Start disk full problem

When I open photoshop or attempt to sync my iphone, I get the message, that my start disk is full. I can move music, but I can't upload my pictures. I considered using Mackeeper but I see here that it might not be a good idea. Any suggestions?

Empty the Trash.
In the Finder, select your hard drive on the desktop, and do a "Get Info".
What is the capacity of your drive?
How much free space do you have?
If it is less than 10-15% free, its time for a larger drive.

Similar Messages

Start disk full

am puzzled, my powerbook does not start...start disk full. because of mistaken manipulaton with mouse, instead of going to the external hard disk, the ton of pics loaded onto the desktop...and the computer stalls at one point. what can be done? thanks vy grateful for help

Click here and follow the instructions.
(24642)

Start Disk Full MBP won't load beyond background image

Hello! My start disk was warning me it was approaching 'full' so I went out & bought an external hard drive.. backed up one user (primary) on the hard drive, then logged out so I could log in as the other user to back up that side of the computer's data, & when I logged in there all that loaded was a purple background (not my normal background) No access to any icons, applications, data, magnifying glass, etc.. nothing loaded basically. So I tried to log back in as the original user & ran into the exact same probelm, except from here I can access A SINGLE window of Safari.. it automatically loads just the Safari bar at the top & I can browse the internet still.. but cannot open any content such as youtube or download of course, also cannot open any other applications though it will open garage band's bar, just no files..
I would like to know what I need to do to be able to get in to either profile so I can delete at least enough files or get my computer to at least let me back up that other user so I can do whatever you recommend I need to to get my computer working again. Thanks!

After that, check the S.M.A.R.T. status on your HD: Boot from install disc (insert disc > restart > immediately hold down the c key and keep holding it until you see “Preparing Installation”) > at first screen select the language and click Continue > click on the Utilities Menu in the menubar > select Disk Utility > select your HD in the panel on the left side (the name of the HD’s manufacturer and the model number, usually the top item in the list) > look at the bottom of the main window next to S.M.A.R.T. status and see if it says “Verified” (good) or something more ominous like “Failing.”
If S.M.A.R.T. status is "Verified," run Repair Disk > click Repair Disk at bottom of main window. Run this at least twice, and keep running it until it says “appears ok” twice in a row. If that doesn’t happen,you may need a stronger utility (such as DriveGenius, TechToolPro, DiskWarrior) or if the directory is damaged beyond repair, you may need to reinstall the OS, or you may have a damaged HD which will need to be replaced (repair utilities can only repair the directory structure, not the HD itself). When this is finished, quit Disk Utility, quit the installer, and restart. Once booted normally, go to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility and run Repair Permissions.

Disk Full problem, likely related to extraneous printing files - need help!

