Mac Boot Camp Assistant Not Enough Space On Large Disk

Optimized Storage in macOS Sierra and later* can save space by storing your content in iCloud and making it available on demand. When storage space is needed, files, photos, movies, email attachments, and other files that you seldom use are stored in iCloud automatically. Each file stays right where you last saved it, and downloads when you open it. Files that you’ve used recently remain on your Mac, along with optimized versions of your photos.

  1. I click continue where I accept the warnings about permanently deleting data and Boot Camp begins copying data. After 10-30 minutes, it stops working and gives me the following error: 'Your bootable USB drive could not be created. There is not enough space available on the disk.'
  2. 3)Restart your mac normally now, and open boot camp assistant.Then when it asks you whether to create a new partition or install windows, you insert the windows installation disk, click install windows and Bingo!! Hope that it can work for you.

Jan 18, 2019  USB not enough space for windows 10 I downloaded the windows 10 iso file to put a fresh install of windows 10 on a usb but when i use the boot camp assistant to transfer the file to the usb it says there is not enough room on the usb but i was told you need atleast 8gb and my.

* If you haven't yet upgraded to macOS Sierra or later, learn about other ways to free up storage space.

A common error which occurs while installing Windows on Mac system is that your bootable USB drive could not be created Boot Camp. In order to tackle this problem and other such errors like Boot Camp says 'Not Enough Space on Startup Disk', you can unmount the ISO file. You can do this easily. Finder says I have 20GB free. Why does Bootcamp say I don't have 10GB free? Ask Question Asked 8 years. Unlike folders, must occupy contiguous space on a disk. The data on your OSX partition is scattered over it, not all nicely packed together. I got disk util to see 14GB free now but Boot Camp Assistant still doesn't have 10GB.

Find out how much storage is available on your Mac

Choose Apple menu  > About This Mac, then click Storage. This is an overview of available storage space on your Mac, as well as the space used by different categories of files:

Click the Manage button to open the Storage Management window, pictured below. (The Manage button is available only in macOS Sierra or later.)

Manage storage on your Mac

The Storage Management window offers recommendations for optimizing your storage. If some recommendations are already turned on, you will see fewer recommendations.


Store in iCloud

Click the Store in iCloud button, then choose from these options:

  • Desktop and Documents. Store all files from these two locations in iCloud Drive. When storage space is needed, only the files you recently opened are kept on your Mac, so that you can easily work offline. Files stored only in iCloud show a download icon , which you can double-click to download the original file. Learn more about this feature.
  • Photos. Store all original, full-resolution photos and videos in iCloud Photos. When storage space is needed, only space-saving (optimized) versions of photos are kept on your Mac. To download the original photo or video, just open it.
  • Messages. Store all messages and attachments in iCloud. When storage space is needed, only the messages and attachments you recently opened are kept on your Mac. Learn more about Messages in iCloud.

Storing files in iCloud uses the storage space in your iCloud storage plan. If you reach or exceed your iCloud storage limit, you can either buy more iCloud storage or make more iCloud storage available. iCloud storage starts at 50GB for $0.99 (USD) a month, and you can purchase additional storage directly from your Apple device. Learn more about prices in your region.

Optimize Storage

Click the Optimize button, then choose from these options.

  • Automatically remove watched movies and TV shows. When storage space is needed, movies or TV shows that you purchased from the iTunes Store and already watched are removed from your Mac. Click the download icon next to a movie or TV show to download it again.
  • Download only recent attachments. Mail automatically downloads only the attachments that you recently received. You can manually download any attachments at any time by opening the email or attachment, or saving the attachment to your Mac.
  • Don't automatically download attachments. Mail downloads an attachment only when you open the email or attachment, or save the attachment to your Mac.

Optimizing storage for movies, TV shows, and email attachments doesn't require iCloud storage space.

Empty Trash Automatically

Empty Trash Automatically permanently deletes files that have been in the Trash for more than 30 days.

Reduce Clutter

Reduce Clutter helps you to identify large files and files you might no longer need. Click the Review Files button, then choose any of the file categories in the sidebar, such as Applications, Documents, Music Creation, or Trash.

You can delete the files in some categories directly from this window. Other categories show the total storage space used by the files in each app. You can then open the app and decide whether to delete files from within it.

Learn how to redownload apps, music, movies, TV shows, and books.

Where to find the settings for each feature

The button for each recommendation in the Storage Management window affects one or more settings in other apps. You can also control those settings directly within each app.

