Start up disk space full error

Hi,
I keep getting the Start-up Disk space full error.
I already did the following-
1. Back up my imprtant data.
2. Disk-Utility- Verify disk etc etc
3. Check other online forums and try to empty sace.
4. I deleted about 60-70GB worth of files from my macbook, but it still says only 1.89GB available.
5. I have emptied by Trash at least 10 times, but all files in it are still intact.
Please help.
I think my files are not getting deleted or something.
I am far away from a applestore and fear that my hard-drive will crash or something.
Thanks!

Also, you may find this link of intereset and value...
http://macmost.com/what-to-do-when-your-hard-drive-is-full.html

Similar Messages

How to I resolve the "start up disk is full" error

I keep getting the "start up disk is full" error. I've cleared as much stuff off of my system and have taken it from 4GB to now having 21GB free space. I've also reset Safari. Still no love. I don't know what else to do. Can anyone please help?

Try restarting the computer.

Start Up Disk is Full Error?

I am getting a pop-up message saying the above "Your start-up disk is full". Has anyone had this error message & what is a good solution? Last time this error message occurred I deleted some files I shouldn't have &... well, it wasn't pretty.
Thanks for any & all assistance!!

Hi Charlotte and welcome!
In addition to SimonUK's excellent advice there are a few things that you can do to free up space depending on what Applications you use and what duplicates you might have.
For example, on my iBook, I have removed GarageBand from Applications and its Loops from HD/Library/Application Support. As my iBook only has a combo drive and I'm not into video editing anyway I have trashed iDVD & iMovie. (Not DVD player). I have also trashed preloaded games and World Book, and its associated files.
OS X comes with a vast library of printer drivers, the large proportion of which will never be used by the average user.
Printer drivers are in the HD/Library/Printers folder. You can safely delete any named drivers that you don't have a printer for. For example, if you have a Canon, you can remove Epson, Lexmark, Hewlett Packard & Brother drivers. Epson alone takes up close to 1gb. You can even remove specific drivers from within the manufacturer's folder. For example, if you have an Epson C86 you can safely trash any other specific drivers in the Epson folder like C46, C66 etc. If, at a later date, you buy a printer whose driver you removed they can be added from your install disk, the disk that comes with the printer or downloaded.
A word of warning: More cautious heads than mine advise against messing in the HD/Library, but if you stick to the examples above, i.e. GarageBand loops, World Book and printer drivers you will be OK.
Certainly, I have had no problems with my system after removing those examples.
Check, too, in your music folder. If you have 'Copy files to iTunes music folder when adding to library' selected in iTunes preferences/Advanced it is possible that you have, say, 'xyz song' in the first level of your Music folder and the same song in Music/iTunes/iTunes Library. If you are sure that you do have 'xyz song' in iTunes, it is safe to delete from 'Music'. If you download music it is again possible that you have duplicates depending on where the music was downloaded to, e.g. Desktop, Music folder or Downloads folder. The same principle can apply to your Pictures folder and iPhoto Library, but staying with iTunes for a moment, with iTunes open select Edit in the menu bar, then 'Show duplicate songs'. You can trash duplicates if you are sure that they are true duplicates, i.e. exact name, artist and file size. Another little note of caution, neither iTunes nor iPhoto likes having its library messed with from within a Finder window. Resolve duplicates from within the respective application only.
Some excellent advice has been posted by ~JB~, with corresponding words of caution.
Dr Smoke has some advice here too.
Last but by no means least, when you have finished dumping your unwanted stuff in the trash, don't forget to empty it. You haven't regained the space until you do
…and definitely last this time: If in doubt leave it alone and ask!
Have fun,
Adrian

I am getting "Disk is Full" errors

Yesterday we starting getting "Disk is Full" errors on our 1TB iMac. We have approximately 100GB of music, photos, etc., as well as the operating system and Office. It does not seem as if this should fill up the disk. In looking at the activity monitor, it shows that 999GB is in use, with 1GB free (approximately). While I was watching the activity monitor, it went from 1.7 GB free down to 1GB, while nothing was being (intentionally) downloaded. Virusbarrier did a full sweep and returned no threats; spotlight turned up no files added or modified yesterday to help identify where the space is being used. Any hints on what is causing this? Any tips on how to locate where these supposed "files" are being saved?

