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Hey guys. I've got a couple of external SSD attached to my Mac (running Catalina) that have purgeable data on them. I've been trying to find a way of getting rid of it but all the info I've been able to find only refers to the internal Macintosh HD.
Is there a way of clearing purgeable space on external drives via terminal or any other method?
Mac mini, macOS 11.2
An SSD has to go through its garbage collection routine to make the storage location previously used writeable again. That may be why the OS indicates it is purgeable. That doesn't happen instantaneously or even quickly.
An SSD has to go through its garbage collection routine to make the storage location previously used writeable again. That may be why the OS indicates it is purgeable. That doesn't happen instantaneously or even quickly.
Hey there Dazza76,
We understand you're trying to clear the purgeable storage on your external drives. We'll be happy to help.
There is not a direct, built-in, way to do this within macOS. However, you can optimize storage and make more room with the steps here: How to free up storage space on your Mac
If you questions about this beyond what's shown there, reach out directly to Apple Support for further assistance. Use this link: Get Support
Cheers!
Thanks John but that's exactly the same thing as I mentioned. Only referring to the internal HD.
Just giving this a bump in case there's someone who can help.
They were my files which I deleted but the space they took up is now showing as purgeable space.
"Purgeable" doesn't mean stuff that the OS is waiting to delete.
Along with items that the OS created and doesn't necessarily need (like local TM snapshots), it is also items you have created that the OS knows exist somewhere else, like on iCloud Drive.
So, the purgeable space on the external may be your files. There is no option to tell it to purge the space. If it is your files, you would need to delete them. I doubt anything on an external is OS-created purgeable items.
Purgeable space on external SSD
