Hard drive is full, but I don't know why

I can't seem to find out where all the space in my hard drive is taken. Itunes, idvd, etc don't show huge files. The window in finder does not show the size of each file either. How can I find out where it all is?

Use a program such as WhatSize or Disk Inventory X to determine where the space is being used.
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My iMac hard drive is full, and I don't know how to fix it.

My iMac hard drive is full. Approximately 495GB of "Other" is crushing it. I saw some threads online refer to this issue ... something to do with ASL files. Can anyone help?

First try to download OmniDiskSweeper then launch that to sweep the drive this will give you information on the size of your files and folders. This will give you a starting point as to what to do with your large files you can move them to an external hard drive or delete them within the program. Note: Be careful of the items you delete.

Hard drive finder - changed but I don't know what I lost!

OK pretty careless - but I accidentally removed 2 items form the HD finder window. I heard them go but have no idea what I lost and can't undo it. All I need is a picture of the original default settings for this window, as all my personalised items are OK. Anyone know how I can find out what the default looks like OR how to go back and undo my error?!
I'm Macbook Tiger OS10.3

Hi ALuddite!
Exactly what do you mean by the "HD finder window"?
Are you referring to the Sidebar maybe?
The Sidebar is the left column, where Aliases to the Network, Macintosh HD, and various other folders are displayed.
You can access those folders from there.
If that is what you mean, and you want the Default Sidebar restored, navigate to HD > Users > Your Account > Library > Preferences: In this folder, locate & move to the Trash, this file com.apple.sidebarlists.plist.
You may have to restart the Mac, for the change to take affect.
If this is not the issue, repost.
BTW, Tiger is version 10.4.x, and Panther is 10.3.x.
ali b

HT201250 I want to use Time Machine to back up my pictures because my hard drive is full but I'm wondering if once I back up the pictures then delete them will time machine delete them off the back up too?

I want to use Time Machine to back up my pictures because my hard drive is full but I'm wondering if once I back up the pictures then delete them will time machine delete them off the back up too?

Evetually yes.
If your pictures have been in the same location (same folder, same subfolder, ...) for more than a week, then copies if them will remain in your TM backups until it fills up. They are then vulnerable to being deleted.
If they've been there for less than a week, TM could delete them as early as a month from now. If they've been there for only a few hours, chances are TM will delete them tomorrow.
This is why TM is not the best tool to use to archive data that you will be deleting from your main hard drive. Copy them to a dedicated external drive, or burn DVDs.

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.

Day after yesterday night, my iphone 4s full off, I don't know why? but not oppen and not charging. What do I do?

Day after yesterday night, my iphone 4s full off, I don't know why? but not oppen and not charging. What do I do?

Plug it in to power for at least 15 minutes. If it doesn't automatically come on, try a Reset... press the home and sleep/lock buttons until you see the Apple logo, ignoring the slider. Takes about 5-15 secs of button holding and you won't lose any data or settings.

TS2446 My Apple ID is disabled but I don't know why and I can't enable it again. What should I do?

My Apple ID is disabled but I don't know why and I can't enable it again. When I try to download an App a message comes up that says "Your Apple ID has been Disabled" What should I do?

Depending on why it's been disabled, you might be able to re-enable it via this page : http://appleid.apple.com, then 'reset your password'
Or you might need to contact Apple : http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/contact/ - click on Contact iTunes Store Support on the right-hand side of the page
If it then works on your computer's iTunes but not your iPad then try logging out of your account on the iPad by tapping on the id in Settings > Store (Settings > iTunes & App Stores on iOS 6) and then log back in and see if that 'refreshes' the account on it

I got updated my iPhone with iOS 6 beta but I don't know why it's telling me to pay for apps I Aready payed for if I download the app will I be charged

I got updated my iPhone with iOS 6 beta but I don't know why it's telling me to pay for apps I Aready payed for if I download the app will I be charged ?

Since you are a developer, you will need to post in the private developer's forum.

My iPhone 5 have the glass popping sound when I press on the top left corner of my phone but I don't know why, I don't see any visibility of the glass coming out. My friends all told me to not exchange.

