Getting message saying hard drive nearly full

I've started getting a message when I boot up "your start up disk is almost full please remove some programs"
This I find hard to beleive as I have very little on my hard disk, I use an external My Book & other usb sticks to store most things including photos , the only things I have stored on the hard drive
any advice please ,
I've only started getting this message the last few days, and since I had a problem with my WD 1T external drive and time machine backup (time machine is supposed to be backing up to the WD external drive

See Where did my Disk Space go?

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MacBook Air saying hard drive is full when it's really not

I have just started getting error messages saying that my startup disk is full, saying I have "Zero KB" available, which makes sense being I have been doing a lot of downloading recently and have been learning Java programming (lots of Java and Class files), and the fact that 80GB isn't a lot of storage space these days (and hasn't been for at least the last 5 years), most notebooks these days have at least 200GB hard drives in them (that is one thing, that as much as I love Macs, has always irked me about them, very little storage space)
I have deleted over 30KB worth of unimportant files to free up some space (one file being 24KB alone), then opened a Finder window only to find out that it still says "Zero KB Available", if I delete 30+KB worth of files, shouldn't there be an equivalent amount of storage space afterwards? It doesn't make any sense that I would still be getting "Zero KB Available" after I deleted 30+KB worth of data
I am not sure if it's related, but for quite a while, I have noticed that my MacBook has been making a clicking noise, this has been happening for quite a while, though I have been hearing it less than before, and just recently I am now hearing what sounds like a screech coming from the MacBook (mostly when I put it on standby by closing the screen, right when the sleep mode initiates), though I have ignored it, being until now, I have not noticed any problems with the MacBook, no loss of data, no corruption, etc., and now the only problem I am experiencing is that it's saying my hard drive is 100% full even after deleting some files, though does fail when I try to verify the disk in Disk Utility
So is there a reasonable explanation for why it's saying my hard drive is full, or is it possible that there could be a potential disk failure?
Message was edited by: Mikedamirault2
Reason for edit: Paragraph Spacing

18tracks, a KB is small, Ill give you that, but the reply you typed alone, if copied to TextEdit and saved in TXT or RTF format should only be several bytes (under a KB), I have Java and Class files with plenty more text in it and they only range from 1KB to 8KBs, way below 30KB, though if I were to save this webpage as an HTML file, then yes, it would probably get close
Regardless, it doesn't matter how little I delete, even if I only delete one 1KB file, it should still say 1KB free, yes that is barely anything, but at least that means it would be accurate
My point, was I deleted 30+KBs worth of data (that is a rough estimate, I am not exactly sure how much I deleted) and Finder STILL said that I had "Zero KB" available, I don't know about you, but 30KB sure sounds like a HUGE difference than 0KB
To me, this means that it doesn't matter if I deleted 1KB, 1MB, or even 1GB worth, Finder would still say that "Zero KB" is available, and the OS will still refuse to save or manipulate files, to me, that's a sign that something much bigger is going on, and with the clicking and screeching going on (which may not necessarily be the hard drive, but you never know), and the fact that my hard drive failed a verification, something tells me my hard drive must not be in good shape, and could possibly be disastrous

Message that hard drive is full when clearly it is not!!!! HELP!!!

This is weird. Got a message that I had 117 mb left on hard drive. Dumped a bunch of programs and pictures. Then it said I had 25 gb on drive. Three days later, having done NOTHING, I got a message I was totally out of hard drive space again. Dumped a couple of programs - back up to 1.84 gb. An hour later it is full FULL AGAIN. I had done NOTHING. What is going on here??? My user folder says I have no space when I go to "get info" but when I check "get info" on all the folders inside (system, library, pictures, music, etc) it only adds up to half of the capacity of my hard drive (250 gbs). So in fact I know I only have less than 100 gb on that computer This is very strange. The drive is not full, and when I dump programs and data, it fills itself back up but can't find out why/how/where. I threw out the finder preferences but that didn't work. I booted up from my Leopard disk and it said my hard drive was full, but I KNOW it is not. What is going on??

Sounds like something is generating garbage. You've got a couple of options (at least) to track it down, starting with one tool built into the command-line interface. Pop open the Terminal (/Applications/Utilities/Termain.app) and type in the following:
cd /
sudo du -hd 1
Enter your password when prompted. du is the Disk Usage command, which will print out the disk space taken up by each folder, including invisible ones. Note that du can take a fair bit of time to complete; my own drive took about 5-6 minutes with only 27GB on it, so yours will probably take longer.
Your other option is to grab Disk Inventory X, a freeware utility which performs a very similar job to du, but with a shiny user interface to help you locate the offending space waster. If you're not comfortable with the terminal, this may be the best place to start.

