How do I delete files so I can recover memory on HD?

I have Macbook Air 11-inch, Late 2010
Software OS X 10.9.2 (13C64) Not suficient disk space to update OS.
My HD is almost full I have backed up and deleted as many files as possible and removed them from trash can bit it still does not free up any space. I have also run utility `Fix Repair" and still shows nearly full. Only change is System Information does not show different colours for video, photos, documents etc. Now all are yellow (other files). I also get message Start up Disk almost full. Nothing I try resolves these 2 problems. Currently thousands of miles form Apple store and Genius. This Macbook Air almost uselss to me in this state.
Please advise help urgently.
Thanks

This is a frequently asked question - lots of people with 64GB and 128GB drives run out of drive space much more quickly than they expect. If you look to the right of this window you'll see a box balled More Like This - you can get very detailed help clicking on one of them. Especially one with a green checkmark by it since that indicates that the original poster got the help she/he needed.
To get started though there are four things I always suggest:
1) restart in Safe Mode: restart and after the chime press and hold the left Shift key until the Apple logo appears. The startup will take longer than usual because the drive integrity is being checked. Also temporary files are being deleted - some of which occasionally don't get deleted on schedule as they should. This might free up some space.
2) what takes up the most space are media files: videos, music, and photos. These are things you can move to an external drive and free up lots of space quickly.
3) putting things in the trash doesn't automatically delete them. You must empty the trash - look under the Finder menu. (Don't be insulted if I've told you the obvious - it isn't obvious to lots of users.)
4) if you use iPhoto when you delete pictures they are placed in an iPhoto trash can. You'll need to start iPhoto and empty it to restore the disk space you created by deleting iPhoto pictures. Other programs (DevonThink for example) also has its own trash can which needs to be deleted separately.
5) there are lots of programs that catalog your drive to show what you have (and what's taking up space). Some are free - OmniDiskSweeper is a good one. Others are shareware. I like DaisyDisk. Use one of these to look over your drive for things you can delete. And remember - deleting anything thats not in your personal drive space can be dangerous to your computer's health.

Similar Messages

Ok, so it appears that my photo gallery and video gallery decided to delete themselves? Is there a trash can or deleted file where I can recover them? Please help

Ok, it seems that my photo gallery and video gallery decided to
delete themselves. Is there a way to recover them perhaps from
a trash can or deleted file? I have a Android

appreciate your reply
1. i do not see a trashcan iconwhen i open the photos.
2. the photos are NOT in the 'camera roll' they are in a folder called 'iPad photos' (which is in the 'albums' section of the iPad)
3. i have re-set the iPad numerous times in order to try and resolve this. each time it is the same - no trashcan.
4. i have no method of 'moving' the photos to another folder - only the option to 'add to' a 'new folder'. since thsi won't delete the original photos, there is little point in trying this.
5. i'm guessing your next suggestion will be to completely back up and re-set my iPad? is that really what i should be doing here? surely... surely.... please, this should be a simple - select>trashcan>delete process and not something i have to spend half my working day trying to resolve! seriously, seriosly, unimpressed with Apple over this issue. it's about time that Apple gave the power back to the user on devices like these. i can understand now why people jailbreak their iPads... there rant over - but please consider my feelings over this issue.

I by accident deleted an important Note that had all my passwords on my Notes Ap on my Iphone 5. I can not find a file that has deleted Notes files so I can recover it. Any idea how I can get it back? Thanks,Mike

I by accident deleted an important Note that had all my passwords on my Notes Ap on my Iphone 5. I can not find a file that has deleted Notes files so I can recover it. Any idea how I can get it back? Thanks,Mike

Do you have a backup of your iPhone? If so, do a restore and whatever Notes were backed up should reappear.
You will lose any changes made since that backup though.

How do you delete file from time machine back up?

How do you delete file from time machine back up?

This from Apple KB Article If Time Machine is not in your Dock, you can enter Time Machine from the Menu Bar or System Preferences.
Deleting data from a Time Machine backup
To delete all backups of one or more items from a Time Machine backup, follow these steps:
Click the Time Machine icon on your Dock to enter the Time Machine restore interface.
Click on the item you would like to delete. Command-click to select multiple items.
Control-click (or right click) the highlighted item(s) and select "Delete All Backups of..." from the contextual menu, or select "Delete all backups of..." from the Action Item menu.
Authenticate with an administrator password when prompted.

