How do i free up space on my start up disk

it always says my start up disk is nearly full so need to free up space i replaced my memory and now have maximum 8gb but this made no diference my mac is full all the time and cannot do updates or anything as not enough room what can i do or how do i delete files on start up disk?

<http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/freeingspace.html>
Also, if you search this forum, you'll find many more threads on the same topic.

Similar Messages

  • HT201364 Hello, I want to upgrade to OS X Mavericks but it keeps telling me to free up space on my start up disk.  I deleted many files and i still cannot download it.  What do I do delete everything?

    Hello, I want to upgrade to OS X Mavericks but it keeps telling me to free up space on my start up disk.  I deleted many files and I still cannot download it.  What do I do delete everything?  I do not even know how to check for available space on my laptop...I know, I know.  Anyone help me out if you can =)

    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.
    You need at least 12 GBs of free space to install Mavericks plus another 6 GBs for the download.
    Select your HDD icon. Press COMMAND-I to open the Get Info window. In the upper most panel you will see the information displayed: Capacity, Available, and Used. You want to know what's Available.

  • Updating Java for my 10.4.11. It tells me that i need to free up space on my start up disk. Can anyone talk me through this.

    Hi all..
    Ive had my mac for quite some time, could say its been abused.. brought 2nd hand. But i do love it!!!
    I dont know a great deal about the software.
    Im trying to update my Java but while doing so it tells me that i need to free up space on my start up disk?
    Please can somebody talk me through this? Many thanks, marc

    It is not worth it.  Java is insecure until you get to 10.5.8.  Read this tip on disabling Java, and why.
    https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3261
    If you should desire to upgrade to 10.5.8, you may be able to, if you have 867 Mhz or higher G4, but that will mean disabling Classic, and other things mentioned here:
    https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-2275
    To clear up disk space, read my FAQ*:
    http://www.macmaps.com/diskfull.html

  • How do I free up space on my start up drive for macbook

    I cannot download anything onto my macbook because it says there is no space on my start up drive.

    If you normally sync to a computer, you can do the update via that and y ou don't need to have the free room to download the update.
    If you normally don't,then do you have content you can delete? such as songs from iTunes or movies from iTunes? you can always delete them to make room, then redownload them after the update.
    Or if you have apps that are taking up room you can temporarily delete them. Settings and usage will show you which apps are taking up the most room.

  • How do i free up space on my "start up disc"?

    I am getting a message telling em that my "start up disc is full" and i need ot free up space. Is this simply my hard disc?

    Sports Fanatic wrote:
    Is this simply my hard disc?
    Yes.  I suggest that you download from the Internet OmniDiskSweeper (free) and open it. It will show all of your files and the respective sizes.  Transfer to an external HDD or to Trash, those files you do not want on your internal HDD.  Do not forget to empty Trash.
    Also consider installing a larger HDD.  they now are available up to 1.5 TBs in capacity.
    Ciao.

  • How do I make more space on my start up disk

    I am getting a message that says my start up disk is almost full and to make space on it?  I don't know what that means or how to do it. 
    Can someone help me - I'm not computer savvy...so break it down gently.
    Thank you in advance.
    Teresa

    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. 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.

  • HT201364 How can i free up space on my startup disk to install OS X Mavericks?

    How can i free up space on my start up disk to install the OS X Mavericks software?

    For information about the Other category in the Storage display, see this support article.
    Empty the Trash if you haven't already done so. If you use iPhoto, empty its internal Trash first:
    iPhoto ▹ Empty Trash
    Then reboot. That will temporarily free up some space. Do the same in other applications, such as Aperture, that have an internal Trash feature.
    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 your 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.
    If you're using Time Machine to back up a portable Mac, some of the free space will be used to make local snapshots, which are backup copies of files you've recently deleted. 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.
    See this support article for some simple ways to free up storage space.
    You can more effectively use a tool such as OmniDiskSweeper (ODS) to explore your 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.
    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 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 ODS in the Applications folder as usual. Quit it if it's running.
    Triple-click anywhere in the 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
    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 (command-V). You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. 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 with the largest at the top. It may take a few minutes for ODS to finish scanning your files.
    I don't recommend that you make a habit of doing this. Don't delete anything while running ODS 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 ODS, quit it and also quit Terminal.

  • HT201364 How do I free up space on on my start up disk--MacBook Air???

    How do I free up space on my start up disk--MacBook Air?
    Thanks

    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.

