PC/Mac

How can I free up storage space on my iPad?

When I try to download a video from my icloud my iPad tells me it doesn't have enough storage space. How can I free up more storage space on my iPad?

That's an issue of not having enough available space on the iPad itself, not in your iCloud account. (You can check the available space on your iPad by going to Settings>General>Usage and checking the Available number under "Storage" at the top.)
To free up space on your iPad, you'll have to delete something or sync it off with iTunes (such as some of your music or other iTunes media).

How do I free up storage space on a Macbook air?

How do I free up storage space on a Macbook air? My e-mail seems to be taking up the most space?

For information about the Other category in the Storage display, see this support article. If the Storage display seems to be inaccurate, try rebuilding the Spotlight index.
Empty the Trash if you haven't already done so. If you use iPhoto, empty its internal Trash first:
iPhoto ▹ Empty Trash
Do the same in other applications, such as Aperture, that have an internal Trash feature. Then restart the computer. That will temporarily free up some space.
According to Apple documentation, you need at least 9 GB of available space on the startup volume (as shown in the Finder Info window) for normal operation. You also need enough space left over to allow for growth of the data. There is little or no performance advantage to having more available space than the minimum Apple recommends. Available storage space that you'll never use is wasted space.
When Time Machine backs up a portable Mac, some of the free space will be used to make local snapshots, which are backup copies of recently deleted files. The space occupied by local snapshots is reported as available by the Finder, and should be considered as such. In the Storage display of System Information, local snapshots are shown as Backups. The snapshots are automatically deleted when they expire or when free space falls below a certain level. You ordinarily don't need to, and should not, delete local snapshots yourself. If you followed bad advice to disable local snapshots by running a shell command, you may have ended up with a lot of data in the Other category. Restart and it should go away.
See this support article for some simple ways to free up storage space.
You can more effectively use a tool such as OmniDiskSweeper (ODS) or GrandPerspective (GP) to explore the volume and find out what's taking up the space. You can also delete files with it, but don't do that unless you're sure that you know what you're deleting and that all data is safely backed up. That means you have multiple backups, not just one. Note that ODS only works with OS X 10.8 or later. If you're running an older OS version, use GP.
Deleting files inside an iPhoto or Aperture library will corrupt the library. Any changes to a photo library must be made from within the application that created it. The same goes for Mail files.
Proceed further only if the problem isn't solved by the above steps.
ODS or GP can't see the whole filesystem when you run it just by double-clicking; it only sees files that you have permission to read. To see everything, you have to run it as root.
Back up all data now.
If you have more than one user account, make sure you're logged in as an administrator. The administrator account is the one that was created automatically when you first set up the computer.
Install the app you downloaded in the Applications folder as usual. Quit it if it's running.
Triple-click anywhere in the corresponding line of text below on this page to select it, then copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C:
sudo /Applications/OmniDiskSweeper.app/Contents/MacOS/OmniDiskSweeper
sudo /Applications/GrandPerspective.app/Contents/MacOS/GrandPerspective
Launch the built-in Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
Paste into the Terminal window by pressing command-V. You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning to be careful. If you see a message that your username "is not in the sudoers file," then you're not logged in as an administrator.
The application window will open, eventually showing all files in all folders, sorted by size. It may take a few minutes for the app to finish scanning.
I don't recommend that you make a habit of doing this. Don't delete anything as root. If something needs to be deleted, make sure you know what it is and how it got there, and then delete it by other, safer, means. When in doubt, leave it alone or ask for guidance.
When you're done with the app, quit it and also quit Terminal.

Treo 755p The free data storage space on the device is low. Some data could not be saved

After having the Treo 755p device for only a week, I am receiving a message "The free data storage space on the device is low. Some data could not be saved." I have over 55 mb of free space according to the device info page. I cannot find anything about this in the knowledge library, can anyone offer help?
Post relates to: Treo 755p (Sprint)
Post relates to: Treo 755p (Sprint)

My problems are similar to Lauren, but backwards. For months now I have had problems with my Treo 755 reseting randomly. Sometimes during calls, sometimes while typing, sometimes while just sitting in the holster. As many as a dozen a day and then not at all for 2 weeks, no rhyme nor reason. This Free Space error though is brand new to me today and quite strange. The error is showing up when I bring my phone out of "sleep". I press the end button to sleep the phone and everything is fine. When I press it again to wake the phone up the error is sitting behind the keylock waiting for me.
Obviously I have done nothing yet for this new memory error, but I've tried everything for the reseting. Deleting software, Soft and hard resets, software updates, everything I and Sprint support can think of. With this new Free space error now I am going to just take it to a service center and demand a new phone. I think there is some kind of hardware error as I have done nothing in the programming. No new programs, no deleted programs, no changed settings.
I loved my Treo 650 and never had any problems with it. I am getting very disappointed in Palm now though with these ridiculous problems.
Post relates to: Treo 755p (Sprint)

HT1766 How to send videos from ipad air to the cloud to free up storage space on ipad

How do I send videos from ipad air to the cloud to free up storage space on ipad?

