Startup disk almost full, what are my option

"startup disk almost full"
What are my options for additional space on my startup disk??????
Previously I have copied my photos and documents onto disks to make more space.
I do have lots of program on my computer which I guess is taking up most of the space.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

1030/3476
Hi deeswaz,
I would download and run WhatSize or OmniDiskSweeper, separately from each User Account, to make sure about some files that may exist somewhere, grown enormously with no reason to keep them on your hard drive.
Also:
Does your periodic maintenance (aka "cron scripts") run regularly enough? If it never ran, your log files too can take a huge space in some cases.
Caches:
You can delete Users caches folders to gain space. Use WhatSize or Finder's Find (⌘F) to locate them and drag them to the Trash.
They will rebuild themselves automatically (experiencing some small, harmless slowdowns sometimes), with nothing but the caches your applications actually use, not the old stuff that you don't use since months.
Other:
Of course the obvious:
Uninstall all that is useless. Did you Custom-Install Mac OS X, with only the printer drivers you need, with not all languages installed etc (keep BSDSubsystem though).
Good luck!
Axl

Similar Messages

My iMac's hard drive is almost full - what are my options?

My beloved iMac is running out of space inside
It says my hard drive has 232.57 GB, and that there's only 18.07 GB remaining. Eeek!
What are my options making more space on my hard drive? I know my biggest problem is iTunes, especially videos. My music library is taking up 6 MB, and videos 78 MB. I'm not tech-savvy in the slightest.
Somebody help? Thanks!

Using the external drive for more storage works fine. You can use Apple's method for formally changing location of the +iTunes Music+ (which also contains your iTunes videos). However, I use a different way that I like better, because you are not changing the iTunes settings (and you can easily undo it).
If iTunes is running, quit.
If you are using default settings, the +iTunes Music+ folder should be located at
<user home folder>/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/
First copy this +iTunes Music+ folder to the external drive. Now, you have it in two locations. Change the name of the original folder from +iTunes Music+ to +iTunes Music old+ (or some other name). Make an alias (short cut) of the NEW +iTunes Music+ folder on the external drive. To do this (in case you are not familiar with using aliases) select the NEW +iTunes Music+ folder in a Finder window and
menu bar > File > Make Alias
or drag the folder while holding down Option-Command. You should see the curly arrow next to the icon indicating an alias will be created where you drop it.
Place the alias in the original location of the +iTunes Music+ folder (where you changed the name to +iTunes Music old+)
<user home folder>/Music/iTunes/
and name it exactly +iTunes Music+ (if you need to rename it). You are making the alias replace the original +iTunes Music+ folder, and have it point to your new +iTunes Music+ folder on the external drive.
When you run iTunes, it should be accessing your new +iTunes Music+ folder on the external, but you are able to keep iTunes using the default settings. To prove to yourself that the new +iTunes Music+ folder is being used, do something like rip a new CD or download a free song from the iTunes Store. Then check that the file ended up on the external drive. You can also do a +Get Info+ on any song or video (in iTunes) and verify that the file location is on the external drive.
(If something goes wrong, just get rid of the alias and rename +iTunes Music old+ back to +iTunes Music+.)
Once you are confident that all of your files are accessible and being accessed from the external drive, you can delete the old +iTunes Music+ folder on the internal drive.
Separate point...
You should also get another external drive that is at least as large as the filled space on your internal drive and your current external drive. Twice as large would actually be better. So if you have two 250GB drives that you plan to have at most 75% full, a 750GB external drive would be ideal. Then, you can use Time Machine to back up both your internal drive and external drive, to the new external drive. Getting an external drive with both FireWire and USB 2.0 would give you the most flexibility.

RAID almost full, what are my options

Hi we have a xserve RAID 5.6TB with 14 x 400Gb drives, set up as RAID 50.
We are now getting to the stage where the RAID is getting quite full and need to start planning how we deal with this with the minimum disruption and cost, what are our options?

