I'm confused about the startup disks

When I press 'option (alt)' when booting up, the mac takes me to a screen with three startup disks I can choose from, those being:
1. Macintosh HD (which is the default and only one I use)
2. Recovery 10.9
3. Windows
What are #2 and #3 for?
I think #2 is a tool that comes preinstalled?
Regarding #3, I've installed Windows 7 via bootcamp on my mac before but it wasn't as convenient as i expected so I deleted it via bootcamp again. Now I cannot find any traces of Windows 7 using either bootcamp or disk utility, so why is the windows partition still there?
*My usb on the right side of the mac just stopped working as intended and instead cannot detect whatever I plug in (mouse, hard disk etc...) after I installed Windows 7 and I still have that problem now even thought I've already deleted the Windows partition. So I thought that this startup disk thing might be the problem.
Early 2013 Retina 15-inch macbook pro running mavericks OSX.
Would be so grateful for any any answers!
Thanks in advance,
pip_wu

Number 2 is the Recovery partition you boot from to do maintenance on the system drive, such as repairing the disk with Disk Utility or reinstalling an operating system. Hopefully you will never need to use it but it is there when you need it.
Number 3 appears to be the partition you created for Windows. Deleting Windows from that partition does not remove the partition. It may be an empty partition at this time.
For the USB problem, try an SMC reset.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964

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HT3680 My 3 year old iMac is freezing and I get a message "startup disk almost full for running applications. delete files..." Where do I find the startup disk and what should I delete?

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.

Trying to get rid of error "The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition". Recovery HD visible.

Hello,
I've been stuck for some hours now trying different things to install Windows 7 on my Macbook Air, and I think now is the time to call for some custom help.
I'm using OS X 10.9.5 Mavericks.
So some months ago I just wanted to run Linux on my laptop so I installed rEFInd, shrunk the Macintosh HD partition by 25GB and booted on a linux live USB flash I burned using dd.
Then I used gparted to create my linux partitions.
It worked just fine, even though disk utility from OS X seemed quite unhappy about this (it seemed to have incorrect informations about the filesystem on these partitions, seeing them as journaled Mac OS while they were clearly not). At this point already, the Recovery HD from mac showed up in disk utility, which I found weird but didn't bother me.
But recently I needed windows on my Mac. So after a few tries for the triple boot, I managed to create a bootable USB stick with boot camp, which already showed me the message "The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition" and hence refused to partition/install himself.
So I thought "OK, that's no big issue, I can just partition with disk utility and then boot on the USB stick and everything will work fine". But when EFI booting on the USB flash drive I got stuck at the beginning of Windows installer with no keyboard or mouse support.
After some hours spent googling, I was unable to find a working fix for that, and as there was no support for my case (where I used bootcamp to create the bootable flash but NOT to partition/reboot) I decided to give bootcamp a try.
So I erased my linux partitions, and cleaned up everything I could on the HD with disk utility. That means I now have two partitions showing in disk utility : Macintosh HD and Recovery HD.
When using disk utility from terminal, the list is :
/dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *121.3 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD            80.0 GB    disk0s2
   3:                  Apple_HFS Recovery HD             650.1 MB   disk0s3
But boot camp still isn't happy, and the message "The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition" keeps popping after the intro and I can't partition/boot from bootcamp.
So, as I don't understand what is wrong here anymore, any help would be greatly appreciated!
I will be watching the thread a lot because I really would like this resolved (or windows installed one way or another) this weekend; so any questions on my past manipulations or config just ask!
Thank you.

keyboard issues are also something of a common issue.
I wish the best threads were voted to the top of forums, something! Me, I literally burned out here, but after installing 10 Preview, wanted to "see what was going on" after hiatus of a couple years and see if anything had changed (no, not really!)
Also, these new Communities are not putting "more like this" and failing to help too.
I think rewriting Boot Camp Assistant's built in help and pdf would help a lot, and needs to be clearer and go into details. And Yosemite was not it seems tested against Boot Camp, and drivers for new Macs + new OS also lag behind. Again, common and no sign of improvement or change.
One of the tricks to the "can't partition" is rather simple - of course backup is step #1 and is spelled out - SHRINK the main HFS+ partition! then stretch it back to full length. Sometimes a reboot is needed, and sometimes even do a Safe Boot - not sure what but Recovry Mode might be a good option too. That does seem to consolidate free space, move files that are locked and cannot be moved otherwise, and allow BCA to partition, jusst be sure to have enough space left and large enough for a proper Windows install (and fudge factor).

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'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.

