HT201364 how do i make space on my startup disk?

how do i make space on my startup disk?

Here are some general tips to keep your Mac's hard drive trim and slim as possible
You should never, EVER let a computer hard drive get completely full, EVER!
With Macs and OS X, you shouldn't let the hard drive get below 15 GBs or less of free data space.
If it does, it's time for some hard drive housecleaning.
Follow some of my tips for cleaning out, deleting and archiving data from your Mac's internal hard drive.
Have you emptied your Mac's Trash icon in the Dock?
If you use iPhoto or Aperture, both have its own trash that needs to be emptied, also.
If you store images in other locations other than iPhoto, then you will have to weed through these to determine what to archive and what to delete.
If you are an iMovie/ Final Cut user, both apps have their own individual Trash location that needs to be emptied, too!
If you use Apple Mail app, Apple Mail also has its own trash area that needs to be emptied, too!
Delete any old or no longer needed emails and/or archive to disc, flash drives or external hard drive, older emails you want to save.
Look through your other Mailboxes and other Mail categories to see If there is other mail you can archive and/or delete.
STAY AWAY FROM DELETING ANY FILES FROM OS X SYSTEM FOLDER!
Look through your Documents folder and delete any type of old useless type files like "Read Me" type files.
Again, archive to disc, flash drives, ext. hard drives or delete any old documents you no longer use or immediately need.
Look in your Applications folder, if you have applications you haven't used in a long time, if the app doesn't have a dedicated uninstaller, then you can simply drag it into the OS X Trash icon. IF the application has an uninstaller app, then use it to completely delete the app from your Mac.
To find other large files, download an app called Omni Disk Sweeper.
http://www.omnigroup.com/more
Also, Find Any File
http://apps.tempel.org/FindAnyFile/
Download an app called OnyX for your version of OS X.
http://www.titanium.free.fr/downloadonyx.php
When you install and launch it, let it do its initial automatic tests, then go to the cleaning and maintenance tabs and run the maintenance tabs that let OnyX clean out all web browser cache files, web browser histories, system cache files, delete old error log files.
Typically, iTunes and iPhoto libraries are the biggest users of HD space.
move these files/data off of your internal drive to the external hard drive and deleted off of the internal hard drive.
If you have any other large folders of personal data or projects, these should be archived or moved, also, to the optical discs, flash drives or external hard drive and then either archived to disc and/or deleted off your internal hard drive.
Moving iTunes library
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449
Moving iPhoto library
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH2506
Moving iMovie projects folder
http://support.apple.com/kb/ph2289
Good Luck!

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I got my first macbook air about a year ago. awhile ago i started getting these notifications saying "your startup disk is almost full" or "your startup disk is full". i was wondering how to get more space on my startup disk, if that is possible?

i got my first macbook air about a year ago. awhile ago i started getting these notifications saying "your startup disk is almost full" or "your startup disk is full". i was wondering how to get more space on my startup disk, if that is possible?

Freeing Up Space on The Hard Drive
1. See Lion's 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.

HT201364 how do i make space on my start up disk

How do I make space on my start up disk to allow for updates?

You should never, EVER let a conputer hard drive get completely full, EVER!
With Macs and OS X, you shouldn't let the hard drive get below 15 GBs or less of free data space.
If it does, it's time for some hard drive housecleaning.
Follow some of my tips for cleaning out, deleting and archiving data from your Mac's internal hard drive.
Have you emptied your iMac's Trash icon in the Dock?
If you use iPhoto, iPhoto has its own trash that needs to be emptied, also.
If you store images in other locations other than iPhoto, then you will have to weed through these to determine what to archive and what to delete.
If you use Apple Mail app, Apple Mail also has its own trash area that needs to be emptied, too!
Delete any old or no longer needed emails and/or archive to disc, flash drives or external hard drive, older emails you want to save.
Look through your other Mailboxes and other Mail categories to see If there is other mail you can archive and/or delete.
Other things you can do to gain space.
Once you have around 15 GBs regained, do a search, download and install OmniDisk Sweeper.
This app will help you locate files that you can move/archive and/or delete from your system.
STAY AWAY FROM DELETING ANY FILES FROM OS X SYSTEM FOLDER!
Look through your Documents folder and delete any type of old useless type files like "Read Me" type files.
Again, archive to disc, flash drives, ext. hard drives or delete any old documents you no longer use or immediately need.
Look in your Applications folder, if you have applications you haven't used in a long time, if the app doesn't have a dedicated uninstaller, then you can simply drag it into the OS X Trash icon. IF the application has an uninstaller app, then use it to completely delete the app from your Mac.
Download an app called OnyX for your version of OS X.
When you install and launch it, let it do its initial automatic tests, then go to the cleaning and maintenance tabs and run the maintenance tabs that let OnyX clean out all web browser cache files, web browser histories, system cache files, delete old error log files.
Typically, iTunes and iPhoto libraries are the biggest users of HD space.
move these files/data off of your internal drive to the external hard drive and deleted off of the internal hard drive.
If you have any other large folders of personal data or projects, these should be archived or moved, also, to the optical discs, flash drives or external hard drive and then either archived to disc and/or deleted off your internal hard drive.
Good Luck!

