APFS snapshot icon

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I recently wanted to copy of 358GB folder (of photographs) from my MPB to my Studio desktop. Finder showed the Studio to have 684GB available, but gave me an error “not enough space - need another 264GB” when I tried the copy. I thought it might have something to do with snapshots; in Disk Utility, I saw this:

image
image1128×194 36.8 KB

I tried to delete the older snapshot (which was shown as occupying 388GB) but I was told by DU that it was in use.

What does the little icon at the far right of the upper line indicate? How could I stop that snapshot from being “in use” and so delete it?

Jeremy

PS: I solved the problem by restarting, after which the snapshots disappeared, free space rose to 1.1TB and Finder did the copy. But the questions remain.

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Found this by feeding your image into Google Lens.

The Partition symbol is used to mark the high tidemark for that volume, which sets the limit for non-destructive repartitioning of its container.

ref: Understanding snapshot data in Disk Utility – The Eclectic Light Company

BTW I use Onyx (or is it Cocktail? I forget) to delete APFS snapshots.