Macbook Air's hard drive full with files under the 'other' category - how do I find these files and delete them?
A few days ago a pop up message came up on my screen saying that my hard drive was full, and that I could not install valuable updates because I did not have enough space on my computer. I checked my computer's storage space only to find that 18.22GB of my hard drive was filled with files/programs under the 'other' category. I have deleted all my downloads, most of my pictures and have done virus scans and I still don't have enough room. How do I find out what is in this 'other' category so that I can delete these files (which seem to be hidden) or whatever they may be?
1. Empty Trash.
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH10677
2. Delete "Recovered Messages", if any.
Hold the option key down and click "Go" menu in the Finder menu bar.
Select "Library" from the dropdown.
Library > Mail > V2 > Mailboxes
Delete "Recovered Messages", if any.
Empty Trash. Restart.
3. Repair Disk
Steps 1 through 7
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH5836
4. For info about "Other":
http://pondini.org/OSX/DiskSpace.html
http://pondini.org/OSX/LionStorage.html
Best.
Similar Messages
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My mac air says hard drive full and 90% is full of 'other' which I cant work out what 'other' is as i Have transferred most to my external hard drive.
Do you know how I can tell how large each file is taking up and what my 'other' category could be?
thanksInitial easy steps to gain disk space:
- Delete all files in the Downloads folder.
Empty the Trash.
- Start iPhoto.
Empty its trash.
Restart.
Backup:
Run a Time Machine (or other) backup since you are about to delete and move files and you may need to recover from any inadvertent mistakes or decisions. You will need one external hard drive for your Time Machine (or other) backup and a second if you plan to offload some files. (See suggestions for where to purchase hard drives at the end of this message.)
For more about backups:
Time Machine Basics: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1427
Most commonly used backup methods:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3045
Methodology to protect your data. Backups vs. Archives. Long-term data protection:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6031
Deleting files:
Then use the free application OmniDiskSweeper http://www.omnigroup.com/more to explore your volume in descending order by size so you can attack the problem from the top down, deleting the largest unwanted files first. Delete with caution and do not delete any system files. Remember to empty the trash after trashing the files.
Additional reference on freeing disk space:
http://pondini.org/OSX/DiskSpace.html
Offloading files:
Consider moving some of the no-often-used large files or directories to an external disk. Use ODS again to find them. This will be at least your second hard drive. Your first one(s) is/are for your Time Machine (or other) backup(s). Do not offload files onto a Time Machine disk.
Format the second drive as Mac OS Extended (journaled). Using OWS to find large files/folders and copy them from the system drive to the external hard drive and delete them from your internal drive.
Then > System Preferences > Time Machine > Options… > Remove the offload HD name from the exclusions list.
Now both your system disk and your external offload disk will be backed up onto your Time Machine disk.
From: http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/freeingspace.html
To move your iTunes Music folder to another disk or partition:
To change the location of your iTunes Music folder, carefully follow the instructions in the AppleCare® Knowledge Base document "iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Music folder."Additional information can be found in iTunes Help.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.thexlab.com/105/ 00000849.html
Laptop users may want to consider having two iTunes libraries: a small library of current favorites on their computer, while their complete library resides on an external hard drive. Utilities like iTunes Library Manager enable you to easily have multiple iTunes libraries you can use with your account. https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/7689/itunes-library-manager
To move your iPhoto Library folder to another disk or partition:
To move the iPhoto Library folder to a new location, employ the instructions in the AppleCare Knowledge Base document from http://support.apple.com/kb/PH2506 corresponding to the version of iPhoto you are using. Additional information can be found in iPhoto Help.