Computer Hard Drive nearly full

Apple fans...
our family computer, iMac G-4 / 15 inch, has a hard drive near capacity and it shows in performance.
does anyone know if there is a way to list everything that is on the hard drive top to bottom based on size of the application, doc., etc.?
my thinking is that if i can see the size of document "x", for example, i could decide whether or not to trash it and save some hard drive space in the process.
hope that made sense, and hope you can help.
17' g4 powerbook Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Does this application do what you want? You should avoid deleting items outside of your home folder if you don't know what that item's purpose is and what deleting it will do.
(21343)

Message saying startup disc nearly full.

I am running Lion and my software is up to date. I am getting a message saying that the Start up disc is nearlly full. How do I remove items from this to make things run smooth

Empty the Trash.
Copy files off the main hard drive onto another drive, or burn them to an optical disc if your computer can do that.
Problems from insufficient RAM and free hard disk space|http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/lackofram.html

HARD DRIVE nearly full! I don't believe it - I think Aperture messed me up.

I have an iMac with mac OS x 10.7.2 operating system. A couple of weeks back was importing photos into Aperture from folder on drive. Not sure if I accidently highlighted too many folders but aperture appeared to have imported everything creating lots of project folders. Then when trying to add new photo got message saying not enough room on my harddrive. I deleted nearly all projects from aperture (while in aperture) but that does not appear to have solved the problem.
when I go and do 'get info' for the hard drive and then the various folders - I don't see what is taking up the space. I think the system is confused. The system says I have 4 GB left on my 1TB drive.
what can I do?

I had not done that and it helped but I still think there is an issue with available space.
If I do 'get inf' on the Mac HD, tells me the capactity is 999 GB with 107 GB available meaning I'm using ~ 892 GB.
When I do 'get info' on the folders on the HD in the finder I find the following and their size:
Applications : 6.12 GB
C drive: 1.8 MB
E drive: 140 GB
libray : 7.72 GB.
This then only accounts for ~ 155 GB and the mac is telling me Ive used 892Gb. Something is not right.

Hard Drive nearly full, but can't see why.

Hi there,
I've got a 2009 iMac (4Gb RAM, 500Gb HDD) running 10.8.5. I got a Finder warning about the Hard drive space this morning saying I only had 400Mb left. Which is very strange, because most working files are kept on my machine, but copied back to a file server, and trashed from my mac.
After some trashing of bits and bobs, I managed to get to about 60Gb free (so at least the mac could function properly whilst i was doing some investigative work.
I did a "get info" on each of the folders in my user account (including the hidden 'Library' folder). Counted up to about 85Gb. I then did the same for the system folder - Apps, System, and Library - which came to 34Gb. That's a total of 119Gb (which is about what I would have guessed).
So there's about 320Gb of hard drive space that's being eaten up, but I can't see where. I have been doing some heavy work in iBooks Author, so I opened up the iBA files and deleted the previous versions. Won back a bit of space, but not a dent really. I think the local snapshot versions are actually pretty small.
Thinking that it had to be an issue with some bloated hidden file, I used Terminal to show hidden files, and tried to use the 'Find' facility to search for files over 1Gb; there were a few, but none hidden, and none i didn't already know about.
I don have TIme Machine, but that's set up for an external HDD, so that's not the issue.
Any ideas what I can try next?

Hi Eric – Thanks for the reply. Forgot to mention that I checked out the storage in 'About this mac'. Here's the shot.
As you can see, backups are pretty much at zero, so assuming that the 'backups' section comprises previous 'versions' of files, (local snapshots), then theoretically these are ruled out too.
I've downloaded OmniDiskSweeper (thanks for the link), and ran it, which is where things get really wonky. I left it for ages. I presume it had finished scanning, as it gives no progression bar or 'finished' dialogue box. Check out the screenshot.
Check out OmniDiskSweeper's data. The 'User' folder is the largest (unsurprisingly) at 75Gb, but that is only what I thought it would be. Check out the total amount scanned (at the top of the window). 102Gb. 102. Yet, there's there 'Get info' box on the left, saying I've got 418 Gb used on the hard drive.
The system thinks that there's more data on the HDD than OmniDiskSweeper. I'm suspecting that there's a corruption somewhere. I tried a 'light' clean of my system cache (using MountainLionCacheCleaner), and did a safe boot to clear some caches, but no result.
Next, I'm going to create a new User to see if the issue is within the User account or system-specific. Then I'm going to start up CarbonCopyCloner to see what that reports. Back in touch soon.

