If the drive is formated NTFS, some files may be hidden from the current user. If that does not correct the free space reporting, then eject the drive, unplug the drive for 30 seconds then reconnect it. To empty this folder and reclaim the space, right-click its icon, and left-click 'Empty Recycle Bin' on the menu that appears. Log in as any other users on the Mac to see if large files may be taking up space.įiles are sent to the 'Recycle Bin' when they are deleted from a Windows machine. If the drive has been formatted HFS+ or APFS some files may not be visible to all users. Run First AID until it completes without any errors.Click the First AID icon at the top of the Disk Utility Windows.With nothing selected, choose Go from the Apple menu.If the drive still doesn't correctly reflect the free space then run First AID on the drive. If that does not correct the free space reporting, then eject the drive by dragging it to the bin, unplug the drive for 30 seconds then reconnect it.

Right click or press command and click on the Bin icon and choose the option 'Empty Bin'. To remove the file and reclaim the space, empty the bin. To completely delete the file, another step must be performed.įiles, when deleted, are sent to the 'Bin'. The Bin (recycle bin on Windows) is actually a hidden folder located in each hard drive. When a file is deleted, the space used on the disk is not reclaimed until the file is truly erased. Available disk spaces does not increase after deleting files on an external drive.

How to delete disc space on mac