Reducing load on start up disk

If I drag files to "my passport" to reduce load on start up disk, do I then delete them on my MacBook Air? They don't seem to go away when I move them to passpor

Yes, you do. Keep them on at least two drives in case one of them fails.
(120167)

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I can't download anything as it keeps telling me my start up disk is full. I have deleted loads of files and it still keeps popping up with the same messge??

Please help - I am not too computer savvi and my computer keeps telling me my start up disk is full. I have purchased a passport and transferred loads of images and files onto that and then deleted them from my computer but the message is still the same and I can't download anything.

How big is your hard drive, and how much space is used/free?
To find out, click once on the hard drive icon on your desktop to highlight it (it will be called Macintosh HD unless you renamed it). Click the command and I keys on your keyboard to open the information window. In "General", you will see Capacity and Available. What are those figures?
If you have a little bit of space left, I recommend that you install Omnidisksweeper (it's free) to tell you what folders are using up the most room.
Be careful when you transfer files - only move files that you know are yours. Don't move or delete any system files unless you're specifically recommended to do so (some files are safe to delete; some are not).
Matt

I received the following message while i was on my macbook air "you do not have enough space in your start up disk - you must delete some files"-restarted; only got startup noise then blank screen. turned off tried to turn on no noise no screen load. thx

i received the following message while i was on my macbook air "you do not have enough space in your start up disk - you must delete some files"-restarted; only got startup noise then blank screen. i waited for a few minutes to see if it would load - nothing just the lit up screen but nothing loaded - held power button it asked did i really want to turn off - i selected shutdown -turned off and left it off for awhile tried to turn on no noise no screen load. the same lit up screen but nothing loading. please help thx in advance if anyone can offer some suggestions

You can get there from here (booting normally); it just may take you a few steps to do it.
If the disk is almost full and the system won't boot then sometimes it will boot in Safe Mode.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1564?viewlocale=en_US
Empty the trash after it boots.
Then for hints on how to free disk/SSD storage see https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5872318?tstart=0
If the Safe Mode boot does not do the trick then you can install OS X on an external hard disk, boot from that, and then delete files. You can also reach the disk via Target Mode. A third option is to take it to an Apple store where they can do a network boot and help you remove some files.

My macbook air won't load. Says start up disk is full but I can't get the home page to open

My Macbook air won't load. Says the start up disk is full but won't open the home page so I can do anything about it

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.

Start-up disk not the first one to load or appear

I just switched to 10.5 and have the following challenge.
My MBP HD is partitioned in to 3 sections.
Partition 1 = OS10.4 with programmes.
Partition 2 = OS10.4 with other programmes.
Partition 3 = files.
Under 10.4 the MBP would load the start-up partition first (partition 1 or 2) and the other partitions next. This would result in the disks appearing in order of loading. For example if I start up from Partition 1 the order would be from the top:
Partition 1
Partition 2
Partition 3
Followed by any files that might be on the desktop.
In other words the computer would load the start-up volume first and display this at the top.
I have now switched to 10.5 and this no longer happens. It seems now that the MBP displays the Partition wherever it was last put. Is there a way of changing this? Or has something changed in the OS?
I would like it to load/show the Partition with the active OS as top one so I can see from what OS we are presently working by seeing the active partition up top.
Any suggestions?

I posted also in an other forum as no person responded, so here is the answer:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1589383&tstart=0

Start-up disk is not the first one to load or appear on the desktop

I just switched to 10.5 and have the following challenge.
My MBP HD is partitioned in to 3 sections.
Partition 1 = OS10.4 with programmes.
Partition 2 = OS10.4 with other programmes.
Partition 3 = files.
Under 10.4 the MBP would load the start-up partition first (partition 1 or 2) and the other partitions next. This would result in the disks appearing in order of loading. For example if I start up from Partition 1 the order would be from the top:
Partition 1
Partition 2
Partition 3
Followed by any files that might be on the desktop.
In other words the computer would load the start-up volume first and display this at the top of all disk displayed on the desktop.
I have now switched to 10.5 and this no longer happens. It seems now that the MBP displays the partition wherever it was last put. Is there a way of changing this? Or has something changed in the OS?
I would like it to load/show the partition with the active OS as top one so I can see from what OS we are presently working by seeing the active partition up top.
Any suggestions? or any other way one cold automatically see what partition is presently active?

Barry Hemphill wrote:
Hi again "oldtimer" (chuckle).
I take that as a compliment Barry!
How about putting your partitioned stuff on an external firewire drive?
I travel a lot so that is not really an option for my MBP
I have both time machine and a bootable clone in separate partitions on an external drive.
I have a FW backup (well 2 the old-timers have learned ). Interesting about your Time machine. do you back up to it over the FW cable? I thought this only works over a Wireless connection?

