How can I clean up my start up disk

I keep getting a pop up telling me that my start up disk is almost full what does this mean and how can I fix it?

Great article here:
Freeing space on your Mac OS X startup disk
It would help us if you say what model iMac you have (G3, G4, G5, or Intel) and the version of the Mac OS you are running. Not so important for your current question but can be critical for other inquiries

Similar Messages

  • How do you clean out a start up disk

    Hi, How do you clean out a Start up Disk to gain more room?
    Thanks

    For information about the Other category in the Storage display, see this support article. If the Storage display seems to be inaccurate, try rebuilding the Spotlight index.
    Empty the Trash if you haven't already done so. If you use iPhoto, empty its internal Trash first:
              iPhoto ▹ Empty Trash
    Do the same in other applications, such as Aperture, that have an internal Trash feature. Then restart the computer. 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—not the mythical 10%, 15%, or any other percentage. You also need enough space left over to allow for growth of the 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.
    When Time Machine backs up a portable Mac, some of the free space will be used to make local snapshots, which are backup copies of recently deleted files. 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. If you followed bad advice to disable local snapshots by running a shell command, you may have ended up with a lot of data in the Other category. Ask for instructions in that case.
    See this support article for some simple ways to free up storage space.
    You can more effectively use a tool such as OmniDiskSweeper (ODS) or GrandPerspective (GP) to explore the 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. Note that ODS only works with OS X 10.8 or later. If you're running an older OS version, use GP.
    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 or GP 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.
    If you have more than one user account, make sure you're logged in as an administrator. The administrator account is the one that was created automatically when you first set up the computer.
    Install the app you downloaded in the Applications folder as usual. Quit it if it's running.
    Triple-click anywhere in the corresponding 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
    sudo /Applications/GrandPerspective.app/Contents/MacOS/GrandPerspective
    Launch the built-in 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 by pressing command-V. You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. Type carefully and then press return. You may get a one-time warning to be careful. If you see a message that your username "is not in the sudoers file," then you're not logged in as an administrator. Ignore any other messages that appear in the Terminal window.
    The application window will open, eventually showing all files in all folders, sorted by size. It may take a few minutes for the app to finish scanning.
    I don't recommend that you make a habit of doing this. Don't delete anything 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 the app, quit it and also quit Terminal.

  • HT201364 How do I clean up my start up disk?

    Can you tell me how I clean up my start up disk on my macbook pro?  It will not allow me to do updates due to lack of available space.  I deleted a bunch of apps and files but it still tells me my start up disk needs to be cleaned.

    Freeing Up Space on The Hard Drive
      1. See Lion/Mountain Lion/Mavericks' Storage Display.
      2. You can remove data from your Home folder except for the /Home/Library/ folder.
      3. Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on freeing up space on your hard drive.
      4. Also see Freeing space on your Mac OS X startup disk.
      5. See Where did my Disk Space go?.
      6. See The Storage Display.
    You must Empty the Trash in order to recover the space they occupied on the hard drive.
    You should consider replacing the drive with a larger one. Check out OWC for drives, tutorials, and toolkits.
    Try using OmniDiskSweeper 1.8 or GrandPerspective to search your drive for large files and where they are located.

  • HT3680 How do I clean up my start up disk

    How do I clean up my start up disk

    If you mean that you want to free up space: move some large library to another disk (movies in particular), and move old files that you do not need (often) to another disk.
    Using socalled "cleaners" is counter productive because they clean caches, and then they are filled again which costs speed: OSX has daily/weekly/monthly clean routines already.
    Taking out languages that you do not need and the binary parts of apps, which can be done by some cleaners is not only counterproductive and often generating crashes, but this does not free up significant space.

  • How do I "clean up" my Start-up disk

    Hi!
    I've been getting the message that my start-up disk is almost full and that I should delete some files. How can I do this?
    Thanks in advance!
    Powerbook G4   Mac OS X (10.4.9)  

    try this http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/freeingspace.html
    dukieo

  • HT4818 how do i clean up my start up disk? i have no idea.