I had a similar/same problem - when I deleted the video locally, it did not appear as a Cloud video.
To solve this, I deleted it locally, signed out of iCloud, powered of the iPad, powered back on, opened videos (empty), signed back into iCloud.
Now all my videos are present in the cloud, and none locally.
Not a great UX though

HT4759 How do I move photos from my Iphone to my PC to free up storage space?

How do I move photos from my Iphone to my PC to free up storage space?

You can connect your iPhone to your computer and your computer will see your iPhone as though it was a digital camera. You'll be given options to transfer pictures just as you would a digital camera. I'd create a folder in advance and maybe call it iPhone Pictures. Transfer the pictures, then you can delete them from you iPhone. You can always redownload them to your iPhone via iTunes sync.

Why do we not receive 5 gb of free cloud storage space for the multiple Apple devices my wife and I have purchased?

Why do we not receive 5 gb of free cloud storage space for the multiple Apple devices my wife and I have purchased? Seems only fair.

logical. fair. I can understand the confusion in policy as another fine cloud service - DropBox - has a different model for increases in free storage amounts for one account = evangelism. As many policies as there are services probably.
cya 'round o' kilted one
CCC

Need to free up storage space but want to make sure photos from my camera roll are definitely in iCloud before deleting them. iPad3, IOS 8.1.3

I have plenty of iCloud storage space but need to free up storage on the iPad. If I delete the camera roll photos and the photostream, will I be able definitely to access the photos in iCloud? in Settings > iCloud I have no iCloud Library....so I'm confused. If someone can help, I'd be grateful.

Import photos through iPhoto. (You will prompt to delete from iPhone when import competes).
Backup your Mac. (At least the iPhoto Library)
Backup to iTunes.
Backup to iCloud. (Check in Settings>iCloud>Storage and Backup>Manage Storage>your device name>Camera Roll ON).

How to delete backup data in icloud to free up storage space?

My iphone 4s has not been backed up in 3 weeks because it says "there is not enough iCloud storage available". Through viewing the data sizes currently backed up in iCloud, the Camera Roll is taking up 99% of the space. I deleted almost everything from the camera roll and photo stream on the actual iphone device, but what do I need to do in order for the storage space to be freed? Is there another place I need to check to delete data (i.e. photos) and regain the storage space available and resume successful backups?
Many thanks,
SM

So by selecting "Delete Backup" it will delete everything backed up to iCloud from other apps as well, correct? Is there anywhere I can go to view the actual data being backed up and specifically delete certain data? Without knowing exactly what has been backed up, I'm hesitant to delete everything.

[solved] Problem with ssd disk, deleted files don't free space?

Hello.
I bought some time ago an ssd disk on which i installed arch. After some free time I changed my laptop optical drive with standard hdd and moved /home and folder with data (mainly music collection) to standard drive. To my surprise my ssd was filled as it were before. My fstab from beginning have had TRIM option enabled:
LABEL=root / ext4 rw,noatime,discard,commit=600,barrier=0 0 1
tmpfs /var/log tmpfs defaults,size=5% 0 0
tmpfs /var/spool tmpfs defaults,size=5% 0 0
LABEL=karta /run/media/kaira/karta/ ext4 rw,noatime,barrier=0,commit=600,data=writeback 0 1
LABEL=home /home ext4 rw,noatime,barrier=0,commit=600,data=writeback 0 1
LABEL=dane /dane/ ext4 rw,noatime,barrier=0,commit=600,data=writeback 0 1
where the last three lines were added after second disk was installed.
And now the great mystery for me:
du -h / |sort -h -r|head -n 5:
3,7G /
2,7G /usr
1,6G /usr/lib
845M /usr/share
771M /var
df:
System plików rozm. użyte dost. %uż. zamont. na
/dev/sdb1 118G 27G 90G 24% /
devtmpfs 3,8G 0 3,8G 0% /dev
tmpfs 3,8G 1,4M 3,8G 1% /dev/shm
tmpfs 3,8G 4,0M 3,8G 1% /run
tmpfs 3,8G 0 3,8G 0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs 3,8G 13M 3,8G 1% /tmp
tmpfs 389M 32K 389M 1% /var/log
tmpfs 389M 0 389M 0% /var/spool
/dev/sda1 50G 241M 49G 1% /home
/dev/sdc1 30G 45M 29G 1% /run/media/kaira/karta
27G was the state before most data was transfered to different hard drive.
Both commands where executed after partition with music was unmounted.
I executed also fstrim / command, but it changed nothing.
Is this behavior normal, or maybe i didn't made something important/ my disk is damaged?
I know that 24% fulfillment is trivial, but now it definitely should show 3,5%.
Last edited by kaira (2013-11-01 19:45:31)

