Disk Full Error... Won't Delete Old Backups

Hello- Since upgrading to ML, Time Machine is notifying me that disk is full and will erase old backups on next backup. Problem is, its not deleting old backups. Thus, its not backing up any longer. This has only happened since upgrading to ML this week.
The setup:
- 2012 MB Air with 250GB SSD and ~ 75GB unused
- Latest ML Updates
- External 1TB HD totally devoted to Time Machine- 23GB remaining space available
It has been setup this way since 2012 and this is the 1st time Time Machine is unable to erase old backups.
Thoughts?
Thx!

See C4.
Time Machine Troubleshooting

Similar Messages

Time Machine Disk Full but won't delete older backups?

My Time Machine has worked since day one. And when my 1TB disk gets full, it deletes the older backups and makes room for new ones.
However, since last week, it tells me there is an error, the disk is full, and I need to make room for XXXX amount of gigs before the back up can be completed.
Why is this happening now?

Is this what you are looking for?
2007-11-19 09:27:21.670 Backup[583:11717] split failed with err -54
2007-11-19 09:27:21.679 Backup[583:11717] * Assertion failure in ZXSizeNodeCountIncOrDecForFileType(), /SourceCache/BackupProject/BackupProject-374/Engine/ZXPlanSize.m:67
2007-11-19 09:27:21.684 Backup[583:13587] unable to gzip /tmp/backupTargetTmp.bv9I5E/Thank God!!!!!!!!!!!! - 2007.11.18-23.57.42.723.backXX/Contents/backup.log: file does not exist
2007-11-19 22:30:06.806 Backup[493:10b] * -[NSConditionLock unlockWithCondition:]: lock (<NSConditionLock: 0x1434c620> '(null)') unlocked from thread which did not lock it
2007-11-19 22:30:06.823 Backup[493:10b] * Break on _NSLockError() to debug.
2007-11-19 22:30:06.832 Backup[493:3d0f] * -[NSConditionLock dealloc]: lock (<NSConditionLock: 0x1434c620> '(null)') deallocated while still in use
2007-11-19 22:30:06.832 Backup[493:3d0f] * Break on _NSLockError() to debug.

TC won't delete old backups

My 1TB TC is full and suddenly stopped deleting old backups. I now simply get an error message saying that it's full. Well duh. It's been deleting old backups for a year now. The only change was updating the OS to Lion. Anyone think this is the problem?

It may be related. If you erased your internal HD, then installed Lion, then transferred your data via drag & drop or restoring from a "clone," Time Machine is trying to do a full backup, which there may not be room for.
Please clarify exactly how you upgraded, and the details of the message (post a screenshot if you can).
And/or, see #C4 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.

Time capsule won't delete old backups

Time capsule working fine since months ago. After snow leopard upgrade started to give warning that not enough space is available. Delete old backup's option is on.

The Time Capsule was designed to work with Time Machine for backups. That doesn't mean you can't use other backup software to do the job, but Time Capsule is "relying" on Time Machine to perform backup maintenance ... like deleting the oldest files.
Because you are using a Mac with an non-Leopard OS, you will have to either rely on the backup program that you are using or self-maintenance. I would suspect that in order to delete the current backups, you would need to access the Time Capsule's hard drive directly through the Finder. You mention the connection fails. What exactly is the error you are seeing when attempting to access the Time Capsule?

"Notify after old backups are deleted. Be notified if your backup disk is full and Time Machine deletes old backups to create space for new ones." I would prefer to be notified BEFORE things are deleted. Can the deleted items be recovered?

Time Machine option #2:
"Notify after old backups are deleted" Wouldn't it be better to get this notification BEFORE things are deleted? I suppose the real question is, is it possible to recover files deleted from time machine?
The bold phrase above has a checkbox. But if I leave it blank it appears that I will receive no notification at all.
I am using MacBook Pro, OS X version 10.9.5

TIme Machine is not an archival tool. And no, you won't be able to recover the files that are deleted.

Time Machine won't delete old backups.

I keep getting an error that the backup failed due to not having enough space yet it says in prefs that old backups will be deleted when the drive is full. Does anyone have a fix for this?

I had a similar problem when I upgraded to 10.8. The TM searched and searchand had it brains semi-scrambled. I got tired of waiting for it to do its thing so I went to the Disk Utility and erased the TM drive. Then had it start over with a fresh backup. It has been working perfect.
It may be time to flush yours and start over.