My iPhone 5 have the glass popping sound when I press on the top left corner of my phone but I don't know why, I don't see any visibility of the glass coming out. My friends all told me to not exchange because after all the software is perfectly fine.

My phone just turned 2 months old. But in Singapore as long your phone is under one year warranty I can still go for an exchange at the respective telco, but my friends all suggest me to not change now cause after changing it'll be a refurbished set instead of a brand new one.

When I connected to iTunes, my phone said it was in "restore" mode, but I don't know why. Iam afraid that if I continue with the restore, I will lose my recent pics. How can I check iCloud to see if my pics are there? Will I lose my pics if I restore?

When I connected to iTunes, my phone said it was in "restore" mode, but I don't know why. Iam afraid that if I continue with the restore, I will lose my recent pics. How can I check iCloud to see if my pics are there? Will I lose my pics if I restore?

Crouching Tiger wrote:
When I connected to iTunes, my phone said it was in "restore" mode, but I don't know why. ...
Once the Device is asking to be Restored with iTunes... it is too late to save anything...
To minimize Loss... Once you have Recovered your Device... Restore from the most recent Backup...
Restore from Backup
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1766

TS3992 My iPad hasn't backed up to iCloud for 2 weeks so I've connected it to my laptop and it still won't backup and this is AFTER I paid for extra iCloud storage. I'm so frustrated because it keeps saying back-up failed but I don't know why.

My iPad hasn't backed up to iCloud for 2 weeks after repeated attempts even AFTER I paid extra for more iCloud storage. I've connected it to my laptop and it still won't backup. I'm so frustrated because it keeps saying back-up failed but I don't know why. Please help, thanks!

To back up to your computer, right-click on the name of your iPad on the left side of iTunes and click Back Up. (If running iTunes 11, first go to View>Show Sidebar.)
To get your iPad to back up to iCloud again, try deleting your last backup (if you have one) by turning off iCloud Backup in Settings>iCloud>Storage & Backup, then tap Manage Storage, swipe across your backup and tap Delete, then go back and turn iCloud Backup back on again. If it still won't back up, you may have an app that is preventing the backup from succeeding. To locate which one, go to Settings>iCloud>Storage & Backup>Manage Storage, tap the name of your device under Backups, under Backup Options tap Show All Apps, then turn them all to Off (including camera roll) and try backing up again. If it succeeds, then the camera roll and/or one of your apps is preventing the backup and you'll have to located by process of elimination. Turn the camera roll On and try backing up again. If it succeeds, turn some of your apps to On and try backing up again. If it succeeds again, turn some more apps to On then try again; repeat this process until it fails. Eventually you'll be able to locate the problem app and exclude it from your backup.
If it still won't back up you may have network issues connecting to the iCloud server. Solutions to that include power-cycling your wireless router (unplugging it for 15 seconds, then plugging it back in), resetting network settings on your phone (in Settings>General>Reset), updating the firmware on your router, and changing the router's DNS settings to use Google's public DNS (see https://developers.google.com/speed/public-dns/docs/using).

My computers hard drive is full but I need to back up my iPhone. What is the best way to do that, saving all the pictures, music, and app information in an easily access able location?

So apple requests that you back up your device before taking it in plus it's time to secure my photos and such so that I can have them in case my phone gives out. However, the hard drive on my computer is full and it does not have room to take all my photos through iPhoto and other things on my phone that I want backed up. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions as to where I should back it up. I have the standard 5 gb of iCloud but my pictures alone at more than 5 gb. Is it worth buying extra iCloud space or should I get an external drive for my computer? How would that work when transferring from my phone to the external drive and not storing it on my computer...

What computer do you have?
What operating system is it running?
Allan

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.

Hard drive half full but cant find files to delete

just inherited a mac book pro coming from a mac mini and it sees everything was the same even after upgrading to lion but for some reason the hard drive is half full but i thought i deleted all files the previous owner had so id like to be able to get rid of the unneccesarily used space but dont know how to simply do it without fully starting over

In as much as the previous owner did not erase and reinstall the OS when he sold you the MBP the best thing to do is to start over. Do an Erase & Install of the OS. Then you can set up the MBP with your own information and password.

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 is full, but I don't know why

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