ITunes reports incorrect free space

Using iTunes 12.0.1.26 with a 64GB iPhone 4S on iOS8.1 I am currently unable to add files to my iPhone through the File Sharing part of the Apps panel.
The bar at the bottom of iTunes reports 25.01GB free, on the phone the General->Usage page reports 2.6GB free (yes 1/10th of that which is reported in iTunes) and thus I cannot copy a 2.7GB file on there. At one point I saw iTunes massively enlarge the Photos potion of that bar. Currently it sits at 13GB but it filled up to the rest of the apparently open space and presumably reported the try number (38.9GB according to the General->Usage->Storage page on the iPhone). However I can't figure out how that happened and why it has returned to showing the wrong number.

I'm having a related problem. I deleted all the photos off my iPhone and synced it (several times now), but iTunes is still saying I have 44 photos on there taking up space. The free space availability changes out of the blue as well, even if I didn't add or delete anything. I'm very close to capacity and have to manage it closely when adding new songs etc, so this is becoming a real pain since I don't know my exact free space.

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ITunes reporting wrong free space on iPhone 4S

On Friday, I signed up for iTunes Match. Let it do it's thing, and on Saturday afternoon, it completed. I went through and removed all the old m4p files I could, replaced with m4a, and downloaded 256k aac replacements for old files in my library for artists A-C last night. That all went good on my computer.
However, when I went to sync my phone last night, my space available is being reported incorrectly by iTunes (10.51 on Win7). It initially told me I was over usage, which was a lie. When I started this, it was roughly 5.5Gb free or so (forget exact space at the moment). When I went to sync, iTunes instantly jumped to over. I manually removed a few playlists to bring the reporting under, but it still has the problem.
As of right now, iTunes is saying there is 1.32Gb free on the iPhone. The phone itself is reporting 5.1Gb free, which is about what it should be.
I switched my iPad over to using iTunes Match, and it's usage is the same (although I haven't synced it yet). But I didn't want to do this on the phone until I resolved this reporting problem. Things i've tried already:
1) Unchecking, then checking again the "Open iTunes when this iPhone is connected". I read around these forums, and found from some people that helps. It didn't for me.
2) Restore on the iPhone. Didn't work.
3) Unchecking sync music, sync the phone to remove it all, then recheck, and resync to put the music back. No difference. Same misreported space.
4) Swearing at it.
If anyone has any ideas, let me know. Tkx.

Interesting. I just now plugged the phone in again after ejecting it, and..
It initially showed the proper 5.1Gb free that the phone itself is reporting. But about two seconds after that, it jumped up to the incorrect 1.32Gb free.
The sync finished, and it went back down to the proper 5.1Gb free. I have no bloody idea what the deal here is. Something bizarre happened, and then it just as equally weirdly went away.

My iPhone 4s in iTunes shows incorrect free space!

Okay, this is very odd... when my iPhone 4S is plugged in, it says that I have way more free space than should be available? What in the world is going on? I wished I had the 64 GB iPhone, but I don't. It seems to incorrectly calculate my free space on my iPhone 4S repeatedly. I am doing a restore of my iPhone right now, hoping that will address the issue. Now I do have iTune Match turned on and am wondering if that has something to do with this? It seems to get confused with what I had on my iPhone and what is in iTune Mactch. I only saw this after doing the iTune Match thingy.

Hey - did you get anywhere with this?
I have the exact same problem and it is definitely related to iTunes Match (I enabled 24 hours ago and the problem started immediately).
In my case the actual phone displays the correct information (about 1.3gb free) but via iTunes (either connecting over wifi or over usb) it displays 19.4 gb free.
In my case the difference is almost exactly the size of my iTunes library.
Here is what I belive is happening (no fix yet).
I have enabled iTunes Match on my phone but I have left the song files on the phone (i.e. I play files actually from the device and not from the cloud) . Now, when I connect to iTunes, iTunes sees merely that iTunes Match is enabled and therefore belives that the phone does not contain any downloaded music (or at least did not contain any at the point iTunes Match was enabled) and therefore displays a library-size chunk as free space.
One fix which I suspect would work would be to delete my entire library from the iPhone, enable itunes Match and redownload the entire library from the phone. That however is not something I want to entertain at present.
This has to be a bug at Apple's end - I hope they fix it soon!