I won't go into all the details, but have noticed that over the past couple of months, I've been losing space from my internal 500gb drive at surprising clips. After hard disk full warnings recently, eliminated about 50gb by dumping to dvds. Surprisingly, then again this weekend, hard disk full warnings.
Using 10.3.9 to search for files over a certain size, e.g., 100MB, I was still baffled at why my disk was full, as there weren't enough large files to justify filling up the 500gb (couldn't figure out how to do a search by folder size that gave meaningful results). Decided to do a backup to my 500 gb external HD using SilverKeeper v1.1.3, and noticed that there are thousands or tens of thousands of files in the path HD/Previous Systems/var/tmp/xxxxxxxxxxx. not sure of the number of digits but many have numbers like 490ca.....or 490d03f......(since I've been looking, it looks like all start with the 490..., but vary after that, although might not be watching closely enough). After about 50gb of new data was copied, I aborted the copy operation.
Other observations: oddly enough appears the vast majority (at least the ones I was looking at being copied) are at the same size of 2.322 MB or 184KB. Also, took me awhile to figure out, but these are hidden files. When I search using the finder for invisible files with the name "490" I get results of over 17000 files (less than number of files copied using SilverKeeper) and the file sizes are 2.2MB or 184KB (maybe these are the same due to rounding). These are identified in the path HD/private/var/tmp/490xxxxx..... these appear to be different than what I observed during the HD copying (again, I wasn't looking the whole time). Almost all of these 17k+ files were written during 8 hours on Nov. 1, 2008 - looks like dozens per minute, and when I select all, get info, amount to over 20.44 GB, so maybe still not all the files I saw in my aborted copy operation. All of these files appear to be of the "Document" kind. at the end of this post are excerpts from some of the files. Appear to be related to pdf printing.
I cant' tell where all these files are, what they are, or how they got there. I've reviewed a bunch of the articles on discussion boards, and can't find any direct solutions (at least that would appear to help with this situation). Of course I simply want to delete these apparently duplicative and meaningless files. Any help appreciated!
From a 184kb file:
*PPD-Adobe: "4.3"
*%Auto Generated PPD from Tioga workset
*FormatVersion: "4.3"
*FileVersion: "1.0"
*LanguageEncoding: UTF-8
*LanguageVersion: English
*PCFileName: "AutoMake.PPD"
*Manufacturer: "EPSON"
*Product: "(EPSON SP820 Series (1,1))"
*LanguageLevel: "3"
*PSVersion: "(3011.104) 0"
*ModelName: "EPSON SP820 Series (1,1)"
*ShortNickName: "EPSON SP820"
*NickName: "EPSON SP820 Series (1,1)"
*cupsVersion: 1.1
*cupsManualCopies: True
*cupsFilter: "application/pdf 0 /System/Library/Printers/Libraries/PrintJobMgr/Contents/MacOS/PrintJobMgr"
...then more stuff that's readable and a whole lot that isn't.
From one of the 2.2MB files
*PPD-Adobe: "4.3"
*%Auto Generated PPD from Tioga workset
*FormatVersion: "4.3"
*FileVersion: "1.0"
*LanguageEncoding: UTF-8
*LanguageVersion: English
*PCFileName: "AutoMake.PPD"
*Manufacturer: "HP"
*Product: "(HP Photosmart C4200 series)"
*LanguageLevel: "3"
*PSVersion: "(3011.104) 0"
*ModelName: "HP Photosmart C4200 series"
*ShortNickName: "Photosmart C4200 series"
*NickName: "HP Photosmart C4200 series"
*cupsVersion: 1.1
*cupsManualCopies: True
*cupsFilter: "application/pdf 0 /System/Library/Printers/Libraries/PrintJobMgr/Contents/MacOS/PrintJobMgr"
*% Paper Handling ===================
*OpenUI *PageSize: PickOne
...then more stuff that's readable and a whole lot that isn't.

Hi Peter,
Why these temporary files are being created I don't know, but there is some malfunction in your printing system (software side).
Have you tried simply trashing those files from the Finder, or do you think there are too many of them to do it manually?
_Manual method:_
Open Finder > Go > Go to folder, and type in
/var/tmp
Then you can select them in groups and drag them to the trash.
You will be asked for your Admin password each time you move some to the trash.
Every so often empty your trash, to regain the space.
Another method is to use the Terminal Application, but some people are a bit wary of that application. Ask for directions if you are willing to try that.
Having removed those files, monitor your printing, or save as .pdf actions, and check again that folder in Finder to try and locate which action or process is responsible for creating those runaway temporary files there, because they are likely to be created again.
Message was edited by: roam

Time Machine/disk full problem

Time Machine, which has worked perfectly since i bought my Mac back in 07, has stopped backing up. The disk that I have been using for backups has become full. For a short period it was removing old backups in order to do a new backup but has now stopped doing that and my last one was January 11. What is the best course of action? Manually deleting old backups?
Edit: It looks like it is trying to delete old backups, but deletes one which isn't enough.

Thanks, I followed the advice to uninstall the incomplete backup file and that seemed to be working nicely. However, while I was watching the backup progress - Backing up X of Y - as X got close to Y, Y started getting bigger. So as a result it is running out of disc space. I verified by hard disk and it passed without a problem. I suppose I could just go ahead and delete some to make more space so that when the backup starts getting bigger than expected it still has enough space.

Star Up Disk "full" problems...Which private/var files can I delete?

