G4 MDD, EM "Startup Disk is Full, cannot restart"

Hello, all.
So I have a G4 with two hard drives(PowerMac G4(MDD) 2x1.25GHz). I was loading some music via a flash drive and an error message popped up that said, “Startup disk is Full”. I have two hard drives, one is running 10.4.9, the other was running 10.5.6. I was working in the 10.5.6 drive when I received this error message. I decided that since I received this EM and was experiencing other problems with this drive, that I would reformat it back to 10.5 and update it back up. When I put in the install disk and tried to restart, I got the following Error message, “Startup disk is full, cannot restart computer”. I tried a couple of times and cleared most of the junk off of my desktop, but still had the EM.
So I figured since I have two drives, I would manually turn off the computer and restart it in target mode to load the 10.4.9 drive.
With the install disk in the computer, I turned off the computer, and guess what….now it won’t turn back on! So apparently, the EM(“Startup disk is full, cannot restart computer”) was true and now my Mac won’t even turn on.
Colour me dumb, but I was hoping that someone may have run into this before and might know of a fix to get it back on. So at least I can manage the damage.
I started searching through the archives and found that I may be able to turn it back on, with another Mac(Kinda like a Jump start), but I am not familiar with the process.
Has anyone ever experienced something like this? Does anyone have a suggestions on how to proceed?
Any help is appreciated.

You held down the C key when you tried the installer disc?
Have you tried starting in Safe Mode? This may temporarily clear enough files to allow you to do a quick clean.
Mac OS X: Starting up in Safe Mode - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1455
What is Safe Boot, Safe Mode? (Mac OS X) - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1564
Safe Boot takes longer than normal startup - http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1884

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HT2055 What do I do if my Startup Disk is full?

I keep getting a message that m Startup Disk is full. How Can I free up space on my Startup disk without losing any of my information?

Buy an external hard drive and copy data files to it (especially big ones like movies) until at least 15% of your internal drive is free at all times. If you do not do this your computer will crash and possibly corrupt your hard drive. If that happens you will end up spending a lot more money trying to recover it than spending $100 on an external drive now.
By the way, you need to correct your computer information. You say you have a PowerMac but the PPC generation of computers cannot possibly run OSX 10.6.3 which you claim it has.

I have a MacBook Pro. I was gone for 30 days and when I got back it tells me that my startup disk is full. I have a 500 GB drive and it shows that I have about 500 MB available. It constantly changes. How do I fix this?

I have a MacBook Pro that is telling me my startup disk is full. I left for 30 days and when I came back to use it, it tells me that the disk was full out of 500 GB. I don't have that much on it and it was perfectly fine when I left. I Verified the disk through disk utility and it told me it had issues so then I repaired it and it said everything is fine. It still says the hard drive is full. How do I fix this problem. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Have a read here Where did my Disk Space go?
Stefan

Getting messages "startup disk is full" and activity monitor is showing "syslog d" is using a lot of CPU. I'm planning on getting more memory for my late 2008 model Macbook but wondering if there's something that is causing problems that I can also fix.

I had closed out of all of my programs but heard the internal fans running so I checked the activity monitor. It shows syslog d as the top process using the CPU right now. I have no idea what that means.
I read a thread about the startup disk being full and how you can free up memory. I have an airport extreme so TimeCapsule is backing up everything. I do have a bunch of pictures on iPhoto on the laptop; could move those to another location but I'm a little gunshy. I know they are on the TimeCapsule but I would like to save them to a second place before deleting from laptop just to be sure. I went through several things yesterday and emptied trash, etc. I wasn't able to locate the hidden files that the thread about the startup disk being full was referencing --- they were talking about large emails that were causing processes to happen taking up the CPU.... I wasn't able to find out if that was the case for me.
Also I'm going to look into getting another 2MB of memory and installing it on the Macbook, so I can upgrade to the latest OS. Anyone have an idea if that is worth the $$$ over buying a new laptop? Or anyone have ideas as to where to buy memory, etc.
Any ideas - help!

Go step by step and test.
1. Start up in Safe Mode.
    http://support.apple.com/kb/PH11212
2. Empty Trash.
   http://support.apple.com/kb/PH13806
3. Disk space / Time Machine ?/ Local Snapshots
Local backups
   http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4878
4. Delete old iOS Devices Backup.
    iTunes > Preferences > Devices
    Highlight the old Backups , press “Delete Backup” and then “OK”.
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4946?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
5. Re-index Macintosh HD.
    This will take a while. Wait until it is finished.
    System Preferences > Spotlight > Privacy
    http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2409

How do i reset macbook pro 13" 10.6.8 (mid 2010 startup disk is full

I got my macbook pro 13" (mid 2010) (10.6.8) back from an ex and now I am stuck with his user login and I don't know the password. When I try to reset at startup by usingCommand 'O' I =get the message "Delete some files0your startup disk is full. I no longer have the startup discs, so I need help resetting.
THANKS A MILLION

To reset the password:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1274?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
Once you have the password reset, see if you can delete some files. If not, you may have to boot into single user mode by holding down the Command and S keys when you start up.