NetBoot images are not showing up in the Startup Disk window

I have created a few Netboot images, enabled them and placed them in the correct place.
They don't show up in the Startup Disk window.
I have noticed that bootparamd is not running, and that after a while also bootpd disappeared.
Strange, no?
(I started them back up and it didn't make a difference.)
Message was edited by: marc herman

It looks like the NFS exports has separate entries for both:
/Volumes/xxxxx
/Volumes/xxxxx/Library/NetBoot/NetBootSP0
and that's not allowed. You can't separately export a directory and one of its subdirectories on the same file system.
It sounds like maybe the Server Admin tools are confused. If you don't really need /Volumes/xxxxx exported, then I think just deleting that share should fix things up.
If you can't get the tools to straighten things out, you could override all the NFS exports with your own defined in /etc/exports. There's an exports(5) man page that describes the format and creating an /etc/exports file will override anything in NetInfo (10.4 and earlier).
If you want to export both directories, they just need to be listed in the same exports entry, like:
/Volumes/xxxxx /Volumes/xxxxx/Library/NetBoot/NetBootSP0
This causes the "/Volumes/xxxxx" file system to be exported and allows only the directories "/Volumes/xxxxx" and "/Volumes/xxxxx/Library/NetBoot/NetBootSP0" to be mounted.
HTH
--macko

Migration Assistant doesn't see the startup disk from the old G4

Hi,
I just got my new iMac and was about to transfer stuff from my old G4 which have two internal disks. But I stumbled into serius problems right away. Migration Assistant is not able to see the startup disk from the G4. It sees only the other disk.
I have tried to disconnect the extra disk and checked that the startup disk is forced with the jumper to be the master disk. With this configuration it won't start the G4 at all. Having he jumper in the cable select slot results to shut-up with the T-button (firewire) startup and normal startup without the T-way.
What should I do? I can't figure out what the problem is.
I enclose some System Profiler data of the problematic disk if this helps to find the solution.
Model: MAXTOR 6L060J3
BSD Name: disk0
Protocol: ATA
Unit Number: 1
OS9 Drivers: Yes
S.M.A.R.T. status: Verified
File System: Journaled HFS+
BSD NAme: disk0s10

Ok. This is really simple to do.
The idea of the dual drive iMac is that the System and Apps reside on the fast SSD and that the user directories reside on the HD.
You first need to create the same accounts on your SSD as on your old iMac.
The next step is to change the path of the user accounts from the SSD to the internal HD. Duplicate or copy the Users directories on the SSD to the HD.
Change the path in System Preferences > User & Groups > Unlock to make changes > Select User account in sidebar > Right-click > Choose Advanced Options > Home Directory > Choose the Volumes/your_hd/Users/user_name.
Restart your iMac and restore from Migration Assistant.
Remember to keep the empty directories on the SSD, in case you ever have a HD failure or replacement, you will have to change the path back to the SSD.

I keep getting notifications about my Startup Disk being full...please help

I keep getting notifications about my Startup Disk being full, I've gone through and deleted a bunch of files, and burned some big projects to disks and removed them from my laptop, but I still get notifications. Can anyone help me by letting me know which kind of files would be the best to remove, and what folders would be the best to clean up to free up space?? Thanks alot!

If you have external or thumb drive, back up your data and try to install this:
http://www.id-design.com/software/whatsize/
to see what is clogging up your HD.
And delete document files that you don't need.
Also optimize your HD and delete all of cache files using this:
http://www.titanium.free.fr/pgs/english.html
delete application using appdelete:
http://reggie.ashworth.googlepages.com/appdelete
Good Luck.
ps: don't forget to empty the trash.

Starup disk was unable to select install cd as the startup disk

I was in 10.3, crashed. Had to restore (saving my things). I updated up to 9.2.2. Put in my 10.2 cd to install and I get a message...
"start up disk was unable to select install cd as the startup disk."
As far as I know I did all the updates, but could be wrong.
Anyone have an idea how I fix the problem?
dn

Tammie, please excuse my confusion, but you say you were in 10.3 (Panther) and it crashed. You say you updated to 9.2.2, then you say you put in 10.2 (Jaguar) cd to Install. At the bottom in your profile you show you are running 10.4 Tiger.
So I am confused which Operating System do you want. Your machine will not run all 4 Operating Systems at once.
To Install from a CD or DVD you Insert the Media and restart your computer holding down the C key for it to boot.
Also bear in mind that If you are not using a Full retail version of the Operating System, or the Operating System that came with your computer it will not work, if it came from another computer. Operating Systems that come with specifc computers will not mix and match with other computers.
Please tell us exactly what operating system you want to use.
Cheers Don

I keep getting this message, I decided to delete whatever I can to free up some space. Then I get my few GBs I have left on the startup disk. Then after a day, I get the message again. I check the startup disk size and notice I have "zero kb" left. ??????

