My start up disk is full I want to transfer files to my external hard drive how do I do that

Mac Book Air start up disk is full
I moved my iTunes to an external drive
But this keeps happening
Any ideas?

time machine or keep your collection of large media files on an external HD
To show HD on desktop
go into FINDER at top then PREFERENCES then GENERAL tab
then check "hard disks" and "external disks"
You already moved your music to your ext. HD, why are you having any issues to transfer anything else?
check your SSD contents in your Air
See here for answer about the OTHER which is taking up space:
http://pondini.org/TM/30.html
and here:
http://pondini.org/OSX/DiskSpace.html
See Kappys excellent note on the rest of “other” files taking up your space:
What is "Other" and What Can I Do About It?

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My start up disk is full and I need to move my files to an external hard drive, how do i do so?

My start up disk is full and i need to move my files to an external hard drive, how do i do so?

Ensure that the external is correctly formatted
Drag and dropped the files
Test to be sure that the moved files work
Once the moved files work delete the originals
Allan

I want to transfer files from a functioning hard drive in a nonfunctioning MacBook Pro to an external drive. I have an IDE/SATA drive adapter. The files won't fit on the drive for a working computer I have. Can I use it to transfer files to the external?

I want to transfer files from a functioning hard drive in a nonfunctioning MacBook Pro to an external drive. I have an IDE/SATA drive adapter. The files won't fit on the drive for a working computer I have. Can I use it to transfer files to the external drive?

Good luck and you are welcome.
Like I said, I bought one of their inexpensive enclosures and now can use the hard drive just as a source for the files that are on it...my external drives are much larger and faster so I just plug that drive in when I need something from it.
This one is on sale for $16 http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/ES2.5BPU2S/

I want to unhide files on my external hard drive that used to be used for windows

I have a Western Digital external hard drive. I was using it with a windows 7 computer and had certain folders (and their contents) marked as hidden. I have now upgraded to a iMac desktop. I am using Mountain Lion OS X 10.8.4. I used online instructions to use "terminal" to show all the hidden files. However, I want to change these files back from being hidden but I can't find how to.

Applications > Utilities > Terminal
chflags nohidden /path/to/the/file/to/change
See the chflags manual page for more info
man chflags

Want to upload files from an external hard drive. How does this work?

I am new to the Mac world and have old files from my PC that I want to transfer on to my Time Capsule.

Click anywhere on the open desktop so that the Finder menus are displayed at the top of the screen.
Click Go > Network
Double click the Time Capsule icon, then double click the icon representing the drive to mount it on the Mac's desktop. It is named "Data" unless you have changed it
You can drag/drop files to the "Data" icon on the desktop
235 GB is going to take forever if you try to do this using wireless. If at all possible, connect an Ethernet cable from your Mac to one of the LAN <-> ports on the Time Capsule.
Even using Ethernet, you are probably looking at 10-12 hours for the file transfer. All bets are off with wireless only, but a guess would be several days....or even more.

When i download a movie i want it to go straight to external hard drive how do i do this

I own a mac air 17" and i like to keep the memory as free as possible. I would like to know if i can have my external hard drive plugged in and download my itunes (TV shows & Movies) purchases direct to it.
I hvae tried moving media files etc but i just can't work out how to keep it working HELP!!!

Move the entire iTunes library there, launch iTunes with the Option key held down, and point it to that instance of the library.
(87308)

From a Imac i made a home movie and want to get it onto a external hard drive?

From a Imac I made a home movie and want to get it onto a external hard drive, how do I do this?

Do you mean you want to continue editing it with the media transferred to an external drive? Which version of iMovie are you using?
With iMovie 10 see: http://help.apple.com/imovie/mac/10.0/#mov3fa25bae7
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I am having problems gettting my mail to work ... Mac telling me that my start up disk id full and to delete some files to free up space ... have done this but when i open mail from the dock it just brings up the colour wheel and nothing happening

I am having problems gettting my mail to work ... Mac telling me that my start up disk id full and to delete some files to free up space ... have done this but when i open mail from the dock it just brings up the colour wheel and nothing happening ... it shows when you right click on the mail icon that " application not responding"

If your hard drive is getting full, you need to free up, at least, 20 GBs of space on your iMac's hard drive.
If your Mac is running a fairly recent version of OS X, here are some general guidelines.
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 use Apple Mail app, Apple Mail also has its own trash area that needs to be emptied, too!
Other things you can do to gain space.
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.
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.
Download an app called OnyX for your version of OS X.
When you install and launch it, let it run the automatic ans S.M,A.R.T. tests, then go to the cleaning and maintenance tabs and run the tabs that have the ability to 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!