HT201364 How can I reduce space on the startup disc to enable the download of Mavericks?

How can I reduce space on the startup disc to enable the download of Mavericks? I have enough overall disc space but the update won't download and tells me to reduce "startup" disc space.

I have enough overall disc space but the update won't download and tells me to reduce "startup" disc space.
How much free space do you have?
This warning usually indicates, that your free disk space is critically low.
Empty you Trash, delete files that you do not need at all, and move large media files, like iPhoto libraries or videos to an external drive.

HT201364 How do I delete items from my startup disk?

Lately I've been getting the message "your startup disk is almost full." I'd like to upgrade my MacBook Air to Mavericks but am unable due to not enough space on my startup disk. How do I free up space on the startup disk

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.

HT201364 How do I remove stuff from my startup disk?

How do I remove stuff from my startup disk?

GrandPerspective is a nice app that shows a graphic representation of what's on your disk, so you can get an idea of what is taking up too much space.GrandPerspective
Don't buy CleanMyMac or any other dreck that offers to "clean" your Mac for you. Worst software ever.
If there are apps in your Applications folder you don't need any more, drag them to the trash and empty the trash.
In general, it is media files, like music, photos, and especially video that is taking up a lot of space. You can move your iTunes library, iPhoto Library, and iMovie video to an external drive.
iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder
iPhoto '11: Move your iPhoto library to a new location
Quick Tip: Move Your iMovie Events and Projects to an External Drive - Tuts+ Mac Computer Skills Tutorial
it's a good idea to have a backup before you start moving things.

How do you free space on the startup disk

how do you free space on the startup disk

If your disk is 80% full that is normal. Time Machine uses up to 80% of the disk space for local snapshots. To get rid of these snapshots simply plug in your Time Machine backup drive and run a backup.
If you have less than 20% disk space then it is time to roll up your sleeves and search for what you can delete and what you can offload to another disk.
If you have less than 10 GB you definitely need to delete or offload some files. You may want to maintain at least 20 GB of free space so when your disk starts filling again it will have some room before it hits that 10 GB mark again. More headroom is better. If you let the space fall much below 9 GB you might not be able to boot your machine.
Initial easy steps to gain disk space:
- Delete all files in the Downloads folder.
- Empty the trash.
- Start iPhoto, empty its trash and restart the computer.
Deleting files:
Run a Time Machine (or other) backup since you are about to delete and move files and you may need to recover from any inadvertent mistakes or decisions. You will need one external hard drive for your Time Machine (or other) backup and a second one onto which you will offload some files.
Then use the free application OmniDiskSweeper http://www.omnigroup.com/more to explore your volume in descending order by size so you can attack the problem from the top down, deleting the largest unwanted files first. Delete with caution and do not delete any system files. Remember to empty the trash after trashing the files.
Moving files:
Consider moving some of the no-often-used large files or directories to an external disk. Use ODS again to find them.
As noted above this will be at least your second hard drive. Your first one(s) is/are for your Time Machine (or other) backup(s). Do not offload files onto a Time Machine disk.
Format the second drive as Mac OS Extended (journaled). Using OWS to find large files/folders and copy them from the system drive to the external hard drive and delete them from your internal drive.
Then  > System Preferences > Time Machine > Options… > Remove the offload HD name from the exclusions list.
Now both your system disk and your external offload disk will be backed up onto your Time Machine disk.
For more about backups:
Time Machine Basics: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1427
Most commonly used backup methods:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3045
Methodology to protect your data. Backups vs. Archives. Long-term data protection:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6031
From: http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/freeingspace.html
To move your iTunes Music folder to another disk or partition:
To change the location of your iTunes Music folder, carefully follow the instructions in the AppleCare® Knowledge Base document "iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Music folder."Additional information can be found in iTunes Help.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.thexlab.com/105/ 00000849.html
Laptop users may want to consider having two iTunes libraries: a small library of current favorites on their computer, while their complete library resides on an external hard drive. Utilities like iTunes Library Manager enable you to easily have multiple iTunes libraries you can use with your account. https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/7689/itunes-library-manager
To move your iPhoto Library folder to another disk or partition:
To move the iPhoto Library folder to a new location, employ the instructions in the AppleCare Knowledge Base document from http://support.apple.com/kb/PH2506 corresponding to the version of iPhoto you are using. Additional information can be found in iPhoto Help.
Laptop users may want to consider having two iPhoto libraries: a small library of current, favorite photographs on their computer, while their complete library, or archives of older photos are saved on an external hard drive. Utilities such as iPhoto Buddy and iPhoto Library Managerenable you to have multiple iPhoto libraries that you can use with your account.
https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/12175/iphoto-buddy
https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/7158/iphoto-library-manager

