Start up disc is full how do I free up space?
I have deleted films, music and photo's but still not enough free space.
Freeing Up Space on The Hard Drive
1. See Lion/Mountain 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.
Similar Messages
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I really don't have time to go into the Apple Store, does anyone know how to clear up some space on my start-up disc?
You might read through this.....it will mean deleteing some stuff though....
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/freeingspace.html -
Hi
On start up it tells me that my start up disc is full - how can i either find where to delete items from it - or can you defrag as you could in windows ? Help !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
Then reboot. That will temporarily free up some space. Do the same in other applications, such as Aperture, that have an internal Trash feature.
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 free 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.
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 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.
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 your 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. -
Message saying my "start up disc is full" how can I empty it? Where is it?
My Mac displays a message that states that my start up disc is full. I dont know how to access it and delete stuff, if indeed that is what is wrong. How do I fix this? Because of this I cannot down load anything.
1. Empty the trash.
2. Open your browser and clear the history. How you do that depends on your browser. Post back please if you need help on this.
3. Go to your downloads folder and delete anything there you do not need.
To do 3. you have to look inside the hard drive. Your hard drive is here: top right of the screen.
Double click on it and click on Column mode:
Now navigate to the Downloads folder by clicking first on Users, then your name, then Downloads. (Each click will create a new column on the right.) Delete what you do not need from the items in the last column. Then empty the trash.
Note that anything you delete will be gone forever. (Else you don't gain any space.)
Please post back for more if you need it. -
Start up disc full - how do i free up space?
Hi, have put itunes onto external hard drive and iphotos I bought the iphoto library manager from fatcat (?) but start up disc still saying full, any other suggestions
Remember that after you copy the items such as your iTunes music library and your iPhoto library to an external hard drive, in order to free up the space they are taking on your internal hard drive you must put the original items in the Trash and empty the Trash.
Be sure you test the copies before you delete the old ones. That way if the new libraries don't work for some reason you have a way to recover.
Best of luck. -
Start up disk full how do i free up space
How do I delete files to free up space?
Here are some general tips to keep your Mac's hard drive trim and slim as possible
You should never, EVER let a conputer hard drive get completely full, EVER!
With Macs and OS X, you shouldn't let the hard drive get below 15 GBs or less of free data space.
If it does, it's time for some hard drive housecleaning.
Follow some of my tips for cleaning out, deleting and archiving data from your Mac's internal hard drive.
Have you emptied your Mac's Trash icon in the Dock?
If you use iPhoto, iPhoto has its own trash that needs to be emptied, also.
If you store images in other locations other than iPhoto, then you will have to weed through these to determine what to archive and what to delete.
If you use Apple Mail app, Apple Mail also has its own trash area that needs to be emptied, too!
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 other Mailboxes and other Mail categories to see If there is other mail you can archive and/or delete.
STAY AWAY FROM DELETING ANY FILES FROM OS X SYSTEM FOLDER!
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.
Look in your Applications folder, if you have applications you haven't used in a long time, if the app doesn't have a dedicated uninstaller, then you can simply drag it into the OS X Trash icon. IF the application has an uninstaller app, then use it to completely delete the app from your Mac.
To find other large files, download an app called Omni Disk Sweeper.
Download an app called OnyX for your version of OS X.
When you install and launch it, let it do its initial automatic tests, then go to the cleaning and maintenance tabs and run the maintenance tabs that let OnyX 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! -
How do I fix "start up disc is full"?
How to i fix "start up disc is full"?
Freeing Up Disc Space
what-to-do-when-your-hard-drive-is-full.html
If necessary... also see...
1) The Storage Display
2) Where did my Disk Space go? -
ikeep getting a message that my start up disc is full and i don't know how to free up space.. also when i o to download some files i am told there is no space left to download i bought this macbook pro used an receiver no discs.. what can i do??
You need to purchase an external drive and start moving some files to it or you can try trashing some files that you no longer need.
Download OmniDiskSweeper and see where your larger files are... you can move them to an external drive or trash them: it's up to you.
I would also begin, since it's obviously don't have backups, a backup scheme or two. See Most commonly used backup methods.
Good luck,
Clinton -
my start up disc is full i have a macbook air, i back everuthing up with time capsule and have movies all my music libraries and photos onto that too so as i have free space, but my max still says my startup disc is full with "other"
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 as described here. That method may not find large folders that contain a lot of small files.
You can also use a tool such as OmniDiskSweeper (ODS) to explore your volume and find out what's taking up the space. You can 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.
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 see everything, you have to run it as root.
Back up all data now.
Install ODS in the Applications folder as usual.
