Not enough local storage for Photos syncing with iCloud on Macbook

Question

Level 1

45 points

Not enough local storage for Photos syncing with iCloud on Macbook

I seem to repeatedly run into issues on my MacBook with the Photos app indicating that "Syncing with iCloud Paused" due to "Not Enough Local Storage".

I have optimized storage of photos on all my devices. On my MacBook, my ~7000 photos take up about 2GB of storage. I have only used 45 of 200GB iCloud storage. I have ~14 GB of unused storage on my computer.

I went through and deleted a couple hundred old photos the other day and then removed them from the recently deleted folder. That helped for a bit. But after a few more photos were taken over the last couple days, on returning home today and opening my computer, I got the message again.

I see many people are running into this (on Apple Community forums).

I am using macOS Sonoma 14.7.1 on my MacBook.

I have no problem with this on iPad or iPhones, and they have less drive size/space than the MacBook. I have no problems with other apps, etc syncing on iCloud.

My questions:

Why is this happening on my MacBook?

What can I do to rectify it?

(I have already provided this feedback to Apple on the product feedback site.)

Thanks in advance for your insights and support.

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 14.7

Posted on Nov 17, 2024 3:06 PM

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Answer 1

Nov 18, 2024 9:25 AM in response to Ontario1

Ontario1 wrote: … I have ~14 GB of unused storage on my computer.

Wow-- I have to agree with your Mac-- that's just not much room! Apple recommends that you keep at least 10% of your internal drive free-- I think that I've seen problems when it gets below 15% or 20%. The computer uses that space to swap files in and out, and probably for other mysterious things. I've seen serious slow-downs and crazy things appearing as apps try to do their work with no room.

You need to get an external hard drive and offload some of your files to make room for the computer to do its work. Fast portable SSDs are about $70/TB. I bought a 4TB mechanical drive for $110 the other day.

If you try to put all your furniture in one room, you can't walk around.

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Answer 2

Nov 22, 2024 6:58 AM in response to Ontario1

All I can tell you is my experience, which I referred to earlier. My 1TB drive on my M1 Air got to only 100GB free, and I began having problems. Apple guys told me I didn't have enough free room, and I scoffed. But I transferred files to an external drive, freeing up another 100 GB., and it was like the computer seemed to be breathing fresh air, again.

You are certainly welcome to argue with this. Take it for what it's worth-- or not.

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Answer 3

Old Toad

Level 10

210,603 points

Nov 18, 2024 10:28 AM in response to Ontario1

If you use Time Machine regularly you can clear up some space on your boot drive by deleting all but the latest of the local snapshots with Disk Utility:

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Answer 4

Ontario1 Author

Level 1

45 points

Nov 18, 2024 1:41 PM in response to Ontario1

Thanks @Richard.Taylor and @Old Toad.

I only have 120GB of SSD total size on the MacBook. And similar on my iPhones and iPad. And it is only the syncing of Photos on iCloud that the MacBook is having difficulty with and the other devices have no difficulty with anything. With 14GB free on the MacBook, I am hard pressed to determine why it is having an issue syncing a couple of photos that are MB sized (even after I recently deleted hundreds of photos). Because I have optimized my photo storage, all the photos on the MacBook are only taking up ~3GB, (vs ~30GB on iCloud).

It would be handy to be able to all/most photos available easily through the Photos App using optimized storage and iCloud. That was one reason I increased my iCloud storage overall not too long ago.

In looking at the Mail App on the Mac, it seems to be using almost 12GB on my MacBook, but only 260MB on my iPhone, and not much on my iPad either. And hardly anything on iCloud. (I use an IMAP protocol with the mail server from my ISP.) I looked at if there was a way to "optimize" mail storage on the MacBook, similar to Photos, but did not see an option anywhere. If something is going on and basic operations are held up due to only having 14GB of free space on the SSD, then I wonder if anyone knows how to "optimize" storage of Mail -- how to make Mail just take up a little bit of space on my MacBook and rely more on the back-end ISP mail server for the rest. Somehow my iPhone and iPad are much better at having Mail take less space. I also looked at other identified big space users, and got rid of a couple Apps I never use, so now I have 15GB available, but still I am concerned about what may be around the corner. I have only so much I can easily get rid of.

Any additional insights there would be appreciated.

Thanks,

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Answer 5

Nov 19, 2024 6:53 AM in response to Ontario1

Ontario1 wrote: With 14GB free on the MacBook,

On my M1 MacAir, with a 1 TB drive, I found weird, unexpected artifacts when my free space fell below 150GB. I think that you're going to have to deal with the reality of your nearly full drive. If you have more stuff, then you need more room to put it in. Or you have to get rid of some of the stuff.

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Answer 6

Ontario1 Author

Level 1

45 points

Nov 21, 2024 7:11 PM in response to Richard.Taylor

Thanks @Richard.Taylor. I really have to wonder about the particulars of the iCloud syncing of the photos, and how it could possibly not work with 14GB free when syncing an additional few tens of MB. And as noted, my MacBook Air has only 120GB total to work with, as does my iPad and iPhone, and they are not having issues. I am not sure what I would do with a separate (non-integrated) drive. It would only allow me to swap files in/out, but my photos are only using a few GB and the Mail App cannot work in a swap files in/out mode (it is an integrated thing) (IMAP). I will keep on looking for ways to save space, but I hope that Apple can get more efficient in their ways for Photos syncing with iCloud and also help customers with ways to be more frugal in space requirements for other apps on the Mac, including guidance on how I can reduce my Mac's Apple Mail App space requirements to bring it more in line with the amount used on my iPad and iPhone. Thanks.

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Answer 7

Ontario1 Author

Level 1

45 points

Nov 22, 2024 7:33 AM in response to Richard.Taylor

Thanks Richard. I hear you. I don't have large amounts of files that would easily be transferable and still easily referenceable, that could free up space in the GB range. That, and the smaller size of my drive to begin with (120GB), is leaving me with few options other than hoping for some MacOS update that could be more space efficient in the Photos syncing with iCloud. (I did provide feedback to Apple on this issue separately.)

I may have, as you said, hit up against a wall on my MacBook space-wise. I will look further into freeing up more space on the admittedly small SSD that I have. I am going to continue to look at the Mail App on my MacBook -- and try to see why on my computer it requires so much more space than on my iPad and iPhone. That could possibly free up another 10GB or so -- definitely the lowest hanging fruit. I will also try to fully remove a number of other apps and their data that each are taking up 100-200MB or data, so cumulatively, this could be helpful.

So I do thank you for your advice, and appreciate you sharing your experience. And I will continue to look to free up additional space. It may buy me a little more time before hitting the wall again. I don't have any real desire to replace the computer just yet -- and from the sound of it, even if I do, a new computer with a bigger drive seems to need ever more additional free space to keep on running well. It seems quite a number of users in addition to me are struggling with this problem too. Here's hoping for the engineers at Apple to help us out to get us through.

Regards,

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