HT2055 What do I do if my Startup Disk is full?
I keep getting a message that m Startup Disk is full. How Can I free up space on my Startup disk without losing any of my information?
Buy an external hard drive and copy data files to it (especially big ones like movies) until at least 15% of your internal drive is free at all times. If you do not do this your computer will crash and possibly corrupt your hard drive. If that happens you will end up spending a lot more money trying to recover it than spending $100 on an external drive now.
By the way, you need to correct your computer information. You say you have a PowerMac but the PPC generation of computers cannot possibly run OSX 10.6.3 which you claim it has.
Similar Messages
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What can i do when my startup disk is full?
what can i do when my startup disk is full?
what can i do when my startup disk is full?
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I'm trying to up grade the os but I keep getting the startup disk is full I ordered more memory I was told this will not help. What do I do?
I think as drive capacities increase, the old 10-15% becomes less accurate. The amount of free space you need doesn't really have anything to do with the drive size. So, increasing your drive size shouldn't mean that you need to have more free GB (which using a % of drive space would mean). You need free space to accommodate page outs (the amount of which would depend on how much RAM you have installed and how memory intensive the applications are), sleep images (again, this would max out at your total amount of RAM), and a bit to minimize fragmentation.
With desktop drives commonly in the 2TB range today, it is certainly not necessary to have 200GB+ free in order to maintain proper operation. I generally find about 30GB to be the minimum I'm comfortable with. Mind you, I pretty much always have way more than that available. But, if I'm working on a system and the amount of free space is at least 30GB, I would generally not site drive space as the cause of any performance issues. I'd say that 30GB is a minimum for a stable system (with 8GB or RAM installed). Of course at that amount, you would still need to free up space if you were to want to install or download any significant amount of data.
With servers being more likely to run into the 16GB of RAM range, more storage would be necessary. Most servers should be well stocked with storage, but the actual needs would vary greatly depending on what's being "served".
The 10-15% thing came about when we used to talk about drive capacities in hundreds of MBs and RAM in terms of KB (not MB and certainly not GB). More drive space is always a good thing, but as drive capacities continue to sky rocket, we don't need to dedicate larger amounts of storage on systems with the same specifications. A set amount of space is required for proper operation regardless of the capacity of the drive installed. -
Warning message: Startup disk is full-what does this mean and how do I fix?
HI. I keep getting this warning that my startup disk is full -- but I just recently deleted many files. how do I fix?
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305454 Mac OS X 10.4: FileVault - "There isn't enough space on your hard disk..." alert
Empty the trash!
Open up your application folder & go through all your apps. Trash all the apps you no longer want and/or use.
An easier way to do this is to open the Application folder in list view & press the Command+j keys.
In the the dialog that appears, click the "This Window Only" button & the "Calculate All Sizes" check box.
Wait a bit until your file & folder sizes have all been calculated, then click the "Size" column to sort your apps from the fattest to the most anorexic.
Get rid of all your photo files you don't want and/or need. Same goes for those pics off the websites you downloaded (gifs, jpegs, etc.).
Get rid of all your music files you no longer listen too. Especially, if you already have the actual CD/DVDs or you can later redownload from a website.
Use Spotlight to make sure you got rid of everything. You can even trash directly from Spotlight!
Drag what you don't want and/or need to the trash. Better yet, download this neat little shareware app demo called AppZapper. It basically does all the work for you by not only trashing the apps but the apps preference files, caches & all its associated files.
Another software that does the above is AppDelete. Best of all this software is free!
Burn what you want and/or need onto CDs or DVDs.
Not everyone has the luxury of purchasing an external HD and/or Mobile accounts to store their "stuff.”
You can check with your ISP to see if they offer free storage space. Most if not all do now-a-days.
There are thousands if not millions of free storage facilities on the web also. Use your favorite search engine to search them out as they come in different storage sizes to fit your needs & wants.
Check for duplicate fonts.
Applications>Font Book
Select “All Fonts”
If you see any “black dots” next to any fonts this mean you have duplicates and/or multiple versions of these fonts.
To clean this up, select a “black dotted” font or the Apple + click to select multiple dotted fonts;
Edit>Resolve>Duplicates.
What the above does is turns off the duplicates & multiple version fonts. Not delete them.
More than likely the “extras” were installed by other programs and/or other users.
Clear out font caches
Use FontNuke. It does all the work for you. And, best of all it’s FREE.