    How do I clean my start up disk?I have no idea. Please help.

    cbs20  thank you very much. i have loads of free space now.

  • How can I clean all the junk files from my iMac so that it can run faster?

    How can I clean all the junk files from my iMac so that it can run faster? Its been slowing down ever since I started using it.

    Before doing anything, we might be able to help with your iMac issues here.
    Please download, install and run Etrecheck.
    http://www.etresoft.com/etrecheck
    Copy/paste its report here in another reply thread so that we have a complete profile of your Mac's hardware and installed software.

  • How can i clean up my disk space on my MacBook Pro

    how can i clean up my disk space on my MacBook Pro something  like a disk cleanup on a pc?

    Those things you did on your PC you need not worry about on your Mac. Most is done behind the scenes.
    Kappy's Personal Suggestions About OS X Maintenance
    For disk repairs use Disk Utility.  For situations DU cannot handle the best third-party utilities are: Disk Warrior;  DW only fixes problems with the disk directory, but most disk problems are caused by directory corruption; Disk Warrior 4.x is now Intel Mac compatible. Drive Genius provides additional tools not found in Disk Warrior.  Versions 1.5.1 and later are Intel Mac compatible.
    OS X performs certain maintenance functions that are scheduled to occur on a daily, weekly, or monthly period. The maintenance scripts run in the early AM only if the computer is turned on 24/7 (no sleep.)
    If you are using a pre-Leopard version of OS X, then an excellent solution is to download and install a shareware utility such as Macaroni, JAW PseudoAnacron, or Anacron that will automate the maintenance activity regardless of whether the computer is turned off or asleep.  Dependence upon third-party utilities to run the periodic maintenance scripts was significantly reduced since Tiger.  (These utilities have limited or no functionality with Snow Leopard, Lion, or Mountain Lion and should not be installed.)
    OS X automatically defragments files less than 20 MBs in size, so unless you have a disk full of very large files there's little need for defragmenting the hard drive. As for virus protection there are few if any such animals affecting OS X. You can protect the computer easily using the freeware Open Source virus protection software ClamXAV. Personally I would avoid most commercial anti-virus software because of their potential for causing problems. For more about malware see Macintosh Virus Guide.
    I would also recommend downloading a utility such as TinkerTool System, OnyX 2.4.3, or Cocktail 5.1.1 that you can use for periodic maintenance such as removing old log files and archives, clearing caches, etc.
    For emergency repairs install the freeware utility Applejack.  If you cannot start up in OS X, you may be able to start in single-user mode from which you can run Applejack to do a whole set of repair and maintenance routines from the command line.  Note that AppleJack 1.5 is required for Leopard. AppleJack 1.6 is compatible with Snow Leopard. (There is no confirmation that this version also works with Lion or later.)
    When you install any new system software or updates be sure to repair the hard drive and permissions beforehand. I also recommend booting into safe mode before doing system software updates.
    Get an external Firewire drive at least equal in size to the internal hard drive and make (and maintain) a bootable clone/backup. You can make a bootable clone using the Restore option of Disk Utility. You can also make and maintain clones with good backup software. My personal recommendations are (order is not significant):
      1. Carbon Copy Cloner.
      2. Data Backup
      3. Deja Vu
      4. SuperDuper!
      5. SyncTwoFolders
      6. Synk Pro
      7. Synk Standard
      8. Tri-Backup
    Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQs on maintenance, optimization, virus protection, and backup and restore.
    Always have a current backup before performing any system updates or upgrades.
    Additional suggestions will be found in:    
          1. Mac Maintenance Quick Assist,
          2. Mac OS X speed FAQ,
          3. Speeding up Macs,
          4. Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance,
          5. Essential Mac Maintenance: Get set up,
          6. Essential Mac Maintenance: Rev up your routines,
          7. Maintaining OS X, 
          8. Five Mac maintenance myths,
          9. How to Speed up Macs, and
        10. Myths of required versus not required maintenance for Mac OS X.
    Referenced software can be found at CNet Downloads or MacUpdate.
    Be sure you have an adequate amount of RAM installed for the number of applications you run concurrently. Be sure you leave a minimum of 10% of the hard drive's capacity or 20 GBs, whichever is greater, as free space.