When iTunes automatically fills free space with songs....

When iTunes automatically fills free space with songs, where are these songs listed?
I am very nearly at my limit, so been deleting a few playlists but as I was doing that, it seemed to be filling back up again just as quick.
So I deselected the 'Automatically fill free space with songs' button, and the capacity has stayed exactly the same?
Thanks
James

When iTunes automatically fills free space with songs, where are these songs listed?
Under Songs, Artsts, Albums, etc.
They are not in any playlist.
I am very nearly at my limit, so been deleting a few playlists but as I was doing that, it seemed to be filling back up again just as quick.
That menas that it is working exactly as it should.
If you have select 2GB of playlists, iTunes will put 6GB on the iPod automatically.
So I deselected the 'Automatically fill free space with songs' button, and the capacity has stayed exactly the same
Nothing will change on the iPod until you sync it.

Incorrect free space reported on FAT32 USB drive

I'm suspecting this is an issue deeper than Finder, but here we go:
I have an 80GB external drive that connects via USB and is formatted FAT32 (for compatibility with my Windows machine and PS3, so this can't change, unfortunately).
The other day, I noticed Finder reporting that only 15GB were available, which didn't seem right. After doing some checks, it is indeed wrong: I've only used 15GB. I've confirmed this with three different tools: Finder itself (using "get info"), the command 'du -csh' while in the drive's directory in /Volumes, and OmniDiskSweeper. All of them agree: only 15GB have been used, on an 80GB drive. Yet it still say it's 15GB free.
So I did a bit more checking. Figuring that I might not have partitioned it correctly, I had a look in fdisk, and the partition spans the whole drive. 'df -h' reports that the partition is 74GB in total, which sounds about right. But df also shows only 15GB remaining. Weird.
Wondering if I'd done an unsafe unmounting, I ran fsck on it, but that turned up nothing (I was hoping for orphaned inodes, but zilch). I know about the 4GB filesize limit on FAT32, and none of my files approach that (the largest being 3GB). I've done some searching online, and haven't found anything useful.
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Thanks for the reply. I tried as you suggested (only I made several 4GB files, due to the FAT32 filesize limit). Whenever I encountered the supposed maximum, if I made a file slightly larger than the remaining space (my a megabyte or so), the remaining space would increase by 3GB. After doing this a few times, I tried deleting them (about 25GB-worth), and the free space went back to 15.03GB, as it was before.
Strange...

AFP - Incorrect Free Space Reported

I have a G4 Xserve with Mac OS X Server 10.5.8 installed. I have two mirrored RAID's, both 500GB, and both created using Apple's Disk Utility program.
I have noticed that the free space reported over an AFP connection on my Macbook Pro (with OS 10.6.4) usually does not match the free space reported when using the server itself. As of this moment, my Macbook Pro reports ~423GB of free space on the network drive, while a "Get Info" on the server itself reports ~395GB.
SMB shares accessed via Windows report the correct amount of free space.
I have re-installed Snow Leopard on my Macbook Pro (using Erase & Install... not for this problem though), so I'm pretty sure it's a problem on the Xserve's end.
It's not a huge deal right now, but I would like the correct amount of free space displayed for AFP users.

Thanks for the reply. I tried as you suggested (only I made several 4GB files, due to the FAT32 filesize limit). Whenever I encountered the supposed maximum, if I made a file slightly larger than the remaining space (my a megabyte or so), the remaining space would increase by 3GB. After doing this a few times, I tried deleting them (about 25GB-worth), and the free space went back to 15.03GB, as it was before.
Strange...

