Macbook air shows disk almost full not much on computer

My macbook Air show an almost full disk, only 8 out of 60 left. I can't backup iPhone. There is really not very much stuff on thr notebook.

With only a 64GB drive, it doesn't take much to fill the drive, especially if you are syncing an iPhone, iPod, and/or iPad with it. You may want to consider an aftermarket SSD upgrade or using an SD Card to offload some data too.

Similar Messages

  • How do I rectify start up disk almost full. I am new to Macs and struggling

    How do I rectify a start up disk almost full message? Never had this until I put a load of photos on to my Mac book air

    Hello Kirkcaldy Ronnie,
    As Plotinus Veritas said take a backup for your Images on External Hard Disk.
    As your Macbook Air Startup disk is full and if you are unable to do anything on your Mac follow the below process to boot your Mac in Safe Mode and then delete some files on your Mac to free up some disk space and then you should be able to boot in Normal Mode.
    Steps : > Turn of your Macbook completely by holding the Power On/Off key on your Mac's keyboard > Turn On your Mac again and simultaneously press and hold the Left Shift key on your keyboard and this should take your Macbook in Safe Mode. ( Note : You will see a loading bar at startup when you boot your Mac in safe mode and your Mac will take some time to boot) > Once you login to the User Account on your Mac go ahead an delete as many files as you can from your Mac to free up some space (try to delete and make as much space as you can and keep at least 20% space free of the total amount of your disk space on your Mac Disk) and also empty the Trash of your Mac to completely remove the files from your Mac. > Now you can restart your Mac and let it start in Normal mode and check of you are able to login. If you are able to login in normal mode then try to transfer the data which you do not use regularly on an external hard disk and keep internal space free as much as you can as that will help you to get a better performance of your Mac. Hope this helps you.

  • "startup disk almost full" message - NOT TRUE!  I have about 900 GB of free space.  What can I do about this?

    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.

  • I am having macbook air recently my iphotos did not open and was showing report apple and reopen but i came to know that by pressing alt and iphotos i open an new photo library and stored the pics but now how can i get the pics which i had in the earlier

    i am having macbook air recently my iphotos did not open and was showing report apple and reopen but i came to know that by pressing alt and iphotos i open an new photo library and stored the pics but now how can i get the pics which i had in the earlier photo please help me to recover my photos

    Well I'll guess you're using iPhoto 11:
    Option 1
    Back Up and try rebuild the library: hold down the command and option (or alt) keys while launching iPhoto. Use the resulting dialogue to rebuild. Choose to Repair Database. If that doesn't help, then try again, this time using Rebuild Database.
    If that fails:
    Option 2
    Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. (In early versions of Library Manager it's the File -> Rebuild command. In later versions it's under the Library menu.)
    This will create an entirely new library. It will then copy (or try to) your photos and all the associated metadata and versions to this new Library, and arrange it as close as it can to what you had in the damaged Library. It does this based on information it finds in the iPhoto sharing mechanism - but that means that things not shared won't be there, so no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your events, albums and keywords, faces and places back.
    Because this process creates an entirely new library and leaves your old one untouched, it is non-destructive, and if you're not happy with the results you can simply return to your old one.  
    Regards
    TD

  • How do i solve the 'start up disk almost full' problem?

    when i turn on my macbook air, it comes up with a warning message that says 'start up disk almost full' and that i need to clear some space, how do i do this?

    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
    Do the same in other applications, such as Aperture, that have an internal Trash feature. Then reboot. 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 asBackups. 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. Reboot and it should go away.
    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 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.
    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.
    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.

  • Startup disk almost full but cannot log on to delete items

    when I start up my MacBook air it said "start up disk almost full" but I cannot even log on my act to get to my home screen to attempt to delete stuff... what do I do?