  • My Mac is running slowly and having some glitches in opening programs.  How can I clean upspace?

    My Mac is running slowly and having some gliches when opening programs.  How can I clean up the disk to make it more efficient?

    learn how to use Recovery Mode
    Don't do anything until you can restore and have repaired the disk drive.
    Post should get moved to either ML (10.8,.4) or iMac forum
    Swap out the hdd for an SSD : )
    Don't do anything to clean it up unless you don't know how to first remove browser history from within the programs; low on disk space (I consider more than even the 15% minimum, more like 3--40%)
    And do you have page outs? more than enough RAM? what actually leads you to ask? Programs aren't opening properly?
    Sometimes it is easier to take the long road: just reinstall and restore.
    Recovery Mode
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718
    TimeMachine 101
    https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427
    http://www.apple.com/support/timemachine
    Mac OS X & Mountain Lion Community
    https://discussions.apple.com/community/mac_os
    General purpose Mac troubleshooting guide:
    Mac OS X: Starting up in Safe Mode - http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107393
    What is Safe Boot, Safe Mode? (Mac OS X) - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1564
    Isolating issues in Mac OS X
    Creating a temporary user to isolate user-specific problems:
    Isolating an issue by using another user account
    Identifying resource hogs and other tips:
    Using Activity Monitor to read System Memory and determine how much RAM is being used
    Starting the computer in "safe mode":
    Mac OS X: What is Safe Boot, Safe Mode?
    To identify potential hardware problems:
    Apple Hardware Test
    General Mac maintenance:
    Tips to keep your Mac in top form  

  • On my Mac Pro how can I get voiceover to start reading at a specific point on a document?, on my Mac Pro how can I get voiceover to start reading at a specific point on a document?

    On my Mac Pro how can I get voiceover to start reading at a specific point in a document, and then continue on to the next paragraph and so on?  Thank you.  Ed

