Forum Discussion

glpx2000's avatar
4 years ago

Sims 4 Mac Update (Hard Drive?)

Hi, I have been playing Sims 4 on a relatively small mac, so I have been using an external hard drive (exFAT) for it. With the recent story progression update, Origin has been unable to install it due to insufficient drive space. 

1. I was under the impression that updates are saved together with the program files (unsure about term), and would be saved in my hard drive? Am I wrong about this?


2. I have seen a guide that helps move the documents to the hard drive, but specifically doesn't work for exFAT hard drives. I am unable and unwilling to reformat my hard drive because it contains other important data/backup, and is one of the formats that can be opened (read/write) with both mac and windows.

Therefore, I am asking if there is a work-around for this! 

Thanks for all the help in advance 🙂

PS. I was playing the Sims the day before the update, so I do know that it was working till then!

4 Replies

  • I have thought of an alternative solution - which would be to partition my hard drive to suit the format? Any advice on whether this would work?

    For more background, my drive is 2TB, I have previously partitioned 256gb for backup (time machine) purposes, and the remaining 1.74tb for exFAT. However, exFAT cannot be dynamically resized. So, apart from reformatting my entire hard drive manually, I can opt to repartition my backup part, which is in the Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format. 

    I am therefore asking about what a reasonable size would be for Sims (so that I can still reasonably use time machine, for eg. is 128gb okay?). But of course, would prefer to not do this! Thanks for any advice given 🙂

  • @glpx2000

    1. Yes, updates are installed to wherever the game library is saved and Origin is pointing towards. How much space is left in that FAT partition?

    2. The guide for storing your EA or Sims 4 folder externally does work on FAT formatted drives but if you use CC/Mods you have to have it APFS or macOS Extended journaled formatted.
  • glpx2000's avatar
    glpx2000
    4 years ago

    Hey! Thanks for the reply 🙂

    1. I think it managed to update, theres 1.76tb left in the exFAT partition

    2. I have also tried using the guide as I dont really play with cc/mods often, but got stuck on the first step haha. It states invalid argument for some reason