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Deleted photos on MacBook, NOT getting storage back

I deleted nearly 1500 photos from my MacBook, subsequently did a permanent delete in the “recently deleted“ and I still have not reclaimed the storage. I did the deletions because I got a message that my iCloud was full. I feel like I should now have room but it’s still saying that I’m full. Any ideas on how to reclaim the storage?

MacBook Pro (2017 – 2020)

Posted on Mar 18, 2023 7:55 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 18, 2023 11:18 AM

You may want to estimate how much cloud storage you will need, given the documents and data used by the apps, you have enabled to use iCloud.

Look at your iCloud Drive, the photos, the videos, the Mail, the books, that are using iCloud.

And look at the System Settings (Preferences) > AppleID > iCloud and click "manage" to see, how much each app is already storing in iCloud. Compare this to the amount of storage these apps are using on your Mac. Some apps may just be waiting for more free cloud storage to be able to complete the upload to iCloud.


8 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 18, 2023 11:18 AM in response to Hammerhanna

You may want to estimate how much cloud storage you will need, given the documents and data used by the apps, you have enabled to use iCloud.

Look at your iCloud Drive, the photos, the videos, the Mail, the books, that are using iCloud.

And look at the System Settings (Preferences) > AppleID > iCloud and click "manage" to see, how much each app is already storing in iCloud. Compare this to the amount of storage these apps are using on your Mac. Some apps may just be waiting for more free cloud storage to be able to complete the upload to iCloud.


Mar 18, 2023 8:24 AM in response to Richard.Taylor

I think my question might be categorized improperly. It’s not storage on my Mac that I’m not getting back it’s iCloud storage. It told me my iCloud storage was full, I deleted 1500 photos and videos and it still says it’s full even after I emptied the recently deleted. I seem to be stuck, nothing will sync between my phone and my Mac because of the iCloud storage being full, but I feel that I should’ve gotten enough room from the deletions to enable a sync and a reevaluation of storage

Mar 18, 2023 8:45 AM in response to Hammerhanna

How long has it been? It could take day or more. How were you informed that iCloud was full? (I ask this because I get emails pretending to be from Apple saying they want more money on a special deal, because my iCloud account is full. Sheesh!)


Have you looked in iCloud.com to see if the pictures you have deleted are still in iCloud Photos? or in Recently Deleted there?

Deleted photos on MacBook, NOT getting storage back

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