I have been having issues with my start up disk being full.
To the point where I could not copy to my clipboard as I had ZERO space left, programmes were shutting down etc.
I couldn't even delete the few pics I had as I couldn't open my Kodak software.
I have uploaded the photos now and deleted them, I have copied all the files I can to sticks, there is basically nothing I have added on the computer, yet I still have only under 700 MB of space on my HD.
I have downloaded and run Omni Disk...it is telling me I have 130GB of "private/var" files.
I know I cannot just go around deleting things, so need to know what I can and cant delete if possible?
I really need to sort this problem out!
I also need to know how to fix this problem from happening again - is this a log problem or what exactly?
Thanks for your help in advance!

Hi, Limeslice
just to make sure that there is not a dum mistake: did you empty the trash?.
Other:
Disk space consumers are typically large photo libraries, music and video files.
back them up, then delete them, and don't forget to empty the trash.
To find large directories :
open Terminal (under applications/utilities), then type "du -d 1 -h" (without quotation marks). this gives a list. for example, it says " 25G ./Pictures", it means that the Picture directory has 25 GB. you can then refine and ask for deeper levels, by typing "du -d 2 -h" or "du -d 3 -h".
Try to find out in this way. if this doesn't give you the correct hint, please, report back, there might be more complex problems.
Success, Thomas

My computer is saying start up disk full, erase some files.

Hello I'm looking for help to fix my disk full problems. I want to use an external hd. but not in the time machine way, which as i understand erases older things. I want what I put on there to stay there.
Can anyone tell me how to check where the disk use is heavies so i can erase that part. Any help with managing disk space would be much appreciated.

Freeing Up Space on The Hard Drive
1. See Lion/Mountain Lion/Mavericks' 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.

DISK FULL WARNING, WHY?

I was getting the message "scatch disk full" so I went and got a brand new external drive.
In Preferences, the only box I have checked for CS5 to use as the scratch disk is the new external drive.
That the external drive is solely being used by CS5 has solved the scratch disk full problem, but...........
Apparently my C: drive is still being used somehow because now I get a warning that it is dangerously running low on space.
I assume that if the new external drive/scratch disk was tapped out, I would get the same old original message "scratch disk full".
What is going on here? Why so much need for space when the new external has 300gb dedicated solely to CS5?
If CS5 is using the external drive as a scratch disk, then what is it using an additional 35gb of space for on the drive that has my operating system?
I have 15gb of pagefile/swapfile space set aside on C:
Neither the 15gb pagefile, nor the 35gb of free space should be getting consummed.
I can understand that they would be used somewhat, for purposes that any program would use them for, but consuming them I do not understand.
Thanks for your help

Mr. Joslin,
I tried using Photomerge and then the ruler tool to create 360 degree panoramas comprised of 23 images.
Photomerge stitching works good enough but is a nuisance when it comes to getting the 1st image that starts the panorama to be on the left.
Then comes the ruler tool which levels the panoramas horizon just fine but crops the hell out of 'em.
I have not been able to figure out how to prevent the excessive cropping of the left and right sides.
I'm talking way, way, way more cropping than is needed, and my panoramas barely need any leveling to begin with.
They are practically horizontal, as is, after being merged.
So I have been trying to work out other approaches such as placing images right were I want them.
If I can place each image right were I want it, perfectly horizontal, then I can eliminate the use of the ruler tool and thus its excessive cropping.
Other people have suggested using PTAssembler instead of Photoshop.
That sounds worthy of a try but I have totally been sided tracked trying to solve my disk usage issues.
So side tracked that when you asked your question, I had to stop and think "that's right, what am I going through all this for?"
Anyway, I need to someday place the panoramas into a astronomical program called Voyager 4.5 which has stringent requirements.
The dimensions of the images placed therein have to have proportions of 2:1.
That being twice as wide as they are high, in other words, 360 degrees wide by 180 degrees high.
2:1 is the same dimensions as a sphere, the earth.
The equater is 360 degrees, while from north pole to south pole is 180 degrees.
I used a 105mm lense to shoot the images, so thus the reason why the 360 degree/equater spans approximately 60,000 pixles.
That my panoramas are so wide, but merely a little over 2,000 pixles high has forced me to create a canvas to place the images on that is huge.
Ultimately what I need to be placing in the Voyager program is an alpha layer that is 2:1.
A layer whose pixles above the horizon are transparent, Voyager being astronomical requiring the sky to be visible.
When placed, it will look like you are standing in your own backyard, or anywhere else for that matter, how about Stonhenge.
I know this is more than you bargained for when you asked why "such large pixel dimensions", but maybe I can ellicite further suggestions.
Suggestions besides my disk usage issues.