    Welcome to the Apple family!!!! 
    How can I cause the VO cursor(box) show-up/start?
    Press Control-Option and F5.   The F5 key is located on the top row of keys 6th key over.  This is a toggling "Keyboard Shortcut" for turning VoiceOver on and off.
    How can I move the VO cursor to various sentences or paragraphs of an article and have it start reading ... and perhaps even continue reading on to the next paragraph(s) ... even to the end of the article?
    How to read a website with VoiceOver
    Step 1:  Go to the Website
    A quick keyboard shortcut is Command-L.  This will jump you up to the address bar.  Start typing where you want to go.  i.e "www.thewebsite.com"
    Step 2:  Working with Webpage
    VoiceOver will automatically start reading the website.  You can pause the speech by hitting the 'Control Button'. 
    If VoiceOver does not being reading the webpage, then you might have to "Interact" with it.  If VoiceOver say "HTML Content" then press Control-Option-Space-Down Arrow to interact with the webpage.
    Use Control-Option-Right Arrow to move throught the website.  This will speak "EVERYTHING" on the page.
    Most website that I've found have their articles labeled as 'Heading'.  You can jump from heading to heading, by pressing Control-Option-Shift-H.
    If you'd like an itemized alphabetical listing of the site, press Control-Option-I 
    Press Control-Option-Space on the link or article you want to view.
    Step 3.  Reading from Top to Bottom
    Once you found and clicked on the the article/link, use the same 'Heading' command, Control-Option-Shift-H to find the title. 
    After finding the title, press Control-Option-A will start reading from the title on. 
    Note:  If there are any other items (ads, pictures, etc) it will read those too. 
    Tip:  You might be able to activate a feature called the 'Reader'.  The Reader isolates the article and elimanates the ads  The keyboard command is Shift-Command-R.  You can also find it in the Menu Bar (Command-Option-M) under the word 'View' then 'Show Reader'. 
    I am using a MACPro with OSX, probably Mavericks 10.9 (where would I look to see if that is the correct information?)
    You can find this information under the 'Apple menu' in the Menu Bar.  To access the Menu Bar, press Control-Option-M. 
    Go to Apple Menu > About This Mac.  This will open up another window.  Use Control-Option-Right Arrow until you hear 'Version'.  If you purchased it brand new from Apple within the last six month, more than likely you have Mavericks. 
    Recommanded Articles. 
    AppleVis- Commonly used Keyboard Commands
    Chapter 2: Learning VoiceOver Basics
    Chapter 6: Browsing the internet
    Apple Accessibility Resource Page
    The  'Commands Help' Voiceover Menu. Control-Option-H-H.  (hit H twice)  is my best friend.  It's a searchable VoiceOver Menu with most of the VoiceOver command.  Example:  You are looking for the 'Read Current Paragraph' keyboard command.   Press Control-Option-H-H and then type Paragraph.  It will then bring up all the commands with the word paragraph.  I believe there are three.   
    As from the Trackpad Commands, I've copied and pasted below from Appendix A: Commands and Gestures
    VoiceOver standard gestures
    If you’re using a Multi-Touch trackpad, you can use VoiceOver gestures. VoiceOver provides a set of standard gestures for navigating and interacting with items on the screen. You can’t modify this set of gestures.
    NOTE:Gestures that don’t mention a specific number of fingers are single-finger gestures.
    General
    Enable the Trackpad Commander and VoiceOver gestures
    VO-Two-finger rotate clockwise
    Disable the Trackpad Commander and VoiceOver gestures
    VO-Two-finger rotate counterclockwise
    Turn the screen curtain on or off
    Three-finger triple-tap
    Mute or unmute VoiceOver
    Three-finger double-tap
    Navigation
    Force the VoiceOver cursor into a horizontal or vertical line when you drag a finger across the trackpad
    Hold down the Shift key and drag a finger horizontally or vertically
    Move the VoiceOver cursor to the next item
    Flick right
    Move the VoiceOver cursor to the previous item
    Flick left
    Move content or the scroll bar (depending on the Trackpad Commander setting)
    Three-finger flick in any direction
    Go to the Dock
    This gesture moves the VoiceOver cursor to the Dock wherever it’s positioned on the screen
    Two-finger double-tap near the bottom of the trackpad
    Go to the menu bar
    Two-finger double-tap near the top of the trackpad
    Open the Application Chooser
    Two-finger double-tap on the left side of the trackpad
    Open the Window Chooser
    Two-finger double-tap on the right side of the trackpad
    Jump to another area of the current application
    Press Control while touching a finger on the trackpad
    Interaction
    Speak the item in the VoiceOver cursor or, if there isn’t an item, play a sound effect to indicate a blank area
    Touch (includes tap or dragging)
    Select an item
    Double-tap anywhere on the trackpad
    You can also split-tap (touch one finger and then tap with a second finger on the trackpad)
    Start interacting with the item in the VoiceOver cursor
    Two-finger flick right
    Stop interacting with the item in the VoiceOver cursor
    Two-finger flick left
    Scroll one page up or down
    Three-finger flick up or down
    Escape (close a menu without making a selection)
    Two-finger scrub back and forth
    Increase or decrease the value of a slider, splitter, stepper, or other control
    Flick up (increase) or flick down (decrease)
    Text
    Read the current page, starting at the top
    Two-finger flick up
    Read from the VoiceOver cursor to the end of the current page
    Two-finger flick down
    Pause or resume speaking
    Two-finger tap
    Describe what’s in the VoiceOver cursor
    Three-finger tap
    Change how VoiceOver reads text (by word, line, sentence, or paragraph)
    Press the Command key while touching a finger on the trackpad
    Rotor
    Change the rotor settings
    Two-finger rotate
    Move to the previous item based on the rotor setting
    Flick up
    Move to the next item based on the rotor setting
    Flick down
    To customize other gestures by assigning VoiceOver commands to them, use the Trackpad Commander.
    Assigning VoiceOver commands to gestures
    If you need a reminder about what a gesture does, press VO-K to start keyboard help, and then use the gesture on the trackpad and listen to the description.
    Learning about keys, keyboard shortcuts, and gestures
    Sorry lots of information.  Enjoy.  You

