Clear empty disk space

When I use Disk Utility to Erase free space on my hard disk my whole mac grind to a holt with constant messages of 'your HD is almost full' - now it's obviously to do with how it clears the disk space but is there any way of stopping in grinding to a holt so early in the process and not alowing any apps to work?

Why are you erasing blank space?
If you are getting a hard drive full error, then you need to delete some files. You need ~10% of your hard drive free for the System and applications to work their behind the scenes magic.
Disk Utility is usually run to fix problems, if you have other applications open DU will very aggressively take control of your hard drive. Don't run it with other applications open!

Similar Messages

Trying to clear up disk space

I'm trying to clear space on my hard drive, i´m using what size to find large files. It´s found in my home directory a temporary files folder containing around 4gigs of audio/video ts files, however i can't find these using a regular search. Why is this

If the files or the folder start with a dot, then OS X will skip over them. If that's not the case, then it may just be that search is flaky. If you search the forums, you'll find other posts where people have had issues with it. I use EasyFind myself.
HTH,
~FifthWheel

Prime Infrastructure 1.4: Clear Disk Space

In order to reduce disk space usage on Prime Infrastructure I will reduce the System Data Retention period (for aggregate data) and "Background Data Collection Task" raw data retention (for non-aggregate data). If I now run 'ncs stop / ncs cleanup / ncs start, will this inmediately clear the disk space or does some other event clear the disk space?
Thanks.

ncs cleanup should be able to retrieve some disk space.
You can check the details of how it works from this document here.
-Thanks
Vinod

How to set the limit for the warning 'running out of disk space'

I am wondering if there's a way to set the number of GB before I get the system warning 'running out of disk space'.
I saw this question asked in 2010 and it did not get an answer. It was archived so I am asking again. I know how to monitor the available space on my startup disk, and how to empty the trash to clear up disk space. I am looking for an OS X setting that I can change.

My guess is that you want to lower the limit. IMHO I think the limit is alreay too low.
If you are seeing this warning regularly then your disk is severely overfull and needs to be replaced with a larger one.
Running the free space low eenough to get the warning greatly increases the chances for disk corruption. Once the disk gets corrupted then then next thing that happens is data lose.
You have a serious problem with your Mac that should be dealt with immediately.
Backing your data up would also be a good idea if you are not already doing that.
Allan

Relocated original files to desktop (on low disk space) and lost photos?

Help! My wife and I exchanged our vows on the Napali Coast and we lost our photos...
2006 Macbook, iphoto06:
As I was importing our 200 photos from the hike, my computer warned me that I was running out of disk space and stopped before finishing the load. I regretfully opted to delete the photos from the camera as it imported (bummer). The photos were safe in my iphoto library when I returned the following day and cleared some disk space on my hard drive. I then imported the remaining photos and everything looked normal.
Here's where it gets weird. So I was looking at a photo and accidently deleted it from the iphoto library. I located the original file and reimported it, however the computer told me that I already had the photo in the library. I looked into help and followed the instructions to drag the rolls onto my desktop and reimport them into iphoto. I did this and consequently lost some 50 very special photos. Now the iphoto library had this giant gap filled with grey !!!'s where the photos were. I looked into the original rolls folders and found a number of the original files were now missing? Something obviously happened from me having moved the files from the originals folder to the desktop. When I returned to iphoto, I recieved a warning that I was running out of diskspace again and some of the recent changes may have been lost!
I have searched for the files according to their file numbers (from the missing thumbnail) and the files are not coming up on my search. The original files are not in the trash either?
My questions:
1. Is there any way to trace the history of my actions and undo my actions or salvage my files?
2. The images still appear in my iphoto library thumbnails when scrolling down the screen (briefly before turning to grey !'s). Can I somehow salvage the image from the thumbnails?
3. Do I have to find the original files to see the photos again?
I have learned to not mess with orignial files in iphoto, never delete when importng, and always have mucho diskspace when uploading.
Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Will and Julia in Kauai