Startup disk full error - boots normally but won't start finder

I'm having a problem in which my iMac when it boots gives me an error that the startup disk is full, but other than that it can boot normally and allow me to log in, but after that the startup stalls. I never get past the default "outer space" desktop image and finder never starts, so there's no icons, no dock, and nothing on the menu bar. What's weird is that Safari and Mail start and I can see them because I believe I have them starting automatically at boot. Safari works (I'm using it now to enter this discussion). Mail on the other hand starts but is hung checking for the servers for incoming mail.
I've tried to boot in safe mode (holding down Shift key at startup), but it doesn't work.
I've tried to boot in single user mode (holding down cmd-S at startup), but it doesn't work either.
I've tried to boot from Snow Leopard installation media (holding down C at startup), but it doesn't work as well.
Each time I try one of these alternate boot methods, it just takes me to the normal login screen with the startup disk full message. I click OK, login, and get stuck.
I'm just trying to get the finder started so that I can delete some files, but I just can't get that far. It's strange that the browser works perfectly and internet connection is fine, but nothing else works.
Thoughts? Thanks. - Mike

Hi Lina, and welcome to Apple Discussions.
Safe Mode might allow you to boot and free up some space.
If you have access to another Mac and a FireWire cable, another option would be to use FireWire Target Disk Mode to transfer data to the other Mac and delete it on your MBA.
If either way works, you want to open up somewhere around 15% free space. Once you do that, run Repair Disk: Boot from install disc (insert disc>restart>immediately hold down c key and keep holding it until you see “Preparing Installation”)>at first screen select the language and click Continue> click on the Utilities Menu in the menu bar>open Disk Utility>select your HD in the panel on the left side>click Repair Disk at bottom of main window. Run this at least twice, and keep running it until it says “appears ok” twice in a row. If that doesn’t happen, you may need a stronger utility such as DiskWarrior or if the directory is damaged beyond repair, you may need to reinstall the OS, or you may have a damaged HD (repair utilities can only repair the directory structure, not the HD itself).
Ultimately, though, it sounds like you need a larger HD . . . .

Star-up disk Full; cannot start my 2008 iMac w/ 500 GB hard drive

Kept erasing empty files from my early 2008 Intel iMac(with 500 GB hard drive). Kept getitng message 'Strt-up disk almost full.'
Used Hard drive as start-up disk. Kept getting a file labeled (approx.) EFileS1...(didn't write it down). Tried once to totally erase
this file: Removed Garage Band by moving to trash and securely erasing; and other files( 1-3 Mb at most. Now, get message "Start-up disk Full" and I can't
log onwhen I enter name and PW, I get the screen saver; I don't get the dock or anything else. I tried to use a external hard drive, and I also tried using an external CD/DVD player (integrated one no longer works) to reload SnowLeopard (OS 10.6) with no response (I had upgraded to OS 10.6.8).
I'm now using a Nov 2008 MacBook (burned out screen with external monitor) to write this email).
I'm going to buy 2014 MacBook Pro 15in w/ retina display as my sole computer, but my iMac hard drive has documents I'd like to save-Then I plan to totally
erase its HD before discarding/donating.
All suggestions and help will be appreciated.
Snboshu

If you can get the 2008 started move large libraries such as your iPhoto, iMovie and iTunes libraries to an External HD. Once you have verified the libraries have been successfully moved then Trash the ones on the internal HD and empty the Trash. Once these operations have been done then use:
iPhoto: How to move the Library to an EHD
iMovie: How to move the Library to an EHD
iTunes: How to move the library to an EHD

HT4847 On startup my macbookair says start up disk full/delete some files. When I look at storage disk utility I see 51GB of a possible 60GB is used with Other. What is Other? and how can I view and delete some of these files?