I have macbook pro 13" I want to know how to copy files from my mac to the external Toshiba Hard Drive. I can't even delete files from my external hard drive. please help me my macbook HD is almost full and I have to copy my images to the Toshiba HD

I have macbook pro 13" I want to know how to copy files from my mac to the external Toshiba Hard Drive. I can't even delete files from my external hard drive. please help me my macbook HD is almost full and I have to copy my images to the Toshiba HD

To delete files from your external HDD, attach it to your MBP and drag the unwanted files to trash and then empty trash.
Then you select the files that you want to transfer by 'drag and drop' to the external HDD and trash the files on your MBP.
Ciao.

My mac disk is full and i cant transfer files from Mac to USB. saying the format is not good, how can i change the format and what happened to the files i have on USB?

my mac disk is full and i cant transfer files from Mac to USB. saying the format is not good, how can i change the format and what happened to the files i have on USB?

Once something similar happened to me. The external drives I had set up for FCP to use for some reason were not mounted, and FCP put all its render files on the main drive and I couldn't find them anywhere.
Go to applications, and control-click (and hold down) on your FCP icon; you should get a pop up menu that says "show package contents". Select that, select the "contents" folder, then the "mac OS" folder. See if your quicktime file is in there, or if you've got render files in the "render" folder or audio render files in the "audio render" folder that don't belong there.
That's where FCP sticks stuff when your documents FCP project folders are not available or when external drives you've selected aren't available.

How can I copy files from an external hard drive without creating copies on the disk?

I recently purchased a MacBook Air as part of a requirement for schoolwork. I decided to use it to sync music to my iPod and iPhone, and it worked perfectly well, however, i keep most of my music files on an external hard drive. Recently, it started sending me messages about the hard drive being almost full. I checked on the about this Mac screen, and it said that up to 95 gigabytes on the disk drive had been taken up by music. This was not my intention, as i had previously assumed the music was kept on my external hard drive as it had been on windows. I attempted to delete the folder, but it now said that my disk drive was taken up by "other" files. I want to still use my iTunes without these files copying. How?

Hi flyingroastchicken,
If the songs are being stored on your Mac, then make sure that the location of where the iTunes media is being store. Take a look at the article below to verify that you have it set up the way you want.
iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder
http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201562
Take it easy,
-Norm G.

I need to do a clean install of maverick on my 2010 mbp what disk do i use and how do i move certain files from an external hard drive

I want to do a clean install of maverick on my 2010 mbp. I need to know what disk to use and also how i take certain files off my external hard drive and put on my computer. When I was having problems with my airport they did a clean install and they pulled files of my time machine.   however they forgot to put the partition back in for a windows side. Originally I had Parellels on my computer. After my external hard drive got corrupted i called apple and they fixed the problem but didn't have me set up the time machine except for the external hard drive. Now my only back up is from the external not from the laptop.    I am not sure how to do any of this. I am not computer savvy...PLEASE I NEED HELP>

First, you need to make a backup of your MBP onto your external drive. I suggest you start by cloning your MBP drive to the external drive:
Clone Mavericks, Lion/Mountain Lion using Restore Option of Disk Utility
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.
     1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu then press the Continue
         button.
     2. Select the destination volume from the left side list.
     3. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
     4. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it
         to the Destination entry field.
     5. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to
         the Source entry field.
     6. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the external backup drive. Source means the internal startup drive.
This clone is fully bootable and also contains a clone of your Recovery HD.
Second, you need to do a clean install of OS X onto your MBP as follows:
Install or Reinstall Mavericks or Mountain Lion from Scratch
Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.
OS X Mavericks- Erase and reinstall OS X
OS X Mountain Lion- Erase and reinstall OS X
OS X Lion- Erase and reinstall Mac OS X
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible
            because it is three times faster than wireless.
This should accomplish your goals. You will have a clean install of OS X on your MBP and a bootable clone of your old system and all your files on the external drive.