Yes, I run this command as a root. I manage to repair this problem by mounting root partition in ubuntu live cd. I found folder which should get deleted, but it still was in filesystem. Unfortunetly I don't remeber, how i copy files. Propably i used rsync and forget to delete files. Now it's too late too check this theory, but I'm really happy with proper sizes:
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sdb1 118G 3.6G 113G 4% /
devtmpfs 3.8G 0 3.8G 0% /dev
tmpfs 3.8G 6.0M 3.8G 1% /dev/shm
tmpfs 3.8G 3.9M 3.8G 1% /run
tmpfs 3.8G 0 3.8G 0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs 3.8G 356K 3.8G 1% /tmp
tmpfs 389M 0 389M 0% /var/spool
tmpfs 389M 32K 389M 1% /var/log
/dev/sda2 410G 25G 381G 7% /dane
Lesson learned - never manage important system changes after getting up, without enough sleep time.
Thank you for you're help, and sorry for wasting time with my mistakes.

Removing files doesn't free the space

Dear Arch Community!
I use Arch on my quite old laptop, even though I am not enough advanced user, so please be patient and explicite.
I always try to solve problems searching forums/wiki and spending a lot of time to try to learn, but this time I didn't manage to find any similar problem posted.
Behaviour:
When I delate files/directories (both ways: putting them to trash and then emptying it or 'rm' them form command line) they do disappear from the files tree, but there is no space on the disc freed. It happens most of the time, but not always.
Also I remember that few months ago with some system update suddanly I got about 3G of home directory space back. That time I had no time to investigate.
I have no idea what part of the system may be responsible for such a strange behaviour, what tools to use to detect it.
What information should I provide you?
Thanks in advance,
Mirto

