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I need to clear up space for my Mac to get a software update but I need so much space. I have the macOS Monterey installer which already takes up 12 gb and I'm seeing to see if I can clear up space from this (Screenshot) and this is saying how much space I need for the download (Screenshot) should I just maybe factory reset my computer I don't really have anything important on my computer but I want to get Xcode for programming but I need the software update. thanks.

anki
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    First work out what is taking up space. If as you say " I don't really have anything important on my computer" then you should have space. See https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/5360/237 for some ideas to find out what is taking space. – mmmmmm Jun 05 '22 at 20:43
  • From memory, the upgrade to Monterey should not be offering both Macintosh HD and Macintosh HD - Data. Can you show the output of diskutil list. – Gilby Jun 05 '22 at 22:24
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    what's tnp?? I'd expect a tmp, but not a tnp. – Tetsujin Jun 06 '22 at 06:17
  • Has something/somebody renamed /private/var/tmp to tnp? What is in it? – Gilby Jun 06 '22 at 09:19

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I would boot to Safe Boot mode (holding down shift at restart). Then restart normally. This will clear out temporary files and caches, making more space.

However, the majority of stuff is likely to be User files. You may need to off-load some of your user data to another disk.

Bear in mind that Xcode is over 12 Gb, and once you start programming stuff, project files are going to start taking up space. You may need to work from an external.

benwiggy
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  • Should I just clear my Mac? because I don't think ill have enough storage to even update I've removed a lot of stuff already if I factory reset or wipe all the storage would that fix my issue? – Hunter Adelson Jun 05 '22 at 20:55
  • @HunterAdelson If you're happy to wipe the disk, and start again, restoring all your user settings, applications, etc. then sure, why not. But it's an extreme option. – benwiggy Jun 06 '22 at 06:47
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Seeing as you have skipped Big Sur it is always worth checking to see if a previous software update is lurking in your applications folder taking up space. I would assume Disk Drill should be showing that, but I cannot see any applications in your screenshot and there is still 61GB of used space yet to be accounted for on your scan.

Sometimes this is because certain directories are hidden unless an app like DiskDrill is granted full disk access and administrator authentication. For help enabling full disk access see here:

https://www.cleverfiles.com/help/full-disk-access-disk-drill-catalina.html

@benwiggy 's suggestion to attempt to start in safe boot is an excellent one as this often automatically clears any bloated cache directories and reclaims what is known as 'purgeable space, which you may have a considerable amount of if you've already deleted lots of things and are yet to restart.

Beyond that as others have mentioned, private/var/tnp is not a valid directory, it should be tmp. This may be preventing the system from automatically clearing that directory. Navigate to it in finder from Go in the menu bar > Go to Folder then enter /private/var/tnp and report back what you find. For reference, mine is currently 6KB. Whatever you find and decide to do, you should rename this folder back to tmp though.

Even if you can safely delete it however, you still have another 61GB of used space to explore. Perhaps up to 20GB maximum will be the system and if you are planning to download Xcode, you still need to clear up some more space on your 128GB drive in order for you to make the most of it.


If the above seems like a little too much work, and you have your important documents backed up, a complete erase and reinstall - albeit a little extreme yes - isn't the worst idea.

If you decide to go down that route you can use internet recovery using Option-Command-R at startup, which should take you straight to the Monterey recovery installer.

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204904

Of course if you decide to do that and get stuck with the reinstall, you can chat to Apple Support over the phone or book an appointment in store and they can reinstall the OS for you over their wired network very quickly indeed!

Let us know how you get on :)

  • Also, regarding your split disk in the Monterey installer. I've seen that quite a few times when people have updated directly to Monterey from Catalina. Catalina being the first with the split read only APFS container has a few quirks.

    If you manage to, an update should work fine if you select either portion when you have enough room, but to be safe I would select the first container that is just Macintosh HD

    – Asli Champion Jun 06 '22 at 11:39
  • I was able to download I deleted a bunch of stuff and was able to download it, I have quite a bit of space now with 25gb left after installing Xcode. to respond to your questions yes I did skip Big Sur because of storage the first time. also for the missing storage disk drill does have full access its because my drives are split in 2 like it showed for the software update but I still don't know why I have no space for the top folder this is the path /private/var/tnp/Ready/54A8F7510FAA8356E7B50C32C780BB4200000000.sparsebundle/bands and in the bands folder its a bunch of files like "6d4" ,"5ae" – Hunter Adelson Jun 06 '22 at 21:21
  • also I might just try to sell my Mac book and get a windows laptop cuz I find MacOS annoying – Hunter Adelson Jun 06 '22 at 21:21
  • Sparsebundle is a format that macOS leverages for Time Machine backups. Not sure how perhaps a local snapshot has ended up in there, or how that folder has ended up named tnp, but, if you have a backup of your important data and the date that sparsebundle was last accessed is well in the past, I would feel confident deleting it. I totally get your frustration with macOS, it can take a bit of work to iron out issues like this sometimes. But, you’ll need a Mac if your plan is to develop on Xcode specifically. Plus troubleshooting and working through bugs will be good developer practice! ;) – Asli Champion Jun 06 '22 at 23:25
  • okay thank you, you have been very helpful also do i just delete the whole folder or what part? – Hunter Adelson Jun 06 '22 at 23:32
  • No problem at all :) I would delete the entire Ready folder, and then after that rename the tnp folder back to tmp and restart your Mac – Asli Champion Jun 07 '22 at 11:20