I get error 8062 when trying to copy files from one external hard drive to another. It starts out copying files, but after 10 minutes or so it stops and I get the error 8062. The hard drive tech support says the problem is in my Macbook Air.

I cannot copy my doc and photos and videos from one external hard drive to a second external hard drive -- both plugged in to my MacBook Air -- I get Error 8062 and the copying (which seemed to be going on for 10 minutes) stops and nothing gets copied.
As any Macbook Air owner knows, there is SO LITTLE storage capacity on the computer that you have to back up big files onto an external hard drive to avoid getting the other annoying error that says you have no more memory/storage capacity/whatever the proper term is, and you cannot use the computer.
Backstory: Before this error cropped up, I had backed up lots of files to an external drive and then removed them from my computer. But then the external hard drive got corrupted and I could not access my entire photo library. Had to pay $850 to Kroll Ontrack to recover those files. I have now bought 2 new external 1 Terrabyte hard drives as protection against another such disaster. BUT I cannot copy the files from the first hard drive where all my reovered files now sit, to another backup hard drive.
Feeling vulnerable. Please help.
SusaninNY

From the menu bar, select
 ▹ System Preferences ▹ Energy Saver ▹ Power Adapter
and uncheck the box labeled Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible, if it's checked.
If the drive has more than one interface (USB, FireWire, Thunderbolt, eSATA), try one of the other interfaces.
Check that the data cable is securely inserted at both ends.
Try a different cable.
If you're connecting the drive through a hub, connect it directly to a built-in port on the Mac.
If you're connecting it directly, try a different port.
Disconnect all other devices on the bus, or as many as possible.
Test the drive with another Mac. Test another drive with this Mac.
If the drive is bus-powered, but has an AC adapter, connect the adapter.
Start up in Safe Mode and test.
If the drive doesn't work under any of the above conditions, and if another drive does work with the same Mac, then the drive has failed. You may be able to salvage the mechanism by removing it from the enclosure and installing it in another one, or in a drive dock.

I have several albums in a folder in iphoto. The pictures are ordered, labeled, and dated. I want to put them on an external hard drive and have them stay in order w/labels. How can I do that? Thank You

I have several "albums" in a "folder "in iphoto. The pictures, and videos (from a camera and smart phone) are ordered, labeled, and dated. I want to put them on an external harddrive. How can I do that and keep them in order, etc. What I have tried reorders them, separates them into the camera pictures, phone pictures, and movies. We are not sauvy in Apple or iphoto so this has been extremely frustrating for us.

Files on disk have no order - they are given the order by the viewing program - finder on the Mac - using the finder you can view files by many different sorts - file name - date created - date moified - size - etc
Deciede how you are going to sort them when you view them and then export them so that sort works for you
Generally using an alpha sort to view and exporting using the sequential nameing option is the solution - see the user tip on exporting for the options available
LN

TS1967 In the past, when I updated iTunes, some items would be 'lost'. I quit updating, still running 10.6 i do keep my files on an external hard drive, which I plug in before starting iTunes. If I leave the drive off, and update, would that keep me from

In the past, when I updated iTunes, some items would be 'lost'. I quit updating, still running 10.6. I do keep my files on an external hard drive, which I plug in before starting iTunes. If I leave the drive off, and update, would that keep me from losing any files? Also, does anyone know how to search the iTunes store by price? I'm particularly interested in movies and audiobooks... Thanks

iTunes does not have provision for automatically storing one kind of media on a separate drive, so you have some basic decisions to make first. Do you want these movies to still appear in your iTunes library, or are you content with browsing filenames on a drive in Finder when you want to look for one? The second's the easiest thing because then you don't have to have an external drive permanently turned on and attached to your computer (wired or wireless). To do that you literelly only need to drag your movies folder to an archive drive and delete movies from iTunes. To watch them again you can add it back to iTunes while holding down the option key so the movie is used from its location on the external drive.
There's ways to move the movies to an external drive while keeping them in iTunes but the external drive iwll always have to be turned on and connected to the computer or you will see a bunch of broken link exclamation marks.
Realize what you are talking about is not "backup". Backup (which you should do) is putting a second or more copy of items on external drives for the day when your internal drive fails and everything on it is lost, inclduing all your home photos and perhaps things that have been pulled from the iTunes Store and can no longer be re-downloaded.

My start up disk is full I want to transfer files to my external hard drive how do I do that

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