Disk Full Alert! message

I am suddenly getting a message that says "Disk Full Alert! Your Mac OS X startup disk has no more space available for application memory. To avoid problems with this computer, quit any applications you are not using." I am not using any more applications at once than I usually do, and I have not installed anything new recently. When I quit an application or two, the message goes away, but in a few hours it pops up again. Why am I getting this message and what can I do about it? It's a hassle to keep quitting and reopening applications, and I don't understand why it would have started happening so suddenly and frequently.

It sounds like your hard drive is too full, and it is imperative that you free up some space or risk a crash and losing everything.
As soon as you can, get a large external fire wire drive and move what you can onto it. Good candidates would be large video files, large music files, maybe iPhoto if you have a lot of photos. There could even be some rogue file which is taking up lots of space. Once something has been moved onto the external drive, delete it from your internal drive and empty the trash. You won't recover the space until you empty the trash.
A good way to see what is taking up space would be to download one of the following:
WhatSize:
http://www.id-design.com/software/whatsize/
Disk Inventory X
http://www.derlien.com
Both used to be free, but I've heard there is a small charge for WhatSize now.
It's good practice to keep 15%-20% of your hard drive free if you can.
To check, open Disk Utility (in the Utilities folder in your Applications folder) and click on "Macintosh HD". Then look down at the bottom right bold faced table and see what it says about "Capacity", "Available", and "Used".
While in Disk Utility, click on you hard drive by brand name and check to see that the S.M.A.R.T. status is verified. If it is not and there is a message in red letters, please report back with the message.
But put a priority on getting everything important backed up to an external drive.
Good luck.

Similar Messages

  • Disk Full Alert

    Hi - I'm running 10.4.11 on Dual 2 GHZ PowerPC G5. I have 2 GB DDR SDRAM installed and 30 GB of free space on my hard drive. I keep getting a Disk Full Alert saying that "your Mac OS X start up disk has no more space available for application memory. To avoid problems with your computer, quit any applications your are not using."
    Trouble is that I'm not running a whole bunch of applications (only Suitcase, Mail, Safari, Illustrator, Quark) at one time - very confusing as I have used these app's on the computer for years.
    Any suggestions would be helpful. THX-Paul.

    "Try Disk Utility
    1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
    2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
    *Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.*
    3. Click the First Aid tab.
    4. Select your Mac OS X volume.
    5. Click Repair. Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
    Then try a Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, reboot when it completes.
    (Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive.)
    If perchance you can't find your install Disc, at least try it from the Safe Boot part onward.

  • Disk full error message?

    stuff, this site has issues.
    Okay, what I need to know is why I am getting a "disk full" error message when I try to save photos. This has only started to happen and my disk drives have plenty of space left on them.

    Thanks, but what is the Scratch disk set?
    Regards,
    Gordon Johnson
    m: Silkrooster [email protected]
    Sent: Monday, 15 July 2013 2:55 PM
    To: GKJohnson
    Subject: disk full error message?
    Re: disk full error message?
    created by Silkrooster <http://forums.adobe.com/people/Silkrooster>  in Photoshop for Beginners - View the full discussion <http://forums.adobe.com/message/5505558#5505558

  • Why do I get a start-up disk full error message?  I have 800 GB and have used approx. 249.

    why do I get a start-up disk full error message?  I have 800 GB and have used approx. 249.

    Here's the appropriate answer:
    Last login: Fri May 23 13:19:44 on console
    [la-mes883094mn:~] joannhackett% diskutil list
    /dev/disk0
       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
       0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *251.0 GB   disk0
       1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
       2:          Apple_CoreStorage                         250.0 GB   disk0s2
       3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3
    /dev/disk1
       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
       0:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD           *249.7 GB   disk1
    [la-mes883094mn:~] joannhackett% diskutil cs list
    CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)
    |
    +-- Logical Volume Group 098533C8-3936-4FB1-BCB8-2FE94E6E0500
        =========================================================
        Name:         Macintosh HD
        Status:       Online
        Size:         250006216704 B (250.0 GB)
        Free Space:   16777216 B (16.8 MB)
        |
        +-< Physical Volume 9518DA81-D7D6-4D76-8B4D-1F235D8AEA3A
        |   ----------------------------------------------------
        |   Index:    0
        |   Disk:     disk0s2
        |   Status:   Online
        |   Size:     250006216704 B (250.0 GB)
        |
        +-> Logical Volume Family C1A37CDE-6624-4094-A29A-2BB706380979
            Encryption Status:       Unlocked
            Encryption Type:         AES-XTS
            Conversion Status:       Complete
            Conversion Direction:    -none-
            Has Encrypted Extents:   Yes
            Fully Secure:            Yes
            Passphrase Required:     Yes
            |
            +-> Logical Volume 7175D310-4566-455D-9C50-1BD4CCF257CE
                Disk:                  disk1
                Status:                Online
                Size (Total):          249670668288 B (249.7 GB)
                Conversion Progress:   -none-
                Revertible:            Yes (unlock and decryption required)
                LV Name:               Macintosh HD
                Volume Name:           Macintosh HD
                Content Hint:          Apple_HFS
    [la-mes883094mn:~] joannhackett% mount
    /dev/disk1 on / (hfs, local, journaled)
    devfs on /dev (devfs, local, nobrowse)
    map -hosts on /net (autofs, nosuid, automounted, nobrowse)
    map auto_home on /home (autofs, automounted, nobrowse)
    map -fstab on /Network/Servers (autofs, automounted, nobrowse)
    localhost:/4OM-aHuM-mGML9PliXARLB on /Volumes/MobileBackups (mtmfs, nosuid, read-only, nobrowse)
    [la-mes883094mn:~] joannhackett% df -m /
    Filesystem 1M-blocks   Used Available Capacity  iused   ifree %iused  Mounted on
    /dev/disk1    238104 227599     10255    96% 58329357 2625394   96%   /
    [la-mes883094mn:~] joannhackett%
    As for the 251 disk, what is this?  I assume it's the wrong kind of memory?  Thanks, Jo Ann

  • Why is Premiere 6 giving a "Error writing file (disk full?)" message?

    Hello helpful experts,
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    Depending on your hard drive size, P6 may be confused... since drives were not as large when it was written
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    20' iMac G5   Mac OS X (10.4.3)  

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