As I was importing our 200 photos from the hike, my computer warned me that I was running out of disk space and stopped before finishing the load.
You should always have a minimum of 10 GB of free space on your boot hard drive for safe and proper operation of your computer. you must get at least that much free space to go forward
I regretfully opted to delete the photos from the camera as it imported (bummer).
It is recommended that you never have iPhoto delete your photos - wait until they are imported and tested (I wait for a backup cycle or two myself) and then use the camera to format the memory card - this will save you from many problems and reformats you card with every use which eliminates other issues
The photos were safe in my iphoto library when I returned the following day and cleared some disk space on my hard drive. I then imported the remaining photos and everything looked normal.
Here's where it gets weird. So I was looking at a photo and accidently deleted it from the iphoto library.
How did you do this? using iPhoto or using the finder?
I located the original file and reimported it, however the computer told me that I already had the photo in the library. I looked into help and followed the instructions to drag the rolls onto my desktop and reimport them into iphoto. I did this and consequently lost some 50 very special photos. Now the iphoto library had this giant gap filled with grey !!!'s where the photos were. I looked into the original rolls folders and found a number of the original files were now missing? Something obviously happened from me having moved the files from the originals folder to the desktop. When I returned to iphoto, I recieved a warning that I was running out of diskspace again and some of the recent changes may have been lost!
Again until you have a minimum of 10BG of free space you are risking many additional problems with your total system including iPhoto
I have searched for the files according to their file numbers (from the missing thumbnail) and the files are not coming up on my search. The original files are not in the trash either?
My questions:
1. Is there any way to trace the history of my actions and undo my actions or salvage my files?
No - but you may be able to recover the photos on your camera card using program like media recover - http://www.mediarecover.com/ - the trial version will tell you what is available for recovery
2. The images still appear in my iphoto library thumbnails when scrolling down the screen (briefly before turning to grey !'s). Can I somehow salvage the image from the thumbnails?
no
3. Do I have to find the original files to see the photos again?
Yes - either on your computer or on your camera media card
I have learned to not mess with orignial files in iphoto,
Yes - that is critical - doing so is likely to lose data and possibly photos
never delete when importng,
That is strongly recommended
and always have mucho diskspace when uploading.
Yes - 10GB minimum
LN

Help-Erasing a Boot Camp Partition Caused 32 GB of Disk Space to Vanish

Hi
I'm a new mac user I'd I have been really happy so far, expect for this problem:
-I created a 32 gb partition with boot camp.
-I tried installing windows xp without knowing I had to format the system to NTFS during the install
The installation didnt work, and I erased the bootcamp partition.
-When I tried to create a new boot camp partition, it said my Mac HD size hard drive is 227 gb, ie the *32 gb allocated to the partition had vanished*. In addition, I could not recreate a partition because of an error message.
-I ran the snow leopard CD's disk utility and thought that I had fixed the problem.
-However in boot camp, the mac drive is still only 227 gb (missing 32 gb). I can create partitions now, and deleting these partitions does cause any additional loss of disk space.
-I tried erasing empty disk space with no luck.
Does anyone know how to recover space lost by Boot Camp?
Thanks

qcpharaoh wrote:
-When I tried to create a new boot camp partition, it said my Mac HD size hard drive is 227 gb, ie the *32 gb allocated to the partition had vanished*. In addition, I could not recreate a partition because of an error message.
-I ran the snow leopard CD's disk utility and thought that I had fixed the problem.
-However in boot camp, the mac drive is still only 227 gb (missing 32 gb). I can create partitions now, and deleting these partitions does cause any additional loss of disk space.
Let me ask a simple question. What size HD do you have in your Mac? You say you see 227 GB and that 32GB is "missing". If I add those two numbers up I com up with 259 GB. I suspect that your "missing" space is due to the inconsistencies in which Snow Leopard now reports 1 GB. In some places it reports 1 GB as a hard disk manufacturer (1 GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes). In other places it reports 1 GB as a binary number (1 GB = 2^^30 [IIRC] = 1,073,741,824 Bytes). Since I do not know of any drive manufacturer that sells a 259 GB drive, I suspect that this is just due to the differing definitions of 1 GB.

OS X Mountain Lion Install - Not Enough Disk Space

I am installing OS X Mountain Lion.   The download went fine.   It rebooted and began the install then failed because there is not enough disk space. The solution is obviously to make more room on the disk.
The problem is that everytime I boot my Macbook now, it takes me immediately into the installation for OS X Mountain Lion. I cant seem to get back into the OS to clean up disk space.
Is there any way to force my Macbook to boot to Snow Leopard again?   If not, is there any way to clear up disk space from within the OS X Mountain Lion installer or the OSX Utilities?   I'd prefer not to have to wipe my entire Macbook and restore from backup then go through the upgrade again after freeing up disk space.
Thanks,
JG