Use a tool such as OmniDiskSweeper to explore your volume and find out what's taking up the space.
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 really see everything, you have to run it as root.
First, back up all data if you haven't already done so. No matter what happens, you should be able to restore your system to the state it was in at the time of that backup.
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.
☞ If you’re running Mac OS X 10.7 or later, open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the page that opens.
Drag or copy — do not type — the following line into the Terminal window, then press return:
sudo /Applications/OmniDiskSweeper.app/Contents/MacOS/OmniDiskSweeper
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.
I don't recommend that you make a habit of this. Don't delete anything while running ODS as root. When you're done with it, quit it and also quit Terminal.

"start up disk is full" now gray screen

Help!
I was getting the "start up disk is full" error message. I deleted and transfered files, and had stopped receiving the warning. Then my Iphoto gave an error message that it needed to "repair". When I "repair"ed iphoto - all of my photos that I had transfered or deleted came back.I photo started to not run proberly, and then went to gray screen before I could delete more and empty the trash. Now all I have is a gray screen - only my password screen comes on and then gray screen - no function at all on the laptop at all. Anyone have any ideas?

Repair Disk
Steps 1 through 7
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH5836?viewlocale=en_US

What does hd macintosh full mean please help I am also getting an error message saying start up disk is full i need to free up some space how do i do this please?

what does hd macintosh full mean please help I am also getting an error message saying start up disk is full i need to free up some space how do i do this please?

Also, you may find this link of intereset and value...
http://macmost.com/what-to-do-when-your-hard-drive-is-full.html

I have an iMac 5.1 with Mac OSX 10.6.8 and 2 GB memory and an L2 cache of 4 GB. lately I have been receiving error messages of " start up disk almost full; please delete files." is the start up disk the same thing as the hard drive?

I have an iMac 5.1 with Mac OSX 10.6.8 and 2 GB memory and an L2 cache of 4 GB. lately I have been receiving error messages of " start up disk almost full; please delete files." is the start up disk the same thing as the hard drive? I opened the hard drive and from the column on the left of the menu I've selected "search for" and under that " all images" then "all documents" I've deleted a few files from each. Are documents and images that I have deleted from here also deleted from the folders on my desktop?

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 iMac'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.
Delete any other mail in your Junk folders. Also, look through your Sent Mail to see if there is anything that can be deleted.
Other things you can do to gain space.
Once you have around 15 GBs regained, do a search, download and install OmniDisk Sweeper.
This app will help you locate files that you can move/archive and/or delete from your system.
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.
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!

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!

TS1541 I get an error message that my start up disk is full what do I need to do?

I'm getting an error message that my start up disk is full and I need to delete some files how do I do this, and is this my hard drive ?

It sounds so elementary, but don't forget to empty trash. Only then does the space become allocated for new data.
Ciao.

Getting an error that says OS start up disk is full

I'm getting an error that says OS start up disk is full. I've deleted old items but I'm still getting this message. Any ideas?

Freeing Up Space on The Hard Drive
1. See 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.

I keep getting an error message stating 'my start up disk is full'

Hello. I am a new mac user with a macbook with 120 gb. I was copying my itunes over to my mac from my ipod when I got the message 'start up disk is full' I am not sure if I understand..how can my disk be full when I just purchased my computer and don't really have anything on it. How can I fix this and why is it happening? Surely, I don't need more memory.
I really would appreciate any advice.
thank you,
Lena
macbook Mac OS X (10.4.9)

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
Join Us @ MacOSG.com
iTunes: MacOSG Podcast
 An Apple User Group 
Note: I receive no compensation for product endorsements.

HT201210 getting error message cannot restore ipad disk space full ???

cannot restore the ipad its locked up and I am getting an error message that says cannot restore ipad disk space full what to do?
thanks

Well you are going to have to delete something to make room

I cant update my software as it always prompted me ,your start up disk is full and not enough space, when i had done the deleting some of my documents and stuff that i dont need it.

i cant update my software as it always prompted me ,your start up disk is full and not enough space, when i had done the deleting some of my documents and stuff that i dont need it.

I use CCleaner from the AppStore to delete the 'useless' stuff. It's free and works great for me

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 is full in my iMac

my imac is 500GB and it says start up disk is full, so i deleted most of unwanted things in my imac. when i press Command + I on my home folder it says i used 170GB but when i press Command + I on the MAC HD icon in desktop it says 0 bytes free! My trash is empty. i'm using MAC OS 10.8. can some one help me

Be sure you Empty the Trash after you put files into the Trash.
It's probable that your drive's directory is corrupt as a result of running out of disk space. You will need to repair the hard drive after you have freed up enough space.
Repair the Hard Drive
Boot from your Leopard Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported, then quit DU and return to the installer.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.

Start up disk space full error

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for