HT201250 so what to do when its full and doesn't delete old backups? How can I manually get rid of 2010 backups?

My time machine is full and its SO VERY VERY VERY SLOW SLOW to do anything on it. I want to completelly kill backups from 2010 and 2011. How can I do this? I'd be ok killing all my backups and doing a fresh start.

Another thought: if you are prepared to delete all your backups (as you say), you could experiment by deleting a few early backups, then testing that Time Machine continues to allow restorations of some test file, and will continue to do automatic backups as usual. If so, delete as many old backups as you want. If TM does not continue to behave after the old backups have been deleted, erase the TM disc and start again.

Auto-delete old backups

My time machine/capsule does not delete old backups, so it stops backing up when the time capsule is full. I tried deleting old backups from the sparseimages but it did not clear up any space. Any advice?
Thanks,
Glenn

You could also try compacting your Sparse Bundle if it happens again: type the following command into a Terminal window: sudo hdiutil compact /Volumes/DISK/mycomputer001a6f33001.sparsebundle. You should replace the MAC address with what you find by going to the Network Pane in System Preferences: write down the MAC address listed there so that you can substitute it into the Terminal command when compacting your Sparse Bundle. Make sure to replace 001a6f33001 with your Mac's Ethernet MAC address before attempting to run the command: otherwise you'll get an error message stating that the MAC addresses don't match since every Mac has a unique MAC address for their built-in 10/100/1000 Ethernet.
Make sure to substitute in the volume name of your Sparse Bundle too: otherwise the command won't work right.

When Time Machine deletes old backups......

My Time Machine disk is about to be full. I realize that when the disk becomes full, Time Machine will delete old backups.
I am not clear, however, exactly what this means.
Is what are deleted:
1. older disk pseudo-images?
2. files which no longer are on the computer?
Or is Time Machine actually deleting files which are still on the computer (but were in the old now-being-deleted backup)?
I suspect it is #1 and #2. So if you had a computer where files are added over time (without meaningful deletions), this strategy will not help a lot---you just need to get a new disk.
Is another option to just make a complete new full Time Machine backup (losing all the intermediate backups)? How is this done?

Jeffrey Folinus1 wrote:
Is what are deleted:
1. older disk pseudo-images?
I have no idea what that is.
2. files which no longer are on the computer?
Yes. More to the point, files that were changed or deleted long ago.
Or is Time Machine actually deleting files which are still on the computer (but were in the old now-being-deleted backup)?
No.
When Time Machine does it's first, Full backup, it of course copies every file and folder on your system. It also makes a folder in your backups, named with the date and time of the backup. This folder appears to contain all those copied items.
But it doesn't. It contains "hard links" to the backup copies. Think of these as extra-fancy aliases.
Thereafter, TM does "incremental" backups. It copies only the files and folders that were added or changed, and makes another dated folder for that backup. In that folder are links to the new items, plus links to the items that didn't change: so they're cleverly named "multi-links." This is how TM appears to have many full, complete backups of your system when it obviously doesn't.
When TM deletes a backup, all that's really deleted are the folder and the links.
Consider what happens when you do a normal (not secure) deletion of a normal file: OSX basically "forgets" where it was, so the space can be re-used. TM is a little fancier: as long as there's even one link to a file, it isn't forgotten, so it's available to be recovered from any backup that has a link to it, and the space isn't re-used. When the last link is deleted, the copied file is forgotten.
Thus, when you delete a backup, the only actual backup copies that are deleted are the ones that have links in no other backup. So, for example, once you've done a Full backup and a single Incremental, you (or TM) can delete the Full without losing it's copy of anything current.
Another way to look at it is, *each backup is, in effect, a full, complete copy of your entire system the way it was at the time of that backup.*
So much for "fancy." The "extra" fancy part is, TM doesn't necessarily make another link for every single file and folder that didn't change. Instead, if a folder wasn't changed, and nothing in it was changed, TM makes only a single link, to the folder. When you consider that your System folder, for example, contains many tens of thousands of sub-folders and files that rarely change, you see how efficient this is.
For more details: http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/10/12/roadto_mac_os_x_leopard_timemachine.html
and: http://arstechnica.com/apple/reviews/2007/10/mac-os-x-10-5.ars/14

IMac won't restart, "Disk full error"

Shuts down soon after Apple, status wheel and status bar appear during startup. Tried safe mode, etc. and got "disk full error." "Could not be repaired."