Printer Drivers
Get rid of all the printer drivers you don’t need & use except the ones for your current printer(s)/scanner(s).
HD>Library>Printers Folder
If you accidently threw something out that you needed for your printer/scanner it can be easily obtained from the manufacturer’s website and/or from the CD that came w/the printer/scanner.
Garage Band
Has about 1GB of loops stored. Get rid of some some them. You surely don’t use, like and/or need them all.
HD>Library>Audio/Apple Loops>Apple>Apple Loops For GarageBand
Or just get rid of the Garage Band app altogether if you don’t use it.
Get rid of extra languages
Strip your computer down to your “native” tongue.
You can do this with a FREE utility called Monolingual. Another app that apparently does all the work for you. I’ve never used it. However, a lot of users here swear by & recommend it highly.
However, there is a warning for *native English speakers*. Make sure you keep BOTH English and English (United States).
Other Resources:
HD Space Checkers:
Disk Inventory X (FREE)
WhatSize (SHAREWARE)
OmniDiskSweeper (FREE)
GrandPerspective (FREE - donation)
Knowledge Base Article http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303602 Mac Maintenance Quick Assist
Scroll down to "4) Prune Through Your Files".
Slimming your hard drive
Rule of thumb: You should never let your hard drive get to where you have only 10-15% of space left.
!http://i50.tinypic.com/izvwo1.gif! -
Hi,A message on my computer keeps coming saying my startup disk is full.what can I do to solve this problem??
You need a minimum of 5GB free space, and typically you need about 15% free space.
Your Mac needs adequate hard drive space to operate normally. A low amount of RAM requires more drive space for Virtual Memory’s swap files. Problems from insufficient RAM and free hard disk space are discussed in this link http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/lackofram.html
Look at these links.
Where did my disk space go?
http://www.macfixitforums.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=Forum38&Number=770243
Download & use *WhatSize* described in this link or Disk Inventory X @ http://www.derlien.com/
Freeing space on your Mac OS X startup disk
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/freeingspace.html
Amazing Disappearing Drive Space
http://www.pinkmutant.com/articles/TigerMisc.html
Increase HD Free Space by using Monolingual @ http://monolingual.sourceforge.net/
How to free up my disk space
http://www.macmaps.com/diskfull.html
Where Did My Disk Space Go?
http://www.macfixitforums.com/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/770243/site_id/ 1
Cheers, Tom -
My Macbook air keeps getting a message saying that the startup disk is full. I don't have picture, music, or movies on it. Im not sure whats wrong with it.
The first step is to check and see how much space really is there. From the desktop right click on the drive in the upper right corner (at least it's there by default) and select "Get Info" to see how much space it reports as free.
It's not just media files that eat up disk space, though they are often a major contributor. Do you happen to be running one of the virtual machine programs (Parallels or VMWare Fusion)? When you create a guest drive there you normally have a fairly decent amount of disk space dedicated to it and that can fill the drive.
As well, a quick fix that may buy you some time is to empty the trash if you've not done so recently. Click on the trash folder in your dock and then in the window that comes up select the option to empty the trash.
If you can free up some space, there are programs that will help you find what files and directories are using disk space. I've used Space Gremlin (in the App store) for that sort of thing, though there others. If you run that sort of utlity you'll get some idea about what is really eating up the drive space. -
Startup disk almost full, what are my option
"startup disk almost full"
What are my options for additional space on my startup disk??????
Previously I have copied my photos and documents onto disks to make more space.
I do have lots of program on my computer which I guess is taking up most of the space.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.1030/3476
Hi deeswaz,
I would download and run WhatSize or OmniDiskSweeper, separately from each User Account, to make sure about some files that may exist somewhere, grown enormously with no reason to keep them on your hard drive.
Also:
Does your periodic maintenance (aka "cron scripts") run regularly enough? If it never ran, your log files too can take a huge space in some cases.
Caches:
You can delete Users caches folders to gain space. Use WhatSize or Finder's Find (⌘F) to locate them and drag them to the Trash.
They will rebuild themselves automatically (experiencing some small, harmless slowdowns sometimes), with nothing but the caches your applications actually use, not the old stuff that you don't use since months.
Other:
Of course the obvious:
Uninstall all that is useless. Did you Custom-Install Mac OS X, with only the printer drivers you need, with not all languages installed etc (keep BSDSubsystem though).
Good luck!
Axl -
My startup disk is full?!?! This has been happening for a while and I have dumped 4500 jepegs from iPhoto onto an external drive to try and free up space. I am still recieving the "Startup disk full" message. What more can I do?!?!