    Step 1   
    The first step in dealing with a startup failure is to secure the data. If you want to preserve the contents of the startup drive, and you don't already have at least one current backup, you must try to back up now, before you do anything else. It may or may not be possible. If you don't care about the data that has changed since the last backup, you can skip this step.
    There are several ways to back up a Mac that is unable to start. You need an external hard drive to hold the backup data.
    a. Start up from the Recovery partition, or from a local Time Machine backup volume (option key at startup.) When the OS X Utilities screen appears, launch Disk Utility and follow the instructions in this support article, under “Instructions for backing up to an external hard disk via Disk Utility.” The article refers to starting up from a DVD, but the procedure in Recovery mode is the same. You don't need a DVD if you're running OS X 10.7 or later. 
    b. If Step 1a fails because of disk errors, and no other Mac is available, then you may be able to salvage some of your files by copying them in the Finder. If you already have an external drive with OS X installed, start up from it. Otherwise, if you have Internet access, follow the instructions on this page to prepare the external drive and install OS X on it. You'll use the Recovery installer, rather than downloading it from the App Store.
    c. If you have access to a working Mac, and both it and the non-working Mac have FireWire or Thunderbolt ports, start the non-working Mac in target disk mode. Use the working Mac to copy the data to another drive. This technique won't work with USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth.
    d. If the internal drive of the non-working Mac is user-replaceable, remove it and mount it in an external enclosure or drive dock. Use another Mac to copy the data.
    Step 2
    You might be able to start up in safe mode even though you can't start up normally. Otherwise, start up from an external drive, or else use the technique in Step 1b, 1c, or 1d to mount the internal drive and delete some files. 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.

  • How do i get rid of "other" on macbook air? its taking up too much room

    How do I get rid of the "other" storage space on my macbook air? it takes up too much on my small 64GB macbook air? I must get rid of it as I have now space to put anything on my computer.

    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. Type carefully and then press return. 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.

  • Disk almost full

    How do I fix this? I have this message that keeps popping up that says, "Start up disk almost full." I have reset my cache in safari, deleted as many photos as I could, but it still says the same thing. What should I do? Thanks so much!
    Also, I looked at my macintosh HD info and this is what it says:
    Capacity: 148.73 GB
    Available: 3.88 GB
    errr.. I really don't have much stuff on my computer.. I have a few movies and tv shows. How can I save those?
    Message was edited by: lschat

    also see this:
    Your Mac needs adequate hard drive space to operate normally. How full can a drive be before it's too full? There is no hard and fast rule that says “X” amount or “%” of free drive space is needed. 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
    Here’s some general guidelines for minimum hard drive free space:
    1. As a general rule, your available space should be 5GB as an absolute minimum as it generally requires that much free space to perform an Archive and Install of Mac OS X and still preserve some free space for VM swap files.
    2. Some say that your hard drive should have at least 5% of it's capacity available for use. Still others say 10% to 15%. If you routinely process complex graphics and videos, even more space is required.
    Look at these links about freeing up more space.
    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
    _*http://macosx.com/forums/howto-faqs/275191-how-easily-increase-hd-free-space-lap top.html*_
    How to free up my disk space
    http://www.macmaps.com/diskfull.html
    JGG

  • How can I find where this came from? - start up disk almost full

    Hi, my mac began saying this to me today "Start up disk almost full"
    So I began deleting files. I deleted a lot via DiskWave.
    But now Diskwave says I have enough space but my mac sure doesn't.
    What do I do? What's all that 'other' stuff and where can I find it?
    Thanks in advance!

    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. Type carefully and then press return. 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.