Hi All,
* ncdu ~
(nothing surprising, IMHO)
----------------/home/lena ------------
15.3GiB [##########] /Mus
7.5GiB [#### ] /fil
7.4GiB [#### ] /Pic
2.1GiB [# ] /Books
1.9GiB [# ] /Vid
500.3MiB [ ] /alc
354.7MiB [ ] /stu
328.0MiB [ ] /.scribus
304.5MiB [ ] /.config
261.9MiB [ ] /dwhelper
207.0MiB [ ] /Art
91.6MiB [ ] /A6
77.8MiB [ ] /.mozilla
69.9MiB [ ] /.thunderbird
51.0MiB [ ] /.gimp-2.6
50.8MiB [ ] /Downloads
48.3MiB [ ] /.gimp-2.8
46.8MiB [ ] /.wifi
43.4MiB [ ] /Mko
28.2MiB [ ] /Doc
26.0MiB [ ] /.thumbnails
25.2MiB [ ] /.widelands
17.5MiB [ ] /.claws-mail
14.1MiB [ ] /.cache
13.9MiB [ ] /friki
9.0MiB [ ] /.local
8.0MiB [ ] /.fra
6.4MiB [ ] /.dictionaries
5.7MiB [ ] P.mp3
5.5MiB [ ] /.adobe
5.4MiB [ ] /Ra
3.5MiB [ ] /ba
1.9MiB [ ] /.gnome2
1.2MiB [ ] /.java
1.0MiB [ ] programme-guide-2012_en.pdf
964.0KiB [ ] /.gstreamer-0.10
912.0KiB [ ] /.quodlibet
844.0KiB [ ] /.fontconfig
748.0KiB [ ] /.purple
624.0KiB [ ] /.gconf
576.0KiB [ ] /anaphraseus
H 552.0KiB [ ] Parent Bulletin November 14 2011.pdf
476.0KiB [ ] /.e16
448.0KiB [ ] /.xchat2
332.0KiB [ ] /.omegat
304.0KiB [ ] /.freeciv
H 216.0KiB [ ] .recently-used.xbel.GX7K1U
188.0KiB [ ] /.dvdcss
184.0KiB [ ] es.pdf
168.0KiB [ ] /.kde4
120.0KiB [ ] application_form.pdf
84.0KiB [ ] euaggelion
76.0KiB [ ] I move - part 1.abw
72.0KiB [ ] application_form.doc
68.0KiB [ ] /.nautilus
64.0KiB [ ] /.xine
64.0KiB [ ] /.themes
52.0KiB [ ] /.python-eggs
48.0KiB [ ] /.fluxbox
44.0KiB [ ] I move 2.abw
H 40.0KiB [ ] .recently-used
40.0KiB [ ] /.pulse
40.0KiB [ ] /.gnupg.bck
36.0KiB [ ] FR.doc
36.0KiB [ ] /.macromedia
32.0KiB [ ] ad.doc
32.0KiB [ ] /.gnupg
28.0KiB [ ] /.designer
28.0KiB [ ] /.ssh
28.0KiB [ ] /.zenmap
20.0KiB [ ] /.AbiSuite
20.0KiB [ ] /.emacs.d
20.0KiB [ ] /.mc
16.0KiB [ ] notes.odt
16.0KiB [ ] /.gegl-0.0
16.0KiB [ ] /.lftp
12.0KiB [ ] not.odt
12.0KiB [ ] belg
12.0KiB [ ] /.irssi
H 12.0KiB [ ] .xsession-errors.old
12.0KiB [ ] I move.odt
12.0KiB [ ] /.dbus
12.0KiB [ ] /.icons
12.0KiB [ ] /.wireshark
H 8.0KiB [ ] .bash_history
H 8.0KiB [ ] .freeciv-client-rc-2.2
8.0KiB [ ] /.gconfd
8.0KiB [ ] .viminfo
8.0KiB [ ] /.Esperantilo
8.0KiB [ ] /.links
H 8.0KiB [ ] .ICEauthority
8.0KiB [ ] /.vim
8.0KiB [ ] /.gphoto
8.0KiB [ ] /.mplayer
4.0KiB [ ] /.wicd
e 4.0KiB [ ] /Desktop
e 4.0KiB [ ] /.wapi
e 4.0KiB [ ] /.gnome2_private
H 4.0KiB [ ] .xsession-errors
4.0KiB [ ] ixquick.xml
H 4.0KiB [ ] .lesshst
H 4.0KiB [ ] .civserver_history
H 4.0KiB [ ] convert_wavs.sh
H 4.0KiB [ ] .pulse-cookie
H 4.0KiB [ ] .xinitrc
4.0KiB [ ] .gtk-bookmarks
H 4.0KiB [ ] .mysql_history
H 4.0KiB [ ] hostapd.sh~
H 4.0KiB [ ] hostapd.sh
H 4.0KiB [ ] .bashrc
H 4.0KiB [ ] .xsession
H 4.0KiB [ ] .dmrc
4.0KiB [ ] .Xauthority
H 4.0KiB [ ] .esd_auth
H 4.0KiB [ ] .bash_profile
0.0 B [ ] lista FR
0.0 B [ ] fb4.odt
e 0.0 B [ ] /.gvfs
H 0.0 B [ ] .gksu.lock
* lsof
[root@mirto lena]# lsof -n | grep deleted
lsof: WARNING: can't stat() fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon file system /home/lena/.gvfs
Output information may be incomplete.
lxtermina 817 lena 14u REG 8,3 8 327 /tmp/vteINN7GW (deleted)
lxtermina 817 lena 15u REG 8,3 0 340 /tmp/vte14A7GW (deleted)
lxtermina 817 lena 16u REG 8,3 0 651 /tmp/vteK7A7GW (deleted)
lxtermina 817 lena 17u REG 8,3 10803 753 /tmp/vteGSWCHW (deleted)
lxtermina 817 lena 18u REG 8,3 1120 766 /tmp/vte62WCHW (deleted)
lxtermina 817 lena 19u REG 8,3 1027 813 /tmp/vteZ6TYGW (deleted)
lxtermina 817 lena 20u REG 8,3 128 842 /tmp/vteZDUYGW (deleted)
lxtermina 817 lena 21u REG 8,3 896 1412 /tmp/vteW9UYGW (deleted)
lxtermina 817 lena 24u REG 8,3 378 1785 /tmp/vte4UL7GW (deleted)
lxtermina 817 lena 25u REG 8,3 24 1832 /tmp/vte31L7GW (deleted)
gmain 817 821 lena 14u REG 8,3 8 327 /tmp/vteINN7GW (deleted)
gmain 817 821 lena 15u REG 8,3 0 340 /tmp/vte14A7GW (deleted)
gmain 817 821 lena 16u REG 8,3 0 651 /tmp/vteK7A7GW (deleted)
gmain 817 821 lena 17u REG 8,3 10803 753 /tmp/vteGSWCHW (deleted)
gmain 817 821 lena 18u REG 8,3 1120 766 /tmp/vte62WCHW (deleted)
gmain 817 821 lena 19u REG 8,3 1027 813 /tmp/vteZ6TYGW (deleted)
gmain 817 821 lena 20u REG 8,3 128 842 /tmp/vteZDUYGW (deleted)
gmain 817 821 lena 21u REG 8,3 896 1412 /tmp/vteW9UYGW (deleted)
gmain 817 821 lena 24u REG 8,3 378 1785 /tmp/vte4UL7GW (deleted)
gmain 817 821 lena 25u REG 8,3 24 1832 /tmp/vte31L7GW (deleted)
midori 918 lena 19r REG 8,4 99560 24617 /home/lena/.local/share/gvfs-metadata/home (deleted)
midori 918 lena 20r REG 8,4 32768 32869 /home/lena/.local/share/gvfs-metadata/home-a2e41f12.log (deleted)
gdbus 918 919 lena 19r REG 8,4 99560 24617 /home/lena/.local/share/gvfs-metadata/home (deleted)
gdbus 918 919 lena 20r REG 8,4 32768 32869 /home/lena/.local/share/gvfs-metadata/home-a2e41f12.log (deleted)
midori 918 920 lena 19r REG 8,4 99560 24617 /home/lena/.local/share/gvfs-metadata/home (deleted)
midori 918 920 lena 20r REG 8,4 32768 32869 /home/lena/.local/share/gvfs-metadata/home-a2e41f12.log (deleted)
dconf 918 922 lena 19r REG 8,4 99560 24617 /home/lena/.local/share/gvfs-metadata/home (deleted)
dconf 918 922 lena 20r REG 8,4 32768 32869 /home/lena/.local/share/gvfs-metadata/home-a2e41f12.log (deleted)
midori 918 923 lena 19r REG 8,4 99560 24617 /home/lena/.local/share/gvfs-metadata/home (deleted)
midori 918 923 lena 20r REG 8,4 32768 32869 /home/lena/.local/share/gvfs-metadata/home-a2e41f12.log (deleted)
midori 918 932 lena 19r REG 8,4 99560 24617 /home/lena/.local/share/gvfs-metadata/home (deleted)
midori 918 932 lena 20r REG 8,4 32768 32869 /home/lena/.local/share/gvfs-metadata/home-a2e41f12.log (deleted)