ITunes cannot backup because it says hard drive is full but I have 292gb available

I (my girlfriend) have a MacBook 1,1 from 2006, an iPhone 4s, an iPad Retina and just bought an iPhone 5s.
I'm trying to backup the phones and ipad to MacBook but iTunes is saying that the MacBook doesn't have enough room.
I've checked and I do have enough room 292gb - this is what I would expect because the original hard drive burnt out and so I had to buy a new one (the Macbook has hardly anything on it).
I'm not sure if it's related but i'm also trying to backup this MacBook to an external hard drive (Seagate) and Time Machine doesn't list the external drive, or any other drive at all.
Thanks in advance.
Ryan

@Ronald,
I'm glad to know that you can get by on only 120 GB . However, that's not my experience on Windows. Admittedly, Mac and Mavericks in particular seem to manage memory a lot better than Win. But I've been using PS since ver 4 and it's always been a huge memory drain.
In CS6, I'm finding my scratch disk often exceeds 100 GB. I have dedicated almost 300 GB to mine and it's still not enough for everything I do. But I know how to manage my resources so I can get by on what I have until new computers arrive.
Nancy O.

Y after restoring Ipod do I get message saying "meomory capacity is full"?

Help me Please!!! I have tried everything..I put a bunch of new music in my ITunes but my ipod only holds 1000 songs I had to move some of it to a different place... when I put the music on my ipod I got a message saying " Your ipod does not have enough space for all of these songs would you like iTunes to randomly select songs to put in a playlist on the ipod". So instead I restored my ipod and tried to put my music on again but everytime and eveyrthing I try (like 5 R's)that same message appears" HELP
Ps: my itunes capacity bar shows 3.75GB free space and only 20.1 MB taken up

It's because you have more songs in iTunes than will fit onto your iPod.
songs I had to move some of it to a different place.
You don't have to move/remove anything from your library.
Simply click Yes when it asks you this.
It will create a playlist & select songs at random, that fit onto your iPod.
Add or remove songs from this playlist to put them on or remove them from the iPod.

How do I delete files when message is hard drive is full. I have a airport time capsule connected to my mac air

How do I delete files to free up space from my hard drive?
My Apple Airport Time Capsule is connected to my 11" Mac Air . I was under the impression that connecting the time capsule would free up my hard drive to provide infinite space to the internet.

If you'd like to keep copies of them, put them onto an external drive and back it up as well; if you're using Time Machine, remove that drive from the list of items set to be excluded from the backup. If the drive's not formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled), choose Utilities from the Finder's Go menu and use the Disk Utility to erase it.
If you've done that or don't want to keep them, throw them away and empty the Trash.
The Time Capsule doesn't back up to the iCloud.
(125810)

Hard drive nearly full!?!?

My iMAC is telling me that I've somehow managed to use up 300GB of my 320GB Hard Drive. However, my actual files (docs etc) appear to only take up just 20GB! Is there any way of finding out what's actually taking up so much hard drive space so that I can then hopefully delete it?
Many thanks

Since your profile indicates you are running Lion you can use the 'About This Mac' feature to find out how your hard drive space is being utilized.
Pull down the Apple menu and select the 'About This Mac' option, then click on the 'More Info' button. Once the 'About This Mac' window opens click on the 'Storage' menu at the top of the window. This will display your hard drive usage as shown below.

Infected with malware. Says my hard drive is full, wont let me delete applications or allow clamx av to finish running.

Pretty much what the title says. I'm pretty sure I got it from some Japanese blog that gizmodo linked to. I can't delete files, can't download files because apparently my hard drive is full (even though i really have 77gb free) and clamx av is shut down before it is able to finish running. I don't really know what to do or if I even have malware. I never downloaded and installed an application like you have to do to activate the mac security malware. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

So when do you get the "your HD is full" message?

MacBook hard drive is full again. Replaced original hard drive with a Samsung SSD 840 Pro Series 256GB hard drive about 18 mo. ago, but my MacBook is now already saying that my hard drive is full again. 13in. Alum. Late 2008 MacBook

My MacBook hard drive is full again. I have a 13in. Aluminum, Late 2008 MacBook, and about 18 months ago (in October 2013), I replaced the original hard drive with a Samsung SSD 840 Pro Series 256GB hard drive. However, my MacBook is now already saying that my hard drive is full again. When I check "System Information," under "Storage," it states the following: Audio 52.02 GB; Movies 33.68GB; Photos 43.13GB; Apps 14.76 GB; Backups 174.4 MB; and Other 96.39GB.
Also, at home, I have an Apple Time Capsule 4th Generation 2TB that I use as my wireless router, and I also use it for automatic backup via Time Machine. And when I first purchased Time Capsule, the first time I connected Time Capsule, Time Machine asked if I would like to use it to back up my files, and I clicked, "Use as Backup Disk." And that's really all I've ever done with Time Capsule.
In addition, I also have a LaCie Porsche Design P'9223 1TB external hard drive. I have copied my MacBook's hard drive onto my LaCie external hard drive.
Does anyone have any suggestions? Obviously the Audio, Movies, Photos, and Apps are taking up a lot of space... Any suggestions re: what I can do with Audio, Movies, Photos, and Apps? And what about the Other? Other is taking up 96.39 GB. What is Other, and what can I do about it?
And what about partitioning my hard drive... Is that something I should do? Should I partition, or configure, my MacBook's internal hard drive differently? And should I partition, or configure, my external hard drive? And if I need to partition, or configure, my MacBook's internal hard drive differently, how do I setup Time Machine to backup per any such changes? Same thing for my external hard drive?
13in. Aluminum, Late 2008 MacBook, 250 GB (with upgraded Samsung SSD 840 Pro Series 256GB hard drive)
Processor 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory 2 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
OS X 10.9.5
plus
Apple Time Capsule 4th Generation 2TB
LaCie Porsche Design P'9223 1TB external hard drive
Thank you for your help.

