Annoying "home directory is full" question

The bizzare would happen mostly when a outcoming mail sending, either through .Mac or a pop3 gmail local account, and it would happen 4-5 times each day, and even twice might occure during just one hour!
I tried check the surface of harddisk using OnyX and Techtool, nothing wrong; the file system, disk and disk premission had been repaired everytime; and I using a scheduled applescript to reindex the envelopeIndex file every other day (/usr/bin/sqlite3 ~/Library/Mail/'Envelope Index' vacuum"); and I also sometime followed the instructions on Apple website to just simply remove the EnvelopIndex and restart and let Mail to reconstruct the Mail boxes.......
I tried every methods that I had googled and imagined, but I could not do A thing to the bizzare's happening.... faint!
Yesterday I went to Applecare center to replace the topcase, and while I was talking with the tech. it was mentioned that they had using the Mail.app for years and none of them had met the bizzare for ONCE, and most of them did not using the .Mac service but some other POP3 mail instead.
Would the bizzare just occure when using with the .Mac mail? is it a kind of IMAP flaw or whatever something like it?
Could anyone help me figure out the problem?
Message was edited by: Kelip

Hello,
I think your problem originates from your routine reindex script, and the use of .mac or IMAP account. The reindexing should not be needed except in rare cases, so long as you do not move things around in the Mail folder manually in the Finder. Also, as seen in the support doc linked below, Apple seems to treat .mac and IMAP situations differently in cases where forcing reindexing is needed -- see:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mail/2.0/en/ml1002.html
For .mac and IMAP accounts, there must be some sort of index kept on the server, since access with more than one computer or email client will track the changes. Thus the Envelope Index in one computer's Mail folder cannot be inclusive of things on the server, at least not for certain.
I would cease to do this scripted reindexing immediately, and I would follow the support document procedure to force one last reindexing of the local mailboxes.
Also, a Gmail account, while POP access, is not a true POP server, so there might be problems there, although there are true local mailboxes in the Account folder for the Gmail account, that would have to be included in indexing.
Ernie

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Mail Reports that the home directory is full

My iBook has Norton Firewall on it and when I connected it to the high speed internet in a hotel room, the Firewall went crazy logging thousands of hits in a few minutes. Eventually the iBook stopped and a multi-lingual message requested that I reboot the iBook.
In the meantime, I had started the Mail program.
Once I managed to get the iBook working again, (it took some time and I had to restart the machine with the shift key down), I ran the usual disk clean-up utilities, Disk Utility, DiskWarrior and Drive Genius. The machine then rebooted and everything except mail worked correctly. Mail will not start but instead reports the following:
Mail cannot update your mailboxes
because your home directory is full.
You must free up space in your home folder before
using Mail. Delete unneeded documents or move
documents to another volume.
There is lots of free disk space on this machine and I can work with files with other programs so I think a mail file must be corrupted. I would appreciate hearing from anyone who knows how to fix this problem.
iBook G3, G4 Minitower Mac OS X (10.4.6)

My question has been answered by a posting made to another member during the time I was typing in my problem.
Thanks

Mail wont open says home directory is full. HELP?

I dont know what happend but i restarted my powerbook today and when i got back to the desktop and tried launching mail it gives me the following message.
MAIL CANNOT UPDATE YOUR MAILBOXES BECAUSE YOUR HOME DIRECTORY IS FULL.
You must free up space in your home folder before using mail. Delete unneeded documents or move documents to another volume.
what happend to cause this and what can i do to fix it.
Thanks

If your hard drive has at least 5GB of free space available, quit Mail first and using the Finder go to Home > Library > Mail > Envelope Index. Move the Envelope Index file to the Desktop.
Afterwards, copy the Mail folder and place the copy on the Desktop for backup purposes.
Launch Mail and you will be prompted to import all mailboxes available in the Mail folder at Home > Library > Mail.
Select OK and allow the import process to complete and a new Envelope Index file will be created automatically by Mail within the Mail folder.
After confirming all mailboxes were successfully imported and are available, you can delete the copy of the Mail folder and the old Envelope Index file from the Desktop.
This should resolve the problem.

