In the Storage display of System Information, local snapshots are shown as Backups. The space occupied by local snapshots is reported as available by the Finder, and should be considered as such. 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. Available storage space that you'll never use is wasted space. There is little or no performance advantage to having more available space than the minimum Apple recommends.
You also need enough space left over to allow for growth of the data. If you use iPhoto, empty its internal Trash first:ĭo the same in other applications, such as Aperture, that have an internal Trash feature.Īccording 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. If the Storage display seems to be inaccurate, try rebuilding the Spotlight index.Įmpty the Trash if you haven't already done so. For information about the Other category in the Storage display, see this support article.