External start-up disk not loading stuck at grey apple screen?

Hello,
I used to have a 2010 13" MacBook Pro, I sold it back in December so I took out the hard drive and placed it in an external case. I've been using the case since then and I usually started up from my external HD on other MBPs that relatives lent me now and then. Yesterday I got a new 2011 15" MBP and I decided it would be a better idea to just copy my documents (incl. fonts and VSTs) and music and do a whole reinstallation of all my applications. Unfortunately there's certain stuff I can't just copy from my old HD so I decided I'd start up from it and write some stuff down for later. After plugging the hard drive and starting up the computer with the external as a start up disk, the grey screen with the apple logo shows up, although no spinning wheel shows up. The computer then stays like that forever until I decide to shut it down by holding the power button.
I opened up Disk Utility and although I can't do anything about permissions (both buttons are grayed out), I verified the disk and everything turned out fine. Can you please help me why I can't boot up from it?
Thank you very much for your time.

Two thoughts.
1. The OS on the old HD is specific to the old MBP and won't boot the new one.
2. Macs will not boot from an OS version that is older than the one current at the date of manufacture.

My granddaughter put the Start Up Disk in the drive inadvertently and now the drive will not eject it or start up using the HD. I have tried all of the suggestions for opening it that appear in the manual. Help?

My granddaughter put the Start Up Disk in the drive inadvertently and now the drive will not eject it or start up using the HD. I have tried all of the suggestions for opening it that appear in the manual. Help? It is her computer, a iMac G3 or G4 with superdrive, the one with the ball shaped base. Thank you.

It's a tray loading drive, there should be a little hole next to it, just large enough for a paper clip. Stick the end of the paper clip in it and the tray should open.
Miriam

Start up disk almost full

hi all. I am a new user for the ibookg4. I just received an error "start up disk is almost full, delete
files. I am now sure what or where to do this. can anyone advise.
thanks all and good day to everyone

tony:
A too full startup disk is a serious issue as it can cause directory issue which can result in data loss or corruption. It is therefore an issue you cannot afford to ignore.
Your startup disk can be too full either because you have too much stuff which you have put on the disk, or because the system is repeating processes and creating entries in the console. If the former is the case there are two things you need to do. First, you should backup you drive immediately, using an external HDD and a utility like SuperDuper. Second, you need to lighten the load by removing some files. Third, even if you delete some files, you will probably run into the same issue again as your computing habits seem to indicate the need for a larger HDD.
To determine exactly what is on your HDD, and where your disk space is going, download and run either WhatSize 10.3.91 or Disk Inventory. Either one will scan your HDD and list your files/folders by size. Then you need to look over the list and see if you see any very large file that looks suspicious. Post back with your findings.
Here are a couple of article you may find helpful:
Where Did My Disk Space Go?
Freeing space on your Mac OS X startup disk
Good luck.
cornelius

Where is my Start up Disk Located

I keep getting Pop ups telling me my Start up disk is full I do not know where it is could you tell me where I could find it and how I can clean it out?

If you click on the HDD icon in the upper right hand corner of your desktop (usually MacIntosh HD) COMMAND-I (the letter i), you will get a display such as this. Examine the data for 'Used' and 'Available'. If you need space, down load from the Internet OmniDiskSweeper (free) and open it. This will show your files and the respective sizes. Delete or transfer to another HDD the files you do not wish you retain on you internal HDD.
Ciao.

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.

HT4818 how do i clean up my start up disk? i have no idea.

How do I clean my start up disk?I have no idea. Please help.

cbs20 thank you very much. i have loads of free space now.

How to empty start up disk

How do I empty or reduce the items in my start up disk?

You can use products like Omni DiskSweeper, Daisy Disk, and Grand Perspective to breakdown and identify your file types and space they take. DiskSweeper will aid you in group file removal too.
Check also in the AppleMenu>About This Mac>Moreinfo>Storage to see if you have a significant amount of space taken up by Backups (Local Backups). If you do, eiter proceed to sync with your Time Machine drive, or turn off Time machine altogether to delete the Local Backups, if the space concerns you.