Can't be that, [64bit] as this MacPro I have is fully capable, and is running 64bit.
In fact, as far as memory serves, this one I bought [B.T.O. option] was one of the 1st 64bit offerings made available.
But thanks for weighing in …
Anyone else have a suggestion?
Mac Pro
MacBook Pro
Hardware Overview:
Model Name:    Mac Pro
Model Identifier:    MacPro2,1
Processor Name:    Quad-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed:    3 GHz
Number Of Processors:    2
Total Number Of Cores:    8
L2 Cache (per processor):    8 MB
Memory:    24 GB
Bus Speed:    1,33 GHz
Boot ROM Version:    MP21.007F.B06
SMC Version (system):    1.15f3
Hardware Overview:
Model Name:    MacBook Pro
Model Identifier:    MacBookPro3,1
Processor Name:    Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed:    2,4 GHz
Number of Processors:    1
Total Number of Cores:    2
L2 Cache:    4 MB
Memory:    4 GB
Bus Speed:    800 MHz
Boot ROM Version:    MBP31.0070.B07
SMC Version (system):    1.18f5
Even the graphics capabilities, are in the favor of the MacPro, which I opted for:
ATI Radeon X1900 XT, rather than the default option at the time.
This graphics card is due to be replaced with the newer 5870 upgraded card.
Just have not slipped it in the case, as yet.
But even without the graphics card update, it is still better than the MacBook's graphics capabilities, surely?

Insufficient Disk Space for Encoding but 49.7 GB free on drive???

Attempting to build a DVD project, but I keep getting an error that there's insufficient disk space. There's almost 50GB free on the drive. What gives?

Permissions should be fine, considering I burned a DVD not more than 6 days ago, same drive.
I import video from my camcorder, create a menu screen, import the screen and video into DVD Studio Pro 3, build the project, then burn to DVD with Toast (I never have been able to burn straight from DVD Studio Pro for some strange reason)
But as of yesterday, DVD Studio Pro tells me there's not enough disk space to Encode the files. The full DVD is only 3.9 GB, and with 49 GB of empty disk space on the hard drive, that should be more than enough room to build!!!

Premiere Elements reports low disk space error right at the end

Ok, so I wait for 5 hours for a 3 hour long video to get saved to my computer. It goes to 99% and then I get a low disk space error. After I clear up space, and click Ok, it starts all over again. Firstly, why doesn't PrE calculate/predict how much disk space I would need BEFORE starting to save, and secondly why does it at least not resume the saving process after I clear up disk space, instead it starts all over, with my 5 hours wasted?
Some serisous usability issues. Is it just me or do these things drive others crazy too?
Expected more from Adobe...

Unfortunately, as PrE uses a 2-Pass Encoding scheme (helpful to get the best quality within the same file size), it does not know exactly how much space will be used, until well into the second pass - the first is a survey of any motion in the Clips on the Timeline, and the second is the actual Encoding, and writing of a file.
Another consideration, regarding disk usage is whether one is Exporting/Sharing both Audio & Video. If one IS doing a Multiplexed file (with both an Audio and a Video Stream in one file), a Video-only file is written first, and then an Audio-only file, with a few "helper files" to be used in just a moment. Then, when that has completed, PrE reads those helper files, and creates the final, Multiplexed file. Last, the two separate Audio-only and Video-only files are Deleted. That takes some space, as at some point, one will have three large files, though two will be Deleted, along with the little helper files.
How much defragmented, free-space do you have?
What is your I/O setup, i.e. the number of physical HDD's, and how they are allocated?
Good luck,
Hunt

My start up disk Macintosh HD is full on my McAir OSX 10.9.4 memory 4GB. I need to clear the disk so that I can update it with the new software IOS 10.9.5 requiring 2.05GB. Need guidance on how to clear space.

My start up disk Macintosh HD is full on my McAir OSX 10.9.4 memory 4GB. I need to clear the disk so that I can update it with the new software IOS 10.9.5 requiring 2.05GB. Need guidance on how to clear space.