On startup my macbookair says start up disk full/delete some files. When I look at storage disk utility I see 51GB of a possible 60GB is used with Other. What is Other? and how can I view and delete some of these files?

A MacBook will use Time Machine to make local backups so that when connected to an external drive it will backup a lot faster.
to disable this, you must use a command under terminal.
to locate terminal, do a search for it under spotlight (the magnifying glass on the top right corner), should be the first hit.
once under terminal, type the following text exactly:
sudo tmutil disablelocal
hit enter.
you will be asked to input your password, if you do not have a password, you will have to create one before performing this command. after entering your password, hit enter again and close terminal.
in a few minutes the space taken up by time machine should be cleared.

Upon start up I get a start up disk full message and to delete files, now I only get a a blue screen on start up. How to I get past the blue screen and how do I delete files?

Upon start up I get a "start up disk full message, delete files". Now on startup I only get a blue screen. How do I get past the blue screen and how do I delete files.

That;s really not enough free space... you can use a tools such as OmniDiskSweeper to find out where your large files reside and begin pruning (or copying to an external if they're files that you want to keep).
One thing is certain - if you're going to continue your current usage you're certainly going to need to install a larger boot drive.
Clinton

Imac frozen at blue screen after i went into disk utilities and cleaned my free space. I tried holding down T key as it reboots and i get a message. Start up disk full empty it how can one emptie it if you cant get past the blue screen

Imac frozen at blue screen after i went into disk utilities and cleaned free space.
I tried holding down T key as it reboots
and i get a message. Start up disk full empty it how can one emptie it if you cant get past the blue screen?
to make matters worse we bought the IMAC of amazon uk on the 4/07/011 so what can we do?
please remember how frustrating it is when asking for help when the helper telling you to type something on the screen when its frozen
Tell us when you can type some instuctions to the software how do you get to the doss prompt so to speak to do this
Thanks

i tried all this thanks
i can not get past blue screen and message Your disk is full it needs to be emptied Please not I cant proceed past this message.
no matter what you tell me
Am i right ok in thinking that
when i went into disk utilities and chose to clean my free space i left it over one hour to do its stuff
i came back and there was no progress bar just the box so i quit the program and when i opened mac mail the system just froze i forced quit mail rebooted and blue screen death
Now when free space is being cleaned is it the same as windows dose the utility write lots of 0 on the hard drive then rebbot its self to free the space
basicly is my hard drive full of 00000 is this why im getting this message because the process was interupted
I need to know if i need outside help i bought the computer on line on amazon uk what dose one do next

Start up Disk full and MacBook Pro won't reboot. Only white screen but can sleep, restart, shut down.

Start up Disk full and MacBook Pro won't reboot. Only white screen but can sleep, restart, shut down.

Reboot into Safe Mode (hold the shift key down at the sound of the chime, release when the progress bar appears) Safe Mode will take longer to boot than normal.

Start Up Disk Full Error

I continue to get a "Start up disk full" message when I try to use iPhoto or iMovie. It then tells me to delete items, but it does not tell me how to do this.
Can some one walk me through it?
Thanks

Mark,
Evidently, you have filled your hard drive completely. You must get rid of some files. Make some determination as to what you can safely delete, then begin placing files in your trash, and emptying it.
You mention iMovie. DV footage, imported into iMovie, requires about 20 GBs of disk space per hour of footage. This could be the biggest consumer of your disk space. Placing an iMovie project file in the trash, then emptying it, might go a long way toward freeing up some space for you.
If you can't find anything that can be safely deleted, you're going to have to purchase an external hard drive, copy some file to it, then delete them from your internal hard drive. In fact, I recommend you purchase an external drive regardless. You can use it to make backups of your important data, as well as using it to free up disk space.
Scott

Start disk full problem

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