Migrating Leopard Server software to new Start-up disk

I have a new Xserve that I had configured with 3 -15K drives and the internal raid card and striped all 3 drives into one datapool for max performance. I am running the OS on this raid pool along with our rip software that loves lots of disk space and speed, thus the reason for the striped 15k drives. Lately I have noticed that while this software is running, it basically locks out access to a lot of the Finder functions or mounted drives on our network as well as clients have some hiccups to the shared out folders from this Xserve as well as the folders that are mounted locally on their machines. You basically have to either stop the software or wait until there is not activity before you can even access anything on the machine.
I would like to migrate the O.S. to an external 1tb firewire 800 drive I have and boot from there as I believe the issues are coming from the amount of disk activity that our rip software is causing, basically gagging the O.S. from doing it's job to it's fullest being on a shared raid volume.
So my question finally is, what is the best way to migrate my O.S. as it is set up now to the external drive and then just change start up disks and be back in business. I will break up the raid if I have to and go down to a striped volume of just 2 - 15K drives and leave the other for the O.S. if needed but I wanted to give the rip software as much spool space as possible.
Sorry for being long winded but any help would be appreciated.
thanks,
Dan

It sounds like you've setup a RAID 5 array using the three internal disks, right?
RAID 5 is great for data protection against a failed drive, but it has an overhead for any writing (every write requires a read from all disks in the array so the controller can recalculate the parity data). Therefore is is not a good choice for disk-intensive loads.
If your RIP software is using the drive as spool space there's no advantage in RAID 5 because the files are temporary, anyway (if a drive fails you just restart the job and move on - there's little or no loss of data).
Even so, it should have to do a significant amount of activity to stall other processes, so I'm not sure it's your problem.
For best write performance, RAID 0 is your best bet - you get to drive all disks at their full speed and there's little or no delay in waiting for other drives in the chain.
RAID 1 offers good read speed (reads alternate over the separate disks to increase throughput), but has a write overhead (data has to be written to both disks simultaneously), so it might not be a good option for temp files.
what is the best way to migrate my O.S. as it is set up now to the external drive and then just change start up disks and be back in business?
Yes. That's your best bet for the OS, but it doesn't fix the data on the RAID 5 array.
If you don't want to depend on an external drive, you could also use one drive for OS/applications and stripe the remaining two drives for scratch/data.

How to create a bootable copy of MacOs 10.5.8 as a start up disk

I have leopard installed on my main powermac G5 plus my two Powerbook laptops.
The install disk works fine in the slot loading laptops but when I put it in the disk drive of the G5 then it isn't being read. I can hear the drive trying to read it but it eventually spits it out.
I was therefore looking to make a bootbale version from the disc while it is in the laptop so that I can use this version to do a restart and permissions repair.
Firstly is there any reason why this disk is not able to be read by the drive in the G5? It reads almost every other disk I insert and this behaviour is unique to the one disk I want to work more than most.
I reckon if I can repair the permissions on the start up disk then the chances are that the drive may accept the Os disk. Maybe.
Secondly how do I go about creating a bootable start up device on a usb stick or such like from the existing disk?
Any help would be most welcome.

Trouble is, most PPC Macs will not boot from USB, but if you wish to try... clone the Install Disc to a Flash drive or such, or if big enough Install OSX to the flash drive, then he hard part...
You need a USB2 drive with an OS X system installed (I am using 10.4.3, though any I think will work as far as what the machine can boot). As you know, there are many different ways of getting a system on a USB drive; contact me if you have any questions on how to do that, or search macosxhints.com for that information.
Connect the drive to your machine, and find out which partition the OS X system is installed on. I usually find this by going to Disk Utility and looking at the info for the partition on the USB disk with OS X. That is, disk2s3 is usually for a USB disk with no OS 9 drivers installed that is the second disk disk. disk3s9 might be a USB disk with OS 9 drivers that is considered the third disk. There are other ways of finding this out, but in my case, my disk is disk2s3 (the 3 on the end will come into play soon).
Start up the machine in Open Firmware (this is the fun part). Hold Command-Option-F-F right after the machine is turned on.
Here is the moment of truth. If this step does not work, I have had very limited success getting a machine to boot off USB2. In Open Firmware, type devalias, and you should get a list as output. In this list, look for ud, usually below where you see hd (ud is "USB Disk," I presume). If found, it will usually have beside it /pci@f2000000/usb@1/disk1, or something similar. Again, if you see this, I have not had this fail yet.
Now type printenv boot-device, which will usually get you output of boot-device hd:,\\:tbxi. (See where this is going yet?)
Type setenv boot-device ud:3,\\:tbxi where the number after the colon corresponds to that partition number we found in step two. You should get an ok back.
Type printenv boot-device, and you should see the change displayed already. Something like:
boot-device ud:3,\\:tbxi hd:,\\:tbxi"
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20060301112336384
You can also try the Install Disc in a PB, boot the PB in t mode, boot the G5 holding the Option/alt key down & see if the Install Disc in the PB shows up as a boot choice.

Reducing load on start up disk

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