Laptop users may want to consider having two iPhoto libraries: a small library of current, favorite photographs on their computer, while their complete library, or archives of older photos are saved on an external hard drive. Utilities such as iPhoto Buddy and iPhoto Library Manager enable you to have multiple iPhoto libraries that you can use with your account.
https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/12175/iphoto-buddy
https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/7158/iphoto-library-manager
Hardware — Bigger disk/SSD:
OWC sells 120, 240 and 480 GB SSD upgrades for MacBook Airs. A 240 GB upgrade costs $265. http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/ . If your Mac is under warranty or AppleCare replacing the SSD will void the warranty. -
I am trying to backup my Itunes onto my external hard drive. I am at the step where I on Itunes, click on File ->Library ->Organize library. I am suppose to check mark both boxes there, the first being "Consolidate Files" & the second being "Reorganize files in the folder 'Itunes Media'. I am able to checkmark the first box but It won't allow me to check mark the second box, why? How can i fix this? Please help!
Well you must have made a mistake somewhere. The last instruction of step four reads:
When you've found your iTunes library folder, drag that folder to your external hard drive. This will begin the iTunes backup. The amount of time the backup will take depends on the size of your library. When the transfer is done, your backup is complete and your external hard drive can be disconnected.
Normally dragging content from to a new location on a different drive will result in a copy action which is what you were supposed to do. At a guess you somehow managed to move the iTunes folder. Then when you started iTunes it created a new blank library for you assuming it had just been installed rather that raising a warning.
Close iTunes. Rename the iTunes folder on the internal drive as iTunes (Empty) then copy the iTunes folder from the external back into the User's Music folder. Start iTunes. All should be well.
When you've made sure it all works please read my User Tip and use that method to backup in future. Since you already have a folder with the backup in place you can skip the "Make New" operation in the fourth step and simply choose the external folder.
tt2 -
I want to take files from my PC (using a Seagate external hard drive) then plug this Seagate External hard drive into my Mac Book Pro and move the files from the Seagate External Hard drive onto my Time Capsule. I do not want to put these files on my Mac. How do I do this? Where do I put these files on my Time Capsule? Will it affect the functioning of my Time Capsule?
Mixing files with data is not always great idea.
See info here.
Q3 http://pondini.org/TM/Time_Capsule.html
Why not just connect the PC directly to the TC by ethernet and copy the files over?
It is hugely faster and much less mucking around.
In windows load the airport utility for windows.. if you have not already as this will help you access the drive.
There is more info here.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1331 -
Is WD3200BEKT hard drive replaceable with newer model, the WD5000BPKX ?
MINE IS HP PAVILION DM4 1009-TU.
Is WD3200BEKT hard drive replaceable with newer model, the WD5000BPKX ?
THANKS
This question was solved.
View Solution.Hi,
Yes, the newer model HDD you mention will be fine.
If needed, the procedure for replacing the HDD is detailed starting on Page 61 of your Maintenance & Service Guide.
Regards,
DP-K
****Click the White thumb to say thanks****
****Please mark Accept As Solution if it solves your problem****
****I don't work for HP****
Microsoft MVP - Windows Experience -
I am not able to find the files my scanner saves to Macintosh HD - Private - tmp - my user name. How do I find these files again? Once I scan something I have to save as and save it to a differnt location, but there are a few files I scaned and did not save as to a new location. I know they are on my computer somewhere but I can't find them.
Under the Finder, in the Go menu, select Go to Folder ...
and enter
/private/var
You will see the tmp folder as well as other folders.
You should be cautious about moving or deleting files inside the /private/var areas because if you do something to the wrong files, your computer may fail to boot. Programs should not be saving files to the /private area that any user needs to access. Something does not sound right about your installation of the scanner. -
Motherboard went in my g5 desktop so i go my hard drive extracted with all my data..I now have an ibook g4 laptop running off OSX 10.4.11 and am trying to get Garageband working but get this message: The Instrument Library is invalid. GarageBand expects a valid Instrument Library folder?
Contact Apple Support:
http://www.apple.com/support/contact/
Apple - How to Contact Us:
http://www.apple.com/contact/
Be sure to refer to the repair ticket number.
Sounds like a terrible mixup.
