Start up disk memory full

Hi,
I was attempting to download a tv show from itunes and I couldn't. A prompt said I needed to empty the trash or delete items. I emptied the trash and tried again but it still wouldn't let me. What kind of items should I delete first? Which items take up a lot of memory? How many items should I delete? And finally, how do I check how much memory I have and how much should I have?
Thanks in advance for any help

Hi Adrian,
I am surprised that someone linked to one of my previous posts. Since that post I have updated my advice on how to save space.
A great program to show you exactly what is on your computer is WhatSize.
If you are going to use WhatSize to delete any files/programs/applications, please be careful and make sure you know exactly what you are deleting and if there are any repercussions. WhatSize will show you files that you would not normally see; they are referred to as "invisible files". These invisible files are hidden from the users view because they would clutter the desktop and they hold vital information that if corrupted or deleted may cause problems. Please make sure you know what you are doing!
You will start off with a little less then what the hard drive says you have. For an example, you have a 49Gb hard drive, your iBook will say it has 37.8Gb. The reason is because Mac OS X takes up space itself and the way Finder counts as 1 Gb as well as other sizes. You may want to look at Knowledge Base Document #30065, which answers Is my hard disk missing space?.
Have you deleted files that you don't use; like for my iBook, GarageBand. I use GarageBand on my iMac because it is much easier and faster, so I deleted it on my iBook. Have you tried the "erase install method"? The reason for doing this is because Mac OS X installs all the necessary fonts, languages, drivers, etc that people all over the world my need, by default. This tends to take up some room that you might want to get rid of (make sure first what you don't need and need). You erase and install your system software (Knowledge Base Document 301270 About Install Options w/ Mac OS X 10.4), and when installing, do a custom install. This way you can install the languages, drivers, and applications you want. The same technique can be done with iLife.
You may also want to try using Monolingual 1.3.2 to remove languages. Some people have found that it works great, but I prefer removing them when reinstalling OS X. The Monolingual website says:
"Q. Monolingual made my OS X installation unusable.
A. Chances are that you have accidently removed the English language files. Some language packs are only a subset of other language packs (for example "U.S. English" is a subset of "English"), so you will have an incomplete OS X installation if you remove "English" but not "U.S. English". In general, you should never remove the English language files unless you know what you are doing."
To find all the little files easily you can also use Spotlight in the upper right hand corner of your menu bar. Just click on the symbol and type in the name of the application, that will bring up all of it's files. The only real thing you need to worry about is deleting thing that should be not be deleted, like the following fonts,
Apple LiGothic Medium.dfont
AppleGothic.dfont
AquaKanaBold.otf
AquaKanaRegular.otf
Geneva.dfont
Keyboard.dfont
LastResort.dfont
LucidaGrande.dfont
Monaco.dfont
Hei.dfont
Helvetica.dfont
Kurt Lang has a great User Tip on Font Management in Mac OS X Tiger and Panther that one should probably read before messing with the fonts.
Another User Tip that one may want to look at is a brody's Known reasons for hard disk filling up
Please, don't hesitate to ask. You may want to back up some of the files/folders that you are deleting. You may want to look at Knowledge Base Document #106941 which has examples on How to back up and restore your files.
I hope this is more helpful then the last.
<hr></hr>
price_dickerson,
You may want to think about investing in an external hard drive. If you would like some reasons why it is a good idea or suggestions; let us know.
I hope that helps,
Jon
Macbook 2.0 White (100Gb HD 2Gb RAM) Mac Mini 1.42Ghz, iPod (All), Airport (Graphite & Express), G4 1.33Ghz iBook, G4 iMac 1Ghz, G3 500Mhz, iBook iMac 233Mhz, eMate, Power Mac 5400 LC, PowerBook 540c, Macintosh 128K, Apple //e, Apple //, and some more... Mac OS X (10.4.5) Moto Razr, iLife '06, SmartDisk 160Gb, Apple BT Mouse, Sight..

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http://macmost.com/what-to-do-when-your-hard-drive-is-full.html
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Download this and scan your hard drive. It will show you what exactly is take up all the space.
WhatSize >>
-Bmer
Mac Owners Support Group
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As Plotinus Veritas said take a backup for your Images on External Hard Disk.
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Start up disk memory full

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