How do I delete files permanently from a usb flash key? On my mac (Yosemite 10.10) it's telling me the files are deleted, however on plugging key into television they're still there

I've a problem I've never come across before and it's how to permanently delete files on a usb flash key? I've just migrated from using Windows for 15 years onto Apple iMac and had been deleting files easily and permanently from the key on Windows without any hassle and thought I'd done the same on my iMac but seemingly they're still there as the tele is showing them when key is plugged in, BUT they can not be seen on iMac. I wondered why the key wouldn't take anymore files after, what I thought was, deletion and now I know why-imac hasn't deleted them!
I've actually gone into Disk Utility and formatted the key in it's usual FAT32 format to finally delete the files. Anyone any ideas as to why this happens and how to solve this please?
Many thanks
puretoon

In addition to what Drew wrote, remember the Mac has a data fork and a resource fork.
Here is an old thread but a nice recap by Dr. Smoke
._Files
Note that the ._file files you note are the resource forks of Mac files you copied to the drive from your Mac, and these are only visible when you use the Flash drive on a PC. These are normal and indicate the Flash drive is already formatted for Windows.
When you copy or save a file from a Mac OS X system to a Windows shared volume or a Windows-formatted disk, the Mac creates two files: the data fork (xxx) and the resource fork (._xxx). This is called Apple Double Format and is normal. The resource fork contains additional data about the file that is exclusive to the Mac that cannot be saved otherwise on Windows-formatted disks. This is new with Mac OS X, as documented in Mac OS X: Apple Double Format Creates File Name With the Prefix '._'.
The resource fork files (._xxx) are necessary if you want to copy the file back to the Mac and retain the metadata. The resource forks of files are invisible when they are used on the Mac: the Mac OS Extended file system (aka HFS Plus or HFS+) uses forked files, with a file having both data and resource forks.
You can delete the resource forks on the Windows disk if and only if you don't care about losing the resource fork information should you copy them back to the Mac, such as comments, image preview icon, etc. Some Mac applications use the resource fork data, so deleting the resource fork can be problematic if you copy the file back to the Mac. Likewise moving the file while not also moving its associated resource fork when using the data on a PC can result in problems when using some files again on the Mac.
You can't prevent the resource forks from being created if you copy or save files from the Mac to the Windows share or Windows-formatted disk via Finder.

Upon start up I get a start up disk full message and to delete files, now I only get a a blue screen on start up. How to I get past the blue screen and how do I delete files?

Upon start up I get a "start up disk full message, delete files". Now on startup I only get a blue screen. How do I get past the blue screen and how do I delete files.

That;s really not enough free space... you can use a tools such as OmniDiskSweeper to find out where your large files reside and begin pruning (or copying to an external if they're files that you want to keep).
One thing is certain - if you're going to continue your current usage you're certainly going to need to install a larger boot drive.
Clinton

In itunes, when i plug my 16gb iphone in, it says i have 5.8gb of "other" filled on my phone, what is "other" and how do i delete it so i can put more music on

In itunes, when i plug my 16gb iphone in, it says i have 5.8gb of "other" filled on my phone, what is "other" and how do i delete it so i can put more music on

I know by the date of this thread that I'm probably too late to help you but I had the same problem and just figured out what the "other" really was. It is application archives.
     I'll explain it if you're curious, if not just skip to the next paragraph. When you sync your device and it is trying to update apps it doesn't want to lose the old app while its doing that. So it uploads an "application archive" zip file. Those files normally get deleted once the sync is over, but If that sync gets interupted you have all those zip files there taking up space.
     You don't have to restore your iOS device and lose all your contacts, messages, app data. All you have to do is use a iOS device file browser and delete some old partial apps from incompleted syncs.
     I use "DiskAid" or "iFunBox" but you can use any app that can change the files on your device. I'm going to tell you how to do it using DiskAid.
     First download and install DiskAid
     Once it's installled open it and plug in your device.
     Click on your iPhone/iPod/iPad then on:
          Storage, then
          Media, then
          Application Archives,
     Then just delete all thos zip files! (they will usually have weird name such as "com.NameOfTheCompanyWhoMadeTheApp.NameOfTheApp.zip" (Except it would have the name of the company and the app instead.
     It won't change anything else on your device. It's perfectly safe.
     I hope this helps you as much as it helped me!