Good luck & happy computing! -
Hi, I have a hard disk failure so to recover my data I am using disk utility to restore the data on an external drive while booting from a second external hard drive. When I perform the operation and after having selected both my destination and source drives, the operation begins but soon fails due to input/output error. If I try to create an image of the drive it gives me the same error message. Any help would be much appreciated.
Disk Utility only creates a image of the drive, so it's no help getting exactly what you want, which is your files. If the file structure is messed up or the drive is failing then it's no help.
If you have a external boot drive and you can't access the internal non-booting drive though the typical Finder and windows to transfer your files via drag and drop methods, then you need to install Data Rescue on the external boot drive and it will do as best as it can to recover your files. (works on non-encrypted/non-Filevaulted drives only)
.Create a data recovery/undelete external boot drive
Are you sure you have hard drive failure, or that OS X isn't merely not booting?
Because if the drive is working physically, then there is a host of fixes
..Step by Step to fix your Mac
https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro?view=documents#/ -
iTunes has compilations or samplers for sale of, for example, Folk Music or Reggae, usually with 3 levels of inclusion: a beginner selection, one which includes more, and a deeply inclusive set. Many of these are very good but since upgrading iTunes I can't figure out how to find these. How do I find these in iTunes to purchase them?
If for some reason you failed to import any purchases made on your iphone to your computer, not good, then
you can redownload some itunes purchases in some countries:
Downloading past purchases from the App Store, iBookstore, and iTunes Store -
MacBook Air saying hard drive is full when it's really not
I have just started getting error messages saying that my startup disk is full, saying I have "Zero KB" available, which makes sense being I have been doing a lot of downloading recently and have been learning Java programming (lots of Java and Class files), and the fact that 80GB isn't a lot of storage space these days (and hasn't been for at least the last 5 years), most notebooks these days have at least 200GB hard drives in them (that is one thing, that as much as I love Macs, has always irked me about them, very little storage space)
I have deleted over 30KB worth of unimportant files to free up some space (one file being 24KB alone), then opened a Finder window only to find out that it still says "Zero KB Available", if I delete 30+KB worth of files, shouldn't there be an equivalent amount of storage space afterwards? It doesn't make any sense that I would still be getting "Zero KB Available" after I deleted 30+KB worth of data
I am not sure if it's related, but for quite a while, I have noticed that my MacBook has been making a clicking noise, this has been happening for quite a while, though I have been hearing it less than before, and just recently I am now hearing what sounds like a screech coming from the MacBook (mostly when I put it on standby by closing the screen, right when the sleep mode initiates), though I have ignored it, being until now, I have not noticed any problems with the MacBook, no loss of data, no corruption, etc., and now the only problem I am experiencing is that it's saying my hard drive is 100% full even after deleting some files, though does fail when I try to verify the disk in Disk Utility
So is there a reasonable explanation for why it's saying my hard drive is full, or is it possible that there could be a potential disk failure?
Message was edited by: Mikedamirault2
Reason for edit: Paragraph Spacing18tracks, a KB is small, Ill give you that, but the reply you typed alone, if copied to TextEdit and saved in TXT or RTF format should only be several bytes (under a KB), I have Java and Class files with plenty more text in it and they only range from 1KB to 8KBs, way below 30KB, though if I were to save this webpage as an HTML file, then yes, it would probably get close
Regardless, it doesn't matter how little I delete, even if I only delete one 1KB file, it should still say 1KB free, yes that is barely anything, but at least that means it would be accurate
My point, was I deleted 30+KBs worth of data (that is a rough estimate, I am not exactly sure how much I deleted) and Finder STILL said that I had "Zero KB" available, I don't know about you, but 30KB sure sounds like a HUGE difference than 0KB
To me, this means that it doesn't matter if I deleted 1KB, 1MB, or even 1GB worth, Finder would still say that "Zero KB" is available, and the OS will still refuse to save or manipulate files, to me, that's a sign that something much bigger is going on, and with the clicking and screeching going on (which may not necessarily be the hard drive, but you never know), and the fact that my hard drive failed a verification, something tells me my hard drive must not be in good shape, and could possibly be disastrous -
I m able to copy and paste selected files from external hard drive to my mac but not the other way around. Im not able to copy files from Mac to external hard drive.