  • How can I clean up queue one-time on Sun Java system messaging 6.3

    Hi,
    <address>Our Email server have a problem, When I run _./imsimta qm directory tcp_local_, There are about 5 Millions of messages in the queue.</address>
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    the command _./imsimta qclean_ is very slowly.
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    our Email server version is :
    Sun Java(tm) System Messaging Server 6.3-6.03 (built Mar 14 2008; 32bit)
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    If you have more than 100,000 messages in the queue, then look at the MAX_MESSAGES parameter in [the job_controller.cnf file|http://wikis.sun.com/display/CommSuite/Job+Controller+Configuration+File]. If the parameter is not specified, it defaults to 100000. If you have more than that number of messages in the channel queues, it will take a long time for new/legitimate messages to be sent because job_controller is only considering the first 100,000 messages in the queue.
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    As for removing them, the "imsimta qm" commands allow you to select messages by various criteria and then you can "return" or "delete" them. But yes, that will take a long time if there are many messages because it is a single threaded process and it needs to open and examine each message. You may be able to accomplish the task more quickly with a shell script that works on individual channel queue subdirectories and then run multiple copies of that script in parallel. After you have cleaned out the queue, restart job_controller.
    Also, you might want to consider [the subdirs channel keyword|http://msg.wikidoc.info/index.php/Subdirs_and_nosubdirs_Channel_Options].

  • My mac is running extremely slow lately how can i clean it

    my mac is too slow lately how can i clean it

    Yes. But what ever you do, don't buy any of the so called "cleanup" software. It is all worthless crapware.
    Try http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/freeingspace.html
    or http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/performance.html

  • I have duplicative song files in my library that are grayed out.  This seems to cause a syncing problem to my ipod or iphone.  How can I clean up this mess?

    I chose to let iTunes rearrange my files and it appears to have duplicated them in my computer's drive.  So now I have the same folders/files directly under my D drive (second computer hard drive) and also in the iTunes Music Folder that iTunes created.  Wasn't sure what to do so I did another import and now I have files in my library that are grayed out with the small i symbol in the circle next to them.  I also have the working (bolded) files too.  How can I clean this up?

    Musicman05 wrote:
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    Musicman05 wrote:
    Along the same lines, if I "download" a song from my library to my iPhone, then plug my iPhone into my computer and sync the song file from my computer, will the higher quality original file overwrite the 256 one? 
    No, because with iTunes Match enabled on an iOS device traditional syncing of music via USB is disabled. All music management is done directly on the device.
    Musicman05 wrote:
    Also, if I want to syncronize another computer using iTunes match, how can I get the higher quality audio files?  Will I simply have to transport all of them by an exernal hard drive or thumb drive?
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  • How can I clean my Mac Book Pro completely to hand it over to an other user ?

    How can I clean my Mac Book Pro completely to hand it over to an other user ?

    Follow these directions:
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    Ciao,

  • With journaling, I have found that my computer is saving a large amount of data, logs of all the changes I make to files; how can I clean up these logs?

    With journaling, I have found that my computer is saving a large amount of data, logs of all the changes I make to files; how can I clean up these logs?
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    Are you using Microsoft word?  Microsoft thinks the users are idiots. They put up a lot of pointless messages that annoy & worry users.  I have seen this message from Microsoft word.  It's annoying.
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    You should be saving your work more than once a day. I'd save every 5 minutes.  command + s does a save.
    Robert

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