Partitioning makes no sense. You have a drawer full of stuff. Split it into two smaller drawers and you have two smaller drawers full of stuff.
Decide what you can store on external storage - your iPhoto/Aperture/Lightroom libraries can all be stored on externals, as can your iTunes Libraries and so on. Do you need to carry 30 gigs of movies with you all the time? You can get portable drives the size of an iPhone these days.

My mac air says hard drive full and 90% is full of 'other' which I cant work out what 'other' is as i Have transferred most to my external hard drive

My mac air says hard drive full and 90% is full of 'other' which I cant work out what 'other' is as i Have transferred most to my external hard drive.
Do you know how I can tell how large each file is taking up and what my 'other' category could be?
thanks

Initial easy steps to gain disk space:
- Delete all files in the Downloads folder.
Empty the Trash.
- Start iPhoto.
Empty its trash.
Restart.
Backup:
Run a Time Machine (or other) backup since you are about to delete and move files and you may need to recover from any inadvertent mistakes or decisions. You will need one external hard drive for your Time Machine (or other) backup and a second if you plan to offload some files. (See suggestions for where to purchase hard drives at the end of this message.)
For more about backups:
Time Machine Basics: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1427
Most commonly used backup methods:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3045
Methodology to protect your data. Backups vs. Archives. Long-term data protection:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6031
Deleting files:
Then use the free application OmniDiskSweeper http://www.omnigroup.com/more to explore your volume in descending order by size so you can attack the problem from the top down, deleting the largest unwanted files first. Delete with caution and do not delete any system files. Remember to empty the trash after trashing the files.
Additional reference on freeing disk space:
http://pondini.org/OSX/DiskSpace.html
Offloading files:
Consider moving some of the no-often-used large files or directories to an external disk. Use ODS again to find them. This will be at least your second hard drive. Your first one(s) is/are for your Time Machine (or other) backup(s). Do not offload files onto a Time Machine disk.
Format the second drive as Mac OS Extended (journaled). Using OWS to find large files/folders and copy them from the system drive to the external hard drive and delete them from your internal drive.
Then  > System Preferences > Time Machine > Options… > Remove the offload HD name from the exclusions list.
Now both your system disk and your external offload disk will be backed up onto your Time Machine disk.
From: http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/freeingspace.html
To move your iTunes Music folder to another disk or partition:
To change the location of your iTunes Music folder, carefully follow the instructions in the AppleCare® Knowledge Base document "iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Music folder."Additional information can be found in iTunes Help.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.thexlab.com/105/ 00000849.html
Laptop users may want to consider having two iTunes libraries: a small library of current favorites on their computer, while their complete library resides on an external hard drive. Utilities like iTunes Library Manager enable you to easily have multiple iTunes libraries you can use with your account. https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/7689/itunes-library-manager
To move your iPhoto Library folder to another disk or partition:
To move the iPhoto Library folder to a new location, employ the instructions in the AppleCare Knowledge Base document from http://support.apple.com/kb/PH2506 corresponding to the version of iPhoto you are using. Additional information can be found in iPhoto Help.
Laptop users may want to consider having two iPhoto libraries: a small library of current, favorite photographs on their computer, while their complete library, or archives of older photos are saved on an external hard drive. Utilities such as iPhoto Buddy and iPhoto Library Manager enable you to have multiple iPhoto libraries that you can use with your account.
https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/12175/iphoto-buddy
https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/7158/iphoto-library-manager
Hardware — Bigger disk/SSD:
OWC sells 120, 240 and 480 GB SSD upgrades for MacBook Airs. A 240 GB upgrade costs $265. http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/ . If your Mac is under warranty or AppleCare replacing the SSD will void the warranty.

Why does my Mac say my hard drive is full, but that's not true?

Why does my Mac say my hard drive is full, but there should be plenty of space on it?

You need to get a program like OmniDiskSweeper, it will check your drive and see what is taking up the space. From there you can decide what to do.

Getting message saying hard drive nearly full

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