  • MacBook Air wifi internet shared network not working on tethered android phone GT B5122

    MacBook Air wifi internet shared network not working on tethered android phone GT B5122
    I have created a password protected wifi internet network on my Macbook air. I tethered by Andriod phone onto this network, but the internet connection works intermittently on the phone, and when it stops working the network continues to show as connected to the shared network mostly(other times it keeps renewing the wifi IP address on the Andriod phone).
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    I am not sure, but all the restarting and refreshing of system, phone and wifi sharing and re-enabling wifi is not reparing the internet connecting on the wifi network for the phone
    Really puzzled, if this is one of the Apple, Andriod compatability issues.
    Cheers,
    Vivek

    Spanners91 wrote:
    Hi.
    I'm having trouble with the wireless connection on my new home hub 3. Most devices will connect easily, but there are three devices that have trouble connecting. These are an Android Phone (Samsung Galaxy Mini), an android tablet (Sony Tablet S) and an iPod. All of these devices work perfectly on other network connections, and other devices in the house are quite happy connecting to the network.
    The Androids can see the network, and will try to connect to it, but when they do they just go through a loop of "connecting">>"acquiring IP address">>"disconnected". I have tried resetting the Home Hub with a pin, and that lets the devices connect for about 24 hours, but after that time they stop connecting again.
    I'm really not sure what to do to fix the problem, so I will very much appreciate some help.
    Many Thanks.
    My lads SGMini connects perfectly to our hub3
    Have you installed the BTFon app to these devices?
    If so, you could delete it and then see what hapens.....
    -+-No longer a forum member-+-

  • Its saying startup disk almost full. have no music or photos on computer. how do i clear it up and free up the HD

    its saying startup disk almost full. have no music or photos on computer. how do i clear it up and free up the HD

    There are some items to the right of these reply boxes,
    of them a few are likely to be of help to some extent...
    Without knowing which OS X version, advice will be not specific
    and to answer three different ways when one of them is correct
    is a waste of time.
    Is your OS X newer than Lion 10.7.5? IF so different rules apply
    to finding out what is free space, where it is, & how to tell if it is.
    For systems older than Lion (Snow Leopard, Leopard, Tiger, Panther)
    the rules are a little different, since there would not be an Other item
    on the hard disk drive which could contain items necessary to the OS
    yet not detailed to the user.
    And Lion 10.7 has a few hidden files that are hard to locate, and one
    of them may have some bearing on the missing space of a HDD.
    The items here, mostly for 10.7:
    https://discussions.apple.com/message/24954432#24954432
    start up disk full, other options:
    https://discussions.apple.com/message/11808734#11808734
    There are Support articles, you could use Help viewer in the
    system, on your computer, to look for results; or use google.
    However, avoid the temptation to use a badware such as cleanmymac,
    mackeeper, and others that are sources of known trouble to the Mac.
    Good luck & happy computing!

  • I accidentally deleted some drivers from my macbook air and now i can not access app store and system preferences as it says the following message (You can't open the application System Preferences because it may be damaged or incomplete)

    i accidentally deleted some drivers from my macbook air and now i can not access app store and system preferences as it says the following message (You can't open the application System Preferences because it may be damaged or incomplete)

    Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions - Lion/Mountain Lion
    Boot to the Recovery HD:
    Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
    Repair
    When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list.  In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive.  If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported then click on the Repair Permissions button. When the process is completed, then quit DU and return to the main menu. Select Restart from the Apple menu.

  • 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

  • Startup Disk Almost Full

    I went to use my iMac last night and noticed that sometime between the time I last used it that morning to the time I used it in the evening I lost about 50GB and got a "Startup Disk Almost Full" error message. When I did a "Get Info" on the iMac's HD it said zero space available. I rebooted and did everything I could think of to see if it was just a glitch, but it still said zero space available. I ended up using the Leopard Install Disk to restore from a Time Machine Backup that was done about the time I had last used the iMac and somehow came out with 119GB of free space. At the time the back was made my HD had only about 50GB of free space so I am not sure where all the extra space came from. The good news is that it looks like Time Machine did a great job of restoring the Mac and I haven't discovered anything missing, at least so far. The bad news is that I continue to have a lot of problems with Leopard; this being only one minor one. Just wanted to see if anyone else has had this "Disk Almost Full" error and were able to diagnose it.

    Thanks. I had already used Time Machine to restore to a previous backup and fixed the problem that way. Next time this happens I will try to figure out what files are consuming all the space and see if that helps me determine the cause of massive memory loss.

  • 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.

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