After deleting files, I still have no disk space

I had completely clogged my Mac HD with video files, so it was no wonder I had 0kb disc space left. But after I moved them to an external drive, finder is still saying there is no disc space. I have tried the following:
1. first moved around 11 GB of video files/iMovie and Premiere project files from the Movies folder to my external hard drive
2. restarted and shut down the computer several times. I expected to get a message having to do with File Vault so I could free up space that way, but no such message appeared and the computer just restarted or turned itself off each time.
3. Emptied the trash, which seems to have freed 440MB.
4. Ran the periodic daily, weekly, monthly system routines in terminal
5. In Disk Utility, Erased free space
6. In Disk Utility, verified disk
7. In Disk Utility, verified file permissions.
I don't know what else to do! I expected moving the video files to free up the disk space and Finder still says I have none. Help?

Hello,
A Sparse image is a type of disk image file that can be created under Mac OS X using Disk Utility. Encrypted sparse image files are used to secure a user's home directory by Mac OS X's FileVault feature. So if you use File Vault, you need that file.
Also, if you know the names of the video files, do a Search in Spotlight to see if there are any on the drive that Disk X might now have found. If you aren't sure of the file names, you could try .mov
It depends on the software you used to create those video files with to start with.
The light just went on over my head. If you used the apple+delete shortcut to delete the files from their original location after moving them to the external drive, that doesn't send them to the Trash in software such as iMovie. Launch iMovie. Go to File/Empty Trash. Anytime you delete files using iMovie, you have to delete them while using that application within that application. When you delete files in iMovie, it doesn't send those files to the Trash in the Dock, but in it's own app... just a temp memory cache if you will.
Carolyn
Message was edited by: Carolyn Samit

Deleting files doesn't free up storage space

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