Hard Drive on iMac suddenly full

I had Time Machine set up and working perfectly. Yesterday, I had 191 GB free on my iMac. Today after school, I turned on my iMac and I had 2MB free!! What happened to my hard drive? I called the Apple store and they knew nothing. They told me to call Apple Care and that it was 24 hour support. They stop answering calls at 6pm. Then they told me to bring my iMac into a store. I told him that I live over an hour away from the closest Apple store. I am also way too busy with school right noq to deal with this **** that shouldn't happen in the first place. So now I am completely screwed. I can see my Time Machine backup, but cant restore my hard drive to that point. Am I completely screwed? Someone help please.

Alrightythen, I found a solution in another thread. Apple says the answer is to durn off idisk syncing. Obviously, not a good answer since I PAY to sync idisk across several computers. See the solution...
+*Hi dandad ~*+
+*This was discussed in this thread:*+
+*http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1200355&tstart=15*+
+*And Apple has recently published this KB article about it:*+
+*http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306904*+
+*~ john*+
So how much money do I get back since I have to turn off a feature I paid for?

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Press the power button.
Immediately after you hear the startup tone, hold the Shift key. The Shift key should be held as soon as possible after the startup tone, but not before the tone.
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Hello,
Most drives are going to work with either a PC or a Mac. There is very little difference in the requirements for newer drives. Basically, the computers are designed to work with drives that meet certain standards. And, as long as the drive is built to those standards, then any computer should work with it (provided it has the right port to plug it into).
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As for specific models. I can recommend two models:
My favorite so far, is the Other World Computing "Neptune".
I have a "Neptune 120 GB" FireWire drive from OWC (Other World Computing)
They are at:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/owc-neptune-drives/
They are great, low-cost drives and work very well.
I got it with a 7200 R.P.M. Hitachi / IBM DeskStar drive. It is 120 GB in size.
The enclosure provides two FireWire 400 ports, and also provides it's own on/off switch.
The performance is great. It outperforms the internal drive installed in my Mac Mini. I haven't had a single complaint about the drive. So, that's pretty good
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Mine is quiet.
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I had it running for over an hour yesterday (backing-up my main hard drive to it), and after a full hour of running constantly and writing files, it was just slightly warm.
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It has been used with 2 different iMac G5 systems, a Compaq PC, a Hewlett Packard PC, a Mac Mini G4, and an iBook G4.
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http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/NPFW7080GB/
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And they are great on the phone. So, if you have any questions, just call them. They are very helpful.
The other model I have used is not as nice, but I can say it is built very, very solid.
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http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/Maxtor/menuitem.5d2b41d3cef51dfe29dd10a1913460 68/?channelpath=%2Fen_us%2FSupport%2FProductSupport%2FExternal+Storage%2FPersonal+Storage+Family%2FPersonal+Storage3100
It has a 7200 R.P.M. Maxtor hard drive with a 2 MB cache in it. Mine is 80 GB (but it is available in larger capacities).
It is a good performer. But, it is slower than the FireWire Neptune that I mentioned above.
The durability of this particular unit is amazing though.
I purchased it used, and when I got it out of the box, my hands slipped and it fell about 6 feet onto a hard vinyl floor. No padding at all, a good solid and firm drop.
At that point, I knew that I had probably just wasted my money. I knew that if I plugged it in and it didn't work, that I would never know if it was defective when he sold it to me or if I damaged it.
But, I plugged-it in, and ran a full diagnostics on it. And, to my pleasure it worked great.
It didn't even suffer a single mark.
And, it is still working reliably today (on my wife's iBook G4).
I would personally recommend the FireWire "Neptune" from OWC the highest. But, I am impressed with the survival of the Maxtor. But, the Maxtor drive is noticeably slower due to the USB interface.
I hope this helps.

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Can't Wipe Hard Drive of iMac G4 Running OS 10.2 Upgrade

Hi,
I've been a Mac user for 7-8 years now, currently with a first generation MacBook (Black) from 2006 (2 GHz Core Duo).
My question, however, deals with an older Mac I have. I originally began using Macs on one of the earlier generations of domed, white iMacs in 2002. The specs are as follows for it:
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700 MHz G4 processor
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My question deals with wiping the hard drive clean. I want to resell my iMac, to try and get something (though I know not much) for it, and so before I do it I want to not simply erase the hard drive but also write over it/completely wipe it so as to make sure sensitive information is fully deleted.
I found out that you can do this (i.e., writing over the hard drive multiple times) by using the startup disk beginning with OSX 10.2, but my problem stems from the fact that my startup/install disk for 10.2/Leopard is an upgrade, and not a full disk. When I bought the iMac in 2002, I did so right before Leopard came out, and so I bought the upgrade rather than the full package, and for some reason when I use the startup/install disk for it, I can't access the ability to wipe the hard drive clean (i.e., the "options" part, wherein I could choose to write over the hard drive and not just do a simple erase, doesn't appear when Disk Utility is brought up when restarting with the startup/install disk for 10.2 in the computer).
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I know this is my first time posting, so if I haven't been clear, please let me know. I'll be quick to answer back. Thanks, in advance.
Message was edited by: ayjayf

ayjayf wrote:
Hi,
I've been a Mac user for 7-8 years now, currently with a first generation MacBook (Black) from 2006 (2 GHz Core Duo).
Running Mac OSX 10.2 Upgrade
What is the 10.2 (Jaguar) and upgrade from?
My question deals with wiping the hard drive clean. I want to resell my iMac, to try and get something (though I know not much) for it, and so before I do it I want to not simply erase the hard drive but also write over it/completely wipe it so as to make sure sensitive information is fully deleted.
the fact that my startup/install disk for 10.2/Leopard is an upgrade, and not a full disk.
10.2 is Jaguar or do you mean Leopard?
When I bought the iMac in 2002, I did so right before Leopard came out
That had to be Jaguar then, right? Did you have the PUMA install disk or OS9? >and so I bought the upgrade rather than the full package, and for some reason when I use the startup/install disk for it, I can't access the ability to wipe the hard drive clean
I remember that being the case with upgrade disks. Those options are not available if I remember right.
Is there any possible way to do this, or do I have to somehow possess a full copy of 10.2 or later OS?
Not if you have an earlier OS disk for that Mac.
You should be able to erase it, any way you want, using Target Disk Mode.
Then use Disk Utilty on your MacBook to do the erase on the iMac.
(Also, FYI: I forgot to mention, I have no full copy of 10.4, since the startup/install disk for it included with my MacBook wasn't the full version on the black-colored disk, but the not-for-resale version on the gray-colored disk.)
No, you can't use that disk...iMac is PPC based and MacBook is Intel plus it's a machine specific disk.
I know this is my first time posting, so if I haven't been clear, please let me know.
You are fine, except for the Jaguar/Leopard issue.
Let us know if you need more help!
Dale

Hard Drive on iMac suddenly full

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