Usage reports more free space, than iTunes but music sync update fails for lack of space

32 GB iPod touch 5th generation IOS 8.3
Settings -> General -> Usage (Storage) says Used 17.1GB Available 10.3GB
itunes 12.1.2.27 says 6.15 GB free
Attempt to sync a music update - results in message(s) saying
"unable to add song ... not enough space"
I can understand some free space is need for overhead but

Connect the iPod to your computer and look at the storage used by the various categories as shown in the colored bargarph in iTunes.
Come back with the results.
An "other" larger than about 1 1/2 GB indicates corrupted files.
What is the Other on my iPhone and How to Remove It
What is "Other" and What Can I Do About It?
Next, usually restoring from backup eliminated the corrupted files. However, sometimes restoring to factory settings/new iPod is required.
To restore from backup see:
iOS: How to back up
To restore to factory settings/new iPod see:
iTunes: Restoring iOS software

Incorrect free space reported on iOS4

I have two iPhone 3GS and have updated both to iOS4.
First was flawless, second all well except in iTunes the usage bar shows just a sliver of free space (was about 800MB prior to update) but it says 5 GB free.
The iPhone also shows 5GB free in the About screen.
I rebooted the iPhone but that didn't fix it.
Anyone else notice this anomaly?

Thanks for the reply. I tried as you suggested (only I made several 4GB files, due to the FAT32 filesize limit). Whenever I encountered the supposed maximum, if I made a file slightly larger than the remaining space (my a megabyte or so), the remaining space would increase by 3GB. After doing this a few times, I tried deleting them (about 25GB-worth), and the free space went back to 15.03GB, as it was before.
Strange...

Phone Disk Shows Incorrect Free Space

Hi all
I am using Phone Disk on the Mac (makes the iPad/iPhone show up as a hard drive) and its showing the incorrect amount of hard drive capacity and free space. It does this on both mine and my girlfriends iPhone and also on my iPad. For example, I know I have 10gb available on my 64gb iPad but Phone Disk shows me I have only 900mb free out of 1.5gb of hard drive space. I have also installed iPhone Explorer and this also has the same problem. I'm a little confused!
Thanks
Rich

The available disk space reported in finder is totally wrong.
Even if it accounts for the local snapshots. In my macbook air it shows 120 Available in finder which is just 1GB less than my SSD capacity.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4467217

Inconsistent Reporting of Free Space on the HDD

Activity Monitor shows Disk Usage as follows: Space utilized = 397.48 GB and Space free = 101.77 GB.
About This Mac - Storage indicates 101.5 GB Free and 164.46 GB Backups (???).
Right clicking on Macintosh HD in Finder and then on Get info reports: Used = 233.28 GB and Available = 265.97 GB.
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What gives?...

Michael9009 wrote:
Thanks, it all makes sense.
But it is still not clear to me why Apple made this so confusing. For example, I think that both the Activity Monitor and Finder should report the same values, i.e. the Activity Monitor should not include the backups.
The Activity Monitor is a administration utility and have to show complete values, e.g. for troubleshooting.
Finder is a user utility and have to show the available space for a user, regardless of files like backups, swap, trash or cache that will be shrink or deleted when the space become less or needed to store user data.
Lupunus
Message was edited by: lupunus (typo's fixed)

IPhone sync to iTunes library has free space issue

The iPhone “~’s iPhone” cannot be synced because there is not enough free space to hold all of the items in the iTunes library (additional 69.9 MB required).
I have 239 GB available on my MacBook Pro running OS 10.7.5 with iTunes11.1.2 and iPhone 4 running iOS 6.1.3 and the memory nearly full — 57.2 MB Available. This now happens over 50% of the time. These two issue might be related. If the error statement is misleading, that should be fixed.

OK, I deleted a bunch of pictures and it completed.
Instead of "The iPhone “~’s iPhone” cannot be synced because there is not enough free space to hold all of the items in the iTunes library (additional 69.9 MB required)," I think I'd have understood it effectively if it were "The iPhone “~’s iPhone” cannot be synced because there is not enough free space to copy all of the items into the iTunes library (additional 69.9 MB required)." What a difference two words can make.
Who know how to get this across to Apple, Inc?