  • I bought a new Macbook Pro with Retina (13") a few months back and all of a sudden saw my opened programs got paused with a message that I should free space in my start up disk. Any help?

    My opened programs got paused and I got a message to free up space in my start up disk. It asked me to quit some apps. I checked and found that I did not heve lot of apps opened. How do I troubleshoot this?

    How much free space do you have on the flash storage device? Go under the Apple menu to "About This Mac..." then "More Info..." and look at the storage tab. Post a screenshot of you Storage tab in a reply here (http://support.apple.com/kb/PH4391).
    Should look something like this:
    Clinton

  • How can I free up space on my iphone without connecting to itunes?

    How can I free up space on my iphone (by posibbly deleting some music) without connecting to my mac itunes? I'm travelling abroad for some time so can't access my itunes account on my mac at home and the iphone is full. I thought I'd left enought room for plenty of new apps, but alas no. So I need more room for more apps. We have my partners PC laptop with her itunes loaded if thats any use. I've deleted and backed up all my iphone photos already. Thanks.

    Claiming that it can be done, but not telling him how is not all that helpful. We were dying for you to share the steps that he must take.
    http://www.cultofmac.com/99990/ios-5-allows-users-to-delete-music-directly-from- iphoneipad/
    The process is just like deleting an unwanted email in your inbox. Simply find the track(s) you don’t want on your iOS 5 device anymore, slide your finger over the track listing to the left or the right to reveal a hidden “delete” button, and then select “delete” and the track is gone. Unfortunately there’s no mass delete option, so those Backstreet Boys songs are gonna have to be deleted one at a time.

  • I am at capacity How can I free up space but not delete music

    My Ipad is at 55.4 gb used 24 gb in music alone. 2.7 gb available so can't do anything  Ipad shuts itself down and won't let me open mail, use facebook, safari.How can I free up space but not delete songs in library   

    Unless you are attempting to download a sizable file, 2.7 GB should be more than enough to continue fucntioning. Try a reset: Simultaneously hold down the Home and On buttons until the device shuts down. Ignore the off slider if it appears. Once shut down is complete, if it doesn't restart on it own, turn the device back on using the On button. In some cases it also helps to double click the Home button and close all apps from the tray BEFORE doing the reset.

  • I am trying to burn a dvd and it will not allow me to do this because it states that i do not have enough space for encoding disk. how do i free up space and from where?

    I am trying to burn a dvd and it will not allow me to do this because it states I do not have enough space for encoding. how do i free up space and from where?

    iDVD can only use your startup hard disk for the "scratch space" it needs for calculations during the encoding process.  25 GB is a good average requirement, but a large project (3 or 4 hours of content) might require more.
    To free up space, you will have to move items to an external hard drive and/or delete items you no longer want.
    Please note that iDVD can't use and external hard drive for this "scratch space".

  • What is my start up disk, and how do i free up space on it? my computer tells me i have to rather often

    hey guys, how do i delete files off of my start up disk to free up space? what is my start up disk, and how do I remedy this? thanks for the help

    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.
    (89392)

  • How do I free up space now I gave started install?

    Ok, I decided to upgrade to OSX mavericks, went through App Store. Today I went through the final install only to be told I don't gave enough free space on the start up disk. 7.63 GB is what I have.
    When I went to time machine the last back up was August 2012, kind of a lot has gone on since then..........
    So , any ideas how I can clear disk space while this thing is licked in a loop of install program?
    I'm not a complete dummie but also not a brainy Mac.

    You don't have a lot of options here. I would try:
    Quit or force quit the installer.
    See if your mac will boot.
    If it won't boot normally, then try a safe boot (restart, hold down shift until you see the Apple logo).
    If you can get it to boot, then you can clear out some disk space.
    If you can't get it to boot, then you can try to repair your HD (there are different ways to do this depending on what OS was on your Mac prior to your ill-fated install attempt).
    If you can't repair your HD you're going to have to erase your HD and start over.

  • How do I free up space on an I-phone 4 to allow a downlaod of IOS 7

    Just tried to update my I-Phone 4 to IOS 7 and was told I didn't have enough space to do so. How do I free up space to allow the upgrade? I could free up 5.6 GB by deleting photos which are already saved in I-Cloud. How do I do that?

    Import them to your computer and delete them from your phone as explained here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4083.  After updating, put the photos in a folder and sync them back to your phone by selecting the folder on the Photos tab of your iTunes sync settings and syncing.
    You could also sync all your music off, then sync it back on after updating.

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