"Startup Disk is Full" even though I have 3.5 GB free

I just upgraded my RAM from 2 GB to 4 GB yesterday (2 x 2GB Kingston DDR2), and today I'm getting a message that my "startup disk is full," even though I have 3.5 GB of space on my hard drive.
I've gotten this message in the past when I only have 100 or 50 MB left on my hard drive, but 3.5 GB of space seems like a lot of room to be getting the "startup disk is full" error.
I know I'm supposed to have 10% of my hard drive free for optimal usage, but I'm wondering whether this error message is an indication that the RAM isn't working the way it's supposed to.
Also, the other thing I noticed acting funny since the RAM got installed was shutdown problems. Today I had to hold down the power button to shut down, since doing it via the finder window was not working.
Thanks in advance for any ideas and tips!
Mark

Hi Markus,
The sleepimage file is from Safe Sleep. This saves the contents of RAM to the HD each time Mac is put to sleep in case of a "mishap" so that data would be saved. As you've discovered, it can take up a bit of HD space (as much RAM as you have installed). Thus, I've disabled Safe Sleep and trashed that file. Sleep is now faster too. If you care to do this, here are my directions:
Safe Sleep: How to Disable
Safe sleep copies the content of RAM onto the HD prior to sleep, so it can cause very slow go-to-sleep performance (slow), and sometimes additional issues.
To disable Safe Sleep:
Open Terminal.
Copy and paste in the following two commands:
sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0  
sudo nvram "use-nvramrc?"=false  
Hit return.
When Terminal is finished doing its thing, type in
Exit
hit return, and quit Terminal.
If you do decide to disable Safe Sleep, there’s also a file you can get rid of to save some space on your HD (this file can be as large as the amount of RAM you have installed, probably 2-4GB for the average Mac).
From the Finder (just click once anywhere on a bare Desktop area to make the correct menu bar appear).
Click on the Go menu and select Go to Folder.
Copy and paste or enter the following in the “Go to the Folder:” field.
/var/vm
Trash the file named “sleepimage.” (Do NOT trash the file named “swapfiles.”)
Close the windows, empty the trash, and you should have faster sleeping and a bit more free HD space.

I'm trying to up grade the os but I keep getting the startup disk is full I ordered more memory I was told this will not help. What do I do?

I'm trying to up grade the os but I keep getting the startup disk is full I ordered more memory I was told this will not help. What do I do?

I think as drive capacities increase, the old 10-15% becomes less accurate. The amount of free space you need doesn't really have anything to do with the drive size. So, increasing your drive size shouldn't mean that you need to have more free GB (which using a % of drive space would mean). You need free space to accommodate page outs (the amount of which would depend on how much RAM you have installed and how memory intensive the applications are), sleep images (again, this would max out at your total amount of RAM), and a bit to minimize fragmentation.
With desktop drives commonly in the 2TB range today, it is certainly not necessary to have 200GB+ free in order to maintain proper operation. I generally find about 30GB to be the minimum I'm comfortable with. Mind you, I pretty much always have way more than that available. But, if I'm working on a system and the amount of free space is at least 30GB, I would generally not site drive space as the cause of any performance issues. I'd say that 30GB is a minimum for a stable system (with 8GB or RAM installed). Of course at that amount, you would still need to free up space if you were to want to install or download any significant amount of data.
With servers being more likely to run into the 16GB of RAM range, more storage would be necessary. Most servers should be well stocked with storage, but the actual needs would vary greatly depending on what's being "served".
The 10-15% thing came about when we used to talk about drive capacities in hundreds of MBs and RAM in terms of KB (not MB and certainly not GB). More drive space is always a good thing, but as drive capacities continue to sky rocket, we don't need to dedicate larger amounts of storage on systems with the same specifications. A set amount of space is required for proper operation regardless of the capacity of the drive installed.

My mac air says " startup disk is full".How to solve ???

My Mac air has a message during starting the computer and says that startup disk if full. In the composition of my hard there are 120 GB used space on other parts, which I have not understand where is these files.

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. 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.

HT3680 how to free up space if startup disk is full

How do I free up space when the startup disk is full?

O Trejo, greetings;
I am not the Wizard but a mere citizen of Oz who wears green tinted glasses as all others do.
DaisyDisk appears to perform a similar function as OmniDiskSweeper which I still prefer due probably due to my familiarity with it.
I am not familiar with OSX Server, so I am off the hook on this one. If you go to the OSX Server forum, there will be forum members who will be able to address your query. This is the link:
https://discussions.apple.com/community/servers_enterprise_software/os_x_server
If you are really nice to them, they may give you a Dog Yummy.
Ciao.

When starting the computer, I get a grey screen and following status: your startup disk is full. How can I still enter (in order to free-up some space)?

When starting the computer, I get a grey screen and following status: your startup disk is full. How can I still enter (in order to free-up some space)?