On 10.4.11 Mac Mail I get this: Mail cannot update your mailboxes because your home directory is full. You must free up space in your home folder before using Mail. Delete unnedded documents or move documents to another volume. I can't open mail.

On 10.4.11 iMac Mac Mail I get this message: "Mail cannot update your mailboxes because your home directory is full. You must free up space in your home folder before using Mail. Delete unneeded documents or move documents to another volume." I can't open mail to do this. I have reinstalled software but no effect. How do I get into Mail to delete?

Found this on the "more like this" Worked like a charm!
With the Mail.app quit and using the Finder, go to Home > Library > Mail. Copy the Mail folder and place the copy on the Desktop for backup purposes.
Go to Home > Library > Mail > Envelope Index. Move the Envelope Index file to the Desktop.
Launch Mail and you will be prompted to import mailboxes. Select OK and allow the import process to complete.
After confirming all mailboxes were successfully imported and available, you can delete the copy of the Mail folder and old Envelope Index file from the Desktop and this should resolve the problem.

Unable to open Mail. Home directory is full.

Suddenly I can no longer open my Mail program. The error message I am confronted with is:
"Mail cannot update your mailboxes because your home directory is full.
You must free up space in your home folder before using Mail. Delete unneded documents or move documents to another volume."
I have gone in to my home folder and deleted a ton of stuff. But I am still unable to open my Mail application.
Any assistance would be much appreciated.

What is your hard drive capacity and available free space after deleting a ton of stuff?
Try the following.
With the Mail.app quit and using the Finder, go to Home > Library > Mail > Envelope Index.
Move the Envelope Index file to the Desktop.
When re-launching Mail, you will be prompted to import all mailboxes located within the Mail folder at Home > Library > Mail. Select OK and allow the import process to complete.
After confirming all mailboxes were successfully imported, you can delete the old Envelope Index file from the Desktop and this should resolve the problem.

"Mail cannot update your mailboxes because your home directory is full"

I have a 250 GB hard disk, 4.34 GB of which is in my "Home" folder. (Total HD usage is about 27 GB.) This happened suddenly after Mail had been working fine for eons. I deleted a bunch of files (107 MB) in a "Drafts" folder (none show up in the Mail app's "Drafts" icon), but it made no difference. I re-installed the Mac OS X 10.4.11 combo update... no difference. Mail version is 2.1.3.
Any help here? I cannot use Mail at all.
Message was edited by: Bill Strohm

Hey there,
Have you had a chance to look at this Apple support document relating directly to this issue. Hope it helps.
[Mac OS X 10.4: "Mail cannot update your mailboxes because your home directory is full" alert|http://support.apple.com/kb/TA24486?viewlocale=en_US]
B-rock

Mail account cannot update because home directory is full. But I can not get into mail without freezing. Is there a back door entry?

mail account cannot update because home directory is full. But I can not get into mail without freezing. Is there a back door entry?

Do you mean that your startup disk is full?

Home directory is full problem

My Mac at work gets the following message now whenever I try to use Mail -
"Mail cannot update your mailboxes because your home directory is full. You must free up space in your home folder before using Mail. Delete unneeded documents or move documents to another volume"
But whenever I hit the QUIT button, mail quits and I can't do anything!
I hope someone has a solution for me!

Hello, mikekin4.
Your information indicates you are running OS X 10.3.9. If that is correct, you might try posting in the Mac OS X v10.3 & earlier Mail & Address Book forum. Here is a link.
Forum: Mail and Address Book
If you are running OS X 10.4, here is a link to an Apple Support document.
Mac OS x 10.4: 'Mail cannot update your mailboxes because your home directory is full' alert
You should also read the next link. The answer provided by Allan Sampson includes important information about making a backup of your Mail folder for safety before proceeding.
No Alibi.
Message was edited by: No Alibi. The last link does not work. I will try to post again with a correction.
Message was edited by: No Alibi

Home directory is full - how do i delete? It doesn't look full

After my problems last week - i was able to reindex mail, but now I'm getting doubles of each email and then mail won't work because "my home directory is full"
How do i delete? Does it mean my home folder on my mailbox account, or my iBook?
Thanks, guys