Did you empty the Trash?
What size hard drive & how much free space. You should always have a minimum of 10-15% or more free space?
Cheers, Tom -
It says my startup disk is full. What can I do to fix it?
It says my startup disk is full. What should I do to fix it?
Google search on these forums for "start up disk is full". There are a lot of similar discussions.
Related articles:
The X Lab: Freeing space on your Mac OS X startup disk
Where did my Disk Space go?
Use any of the following to analyze the disk usage:
Disk Inventory
GrandPerspective
OmniDiskSweeper
WhatSize -
What can I do when my macbook air says startup disk is full
What can I do and where do I look to offload things when my macbook air says my startup disk is full?
ThanksEmpty 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. -
What does it mean when my macbook pro says startup disk is full?
When im on my macbook pro a message keeps poping up that says my startup disk is full.
First, reboot. That will temporarily free up some space. According to Apple documentation, you need at least 9 GB free for normal operation. You also need enough space left over to allow for growth of your data.
Use a tool such as OmniDiskSweeper to explore your volume and find out what's taking up the space.
Proceed further only if the problem hasn't been solved.
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 really see everything, you have to run it as root.
First, back up all data if you haven't already done so. No matter what happens, you should be able to restore your system to the state it was in at the time of that backup.
Launch the 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.
☞ If you’re running Mac OS X 10.7 or later, open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the page that opens.
After installing ODS in the Applications folder, drag or copy — do not type — the following line into the Terminal window, then press return:
sudo /Applications/OmniDiskSweeper.app/Contents/MacOS/OmniDiskSweeper
You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning not to screw up.
I don't recommend that you make a habit of this. Don't delete anything while running ODS as root. When you're done with it, quit it and also quit Terminal. -
My 3 year old Mac is having trouble and freezes up from time to time lately. I get a message saying "startup disk almost full, delete files ..." something about having enough room for applications to function. I know my startup disk is the Macintosh HD, but what kind of files do I need to delete and how much space do I need to free up? In my "about this mac" area, it says I have 4.89gb free out of 319.21 So I am confused why I need to do this.
You're less than 2% free and should always have at least 15% (my SWAG). Best is to get an ext FWHD and move stuff from the startup disk to it and delete it from that. Best things to move are movies, music, and photos, using the apps that manage those things.
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What do i do if Your startup disk is almost full?
what do i do if Your startup disk is almost full?
About “Other”
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT6047
Try these steps.
1. Startup in Safe Mode
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH14204
2. Increase Disk Space
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH13806?viewlocale=en_US
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. Delete old iOS Devices Backup.
iTunes > Preferences > Devices
Highlight the old Backups , press “Delete Backup” and then “OK”.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4946?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
7. Re-index Macintosh HD
System Preferences > Spotlight > Privacy
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2409
If this does not help, you have to move iPhoto, iMovie and iTunes data to an external HD. -
I got a message saying that my startup disk is full and I need to delete files. I don't know where to fined the files I need to delete and don't understand how my disk can be full. Can someone help me with this?
To see how much disk space is available ...
Click your Apple menu top left in your screen. From the drop down menu click About This Mac > More Info > Storage
Make sure there's at least 15% free disk space.
Photos, video, documents, etc. all require disk space.
OSX Tips Where did my Disk Space go?
5 Quick Tips to Free Up Disk Space in Mac OS X
Freeing Up Hard Disk Space - Mac Guides
Never remove any Apple pre installed apps or system files. -
I have been getting repeated messages "startup disk almost full". I am on a very new iMac running Lion with the most up to date OS. This is a 1 TB iMac. When I first got the message, I cleaned almost everything but the applications off the disk. I now have more than 900 GB of space but again I am getting the message. I found someone reporting the same problem and he said Apple Care reported a but in the mail system. He found a Fix but it is not working for me. (He clicked the option key and opened finder, then went to Library/mail/mailbox/recovered messages and deleted the recovered messages. But I do not have any folder called "recovered messages" so can't pursue that fix. Any ideas?
I'm don't know about the new systems, but I remember that I set the % full to warn me. Your % might be set to 20% or something rather than 10% which is a preferable safety margin for many uses. I solved this start up disk problem by installing a 2 Tb internal drive and keeping my data files on external, raided, drives. A real show-stopper is when your 45 Tb external drive warns you that you're too close to OUT for comfort. And, Yes, I do keep it trash free.
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