The short answer is "you can't" and the longer answer is "maybe you can but you shouldn't".
If you did find another Xserve RAID with 400GB drives in it you maybe could create a giant RAID 0 from the underlying RAIDs but the potential for data loss with some many moving parts underneath would make it IMHO unacceptable. And even if you did get that to work you would need to restripe the new RAID and wouldn't be able to just "expand" the current one.
As usual William is right. Your best option is to buy a larger capacity box like a Promise RAID and migrate your current data to it. The next best option would be to see if you can find 16 Xserve RAID compatible 750GB PATA drives and replace your 400s. But this would require backing everything off and then restoring the data AND those drives are getting very hard to find.
Sorry the news isn't better but mixing too many or mismatched (in terms of speed and/or size) parts into a single volume is bad idea AND without a fancy filesystem designed to expand endlessly it's hard to keep the same volume going perpetually. As a performance issue you really do want to limit how many simultaneous writes you're doing on a single journaled HFS volume. Since every change needs to get written to the journal if there are too many changes the journal can become a performance choke point. While this is more a function of use and number of users a single 9TB+ volume would hold the potential for this kind of conflict.
My $.02,
=Tod

Startup Disk Almost Full, what can i do??

When I'm adding things to my iTunes, or even just start up my laptop, i keep getting a message that says my startup disk is almost full and i need to delete stuff off of it. Where is the startup disk that i can look at a list of files so i can delete them or is there something else i can do like buy an external hard drive? Or do i just need to update my macbook software?

It's almost certainly your stuff (music, video, etc) that's filling up the disk.
On a laptop, your startup disk is typically the only disk.
It's also the disk where your home directory and desktop are located.
Start by looking at your home directory, desktop, downloads and such; select the detailed view in Finder, and look for big files, or stuff you don't need any more.
Empty your trash, too.
Get yourself an external disk, connect it, and relocate some of your stuff there.
If you can delete enough stuff to load this, have a look at the [GrandPerspective|http://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net> tool.
This forum is the Mac OS X Server forum, and you're almost certainly not running the Server version of the software here. Here are the client forums for the recent client versions: [Tiger client 10.4|http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=177],
[Leopard client 10.5|http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=235], and [Snow Leopard client 10.6|http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=263]. The Mac OS X client software is far more commonly used on a Mac laptop than is the Server software.

HT3680 My 3 year old iMac is freezing and I get a message "startup disk almost full for running applications. delete files..." Where do I find the startup disk and what should I delete?

My 3 year old Mac is having trouble and freezes up from time to time lately. I get a message saying "startup disk almost full, delete files ..." something about having enough room for applications to function. I know my startup disk is the Macintosh HD, but what kind of files do I need to delete and how much space do I need to free up? In my "about this mac" area, it says I have 4.89gb free out of 319.21 So I am confused why I need to do this.

You're less than 2% free and should always have at least 15% (my SWAG). Best is to get an ext FWHD and move stuff from the startup disk to it and delete it from that. Best things to move are movies, music, and photos, using the apps that manage those things.

"startup disk almost full" message - NOT TRUE! I have about 900 GB of free space. What can I do about this?

I have been getting repeated messages "startup disk almost full". I am on a very new iMac running Lion with the most up to date OS. This is a 1 TB iMac. When I first got the message, I cleaned almost everything but the applications off the disk. I now have more than 900 GB of space but again I am getting the message. I found someone reporting the same problem and he said Apple Care reported a but in the mail system. He found a Fix but it is not working for me. (He clicked the option key and opened finder, then went to Library/mail/mailbox/recovered messages and deleted the recovered messages. But I do not have any folder called "recovered messages" so can't pursue that fix. Any ideas?

I'm don't know about the new systems, but I remember that I set the % full to warn me. Your % might be set to 20% or something rather than 10% which is a preferable safety margin for many uses. I solved this start up disk problem by installing a 2 Tb internal drive and keeping my data files on external, raided, drives. A real show-stopper is when your 45 Tb external drive warns you that you're too close to OUT for comfort. And, Yes, I do keep it trash free.

