Clearing start up disk

HI
I am getting warnings that my start up disc are full so I am clearing out old files using 'what size' very useful, but it came up with a file called 'private' located in my hard drive that has lots of files i have never heard of like :ETC, TFTBOOT, TMP, VAR, the VAR file contains a VM file called Sleep image and its 2gb in size, anyone know what any of these files are?
Many thanks

The var/vm files are for your page and swap files needed by the operating system Virtual Memory. They get erased and start over with a 64MB file on each reboot. The sleep image has already been explained, and if you remove it, the next time you put your Mac to sleep it will be recreated.
The only other private area that sometimes excessive disk usage is var/log. Hopefully this does not have any huge files in it. Generally logs are rotated into compress .gz files on a regular basis, and after about a week, the oldest are deleted.
As has been mentioned, messing with files under /private is a good way to turn your Mac into a paperweight (or at least until you re-install Mac OS X from the installation DVD ).
My personal experience is that when my file system fills up, the worst offender is my iTunes Podcast library area, after that it is my iPhoto area, and last but not least, my iMovie editing area.
Good luck finding safe files to erase.

Similar Messages

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.

Hello, I have a problem with my start up disk is full. I have cleared the movies and non relevant items from my computer, but when I check my storage in About tho mac, the movie in the storage indicate still 178 GB of movies. So How can I get read of that

Hello, I have the alarm Start up disk is full. I have cleared everything, I have removed all the movies from itune. But when I check via the apple icon , About this mac and then more info and then storage, the graphic shows movies still at 178 GB. How can I clear that so that I can free my start up disc?
Thank you.

Dear Allan,
Here is the status of my storage.,
Cheers

How do I clear room on my start up disk?

When trying to open VMWare Fusion I keep getting an error message about my Start-up disk being full and needing to clear space. How can I do this?

First, empty the Trash if you haven't already done so. Then reboot. 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. You also need enough space left over to allow for growth of your 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.
If you're using Time Machine to back up a portable Mac, some of the available space will be used to make local snapshots, which are backup copies of files you've recently deleted. 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.
To locate large files, you can use Spotlight as described here. That method may not find large folders that contain a lot of small files.
You can also use a tool such as OmniDiskSweeper (ODS) to explore your volume and find out what's taking up the space. You can 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.
Proceed further only if the problem hasn't been solved.
ODS 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.
Install ODS in the Applications folder as usual.
Triple-click the line of text below to select it, then copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C):sudo /Applications/OmniDiskSweeper.app/Contents/MacOS/OmniDiskSweeper
Launch the 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 (command-V). You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning not to screw up. If you see a message that your username "is not in the sudoers file," then you're not logged in as an administrator.
I don't recommend that you make a habit of doing this. Don't delete anything while running ODS 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 you're done with ODS, quit it and also quit Terminal.

How to clear up space on mac os x start up disk

I get the message your mac os x start up disk has no more space available for application memory, please help me clear this problem up

Freeing Up Disc Space
what-to-do-when-your-hard-drive-is-full.html

How to clear your start up disk?

How do you empty your start up disk up?

Boot from install DVD and start Disk Utility
Then erase the disk.
Allan

How do you clear room on start up disk

I keep getting a popup that says my start up disk is full - delete files
i can't load new ios 6 because of it
Help

First, empty the Trash if you haven't already done so. Then reboot. That will temporarily free up some space. According to Apple documentation, you need at least 9 GB free for normal operation. You also need enough space left over to allow for growth of your data. Use a tool such as OmniDiskSweeper to explore your volume and find out what's taking up the space. Proceed further only if the problem hasn't been solved. ODS 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 really see everything, you have to run it as root. Back up all data now if you haven't already done so. No matter what happens, you should be able to restore your system to the state it was in at the time of that backup. Launch the 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 page that opens. After installing ODS in the Applications folder, drag or copy — do not type — the following line into the Terminal window, then press return:sudo /Applications/OmniDiskSweeper.app/Contents/MacOS/OmniDiskSweeper
You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning not to screw up.
I don't recommend that you make a habit of this. Don't delete anything while running ODS as root. When you're done with it, quit it and also quit Terminal.

Start up disk and hard drive almost full i have tried clearing things but it is not working it says its full from (other)

Hi so I keep getting pop up messages saying that my start up disk is almost full. SO I go into my Macintosh and try to erase some things however it isnt freeing any space most of the storage has been filled up by the word (other). Not movies or music but (other) not too sure what it is? please help

“Other" includes everything that is not audio, movies, photos, apps and backups. In other words it includes the OS, mail, documents... See http://pondini.org/OSX/LionStorage.html and What is "Other" and What Can I Do About It? and Apple Support Communities https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-5142
Also see Where did my disk space go: http://pondini.org/OSX/DiskSpace.html
For hints on how to free disk/SSD storage see
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5872318?tstart=0
and
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5939678?tstart=60

How do I clear space on the start up disk?

not enough room on start up disk what do i do?

