I keep getting a message that my start up disk is full. What do I need to do?

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.

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TS1541 I get an error message that my start up disk is full what do I need to do?

I'm getting an error message that my start up disk is full and I need to delete some files how do I do this, and is this my hard drive ?

It sounds so elementary, but don't forget to empty trash. Only then does the space become allocated for new data.
Ciao.

I have purchased a 3TB external hard drive. I took it to the apple store. They moved all of my iTunes to the external hard drive. I still keep getting the message that my start up disc is full. Please help.

What else can I do. All of itunes should be on the external hard drive. I think 3TB is plenty of space. Could it be my iphoto? I moved all those to the external hard drive too.

lllaass wrote:
Yes, you should format the HD.
A Mac can natively write to a NTSF drive and that is what most drives com formatted with.
You should use the Mac journaled format.
Once again you are posting incorrect information
Until we know what format the drive is it is impossible to state that it must be formatted - that is just a guess
And a Mac can not Natively write to an NTSF drive - it can natively read it but can not write to it with special software
And since formatting a drive erases it it is critical to tell users not to format until they have a positively known good backup
The TOU for these forum state that you should test your answers prior to posting them -- you obviously are not doing that and you advice is endangering users photos - please only post tested answers
LN

I keep on getting message that my start up disk is full. How do i resolve this?

i keep on getting message that my start up disk is full. How do i resolve this?

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.
(91713)

I keep getting the message that my start up disc is almost full, what can I do?

I keep getting the message that my start up disc is almost full. What can I do?

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.

Ikeep getting a message that my start up disc is full and i don't know how to free up space.. also when i o to download some files i am told there is no space left to download i bought this macbook pro used an receiver no discs.. what can i do?? t

ikeep getting a message that my start up disc is full and i don't know how to free up space.. also when i o to download some files i am told there is no space left to download i bought this macbook pro used an receiver no discs.. what can i do??

You need to purchase an external drive and start moving some files to it or you can try trashing some files that you no longer need.
Download OmniDiskSweeper and see where your larger files are... you can move them to an external drive or trash them: it's up to you.
I would also begin, since it's obviously don't have backups, a backup scheme or two. See Most commonly used backup methods.
Good luck,
Clinton

I'm getting a message that says my startup disk is full

I'm getting a message that says my startup disk is full and I need to delete files. Which files and how do I delete them. My computer is becoming real slow and the color wheel comes on a lot of the time. HELP!!!

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.
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!

My brand new macbook pro shows shows that my had drive is filled with 481 gb of other!!! mac keeps showing me that my start up disk is full. what can other be???

mac keeps showing me that my start up disk is full. what can other be???

Where did my Disk Space go?
Slimming your hard drive
OmniDiskSweeper is a free utility that checks HD space.
FreeSpace cost $1 or is a free utility that checks HD space.
SpaceControl is a free utility that checks HD space.

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 Spotlight is not working. I get the message that my start up disc is full and to start deleting files. What kind of files?

I am getting a pop up message that my start up disc is full and my spotlight is not working. The message tells me that I need to delete files. My question is what files do I need to delete? And why is my Spotlight not working?

You may find this link of interest and value...
http://macmost.com/what-to-do-when-your-hard-drive-is-full.html

I keep getting a message that my Start Up Disc Is Too Full.

I know this is a simple question for some, but,I keep getting this message and I'm getting worried. I thought Apple Mac's had all the storage I'd ever need.
What should I do.

carlfromrye wrote:
I know this is a simple question for some, but,I keep getting this message and I'm getting worried. I thought Apple Mac's had all the storage I'd ever need.
What should I do.
They do. However, it depends on how large your hard drive is.
Do you by any chance use Tiger and use File Vault? 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

HT3275 I keep getting a message that says, The backup disk image "/Volumes/Data-1/iMac.sparsebundle" could not be created (error 60).

I keep getting a message when trying to back up my main computer = 'The backup disk image “/Volumes/Data-1/CMN iMac.sparsebundle” could not be created (error 60).'
The error message changes sometimes to other numbers but it is not able to back anything up. I have deleted any previous back ups and rechosen the destination disk (Time Capsule). My other computers are doing the same thing periodically but this is the most important back up that I need.
Any ideas anyone?

See #C9 in Time Machine expert Pondini's Time Machine---Troubleshooting
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

Keep trying to send a message and it wont go through i keep getting a message that says network problems cause code :3 what does that mean

keep trying to send a message and it wont go through I keep getting a message pop up that says network problems cause code :3 what does this mean

SMS Error: Cause Code 3, Error Code 2

I want to transfer most of my photos from my iPhoto library to my external hard drive. I have been getting the message that my start up disk is almost full. I want to transfer and then remove them from my computer and have them only stored externally.

My start up disk needs more space and I have tons of photos on my computer that I want to transfer to my external hard drive and remove from my computer to free up space. How can I do this and make sure all my photos are still properly saved and transferred. I dont need to transfer my whole iPhoto library just some really old albums.

Here is some help.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3849933
After confirming that all your stuff is on the drive, delete the photos you have copied. You will need to empty the iPhototrash to free up the space.

Start up disk is full - what now?

Getting message that my start up disk is full-yikes- and that I need to delete files. I deleted all of my downloads. Seemed like a lot, but the message came back. What else can I purge that will actually make a difference??
My computer is clearly on its last leg - fully backed up though - but I'd like to hang on for a bit longer while I figure out what to purchase next!

Hope this helps.
1. Empty Trash.
    http://support.apple.com/kb/PH10677
2. 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.
3. Repair Disk
    Steps 1 through 7
    http://support.apple.com/kb/PH5836
4. Disk space / Time Machine ?/ Local Snapshots
   http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4878
5. Re-index Macintosh HD
   System Preferences > Spotlight > Privacy
   http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2409

I keep getting a message that my start up disk is full. What do I need to do?

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