Its saying startup disk almost full. have no music or photos on computer. how do i clear it up and free up the HD

its saying startup disk almost full. have no music or photos on computer. how do i clear it up and free up the HD

There are some items to the right of these reply boxes,
of them a few are likely to be of help to some extent...
Without knowing which OS X version, advice will be not specific
and to answer three different ways when one of them is correct
is a waste of time.
Is your OS X newer than Lion 10.7.5? IF so different rules apply
to finding out what is free space, where it is, & how to tell if it is.
For systems older than Lion (Snow Leopard, Leopard, Tiger, Panther)
the rules are a little different, since there would not be an Other item
on the hard disk drive which could contain items necessary to the OS
yet not detailed to the user.
And Lion 10.7 has a few hidden files that are hard to locate, and one
of them may have some bearing on the missing space of a HDD.
The items here, mostly for 10.7:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/24954432#24954432
start up disk full, other options:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/11808734#11808734
There are Support articles, you could use Help viewer in the
system, on your computer, to look for results; or use google.
However, avoid the temptation to use a badware such as cleanmymac,
mackeeper, and others that are sources of known trouble to the Mac.
Good luck & happy computing!

Startup Disk Almost Full

I went to use my iMac last night and noticed that sometime between the time I last used it that morning to the time I used it in the evening I lost about 50GB and got a "Startup Disk Almost Full" error message. When I did a "Get Info" on the iMac's HD it said zero space available. I rebooted and did everything I could think of to see if it was just a glitch, but it still said zero space available. I ended up using the Leopard Install Disk to restore from a Time Machine Backup that was done about the time I had last used the iMac and somehow came out with 119GB of free space. At the time the back was made my HD had only about 50GB of free space so I am not sure where all the extra space came from. The good news is that it looks like Time Machine did a great job of restoring the Mac and I haven't discovered anything missing, at least so far. The bad news is that I continue to have a lot of problems with Leopard; this being only one minor one. Just wanted to see if anyone else has had this "Disk Almost Full" error and were able to diagnose it.

Thanks. I had already used Time Machine to restore to a previous backup and fixed the problem that way. Next time this happens I will try to figure out what files are consuming all the space and see if that helps me determine the cause of massive memory loss.

HT3680 Hi,A message on my computer keeps coming saying my startup disk is full.what can I do to solve this problem??

Hi,A message on my computer keeps coming saying my startup disk is full.what can I do to solve this problem??

You need a minimum of 5GB free space, and typically you need about 15% free space.
Your Mac needs adequate hard drive space to operate normally. A low amount of RAM requires more drive space for Virtual Memory’s swap files. Problems from insufficient RAM and free hard disk space are discussed in this link http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/lackofram.html
Look at these links.
Where did my disk space go?
http://www.macfixitforums.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=Forum38&Number=770243
Download & use *WhatSize* described in this link or Disk Inventory X @ http://www.derlien.com/
Freeing space on your Mac OS X startup disk
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/freeingspace.html
Amazing Disappearing Drive Space
http://www.pinkmutant.com/articles/TigerMisc.html
Increase HD Free Space by using Monolingual @ http://monolingual.sourceforge.net/
How to free up my disk space
http://www.macmaps.com/diskfull.html
Where Did My Disk Space Go?
http://www.macfixitforums.com/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/770243/site_id/ 1
 Cheers, Tom

Startup disk almost full but cannot log on to delete items

when I start up my MacBook air it said "start up disk almost full" but I cannot even log on my act to get to my home screen to attempt to delete stuff... what do I do?

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.

IMovie: "startup disk almost full..."

but I currently have 221GB free on my hard drive. I realise there are other threads regarding this error, but they all seem to involve people whose disks are actually full. Mine, as indicated in Disk Utility, has 221GB available. This error only occurs when using iMovie. I am not working with HD video or doing anything really intense. I am running the MacBook Pro Retina (2012). This error has been occurring from the beginning and I've finally grown tired of it and decided to seek some answers. There's no reasonable explanation that using a stock native piece of software on Apple's premier notebook should be an issue. I don't know what I could do differently. I don't have any other applications running while iMovie is open.
Thanks!