For information about the Other category in the Storage display, see this support article. If the Storage display seems to be inaccurate, try rebuilding the Spotlight index.
Empty the Trash if you haven't already done so. If you use iPhoto, empty its internal Trash first:
iPhoto ▹ Empty Trash
Do the same in other applications, such as Aperture, that have an internal Trash feature. Then restart the computer. That will temporarily free up some space.
According to Apple documentation, you need at least 9 GB of available space on the startup volume (as shown in the Finder Info window) for normal operation—not the mythical 10%, 15%, or any other percentage. You also need enough space left over to allow for growth of the data. There is little or no performance advantage to having more available space than the minimum Apple recommends. Available storage space that you'll never use is wasted space.
When Time Machine backs up a portable Mac, some of the free space will be used to make local snapshots, which are backup copies of recently deleted files. The space occupied by local snapshots is reported as available by the Finder, and should be considered as such. In the Storage display of System Information, local snapshots are shown as Backups. The snapshots are automatically deleted when they expire or when free space falls below a certain level. You ordinarily don't need to, and should not, delete local snapshots yourself. If you followed bad advice to disable local snapshots by running a shell command, you may have ended up with a lot of data in the Other category. Ask for instructions in that case.
See this support article for some simple ways to free up storage space.
You can more effectively use a tool such as OmniDiskSweeper (ODS) or GrandPerspective (GP) to explore the volume and find out what's taking up the space. You can also delete files with it, but don't do that unless you're sure that you know what you're deleting and that all data is safely backed up. That means you have multiple backups, not just one. Note that ODS only works with OS X 10.8 or later. If you're running an older OS version, use GP.
Deleting files inside an iPhoto or Aperture library will corrupt the library. Any changes to a photo library must be made from within the application that created it. The same goes for Mail files.
Proceed further only if the problem isn't solved by the above steps.
ODS or GP can't see the whole filesystem when you run it just by double-clicking; it only sees files that you have permission to read. To see everything, you have to run it as root.
Back up all data now.
If you have more than one user account, make sure you're logged in as an administrator. The administrator account is the one that was created automatically when you first set up the computer.
Install the app you downloaded in the Applications folder as usual. Quit it if it's running.
Triple-click anywhere in the corresponding line of text below on this page to select it, then copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C:
sudo /Applications/OmniDiskSweeper.app/Contents/MacOS/OmniDiskSweeper
sudo /Applications/GrandPerspective.app/Contents/MacOS/GrandPerspective
Launch the built-in Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
Paste into the Terminal window by pressing command-V. You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. Type carefully and then press return. You may get a one-time warning to be careful. If you see a message that your username "is not in the sudoers file," then you're not logged in as an administrator. Ignore any other messages that appear in the Terminal window.
The application window will open, eventually showing all files in all folders, sorted by size. It may take a few minutes for the app to finish scanning.
I don't recommend that you make a habit of doing this. Don't delete anything as root. If something needs to be deleted, make sure you know what it is and how it got there, and then delete it by other, safer, means. When in doubt, leave it alone or ask for guidance.
When you're done with the app, quit it and also quit Terminal.

Does secure empty trash save disk space?

Secure empty trash takes so much longer than just emptying the trash. Is secure empty trash just used to prevent files from being recovered, or does it actually save disk space on the iMac?

I am aware that everyone said that it doesn't save any disk space, because I read through the thread.
HOWEVER.
I had gotten down to 500 mb of disk space and was going crazy trying to delete photos and movies.
Finally I read about the secure delete, tried it. It took 24 hours, and then i hat 36 free gigabites.
THIRTY SIX GIGS OF MEMORY THAT I DIDNT HAVE BEFORE.
Only thing is I have no idea why, because everyone else says that it doesnt clear space.

There is not enough disk space available at the selected destination. Please choose another one or clear some space

Importing a small motion movie into fcpx and I get this error "There is not enough disk space available at the selected destination. Please choose another one or clear some space" the destination is a new 6TB raid thats empty. I've created a new library on that drive and still get the same error! help..

Did you format your new drive to MAC OS Extended?
Al

Empty trash - where did my disk space go?

Hi all,
I recently just did a massive clearout of my HD and I threw about 150GB of various videos and what nots into the trash and then proceeded to click empty trash. However, after emptying the trash, I notice that I only had 160GB of space left (previously had 40GB before the clear out).
The question is, what happened to 30GB of my disk space?

In my humble opionion do not disable hibernation or reduce the size of the page file. Doing this will cause your computer and Windows to not run as designed. I know there are suggestions and explanations about how to do this, but doing so may cause issues.
If you need more disk space, use CampTune, or remove and reinstall Windows in a larger partition.

I am deleting files through my trash in my macbook pro (2010) and then emptying the trash can, but my hard disk space is not increasing! i recently upgraded to lion and the problem is new, wasn't the same with snow leopard! HELP!!!!!

i am deleting files through my trash in my macbook pro (2010) and then emptying the trash can, but my hard disk space is not increasing! i recently upgraded to lion and the problem is new, wasn't the same with snow leopard! HELP!!!!!
When i press command+I (Get Info) i see that there is 140 GB "Available Space" on my hard disk but when i click on my hard disk icon on the desktop, and then press "space" i only see 102 GB free!! What the f*???
Please HELP!!!!!! Getting second thoughts on Lion!!!!

Hi b,
Have you restarted yet?

HT201612 clearing disk space in mac drive in windows partition

I am using MacBook Air and having both the operating system installed (Windows and linux).
My windows partition "BOOTCAMP" is having 79 GB (30 GB is still free) and Macintosh HD is of 32 GB (only 19.6 MB is free).
I am not able to login to Linux operating system because of low disk space.
I am able to login to Windows OS. I want to clear some dispace in Macintosh HD.
I would request for some help in this regard.

It is not clear how many operating systems you have, two or three. If you have a Bootcamp partition for Windows you can not have three partitions because Bootcamp won't work with more than two partitions. If you want to remove the Bootcamp partition to free up hard drive space you must use Bootcamp Assistant to remove the Bootcamp partition and return your hard drive to a single OSx partition.
So try to better explain what you have and what you want to do.

Clear empty disk space

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