How do I delete photos so I can use my software; I've exceeded my storage capacity?

I've exceeded my storage capacity. How do I delete photos so I can use my Photoshop software?

Please be aware that if you remove something from your online account (Photoshop.com), which was marked for Sync, corresponding files in Catalog will be removed. For this, there is a preference which ensures that you are always asked if you want to remove or retain the file in Catalog. Even if preference is not checked, files are only removed from Catalog and not from HDD.
More details about Deletion workflow can be checked at - http://bit.ly/HbugQJ

How could I delete files with name string with "TAL" and older than 05.05.

How could I delete files with name string with "TAL" and older than 05.05.2009 on unix

Our ECC Ides system today was not responsible. For first time 17 users were working on the systtem (IWN2008/SQL2005 based). Before the people were maximally 5.
The server is done by making a homogeneous system copy from an blade machine(now it is an VIrTUAL)
There was enaught disk space. However I checked Wokload 03sdn transaction) inn system. and found out that at that time of restarting(I had to restart system 3 times to get logged on the system and even then it was almost unresponsive.
I can found in there top abap."Login_Pw", "SESSION_MANAGER", "?". (BAtch), "ADMSBUF, >DEleyed Function call, RSPOWPOO""RSWWclear", ""VA01", "SAPMHHTP "Buf Sync" >DDLOC CLEANUP)""rsbtctE"
What can I do?
¸
Who could interfer SAP_CCMS_MONI_BATCH_DPSAP_CCMS_MONI_BATCH_DP
the 2 main users under users profile were ZUGTIN running and SAPSYS( running many system jobs)
How to approach the problem

My Mac Book Pro is giving me a message that the start up disk is full, how do I delete files, and what files should I be deleting

My Mac Book Pro is giving me a message that the start up disk is full, how do I delete files, and what files should I be deleting

There are several nice programs that can help you figure out what's on your computer - OmniDiskSweep, WhatSize, and DaisyDisk are the three I like. If you've had your computer for a while - and especially if this isn't your first Mac and you've been migrating from one computer to another, one of these programs can help you find files you didn't know your computer still had. For example, when I was trying to shed files to fit int a 256GB SSD, I discovered I had nearly 1GB of files in my Application Support folder belonging to programs I no longer used.
Other than that, your easy choice are music, video, and photos. They tend to be the big files. A movie will generally be at least 1.25GB, for example.

My start up disk is full. How do I delete files from this?

My air is saying my start up disk is full. How do I delete files from it? Is there a specific location I'm supposed to delete from, or is it just general files from everywhere--email, etc.

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. 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.
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.

HT5920 how do i delete files from my start up disk

how do i delete files from start up disk

If you do not need the files any longer, you can Drag them to the "Trash", then "Finder -> Empty Trash". Once you empty the trash you cannot get them back.
Or are you talking about something else. If so, then please provide more details.

How do i delete files from adobe reader?

How do I delete files that I do not want to view again from adobe reader?

You want to delete the actual PDF files, or just the entries in the Recent Documents list?
If it's the files, delete them from where they are stored on your local disk.
If it's the Recent Documents list, that depends on your operating system.

How do I delete files on the startup disc on a macbook pro

How do i delete files on the startup dics to make room to download itunes and such on my macbook pro

Move items you don't need on it, such as the iTunes and iPhoto libraries, to another drive, verify they work in the new location, and then delete them from the internal drive. If you don't need something at all, drag it to the Trash and empty it.
(92026)

How do i delete a tab and can I delete a tab and keep it as an apptab?

how do i delete a tab and can I delete a tab and keep it as an apptab

What to do if you sell or give away iPad.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5661

How do I delete files so I can recover memory on HD?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for