How did you reindex your mail?
This error message indicates a problem with the Envelope Index file for the Mail.app.
With the Mail.app quit and using the Finder go to Home > Library > Mail > Envelope Index.
Delete the Envelope Index file and empty the Trash.
Copy the Mail folder (which contained the Envelope index file) and place the copy on the Desktop for backup purposes.
Launch Mail and you will be prompted to import all mailboxes in the Mail folder at Home > Library > Mail.
Select OK and allow the import process to complete. This isn't really importing anything but replacing the deleted Envelope Index file and reindexing all mailboxes.
This should resolve the "home directory is full" problem and after confirming all mailboxes and messages are available, you can delete the backup copy of the Mail folder placed on the Desktop.

Home Directory is Full? And it is so not Full

Hi There:
I have two users on my computer and for some reason I cannot launch my mail program on one of them. Both users are listed as administrators and I have 2 hard drives installed using a firmtek controller card. The first drive where the OS is installed is an 80Bg drive with more than 57Gb available.
When I launch Mail on the first user ut says:
Mail cannot update your mailboxes becasue your Home Directory is full. You must free up space. Delete unnecessary files or documents. The thing is I have tons of space. The other user I can launch mail with no problems. I do have multiple mailboxes set up with the mail program that has the issues.
Please advise
Thanks
W

No thanks
I figured out that it was a corrupted envelope index file in my mail folder.
W

Home Directory is Full - moving envelope index not working

Hoping someone can help! I am getting the popular "your home directory is full" message and am unable to open Mail. I searched prior discussions and it looks like most people were able to move the envelope index from home>library>mail to the desktop and it resolved it. No such luck for me - in fact I can't move the envelope index at all. It won't move or be deleted. Any suggestions out there?
Thanks!
Amy

Hi Allan,
I finally realized that I couldn't move any folders or objects (not just mail related folders) and figured out that all of this started when I connected my laptop to my desktop via firewire (target) and perhaps it was not properly ejected. So I connected again, ejected and voila - then I could move objects again. I moved the envelope index and it worked perfectly - mail is working again.
Thank you for your efforts!
Amy

Mail not opening, "Home directory is full" ???

I am unable to open my mail application. I'm getting the following error message:
"Mail cannot update your mailboxes because your home directory is full.
You must free up space in your home folder before using Mail. Delete unneeded documents or move documents to another volume."
I don't understand. When I check my home folder there is plenty of space.
Any help is greatly appreciated!
Thank you
Aaron Yassin

Hello Aaron.
With the Mail.app quit and using the Finder, go to Home > Library > Mail > Envelope Index.
Delete the Envelope Index file and empty the Trash.
Using the Finder, go to Home > Library > Mail. Copy the Mail folder and place the copy on your Desktop for backup purposes.
Launch Mail and you will be prompted to import all mailboxes available within the Mail folder at Home > Library > Mail.
Select OK and allow the import process to complete. It really isn't importing anything but replacing the deleted Envelope Index file and re-indexing (so to speak) all messages.
When completed and after confirming all mailboxes and messages are available, you can delete the copy of the Mail folder from the Desktop.

HELP PLEASE! Home directory is full???? Anyone ever hear of this before??

I try to open Mail and this is the pop-up that I get:
"Mail cannot update your mailboxes because your home directory is full. You must free up space in your home folder before using Mail. Delete unneeded documents or move documents to another volume."
And then it QUITS.
Anyone have any suggestions on how to remedy this????? This just started after using Tiger for about a week. I cleaned out my emails last week and deleted unused folders too. There should be gobs of space.

Quit Mail first and using the Finder, go to Home > Library > Mail. Copy the Mail folder and place the copy on the Desktop for backup purposes.
If you are denied copying the MaIl folder, go to Home > Library > Mail > Envelope Index. Move the Envelope Index file to the Desktop. Copy the Mail folder and place the copy on the Desktop.
Launch Mail and you will be prompted to import all mailboxes located at Home > Library > Mail. Select OK and allow the import process to complete. A new Envelope Index file will also be created within the Mail folder at Home > Library > Mail.
After confirming all mailboxes were successfully imported and are available, you can delete the copy of the Mail folder and the old Envelope Index file from the Desktop - if you were required to move the old Envelope Index file from the Mail folder in order to copy it.
This should resolve the problem.