Finder reports different free space on disk compared to DiskUtil

After upgrading to Lion I am facing a very strange problem:
Finder reports much more free space on my Macintosh HD compared to Disk Utility. I also take a look on what Daisy Disk reports and
daisy Disk reports exactly the same numbers like Disk Utility. Booted into Lion recovery partitions and preformed disk verify and repair.
Everything seems to be fine except that finder reports significantly more free space (350 GB) compared to Disk Utility (364 GB).
Any advise ?

Trash is empty. Checked this also via Terminal. And one more comment: I do not have a Bootcamp partition. I never had one and never created one.

Phone and iTunes disagree on free space

My phones under usage section says I have 3.6Gb of free space, when I try and sync in iTunes it says I am 964Mb Over capacity so will not synch. Any suggestions as to how to resolve?
It also says I have 4 films on the phone (1.8Gb) when I have none. And is registering 4.87Gb of mysterious "Other".

You have two issues.
1. Partitioning within Windows and OS X are using two different personalities of a disk, and if not kept in sync, you run into this issue. Apple does not allow Windows partition to be resized because they do not provide the appropriate tools to keep them in sync.
2. If you are willing to take a backup of OS X and all your files, the cleanest method is to erase the drive and restore from a backup, preferably using a Time Machine backup.

Iphone4s cannot sync to itunes not enough free space

I keep getting the error message below & need some help
iPhone4S
iTunes 10.7.0.21 (which I updated yesterday) on Dell Inspiron N5040 running Windows 7
"...cannot be synced because there is not enough free space to hold all of the selected items (additional 14.93 GB required)"
I transferred all my purchased music & video from my iPhone to my iTunes Library, deleted the files & restarted both my latop & iPhone
Connected iPhone to iTunes & seleted Manually Manage Music and Videos
Go to Music tab & when I select Sync Music to pick the music to sync, I get a message asking to Sync Music, which when I do, before seleting any music, my capacity bar shoots to "all blue" & over capacity
What am I doing wrong?!?

Hello bruf,
I found a resource that I feel has the best chance at isolating, if not resolving the issue.
iOS: Troubleshooting backup issues in iTunes
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts2529
Here is a general over view of the troubleshooting to be done:
Resolution
Simply restarting the computer and the iOS device may resolve a backup issue. After restarting, attempt to restore again. Learn how to restart your iOS device.
To perform the rest of steps in this article, you need to be logged in to the computer as an administrator. If you're not sure if you have administrator access, contact the owner of the computer or the system administrator.
Collapse All Sections | Expand All Sections
1. Back up your backup
2. Update to the latest software
3. Disconnect other USB devices
4. (Windows only): Check for Layered Service Providers (LSPs)
5. Check security settings
6. Back up using a new user account
7. Reset the Lockdown folder
8. Windows only: Update your USB chipset drivers
9. Back up on a different computer
All the best,
Sterling

After Yosemite Upgrade my Macbook shows incorrect free space available on Macintosh HD

Hey all .... after doing the Yosemite upgrade on my Mid 2010 15" MacBook Pro it finished but when I double click on the Macintosh HD it shows 140.62 TB available ... kinda impossible since I only have a 500GB drive inside the laptop ...
Methinks I found a bug ... not a huge deal as I know it's likely 140.62 GB free as opposed to TB ... just find it curious ...

Hey - did you get anywhere with this?
I have the exact same problem and it is definitely related to iTunes Match (I enabled 24 hours ago and the problem started immediately).
In my case the actual phone displays the correct information (about 1.3gb free) but via iTunes (either connecting over wifi or over usb) it displays 19.4 gb free.
In my case the difference is almost exactly the size of my iTunes library.
Here is what I belive is happening (no fix yet).
I have enabled iTunes Match on my phone but I have left the song files on the phone (i.e. I play files actually from the device and not from the cloud) . Now, when I connect to iTunes, iTunes sees merely that iTunes Match is enabled and therefore belives that the phone does not contain any downloaded music (or at least did not contain any at the point iTunes Match was enabled) and therefore displays a library-size chunk as free space.
One fix which I suspect would work would be to delete my entire library from the iPhone, enable itunes Match and redownload the entire library from the phone. That however is not something I want to entertain at present.
This has to be a bug at Apple's end - I hope they fix it soon!

ITunes reports incorrect free space

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