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.
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 you're done with ODS, quit it and also quit Terminal. -
My start up disc is full and my MAC isnt running properly
My Mac Book Pro was bought in 2010, It has loads of pictures, vidoes etc. Now it is saying my "start up disc is full" I have no idea what to do next!
I have tried burning videos to take them off the computer but they never come out with sound. I have tried to delete unnecessary items but want to keep music etc on the computer. Any ideas how to fix this, get the computer running properly and BURN DVDs with sound!
Signed,
Super Frusterated!One way or another you need to get stuff off the hard drive, be it trash what you don't need or archive what you want to save somewhere or get an external hard rive and store stuff there. Then worry about how to burn videos with sound.
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I keep getting a "start up disc is full" message on my iMac (OSX 10.7.3 running leopard). It can't be full the mac is only a few months old - please help - I am not a computer whizz so treat me gently!!
Do you have any external hard drives attached that your system might be booting from? Did you create multiple partitions on your hard drive, one of which may be full? These are a couple of possibilities, and there may be others.
I suggest powering on your system then immediately hold down the option key. Your system should display the system picker screen showing all bootable volumes. Do you see just one boot volume show up?
I also suggest launching the Activity Monitor application that can be found in the Applications/Utilities folder. Click on the 'Disk Usage' option to see how much drive space is available as shown below. You may also want to use the Disk Utility application to verify the hard drive and file permissions. Both of these are options available within the application. -
My macbook pro is saying start up disc is full. My storage says I have 500gb in "other."
My macbook pro says my start up disc is full. I have read other threads trying to solve the problem but can't seem to figure it out. My mail hasn't received msgs in several months so I assume it has something to do with that. My "other" storage had 500gb! How do I figure out where the problem is and what I need to delete??
Do you have Time Machine enabled?
Allan -
My mac is locked up, start up disc is full!!!!
I can turn on my mac book pro but it will only go to a blue screen and give me a dumb message stating that my start up disc is full and I need to delet some files. But it wont let me go any further than that so I cant delet anything. This is really ******* me off!!! Does any one know what to do that wont cost me sending off this darn thing to some lab?
-Stupid namWell, it depends how you backed up - if you just copied files over, then no, you can't use it to boot from. If you want to have a bootable clone copy, you have to use either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to create the clone. If you used Time Machine, you could restore from it but must be running Lion (10.7) I believe in order to boot from it. However, I don't use Time Machine, so I may be wrong there.
If you have your Snow Leopard install disk, you should be able to boot from it (insert disk and then hold down C key while restarting or Option key while booting up. If you use Option, press it until you get a screen showing you the available disks to boot from - choose your install disk). Once booted, you should have access to your internal hard drive. You can try to attach an external and move things over or, if you already have things backed up, just delete some files. Empty trash in between so it doesn't get too full. Keep doing that until you have at least 10 - 15 GB empty on your hard drive. -
I am getting message from MacPro that my start up disc is full - but I can't find this "start up disc" and can't figure out what to do to help situation. I've been making a number of imovies, which generates junk files and material that I should toss in the trash, but it is not clear to me what items I can toss and which items I can't toss. Can you help? Using the imovie "help" support the system showed me under the menu item "go" where the "start up disc" should be - but that wasn't actually available on my menu! Thanks for your help!
Disk Utility
Get Info on the icon on Desktop
Try to move this to the MacBook Pro forum
Your boot drive should be 30% free to really perform properly. 10% minimum
Backup, clone, use TimeMachine, use another drive for your projects and movies, replace and upgrade the internal drive even. -
I'm getting error message that my start up disc is full on my 2010 macbook. Started with 2GB 1067 MHz; and, according to Finder, still have 1.05 GB available. Any idea what's up? I had MacKeeper dump all junk files. Do I need a new hard drive?
First of all I would suggest you get rid of MacKeeper, which is well known in the Mac community to be useless or in some cases to be as bad as malware. Read this user tip by Klaus1.
The startup disk (your hard drive) is not the same as the system memory (the 2GB of RAM you describe.) You may very well need a larger hard drive, but the first thing I would try would be looking through your downloads folder for old installer disk images, deleting any that you do not need any more (usually all of them) and emptying your trash. Many users put files in their trash and forget to empty it.
If that doesn't gain you sufficient space, you may want to replace your hard drive with a larger model. You don't mention what size drive you have, but it is possible to do it yourself. See page 37 of this user manual.
Another option would be to put files that are taking up a large amount of space (often iTunes and iPhoto Libraries fall into this category) on an external hard drive. This works best if you do not need portability.
Best of luck.
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