I think the store appointment would be safest.
Of course, it's unix.
You need to get into single use mode for steps one and two that are listed below.
This page will tell you how to get into single user mode.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1492
Basically, you hold down the command-s key then powering on your machine. The command key has a little apple symbol on the lower left. It is between the alt/option key and the space bar. On a PC keyboard, it will be the windows key, I think.
# Type the follow two instructions to access the startup disk in read/write:
# ( in case of partial success repeat this command until errors go away. )
/sbin/fsck -fy
/sbin/mount -uw /
the delete command is rm. note the file is gone. there is not recovery beside backup
man rm
for cryptic details
"mac $" is the prompt yours will be different. Do these commands first. mac is my short user name. I do not thing the whoami command will give you your short user name . you will have to know or guess.
mac $ ls /Users
Deleted Users/ compile/       macLimited/    na copy/       standard/      t2-org/
Shared/        ftp/           macPanels/     na-old/        startup/       textw/
a (Deleted)/   mac/           mysidekick/    seeker/        student/
mac $ ls /Users/mac/Documents/
ALDL Getting Started Guide.doc
AccordianFinalColorSmall copy.jpg
... files clipped ...
Here is an overview of the terminal commands. Lets assume that your account has a short user name of mac.
#What is my short user name? Type the whoami command.
mac $ whoami
mac
mac $
#How to list all of your disks.
# The ls command is for list
mac $ ls /Volumes/
Audio CD       Macintosh-HD   Spotless       Tiger-ext
mac $
# Let's say your flash drive is named Spotless
# cd is change directory
mac $ cd /Volumes/Spotless
# pwd is print working directory
mac $ pwd
/Volumes/Spotless
mac $
# The ls command is for list # l is long # F is type of file where / is directory mac $ ls -lF
total 134704
-rw-r--r--     1 mac staff     64560 Mar 3 2009 A-picture-of-Youpi-key.png
drwxr-xr-x    83 mac staff      2822 Nov 7 14:52 Applescript files/
drwxrwxrwx    12 mac staff       408 Dec 13 2008 Christmas Cards/
drwxr-xr-x     9 mac staff       306 Dec 21 17:39 Christmas Cards 2009/
... trimmed ... What does all this mean?
drwxrwxrwx
d = directory
r = read
w = write
x = executeable program
drwxrwxrwx
| | |
| |   all other users not in first two types
| |
| group
|
owner
Every Unix resource: files, folders, etc has an owner, group, other
a file has one owner.
a file has one group. A group contains a list of users.
To gain access to a file. You can be the owner, in the group, or not being the owner or in the group you ended up as other. Each of these categories has read, write, or execute permissions.
# l is long
# a is all to show hidden files & folders
mac $ ls -lFa
total 134736
drwxr-xr-x    41 mac   staff      1496 Dec 22 17:11 .
drwxrwxrwt     8 root admin       272 Dec 24 13:55 ..
-rwxrwxrwx     1 mac   staff     15364 Dec 23 12:52 .DS_Store*
drwx------     4 mac   staff       136 Jan 22 2009 .Spotlight-V100
drwxrwxrwt     5 mac   staff       170 Sep 14 16:36 .TemporaryItems
d-wx-wx-wx     4 mac   staff       136 Dec 31 1969 .Trashes
-rw-r--r--     1 mac staff     64560 Mar 3 2009 A-picture-of-Youpi-key.png
drwxr-xr-x    83 mac   staff      2822 Nov 7 14:52 Applescript files
drwxrwxrwx    12 mac   staff       408 Dec 13 2008 Christmas Cards
drwxr-xr-x     9 mac   staff       306 Dec 21 17:39 Christmas Cards 2009
... trimmed ...
# mv is move or rename
mv -i the-name the-new-name
# You can just rename the file back to what it was with mv command.
mv -i old-name new-name
Here is what these commands mean:
cd is change directory
pwd is a print working directory
ls is list
sudo is Super user do
mv is move or rename
For cryptic comments, you can always uses the manual command which is man. For example:
man mv
# Type the letter q to quit.
In case you have spaces in your filenames or directories, you need to escape them. See examples:
mac $ ls -l ~/"see it"
-rw-r--r-- 1 mac staff 3171 Oct 26 23:38 /Users/mac/see it
mac $
mac $ cd /Users/mac/Desktop/ttt\ html\ copy/
Do you know about tabing? Type in a few letters of a name then press the tab key. The computer will type out the rest of the name if it is unique.
Press the up arrow key to see the previous command(s).
To edit a command, use the left arror key to more left and the right arror key to move right. Use the delete key to delete the key to the left. Type a letter to insert.
history to see many previous commands.
mac $ history
    2 man launchd.conf
    3 history
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2692161&tstart=0
press the return key after every command.