Allan Eckert wrote:
…found that OmniDiskSweeper to be a useful tool to find out for sure exactly where the the files and folders are that are taking up the most space.
this is just 'useful' if you know what to do with that info...
examples:
you'll find tons of huge 'Help'-files, well hidden in the libraries ... would you erase them?
you'll find tons of browser-cache files … would you erase them?
you'll find tons of 'cpi'-files (if you archive your SDcards)… would you erase them?
The expert can do a lot of 'improvements', but the average user is simply overwhelmed
MacOS as a Unix has a lot of 'self-healing' interanlly (as an examples: the famous cron-jobs), and there's little need to trigger those manually ...
OP asked to free disk-space - a start is to drag the obvious ones (video, pics, music) externally. the erasing of the few kB, a Korean/Danish/Maori/… location doesn't have any noticeable effect....
(excuses to an Korean, Danish, Maori forum members being here abused as 'exotic'! )

HT201364 How do I clear space on my start up disk?

My computer keeps telling me that my start up disk is almost full, I've tried to delete things, and that didn't work, but how do I even get to the start up disk?

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT6047
http://pondini.org/OSX/LionStorage.html
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-5142
Disk Inventory X: http://www.derlien.com/
Grand Perspective: http://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net/

How to delete files from start up disk

Please help. After my macbook air is on for 2-5 mins, it comes up with I need to delete files from my start up disk. I went into start up disk and the only thing in there is the OS X system. So, then a small box appears. and tells me my memory is full and that I need to force quit applications. Sometimes the only application that is on it is finder. At this point the macbook air then freezes and I have to turn it off holding the button down. When I go to turn it back on it will often not turn back on. This laptop is only 11months old and running the new OS X system (mountain Lion) that just came out.

Use Grandperspective to visually map all files:
http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/19515/grandperspective
Also check this page about clearing drop box cache on your Mac:
https://www.dropbox.com/help/328/en

MacBook Pro start up disk full. Will not pass the grey screen

Hi
I didn't realized how close I was to fill the start up disk and now my mac pro will not boot.
I have read many entries and try a few things but nothing has worked.
I have the late 2011 MacBook Pro running Mavericks 10.9
Of the 499.25 GB I only have 176.1 MB available.
I tried reinstalling the OS X but I don't have enough space to do it.
On the disk utility I selected the volume Macintosh HD disk and clicked on Verify Disk. After 10 minutes the message read: The Volume Macintosh HD appears to be OK.
I also clicked on Repair Disk and after another 10 minutes the message read: Volume repair complete.
Updating book support partitions for the volume as required.
At this point I don't know what else to do.
Ideally I would like to be able to access my hard drive to delete the junk I don't need and safe the things I need.
I don't want to loose my files and have to format the whole thing.
Is the a way to save my files?
Thank for all the help.

Do what arthur suggested but have an external HD on hand, formatted OS X Extended (journaled) to move files from your MBP to it so as to clear out some free space.
It's recommended that a minimum of 10-15 GB of free space be maintained for optimal system and application performance. If you use iDVD make that a minimum of 20-25 GB free space.
OT

How to clean the start up disk?

How do I clear space on my start up disk?

Freeing Up Space on The Hard Drive
1. See Lion/Mountain Lion's Storage Display.
2. You can remove data from your Home folder except for the /Home/Library/ folder.
3. Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on freeing up space on your hard drive.
4. Also see Freeing space on your Mac OS X startup disk.
5. See Where did my Disk Space go?.
6. See The Storage Display.
You must Empty the Trash in order to recover the space they occupied on the hard drive.
You should consider replacing the drive with a larger one. Check out OWC for drives, tutorials, and toolkits.
Try using OmniDiskSweeper 1.8 or GrandPerspective to search your drive for large files and where they are located.

Disk utility. start up disk

Trying to run disk utility from the start up disk.
I insert install disk #1.
Restart while pressing C key.
I just get the language thing then the installer.
There is no disk utility or installer menu.
If I press continue, it's a dead end only installation choices with no escape or restart.
What am I leaving out?
Thanks.

One event showed the warning in your link.
Another was the white on black lines of text appearing.
The thing that just happened was a plain freeze, everything stops.
My Lacie EX HD and card reader were unplugged during the last freeze up.The printer was plugged in but off.
The Wacom tablet is plugged into the display.
I have a USB hub which only had the printer plugged into it.
I have an iMac plugged into the same router but it was shut down.
There are some JBL speakers plugged in.
I emailed Epson a few days ago because accessing the drivers was not clear to me.
They wrote back only describing how to set it up with the installed driver. Nothing about an update.

Start-up Disk Questions

Hey everybody. As of late my Mom has been having some trouble with her older MacBook (older as in 2006). Her built in memory is 60 GB, but lately she's been getting error messages saying her start-up disk is too full. I checked, and she has just over 1 GB of memory open. Thing is, she's been backing everything up on an external HD so I don't know where the problem lies. What I do to clear up some space and make this thing run as fast as it used to? I've tried Yasu but it had no effect. Anything!

Have the drive replaced with a larger drive. Backing up to an external drive doesn't free up any storage space unless you erase everything you've backed up. The simple solution is a bigger hard drive. 500 GB hard drives are around $100.00. Any 2.5" notebook SATA drive will fit as long as it's not higher than 9.5 mm. installation is non-trivial and requires some disassembly. You can find drives, tools, and instructional tutorials at ifixit.com and OWC.
You didn't mention how much RAM is installed, but I would put in the maximum amount supported by that model: If it's a Core Duo model the maximum is 2 GBs; if it's a Core 2 Duo model the maximum you can install is 4 GBs of which only 3 GBs can be used.

Clearing start up disk

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