My mac air says " startup disk is full".How to solve ???

My Mac air has a message during starting the computer and says that startup disk if full. In the composition of my hard there are 120 GB used space on other parts, which I have not understand where is these files.

First, empty the Trash if you haven't already done so. 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 your 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.
If you're using Time Machine to back up a portable Mac, some of the available space will be used to make local snapshots, which are backup copies of files you've recently deleted. 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.
To locate large files, you can use Spotlight. That method may not find large folders that contain a lot of small files.
You can more effectively use a tool such as OmniDiskSweeper (ODS) to explore your 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.
Install ODS in the Applications folder as usual. Quit it if it's running.
Triple-click the line of text below to select it, then copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C):sudo /Applications/OmniDiskSweeper.app/Contents/MacOS/OmniDiskSweeper
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.
☞ 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 not to screw up. 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. It may take some minutes for ODS to list all the files.
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.

Similar Messages

  • 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?
    Thanks

    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.

  • MacBook air says startup disk is full

    What do you do when it says startup disk is full

    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.
    Try using OmniDiskSweeper 1.8 or GrandPerspective to search your drive for large files and where they are located.

  • 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!

  • Blue screen after login and HD and startup disk is full -how to erase data?

    Blue screen after login and Hard drive and startup disk is full -How do I get in to erase data?

    this user tip might help:
    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

  • 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:
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    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.

  • Error box says startup disk is full?

    Keep getting message that startup disk is full? What does that mean?

    Hi Yvonne! Hi Tracy!
    Which OS you are on? (Go on Apple-Menu top left and "about this mac"). There has been an issue with with 10.7.1
    Please update to 10.7.2
    To watch the space of your HD I recommend GrandPerspektive
    http://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net/
    There is an other tool, which I don't know, but others recommend: "WhatSize"
    marek

  • My computer says startup disk is full but it isn't.  Is there a fix?

    I'm getting a message saying my startup disk is full, and I need to delete files.  However, I'm only using about 15% of my hard drive (macbook is less than a year old).  Any suggestions what might be going on?

    How do you know you're only using 15% of the hard drive? 
    There could be a number of things going on. In the first instance, I'd run Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility and use it to run Verify Disk. 
    Bob

  • Error message says startup disk is full but I have 611 GB available on HD?

    Keep getting message that the startup disk is full. Checked and have 611GB available on the HD. Help!

    "...When I look at the get info screen it says 24mb left..."
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  • Imovie won't let me save my movie as a file, and it says ''startup disk'' is full!

    I made a movie on Imovie and it won't let me download or convert, I don't know what else I can do, and also it says my disk is full, and my macbook is 64 and its impossible, i dont have that much. please help me. I want to save my movie and fix disk because is making my computer slower and doesn't let me save anything because is ''full''. I need to find a way to save the movie complete and as a file and make my computer faster and with it's original memory.
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    I have the same problem and then some. I movie won't share this particular project, but it also won't save any changes made to it or any other project. At least that's what it started doing, now when I go to even try to make any changes it wigs out and things get scrambled in the Project window and it plays video from another project.
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  • My startup disk is full:  how do I clean it up?  Simply deleting some files does not help.

    I get the message that my startup disk is full. It says to delete some files to make more space; but after deleting some files, this message will reappear again after a while.  What else can be done?

    I hope you haven't removed anything that involves the system.
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  • My startup disk is full, how do I Repair it

    I have a iMac and a macBook. Both are displaying a message that the startup disk is full.  I would like to fix this problem, but I’m afraid that I might do more damage then good.  Is there anyone that can  walk me through it so that when I’m done I don’t have to take them into the apple store because I messed them up more.. 
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  • Mac Air Start up disk is full

    I'm new to Macs. My Air says my start up disk is full and to delete some files. How do I do this?

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    There is no such parameter built-in to OS X. You must have been using some third-party disk monitoring utility.

  • "Startup disk almost full" How do I fix this?

    How do handle this?  Thank you.

    Help here >  Freeing Up Hard Disk Space - Mac Guides

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