Disk doesn't have enough space.

[SharonRyanPhotography]

Hi Brian - hoping you can help, advise or give some direction ( but please please please not that I need a new computer!!! )

I have a Mac desktop running Mac OS BigSur 11.6.6 and Photoshop CC2022. It is over 2 years old, and has 8GB of RAM. Its hard drive has 1.67 TB free out of 2.12 TB. The last time I shut down was earlier today. I run a cleanup program Clean My Mac about once a week.

I am trying to download and keep coming up with the message that "Safari could not download the file because the disk doesn't have enough free space."  it's actually a 6.9Mb file of Damiens that he posted on FB with layers changing background.  

Ive taken just about all my photos off my Mac  to an external drive and have just under a TB free in space on the hard drive - what else can I do to fix this?

PS its midnight here so I am turning off for the night but will check back tomorrow......

[Brian]

This is actually a common problem. Three things come to mind:

1. When is the last time you repaired disk permissions?
2. How is Safari setup? Where is the default folder that downloads go to?
3. You are saving to an iCloud Account instead of a local folder and it's out of room.

What I would do, is open the Finder and in the left column you should see the "Downloads" Folder. Right Click on it and select, "Get Info." Then look towards the bottom and you should see "Sharing and Permissions." Your Profile Name should be at the top of the list with the Privilege set to "Read & Write." There should be another Profile called "Everyone" with "No Access" next to it. What does yours say? 

To check Safari, head up to the Safari Menu, next to the Apple Menu, in the upper left corner. Then select Preferences. You then should see "File Download Location" in the General Tab. What is yours set to?

The other thing you can do, is use another browser like Firefox and see what happens. That's what I use. Maybe try saving to another folder by doing a "Save As" instead of just clicking? Right Click on the file that Damien sent, and select "Save As." Then put it somewhere other than your downloads folder.

[SharonRyanPhotography]

Thanks for responding Brian, 

So I didn't know that we had to repair disk permissions - that's new to me.... so never would be the answer to that question 

Safari downloads to the download folder. 

The download folder has me as "read and write" and everyone has "no access"

I did try "save as" and chose an external hard drive with the same result

Just tried Firefox and it worked!

so do we ditch safari and stick with Firefox? or is there something that needs repairing that really should be done....?

 

[Brian]

You can repair disk permissions one of two ways. Since you have "CleanMyMac," we will go there. Open CMM, and click on "Maintenance" in the left column. Then look on the right, towards the bottom for "Repair Disk Permissions." Click the Check-box next to it and click the Run Button.

As for Safari vs Firefox? I personally use Firefox and only use Safari when I have to, usually when I have to access something Apple-specific and it won't work with anything else other than Safari.

Oh, bonus...Firefox is Color Managed so it reads the color profiles in your images correctly.

[SharonRyanPhotography]

That fixed it - thanks so much Brian!

 

good to know about Firefox....I think it may become my default

 

[Damien Symonds]

Firefox is not playing nicely with Facebook lately

[Brian]

Interesting. I have no issues. But then again, FB looks the same for me, so I must not be on the upgraded version that people are having issues with.