Well, I am back in hopes that SOMEONE has respnded to this. I guess it's just me. I see literally hundreds of threads on here about the startup disk being full and everyone just assumes that they guy posting is a complete idiot. This message is appearing in ERROR. As I stated, I recently wiped, formatted, and installed a fresh OSX on my 2012 Retina. Upon starting iMovie for the first time, I got the same message I had always seen, "Startup Disk is Almost Full". I double checked my hard drive usage and confirmed that I still had 221GB free. 221GB free.
221GB of unused space on the disk.
221GB of unused space on the disk.
There are 221GB of free space on my startup disk.
My startup disk is NOT almost full, as more than half of it is empty, leaving 221GB unused. To put it another way, my hard drive currently has 221GB of unused space. As it stands today, 221GB of my startup disk are available for new data. When I start iMovie, an error comes up telling me that my startup disk is almost full but there is 221GB of open space on the disk.
In case I failed to clearly state the problem, my hard drive is more than half empty - 221GB free - and iMovie tells me its almost full.

Warning message: Startup disk is full-what does this mean and how do I fix?

HI. I keep getting this warning that my startup disk is full -- but I just recently deleted many files. how do I fix?

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305454 Mac OS X 10.4: FileVault - "There isn't enough space on your hard disk..." alert
Empty the trash!
Open up your application folder & go through all your apps. Trash all the apps you no longer want and/or use.
An easier way to do this is to open the Application folder in list view & press the Command+j keys.
In the the dialog that appears, click the "This Window Only" button & the "Calculate All Sizes" check box.
Wait a bit until your file & folder sizes have all been calculated, then click the "Size" column to sort your apps from the fattest to the most anorexic.
Get rid of all your photo files you don't want and/or need. Same goes for those pics off the websites you downloaded (gifs, jpegs, etc.).
Get rid of all your music files you no longer listen too. Especially, if you already have the actual CD/DVDs or you can later redownload from a website.
Use Spotlight to make sure you got rid of everything. You can even trash directly from Spotlight!
Drag what you don't want and/or need to the trash. Better yet, download this neat little shareware app demo called AppZapper. It basically does all the work for you by not only trashing the apps but the apps preference files, caches & all its associated files.
Another software that does the above is AppDelete. Best of all this software is free!
Burn what you want and/or need onto CDs or DVDs.
Not everyone has the luxury of purchasing an external HD and/or Mobile accounts to store their "stuff.”
You can check with your ISP to see if they offer free storage space. Most if not all do now-a-days.
There are thousands if not millions of free storage facilities on the web also. Use your favorite search engine to search them out as they come in different storage sizes to fit your needs & wants.
Check for duplicate fonts.
Applications>Font Book
Select “All Fonts”
If you see any “black dots” next to any fonts this mean you have duplicates and/or multiple versions of these fonts.
To clean this up, select a “black dotted” font or the Apple + click to select multiple dotted fonts;
Edit>Resolve>Duplicates.
What the above does is turns off the duplicates & multiple version fonts. Not delete them.
More than likely the “extras” were installed by other programs and/or other users.
Clear out font caches
Use FontNuke. It does all the work for you. And, best of all it’s FREE.
Printer Drivers
Get rid of all the printer drivers you don’t need & use except the ones for your current printer(s)/scanner(s).
HD>Library>Printers Folder
If you accidently threw something out that you needed for your printer/scanner it can be easily obtained from the manufacturer’s website and/or from the CD that came w/the printer/scanner.
Garage Band
Has about 1GB of loops stored. Get rid of some some them. You surely don’t use, like and/or need them all.
HD>Library>Audio/Apple Loops>Apple>Apple Loops For GarageBand
Or just get rid of the Garage Band app altogether if you don’t use it.
Get rid of extra languages
Strip your computer down to your “native” tongue.
You can do this with a FREE utility called Monolingual. Another app that apparently does all the work for you. I’ve never used it. However, a lot of users here swear by & recommend it highly.
However, there is a warning for *native English speakers*. Make sure you keep BOTH English and English (United States).
Other Resources:
HD Space Checkers:
Disk Inventory X (FREE)
WhatSize (SHAREWARE)
OmniDiskSweeper (FREE)
GrandPerspective (FREE - donation)
Knowledge Base Article http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303602 Mac Maintenance Quick Assist
Scroll down to "4) Prune Through Your Files".
Slimming your hard drive
Rule of thumb: You should never let your hard drive get to where you have only 10-15% of space left.
!http://i50.tinypic.com/izvwo1.gif!