I backup to an external hdd with Time Machine, when it ran out of space it did not delete old backups, now my internal hdd says its full when before it had heaps of space. I have searched for extra files but cant find any. Can anyone help, please.

I backup to an external hdd with Time Machine, when it ran out of space it did not delete old backups, now my internal hdd says its full when before it had heaps of space. I have searched for extra files but cant find any. Can anyone help, please.

First, empty the Trash if you haven't already done so. Then reboot. That will temporarily free up some space.
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.

Time Capsule full, no longer deleting deleting old backups automatically

Hi, My Time Capsule needs to backup 18.32 GB, but ther'e only 15.20 GB left on it, so it tells me that it couldn't complete the backup. It used to delete old backups automatically when it ran out of space, but, for whatever reason, it isn't doing that anymore.
Can anyone help, please?

Unfortunately, the Time Capsule cannot delete enough information to be able to make room for the new backup.
It would take forever to try to manually delete backups...and might not be successful....so you really are faced with a decison on whether you want to:
1) Add a new Time Capsule and start with a new "master" backup and move forward from there. You can keep the old Time Capsule connected and go back to browse backups there if you need to do so.
2) Erase the Time Capsule and start over with a new "master" backup and move forward from there.
If you really don't need all the old backups from months ago, and you don't mind starting over again, this makes sense for a lot of users. I usually start over about every 6 months or so, but your needs may vary.

I've cleared almost 30 gig off of my hard drive in the past 2 weeks, and it will temporarily show that in the Get Info box. But hours later, I am still getting a disk full error and all of the memory has disappeared.

I've cleared almost 30 gig off of my hard drive in the past 2 weeks, and it will temporarily show that in the Get Info box. But hours later, I am still getting a disk full error and all of the memory has disappeared. I have cleared my backup logs from Time Machine, checked the mail folder, cleaned out tons of photos and videos and it still keeps filling back up.
In checking the log files, here is the message repeated over and over....
Jul 4 07:18:13 Donald-Keele-Jrs-iMac-123.local CalendarAgent[213]: CoreData: error: (21) I/O error for database at /Users/donjr/Library/Calendars/Calendar Cache. SQLite error code:21, 'unable to open database file'
Jul 4 07:18:13 Donald-Keele-Jrs-iMac-123.local CalendarAgent[213]: Core Data: annotation: -executeRequest: encountered exception = I/O error for database at /Users/donjr/Library/Calendars/Calendar Cache. SQLite error code:21, 'unable to open database file' with userInfo = {
NSFilePath = "/Users/donjr/Library/Calendars/Calendar Cache";
NSSQLiteErrorDomain = 21;
Jul 4 07:18:14 Donald-Keele-Jrs-iMac-123.local cfprefsd[180]: CFPreferences: error creating file /Users/donjr/Library/Preferences/com.apple.iPhoto.plist.t3l894p: 28
Jul 4 07:18:30 Donald-Keele-Jrs-iMac-123.local Printer Pro Desktop[275]: Empty task
Jul 4 07:18:33 Donald-Keele-Jrs-iMac-123.local Microsoft Sync Services[8149]: [0x16697c0] |ISyncSession|Warning| com.microsoft.Entourage2008: transitioning to cancel - session cancelled by server: Client 'com.microsoft.Entourage2008' tried to start a session for the plan 45AD80C3-0D52-4CF2-8CBA-103564B6C47C and the plan no longer exists.
Jul 4 07:18:33 Donald-Keele-Jrs-iMac-123.local Microsoft Sync Services[8149]: Warning: NSBundle NSBundle </Applications/Microsoft Office 2008/Office/Microsoft Sync Services.app/Contents/Resources/MicrosoftOfficeNotes.syncschema> (not yet loaded) was released too many times. For compatibility, it will not be deallocated, but this may change in the future. Set a breakpoint on __NSBundleOverreleased() to debug
Jul 4 07:18:33 Donald-Keele-Jrs-iMac-123.local Microsoft Sync Services[8149]: Warning: NSBundle NSBundle </Users/donjr/Library/Sync Services/Schemas/MicrosoftOfficeNotes.syncschema> (not yet loaded) was released too many times. For compatibility, it will not be deallocated, but this may change in the future. Set a breakpoint on __NSBundleOverreleased() to debug
Jul 4 07:18:45 Donald-Keele-Jrs-iMac-123 kernel[0]: (default pager): [KERNEL]: default_pager_backing_store_monitor - send LO_WAT_ALERT
Jul 4 07:18:45 Donald-Keele-Jrs-iMac-123 kernel[0]: macx_swapoff SUCCESS
Jul 4 07:19:31 Donald-Keele-Jrs-iMac-123.local Printer Pro Desktop[275]: Empty task
Any ideas on what to do next?
I'm running and iMac 20-inch early 2009
Processor 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory 8 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce 9400 256 MB
Software OS X 10.8.4 (12E55)