Mail "Home Directory is Full" again

Allan Sampson said on 6th July 2006 "With the Mail.app quit and using the Finder, go to Home > Library > Mail > Envelope Index. Move the Envelope Index file to the Desktop.
After doing so, copy the Mail folder and place the copy on the Desktop for backup purposes.
Launch Mail and you will be prompted to import all mailboxes available within the Mail folder at Home > Library > Mail.
Select OK and allow the process to complete. This isn't really importing anything but replacing the Envelope Index file and re-indexing all mailboxes.
This should resolve the problem
After confirming all mailboxes and messages are available, you can delete the copy of the Mail folder and the old Envelope Index file from the Desktop."
I have done all that Alan has outlined but all I get now in the beachball rotating for at least 20 minutes. If I go to the desktop I cannot access mail and if I force close Mail it comes up with the same "Home directory is full". In case I got it wrong first time, I've now repeated it three times with the same result the spinning beach ball which never stops. Help!
Mac mni Mac OS X (10.4.7) I have five macs and two PCs

Verify/repair your disk first (not just permissions), as described here:
The Repair functions of Disk Utility: what's it all about?
After having fixed all filesystem issues, if any, try the following variation of the procedure to re-create the index (it could be that you didn't also get rid of Envelope Index-journal, for example):
1. Quit Mail if it's running.
2. In the Finder, go to ~/Library/Mail/. Make a backup copy of this folder, just in case something goes wrong -- e.g. by dragging it to the Desktop while holding the Option (Alt) key down.
3. Locate Envelope Index and move it to the Trash. If you see an Envelope Index-journal file there, delete it as well.
4. Move any "IMAP-", "Mac-", or "Exchange-" account folders to the Trash. Note that you can do this with IMAP-type accounts because they store mail on the server and Mail can easily re-create them. DON'T trash any "POP-" account folders, as that would cause all mail stored there to be lost.
5. Open Mail. It will tell you that your mail needs to be "imported". Click Continue and Mail will proceed to re-create Envelope Index -- Mail says it's "importing", but it just re-creates the index if the mailboxes are already in Mail 2.x format.
Note: For those not familiarized with the ~/ notation, it refers to the user's home folder, i.e. ~/Library is the Library folder within the user's home folder.

Mail says my home directory is full

I've been having some major system problems of late.
Following the successful restoration of my laptop's hard drive today I launched Mail. It was very sluggish & came up with the error message:
"Mail cannot update your mailboxes
because your home directory is full.
You must free up space in your home folder before
using Mail. Delete unneeded documents or move
documents to another volume."
My hard drive has 23 GB of free space.
My home folder is 47 GB in size.
Can someone please explain what's going on here? Mail won't launch until I sort this issue.

Yay! It seems to have solved the problem with my e-mail. Thanks very much.
Now, I'll mention this here, as I know you'll be checking back, but I'll also start a fresh thread in the proper place about another irritating system problem I'm having.
When I try to copy from my home directory to an external hard drive, (about 600mb of data in this instance), it starts to copy in the normal way, saying about a minute remaining) then suddenly stops...
... and waits, while "time remaining" increases.
A short while ago it got as far as saying 40 minutes!! For 600mb!!
I tried to launch my browser while this was happening & it was having none of it.
I tried to launch the "force quit applications" window. Again nothing.
Then I stopped it copying & the other things opened.
It's as if "copying" suddenly asks for more power than the computer can supply & everything else takes a back seat. The copying begins, but at an absolute snail's pace.
If I left if for 40 minutes it would probably copy successfully, but why so slow? I have about 30GB of data I need to remove from my hard drive before I can do a clean install, but at this speed I don't think I'm going to live long enough!

Annoying "home directory is full" question

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