I keep getting this message, I decided to delete whatever I can to free up some space. Then I get my few GBs I have left on the startup disk. Then after a day, I get the message again. I check the startup disk size and notice I have "zero kb" left. ??????

Click your Apple menu icon 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.
Restart your Mac after freeing up disk space then check Stoage again.
Another way to view avialable space:
Control click the MacintoshHD icon on your Desktop then click Get Info.
In the Get Info panel you'll see: Available & Capacity
Again, make sure there's at least 15% free disk space.

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.

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.

Why is the Mac HD icon missing in the Startup Disk window?

The Mac HD icon is missing in the Startup Disk window in the Lion Partition on my iMac. It is also missing from the Snow Leopard partition. I did not install Lion on my MacBook and the Mac HD icon is in the Startup Disk.
       Startup Disk (in Snow Leopard and Lion)
MacOSX, 10.6.8,             Mac OSX, 10.7,        Network Startup     (no MacOSX icon)
on Snow Leopard 1            on LIon 2
Any ideas about this?

I am currently in the same situation, and have Paragon installed on my Mac. Furthermore the Option key does not work when I try to hold it down during startup.

I RECEIVE MASAGE THAT TARTUP DISK IS FULL. KINDLY ASSIST WITH HOW TO DECONGEST THE STARTUP DISK OR OTHER OPTIONS?

Dear all,
I have this massage that says the startup disk is full, how can I decongest it?

It would help to know what you were doing when you received the message. It is always wise to leave about 10 to 15% of your HDD capacity free so that there is plenty of workspace for temporary files and so on. If you have a lot of movies or thousands of photos (especially RAW files) then your disk very well might be reaching its workable limit. The safest solution is to have a reliable backup (such as Time Machine) where the contents are stored, then you could do a safety redundant backup of your movies, photos and audio by copying them to a different external HDD, then remove them from the internal drive. In that way they would be accessible for restoration by way of Time Machine, or they would be accessible as files from the external. The prices of external drives are now very low and affordable so the purchase of a 1TB or 2TB HDD is no longer prohibitive. Any long-time user will tell you that 'backup' + 'backup of the backup' [that is: redundant backup] is never a bad idea when working with important files. The time to do this is NOW before a drive failure not after when it might be impossible.

No windows disk in the startup disk list

Hi there,
I installed Windows vista on my Macbook and it works great.
My problem is when I need to switch the OS, there are only Mac OS and Network startup in the startup disk list. The icon for windows is gone. It was there several days ago. Now what I can do is pressing down the option button and select windows every time.
I do some search in the forum and found someone talk about resetting the PRAM.
I followed the instruction but it does not help.
Could you please tell me what should I do?
Thanks a lot.

You may not have to remove it.
The Windows disk vanishing from the Startup Disk options is a known issue though.
Does this help?
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20090526114511593
~Lyssa

How can I remove files from the startup disk

I am getting a screen when I am trying to quit saying the "MAC OS X startup disk has no more space available for application memory" by closing the windows and removing files from the startup disk will help.
How do I do this?

That error message is misleading. Your problem is excessive swapping of data between physical memory and virtual memory.
That can happen for two reasons:
You have a long-running process with a memory leak (i.e., a bug), or
You don't have enough memory installed for your usage pattern.
Tracking down a memory leak can be difficult, and it may come down to a process of elimination.
In the Activity Monitor application, select All Processes from the menu in the toolbar, if not already selected. Click the heading of the Real Mem column in the process table twice to sort the table with the highest value at the top. If you don't see that column, select
View ▹ Columns ▹ Real Memory
from the menu bar.
If one process (excluding "kernel_task") is using much more memory than all the others, that could be an indication of a leak. A better indication would be a process that continually grabs more and more real memory over time without ever releasing it. Here is an example of how it's done.
The process named "Safari Web Content" renders web pages for Safari and other applications. It uses a lot of memory and may leak if certain Safari extensions or third-party web plugins are installed. Consider it a prime suspect.
If you don't have an obvious memory leak, your options are to install more memory (if possible) or to run fewer programs simultaneously.
The next suggestion is only for users familiar with the shell. For a more precise, but potentially misleading, test, run the following command:
sudo leaks -nocontext -nostacks process | grep total
where process is the name of a process you suspect of leaking memory. Almost every process will leak some memory; the question is how much, and especially how much the leak increases with time. I can’t be more specific. See the leaks(1) man page and the Apple developer documentation for details.

Can i get the startup disks online for free for a used macbook i just bought?

can i get the installation stuff that i need to wipe all of the previous owners info off of my used macbook 13" laptop, so i can start over like new? my laptop did not come with all the startup disks or anything when i bought it.

No. Contact the seller, or phone AppleCare and buy replacements.
(106577)

I'm confused about the startup disks

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