Step 1
Quit Calendar. Triple-click the line below to select it:
~/Library/Calendars/Calendar Cache
Right-click or control-click the highlighted line and select
Services ▹ Reveal
from the contextual menu. A Finder window should open with a file named "Calendar Cache" selected.
Move the selected file to the Trash. There may be one or two other files in the same folder with names that begin in "Calendar Cache". If so, delete those files too.
Step 2
Empty the Trash if you haven't already done so. If you use iPhoto, empty its internal Trash as well:
iPhoto ▹ Empty Trash
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.
To locate large files, you can use Spotlight. That method may not find large folders that contain a lot of small files.
You can more effectively use a tool such as OmniDiskSweeper (ODS) to explore your 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.
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 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. Quit it if it's running.
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.
The application window will open, eventually showing all files in all folders. It may take some minutes for ODS to list all the files.
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 in doubt, leave it alone or ask for guidance.
When you're done with ODS, quit it and also quit Terminal.

What do i need to do when i get a startup disk full error?

What do i need to do when i get a startup disk full error? I can't update software or use my MacAir at all.

Empty the Trash if you haven't already done so. If you use iPhoto, empty its internal Trash first:
iPhoto ▹ Empty Trash
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 free 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. That method may not find large folders that contain a lot of small files.
You can more effectively use a tool such as OmniDiskSweeper (ODS) to explore your 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.
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 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. Quit it if it's running.
Triple-click anywhere in the 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
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.
The application window will open, eventually showing all files in all folders. It may take some minutes for ODS to list all the files.
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 in doubt, leave it alone or ask for guidance.
When you're done with ODS, quit it and also quit Terminal.

Adobe Photoshop Scratch Disk Full/Startup Disk Full error - PLEASE HELP

Dear ALL,
I have started to notice recently that when I run Photoshop CS on my Mac OSX Tiger, I am getting the Startup Disk Full error message. Never happended before.
Since my initial post I downloaded Macaroni (utility) and have run the daily/weekly/monthly backups, checked the /private/var/vm and /private/var/log and /Volumes. Nothing unusual there...
When I started getting this error I had 32GB left on a looked at my HD and I seem to have 32GB available on a 152GB drive. Now after deleting I have 76GB capacity left.
But when I tried to open a Photoshop PSD or TIFF file and do a crop I still get tge Startup Disk is Full error followed by the Adobe Photoshop error Scratch Disk is Full.
I am thinking of running the Disk Utility from the Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility and doing a Verify Disk and Verify Disk Permissions followed by Repair Disk Permissions. I will be logged into the machine whilst doing this. Is there any danger in this as I have read elsewhere that I need to do this from a bootable volume. If that is the case how do I create a bootable disk/cd? If not then what is the cure to my Disk Full as surely there is now nearly 50% FREE!!!!!
Please help.
Max

PS will always use the boot disk for scratch to some extent even with an alternate primary scratch disk.
Be sure to turn off Spotlight as it causes problems.
4GB of RAM would be nice, I understand small files don't work well if there is more than 4GB RAM but large files will. OS X uses free RAM as cache and RAM disk before using disk drives.
How much RAM is allocated to PS? More RAM would help.
A dedicated lean boot drive helps. Install just what is needed for your work, use a separate drive for data, and yet another RAID volume for scratch.
When in doubt, backup with SuperDuper, and do an erase and then restore. Always backup before repairing; and never, ever, use an old version of Tiger CD/DVD - like 10.4.2 on 10.4.7/.8. Use "fsck" instead, or your emergency boot drive.
Also, give Applejack a shot and delete the cache folders and swap files from time to time to keep a system humming. CS/CS2 and Tiger benefit nicely from more RAM.

Disk Full Error... Won't Delete Old Backups

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