  • If you're using macOS Catalina, choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, click Apple ID, then select iCloud in the sidebar: Store in iCloud turns on the Optimize Mac Storage setting on the right. Then click Options next to iCloud Drive: Store in iCloud turns on the Desktop & Documents Folders setting. To turn off iCloud Drive entirely, deselect iCloud Drive.
    In macOS Mojave or earlier, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click iCloud, then click Options next to iCloud Drive. Store in iCloud turns on the Desktop & Documents Folders and Optimize Mac Storage settings.
  • In Photos, choose Photos > Preferences, then click iCloud. Store in iCloud selects iCloud Photos and Optimize Mac Storage.
  • In Messages, choose Messages > Preferences, then click iMessage. Store in iCloud selects Enable Messages in iCloud.
  • If you're using macOS Catalina, open the Apple TV app, choose TV > Preferences from the menu bar, then click Files. Optimize Storage selects “Automatically delete watched movies and TV shows.”
    In macOS Mojave or earlier, open iTunes, choose iTunes > Preferences from the menu bar, then click Advanced. Optimize Storage selects “Automatically delete watched movies and TV shows.”
  • In Mail, choose Mail > Preferences from the menu bar, then click Accounts. In the Account Information section on the right, Optimize Storage sets the Download Attachments menu to either Recent or None.
Mac boot camp assistant not enough space on large disk drive

Empty Trash Automatically: From the Finder, choose Finder > Preferences, then click Advanced. Empty Trash Automatically selects “Remove items from the Trash after 30 days.”

Mac Boot Camp Assistant Not Enough Space On Large Disk Windows 7

Other ways that macOS helps automatically save space

With macOS Sierra or later, your Mac automatically takes these additional steps to save storage space:

  • Detects duplicate downloads in Safari, keeping only the most recent version of the download
  • Reminds you to delete used app installers
  • Removes old fonts, languages, and dictionaries that aren't being used
  • Clears caches, logs, and other unnecessary data when storage space is needed

How to free up storage space manually

Even without using the Optimized Storage features of Sierra or later, you can take other steps to make more storage space available:

  • Music, movies, and other media can use a lot of storage space. Learn how to delete music, movies, and TV shows from your device.
  • Delete other files that you no longer need by moving them to the Trash, then emptying the Trash. The Downloads folder is good place to look for files that you might no longer need.
  • Move files to an external storage device.
  • Compress files.
  • Delete unneeded email: In the Mail app, choose Mailbox > Erase Junk Mail. If you no longer need the email in your Trash mailbox, choose Mailbox > Erase Deleted Items.

Learn more

  • When you duplicate a file on an APFS-formatted volume, that file doesn't use additional storage space on the volume. Deleting a duplicate file frees up only the space required by any data you might have added to the duplicate. If you no longer need any copies of the file, you can recover all of the storage space by deleting both the duplicate and the original file.
  • If you're using a pro app and Optimize Mac Storage, learn how to make sure that your projects are always on your Mac and able to access their files.

When attempting to create a Windows partition, Boot Camp Assistant might show the alert ”Your disk could not be partitioned. An error occurred while partitioning the disk. Please run First Aid from within Disk Utility to check and fix the error.”

Use Disk Utility to check for errors

  1. Install the latest macOS updates.
  2. Use Disk Utility to repair your startup disk.
  3. If Disk Utility found no errors or repaired all errors, try again to use Boot Camp Assistant to install Windows.
  4. If Boot Camp Assistant still gives the partitioning error, continue to the steps below.

Check for unallocated free space

Mac Boot Camp Assistant Not Enough Space On Large Disk Windows 10

  1. Open Disk Utility, which is in the Utilities folder of your Applications folder.
  2. In the Disk Utility sidebar, select the name of your internal disk, container, or volume, such as Macintosh HD.
  3. Click Partition in the toolbar.
  4. If you see a message about Apple File System space sharing, click Partition to confirm that you want to partition instead of add a volume.
  5. If the pie chart shows a section labeled ”Free space,” click to select it. ”Free space” should now also appear in the Partition Information shown on the right.
  6. After selecting the ”Free space” section of the chart, click the remove (–) button beneath the chart. Removing this unallocated free space makes that space available for your use again. Then click Apply and quit Disk Utility.
  7. Try again to use Boot Camp Assistant to install Windows.
  8. If Boot Camp Assistant still gives the same partitioning error, continue to the steps below.

Mac Boot Camp Assistant Not Enough Space On Large Disk Windows 7

Turn off Time Machine temporarily

If you use Time Machine with macOS Mojave or High Sierra, either upgrade to macOS Catalina 10.5 or later, or follow these steps:

  1. Open Time Machine preferences from the Time Machine menu in the menu bar. Or choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, then click Time Machine.
  2. Deselect ”Back Up Automatically” to turn off Time Machine.
  3. Wait a few minutes, then try again to use Boot Camp Assistant to install Windows.
  4. After installation is complete, you can turn on Time Machine again.

Learn more

Mac Boot Camp Assistant Not Enough Space On Large Disk Iphone

Learn what to do if Boot Camp Assistant stops responding or says that Boot Camp installation failed.

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