Simple way to make HDD free space is delete files you don't need anymore.
Or get bigger drive and external HDD case, then:
1) install bigger HDD in external drive case.
2) connect external drive and format and mount it with Disk Utility.
3) make clone with Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper!(source drive is internal HDD, target drive is external one).
4) install external bigger drive into your Macbook Pro.
In the cace if your're using Mac Pro:
1) get bigger HDD and install it in drive bay of Mac Pro.
2) format and mount it with Disk Utility.
3) make clone with Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper!(source drive is old HDD, target drive is new one).
4) Select boot drive to new bigger one.

Error box says startup disk is full?

Keep getting message that startup disk is full? What does that mean?

Hi Yvonne! Hi Tracy!
Which OS you are on? (Go on Apple-Menu top left and "about this mac"). There has been an issue with with 10.7.1
Please update to 10.7.2
To watch the space of your HD I recommend GrandPerspektive
http://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net/
There is an other tool, which I don't know, but others recommend: "WhatSize"
marek

Mac does not start -your startup disk is full

Hi,
When i turn on my macbook pro 13" (snow leopard) i get the following message:
"your startup disk is full
you need to make more space available on your startup disk by deleting files"
then i log on my account and the screen remains with the mac pink sky without any items.
i restarted and connected the mac to another mac with firewire a deleted some files to get free space.
I turn on again and i get the same message not being able to start the mac.
Is there any solution for that??
best regards

Boot from your install disc & run Repair Disk from the utility menu. To use the Install Mac OS X disc, insert the disc, and restart your computer while holding down the C key as it starts up.
Select your language.
Once on the desktop, select Utility in the menu bar.
Select Disk Utility.
Select the disk or volume in the list of disks and volumes, and then click First Aid.
Click Repair Disk.
Restart your computer when done.
Repair permissions after you reach the desktop-http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25751

I have a IMac 10.7.4 with startup disk is full problems

I have a IMac 10.7.4 with 1TB of space I'm getting that my startup disk is full when i only using about 60 gigs any ideas for me

First step would be to empty the caches on the computer. To do this:
1. Click on the Finder
2. Click on 'Go' in menu bar across the top of the screen.
3. Click on 'Go to Folder'
4. In the box that appears type '~/Library' (without the ' apostrophes)
5. A list with a lot of folders should appear. Locate the 'Caches' folder and open it.
6. Drag everything in this 'Cache' folder to the Trash.
7. Empty the Trash.
8. Restart the computer.
Still getting the same message?
Keep us posted!

My startup disk is full: how do I clean it up? Simply deleting some files does not help.

I get the message that my startup disk is full. It says to delete some files to make more space; but after deleting some files, this message will reappear again after a while. What else can be done?

I hope you haven't removed anything that involves the system.
I hope you haven't remove things willy nilly, either.
Here are some general tips to keep your Mac's hard drive trim and slim as possible
You should never, EVER let a conputer hard drive get completely full, EVER!
With Macs and OS X, you shouldn't let the hard drive get below 15 GBs or less of free data space.
If it does, it's time for some hard drive housecleaning.
Follow some of my tips for cleaning out, deleting and archiving data from your Mac's internal hard drive.
Have you emptied your Mac's Trash icon in the Dock?
If you use iPhoto, iPhoto has its own trash that needs to be emptied, also.
If you store images in other locations other than iPhoto, then you will have to weed through these to determine what to archive and what to delete.
If you use Apple Mail app, Apple Mail also has its own trash area that needs to be emptied, too!
Delete any old or no longer needed emails and/or archive to disc, flash drives or external hard drive, older emails you want to save.
Look through your other Mailboxes and other Mail categories to see If there is other mail you can archive and/or delete.
STAY AWAY FROM DELETING ANY FILES FROM OS X SYSTEM FOLDER!
Look through your Documents folder and delete any type of old useless type files like "Read Me" type files.
Again, archive to disc, flash drives, ext. hard drives or delete any old documents you no longer use or immediately need.
Look in your Applications folder, if you have applications you haven't used in a long time, if the app doesn't have a dedicated uninstaller, then you can simply drag it into the OS X Trash icon. IF the application has an uninstaller app, then use it to completely delete the app from your Mac.
To find other large files, download an app called Omni Disk Sweeper.
Download an app called OnyX for your version of OS X.
When you install and launch it, let it do its initial automatic tests, then go to the cleaning and maintenance tabs and run the maintenance tabs that let OnyX clean out all web browser cache files, web browser histories, system cache files, delete old error log files.
Typically, iTunes and iPhoto libraries are the biggest users of HD space.
move these files/data off of your internal drive to the external hard drive and deleted off of the internal hard drive.
If you have any other large folders of personal data or projects, these should be archived or moved, also, to the optical discs, flash drives or external hard drive and then either archived to disc and/or deleted off your internal hard drive.
Good Luck!

My startup disk is full, I need to clean it up, and I don't know how to even find it!

My startup disk is full, I need to clean it up, and I don't know how to even find it!

Don't mess with anything you don't recognize. The system is generally not the reason for lack of free space.
Best candidates are your files which are located in the folder with the little house for an icon in Finder. Of your own files the one most likely to take the largest amount disk space are music, movies, video and photos. Any of those can be deleted or move to external storage.
Allan

G4 MDD, EM "Startup Disk is Full, cannot restart"

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