How do I make space on start-up disk

Hi,
I recently upgraded to Lion X. Now I keep getting notices that my start-up disk is almost full. How do I make more space? I'm afraid of deleting things that are important for my Mac. Please break it down for me step by step. This is my first Mac, so I'm not too familiar with this laptop or Lion X. Thanks.
Hilda

Hilda,
Generally, anything in visible folders under your user name in the finder will be documents that you can safely move to an external drive or delete. You should see separate folders for Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Movies, Music, Pictures, etc. None of the files in these folders should be critical to the operation of your mac.
Safest bet is to get an external drive and move things like pictures and movies off of your main drive. These can be especially large files and take up a lot of space. What I do is build a similar group of folders on the external drive, and that makes it easy to keep things organized. Make sure you move the files or copy and then erase as OS X does a copy by default.
Also, check to make sure your trash is empty, and your downloads folder, it can get full of dmg images and other typical downloads, and most of these can be safely erased unless you don't have access to the original source any more. Hope this helps.

How do i clear space on my startup disk

I am frequently getting error messages that my startup disk is full - how do I clear space so my system can run better?

A good tool to help with cleaning up a disk is OmniDiskweeper. It will tell you the files and folders that are taking up the most space.
The best candidate to pick are you own files generally located in Home.
Be very careful with system files because moving or deleting them can cause your system to stop running, If in doubt ask here about the files.
Allan

HT201364 How do I remove items from the startup disk?

Apparently my startup disk is too full. I looked through my downloads and documents folders and there is barely anything?

1. Increase Disk Space
    http://support.apple.com/kb/PH13806?viewlocale=en_US
2. Startup in Safe Mode
    http://support.apple.com/kb/PH14204
3. Delete "Recovered Messages", if any.
    Hold the option key down and click "Go" menu in the Finder menu bar.
    Select "Library" from the dropdown.
    Library > Mail > V2 > Mailboxes
    Delete "Recovered Messages", if any.
    Empty Trash. Restart.
4. Repair Disk
    Steps 1 through 7
    http://support.apple.com/kb/PH5836
5. Local Time Machine Snap Shots
    http://support.apple.com/kb/PH14329
6. Re-index Macintosh HD
   System Preferences > Spotlight > Privacy
   http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2409

HT3680 how do i clear space on my startup disk?

I've erased tons of pictures and programs from my mac and when i go to software update it still keeps telling me i can't update because my startup disk is full

Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on freeing up space on your hard drive. Also see Freeing space on your Mac OS X startup disk. However, the best alternative is to put in a larger hard drive.
Note that dragging files to the Trash does not remove them. You then have to Empty the Trash to free up the space.

TA22302 freeing up space on the startup disk on a macbook

How to free up space on the startup disk on a macbook?

By deleting files and then emptying trash. To assist you, download from the Internet OnmiDiskSweeper (free) and open it. It will show all of your files and the respective sizes. Delete what you do not need or want
Also consider either transferring files to an external disk or installing a lager internal HDD.
Ciao.

How do i make more space on my startup disk

how do i make more space on my startup disk

Check the information contained in this thread: How do I make more space on my startup disk?
Please let us know if that helps.

HT204370 i'm attempting to download a movie and it is stating the disk is full i am attempting to use. How do you make space?

i'm attempting to download a movie and it is stating the disk is full i am attempting to use. How do you make space?

Delete something

HT1338 how do i make space in the start up disk

how can i make space in my start up disk

Check out https://discussions.apple.com/message/21475397#21475397 this should help

HT201364 how do i make space on my startup disk?

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