Startup disk almost full on brand new laptop - Impossible - Help!

I bought my MacBook Air about a month ago. I have not dowloaded any movies, music, or apps. I have a couple thousand photos stored on the laptop and microsoft office- that is ALL. I am receiving an error message saying my startup disk is almost full. There is absolutely NO WAY this is possible. It is practically a brand new and unused laptop. However, I did initially use "Mail" as my inbox for several email accounts. I took all my accounts offline as "Mail" moved all my emails on all my accounts into the archives folders. Now even when I log into gmail from a web browser, all my inbox and sent messages are located in the archives folders.
My question is:
1- How do I make more room on my startup disk space, as this is clearly an error.
2- How do I recover my emails from my archive folders?
Please help. Any advise would be appreciated.

About “Other”:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT6047
Try these tips.
Go step by step and test.
1. Start up in Safe Mode.
    http://support.apple.com/kb/PH11212
2. Empty Trash.
    http://support.apple.com/kb/PH10677
3. Delete "Recovered Messages", if any.
    Hold the option key down and click "Go" menu in the Finder menu bar.
    Select "Library" from the dropdown.
    Library > Mail > V2 > Mailboxes
    Delete "Recovered Messages", if any.
    Empty Trash. Restart.
4. Repair Disk
    Steps 1 through 7
    http://support.apple.com/kb/PH5836
5. Disk space / Time Machine ?/ Local Snapshots
Local backups
   http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4878
6. Delete old iOS Devices Backup, if any.
    iTunes > Preferences > Devices
    Highlight the old Backups , press “Delete Backup” and then “OK”.
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4946?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
7. Re-index Macintosh HD.
   System Preferences > Spotlight > Privacy
   http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2409

Startup Disk almost full. - Huge Yellow Other bar

I am beginning to lose all hope that I am actually going to get this problem fixed. I have had this problem for months now. Basically I keep getting a message pop up saying my startup disk is almost full. However all i have on my laptop is pictures! I don't understand. is 3,217 a lot of pictures? My Macbook has 4gb memory... is this just too small??? Do I need to buy an external hardrive? But what I really don't understand is, the 'other' bar is huge! It is 59.38GB. What is it!? How can I fix this?? Please don't say empty the recycle bin becasue I have lost count of the number of times I have done this. The main question I have is, is it a virus??? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

The 4GB of memory is the RAM not the storage on your hard drive. There is nothing there that would show up in where you are refering to.
First have you emptied the iPhoto trash? iPhoto has it's own trash, in the left side bar. You can open that then use COMMAND + A to select all that is there, then SHIFT + COMMAND + DELETE to send it to the regular trash then delete that. Also you can delete any downloads in your download folder, get rid of any movies you don't need any longer.
See the following links to help you clean up some space, and some explainations as well, some may mention different OS X's, but the info will hold true pretty much across the board.
http://www.macworld.com/article/1165698/seven_ways_to_free_up_drive_space.html
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH10677?viewlocale=en_US
http://www.macworld.com/article/1052495/slimharddrive.html
http://www.macmaps.com/diskfull.html
http://pondini.org/OSX/LionStorage.html
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/faqs.html
http://thexlab.com/faqs/freeingspace.html
You can also download OmniDiskSweeper to help with this.
http://www.omnigroup.com/more
Hope this helps you out.

Start up disk almost full - what can I delete?

I keep getting this error msg - startup disk is almost full delete files and I am sure there are useless files on here somewhere...
I have no idea what to delete - where to look for those useless files - help... anyone? Thanks mucho!

In addition to the XLab's advice (which is always very good advice) what I would recommend doing is moving your media (music, photographs and music) onto an external HD. Media tends to take the most space and offloading them from the internal HD is easy and a wise thing to to. Here some Apple Article about how to do so, I think you will agree it's a pretty easy solution.
iPhoto: How to move the Library to EHD
iTunes: library on EHD
Roger

Startup disk almost full, what are my option

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