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I am trying to update Xcode to 8.0. My OS is 10.11.6 El Capitan. However I am getting:

We could not complete your update
There is not enough disk space available to install the product.

I have got 14.22 GB free space. How much do I need?

UPDATE: I do not know the exact figure, though I did manage to update with 17.21 GB free space later on.

Michael Innes
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Nuri Tasdemir
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2 Answers2

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You'll need about 20GB free to do the install when you consider the space needed for holding/swapping files with the .dmg during the install process.

I saw this in the Apple developer forums:

Have a look at About This Mac → Storage tab. You might see a purple segment labeled "Backups." That's the local Time Machine cache, and it doesn't show up in the Finder's free space display because it can theoretically be purged if that space is needed.

Update Sept 18, 2020: Since this answer was written, Xcode free space requirements have been increasing. As of Xcode 12, I needed at least 49GB of space to complete the installation.

fsb
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  • Thanks. I have cleaned system and freed for 20 GB, and its updating xcode now . – Bharathi Sep 16 '16 at 06:13
  • It appears you don't need to clear out enough free space, the OP was able to get it work by some method not mentioned in either the question or the answer. – fsb Sep 20 '16 at 19:30
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    20G is well beyond outrageous but yeah… Apple. – Alper Oct 28 '16 at 16:45
  • The Xcode app itself is roughly 10G. And I noticed that each user that has ever used Xcode has about 1G of files in the home directory. (NOTE: I didn't delete Xcode.app to get an easy 10G, but gave it some serious thought. – benc Jan 02 '19 at 21:44
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    I have 66 GB free, but can't install Xcode 11 for this very reason... – Jonny Sep 24 '19 at 02:58
  • I have uninstalled android studio and it worked. – Rajilesh Panoli Jan 01 '20 at 16:04
  • I have 45gb available still can install. I will try restarting etc. – Joshua Dance Sep 18 '20 at 14:30
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    @JoshuaDance My answer was written a few years ago. As Xcode advances, the free space requirement keeps increasing. Yesterday, I couldn't install Xcode 12 until I had 49GB of free space. – fsb Sep 18 '20 at 14:32
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    Are you getting it from App Store or developer download @fsb ? – bmike Sep 18 '20 at 14:52
  • @bmike I got the last beta from developer site but the GM from App Store. Do you think there's a diffference there I should call out? I'm open to make changes as this answer is referenced quite often and I want to make sure it's correct. – fsb Sep 18 '20 at 16:14
  • I’ll probably drop a second answer and let you decide to change anything. Yours is good - shouldn’t matter in the end. App Store likely has to do he same double up as the download. Testing now on my non beta Mac – bmike Sep 18 '20 at 17:39
  • i have 24gb of free disk space. Still it keeps on giving same error – MDThakkar Sep 22 '20 at 07:58
  • @MDThakkar Yes it will. Did you see the update that Xcode 12 now requires over 40GB free? – fsb Sep 22 '20 at 11:57
  • @fsb Yes, after freeing 45 GB, it worked – MDThakkar Sep 22 '20 at 13:56
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As of Sept 2020 Xcode now requires over 40 gbs of free space to install.

It finally started downloading for me today once I had 42gb of free space on my hard drive, as measured by the Get Info window. Cmd-I on your hard drive to open it.

Joshua Dance
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