The same is working fine with USB flash memory.
Please help.Vijay Raymond Daniel wrote:
The only thing is we need to buy this software. if there is a free solution to inter change files between NTFS and HFS it would be better,
Don't use NTFS, remove your data off it first and change the format to something the Mac and PC can read, but doens't cost money or require software.
Drives, partitions, formatting w/Mac's + PC's -
Hi I only had 15 GB of memory left on my pc. I started to edit files saving everything to an external hard drive, then the last one i attempted it wouldnt allow me to. It has eaten up all my memory and i cant find the files, can someone help me with this as im lost :-(
many thanx in advanceHi Trubluru,
Launch Premiere Elements and open a project.
Click on edit>preferences>media and clean the cache.
Then check the free space on the hard disk.
Thanks -
I want to creat for the first time on my Mac Mini an iPhoto library. I have many seperate hard drives with pics I want to import but are concerned I will fill the hard drive with pics alone. Can I install the pics on one larg (1TB) external apple hard drive and use iPhoto functions still with the pics being installed on a seperate drive from the iPhoto OS?
This is our resident iPhoto guru, Terence Devlin's, advice:
You can move your iPhoto Library to an external disk:
1. Quit iPhoto
2. Copy the iPhoto Library Folder as an entity from your Pictures Folder to the External Disk.
3. Hold down the option (or alt) key while launching iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library' and navigate to the new location. From that point on this will be the default location of your library.
4. Test the library and when you're sure all is well, trash the one on your internal HD to free up space.
Once that is done you can import directly into the iPhoto library on the external HD. -
Is WD3200BEKT hard drive replaceable with newer model, the WD3200BEKX ?
I have an HP laptop model G62-231NR and I need to replace the hard drive. The hard drive it came with is the WD3200BEKT-60V5T1. I found this on Amazon at this link which looks like it will suffice:
http://www.amazon.com/Black-320-Mobile-Hard-Drive/dp/B001CO3EKQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid...
I also saw that there is a "newer model of this item" which is called the WD3200KEBX. I found this on Amazon here:
http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Black-Notebook-WD3200BEKX/dp/B00DSUTVYK/ref=dp_ob_title_ce
I'm wondering if the KEBX is compatable with the KEBT and even if so, what's the difference? Would it be recommened to go with the newer model, the KEBX ?
(Pricing is within $2 so that's not a factor)
Thanks for your help!
This question was solved.
View Solution.Either one will work. The only difference between them is one is a retail drive and one is a bulk pack...sold to system builders and such. Same basic hardware. For the same price you might actually find a 500 gig.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145587
That is a thinner (7mm) drive but has twice the cache (32 megs vs. 16 megs) so would be a little bit faster. It will work. You do not need to replace the exact drive. Any 2.5 inch wide 7 or 9.5 mm SATA hard drive will work. You could even install a hybrid drive or solid state drive.
Your manual...see page 47:
Manual
If this is "the Answer" please click "Accept as Solution" to help others find it. -
I recently used SuperDuper! to transfer my old MBP hard drive and its settings to a new SSD. Everything went smoothly. When I opened the "About this Mac" section and looked under Storage it showed this:
Where are the "Backups" (purple) located? I want to delete these files to free up disk space on my new SSD. Thanks in advance for all of your guys help!These are the "Local Snapshots" Time Machine makes when the actual Time Machine harddisk is not connected/avaiable.
OS X Lion: About Time Machine's "local snapshots" on portable Macs
Mac OS X 10.7 Help: About local snapshots
Stefan
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