Startup disk full, can't get in to delete files, help!

Help!
I got the 'startup disk almost full' message so I was deleting files to make space when my computer froze, so I turned it off, now it won't let me back in again.
I get the start up chime, then it gets stuck on the apple logo with the progress bar, then a no entry symbol.
I tried starting it in Safe Mode but still can't get in.
This is very very bad, right?
I Have been using time machine to back up but I'm not sure if my most recent photos of my boy starting school last week had been backed up yet or not... I've uploaded them to facebook and instagram and had emailed them to the grandparents so they won't be totally lost but still :/
Can anyone help or am I totally screwed?!
imac was was purchased in 2009 and I *think* the last update I did was to Yosemite..

Start up holding down Command + R and then go to DiskUtility and try repairing your disk from there. As a last resort, you may need to erase or even replace your Hard Drive, but try that first. If it is not booting from there the chances are pretty good that your Drive has died.
Pete

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Startup disk full won't get past log on screen

I got the error message that my startup disk is full. I tried to turn off the computer and turn it back on but now on startup it wont let me past the password screen.
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What os are you using?

Startup disk full - Outlook won't start to delete

Hi,
I have Outlook on my MBP and it crashed last night and said I had to rebuild my identity. Before it will rebuild, it wants to backup everything. This has filled up my startup disk. 0 space available. Now I can't get anything out of my outlook or get in there to delete. I have already deleted all of my pictures and documents and dowloads. Is there anyway to delete what it started to backup in Outlook so there is room? HELP! this is my life...
Thanks!

Have you emptied the trash yet?

Message startup disk full (can't find the files)

Newb here so please bear with me on this.
I am using Handbrake to rip DVD's to put in iTunes. I transfer them to the external that iTunes is on fine, but I can't find the originals to delete them. The default save to location was a folder called "voulmes". I have since found that this is not the right location for the initial save to location, so it has been changed. My problem as stated is that I can't find the files to delete them. Even if I use spotlight and type in the original file name nothing comes up and I can't find a folder named "Volumes"
Any and all help is greatly appreciated, especially since I have roughly 66mb of free space left.
Thanks
Edit: I forgot to mention that Time Machine backs up on yet another external.
Message was edited by: liftman
Message was edited by: liftman

Launch the Terminal app in /Applications/Utilities/, paste this command into the window, and hit the return key:
*ls -Al /Volumes/*
that will give you a list of actual and virtual volumes. Anything that isn't one of your actual volumes is the culprit. To access it, type in this, and hit the return key:
*open /Volumes/"name of virtual volume"*
that will open the virtual volume and allow you to delete it's contents. Alternatively, you could run this:
*sudo rm -R /Volumes/"name of virtual volume"*
for this last one, you'll get a Password: prompt, carefully enter your admin password (nothing shows up on the screen), and hit the return key again.

What do i need to do when i get a startup disk full error?

What do i need to do when i get a startup disk full error? I can't update software or use my MacAir at all.

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.
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.
To locate large files, you can use Spotlight. That method may not find large folders that contain a lot of small files.
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.
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 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.
The application window will open, eventually showing all files in all folders. It may take some minutes for ODS to list all the 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.

I keep getting "startup disk full" message even when I already moved all my files/documents to an external hard disk

Dear all,
What should I do? I keep getting the "startup disk full" message even when I already moved all my files and documents to an external hard disk.
Thanks a heap.

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
Do the same in other applications, such as Aperture, that have an internal Trash feature. 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 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.

My startup disk is full?!?! This has been happening for a while and I have dumped 4500 jepegs from iPhoto onto an external drive to try and free up space. I am still recieving the "Startup disk full" message. What more can I do?!?!

My startup disk is full?!?! This has been happening for a while and I have dumped 4500 jepegs from iPhoto onto an external drive to try and free up space. I am still recieving the "Startup disk full" message. What more can I do?!?!

Did you empty the Trash?
What size hard drive & how much free space. You should always have a minimum of 10-15% or more free space?
 Cheers, Tom

HT1349 when I start my macbook it shows STARTUP DISK FULL, and I cannot do anything else, it doesnt let me get into the computer to delete any programs,,,, What should I do ?

when I start my macbook it shows STARTUP DISK FULL, and I cannot do anything else, it doesnt let me get into the computer to delete any programs,,,, What should I do ?

Try starting in Safe mode which does not load all the software that is used in a regular boot. It also runs a disk check. After booting in safe mode transfer or trash stuff you don't really need so as to free up disk space. Be sure to hold the shift key down continously till a progress bar shows on the screen.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1564
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1455

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 . . . .

Startup disk full

For the past weeks I've been getting warnings that my startup disk is almost full. I've cleared out all my pictures in iPhoto and everything else I never used.
I just recently uploaded another 100 pictures or so onto iPhoto that I"m now trying to burn to a disc - unfortunately now I'm getting the error message that the startup disk needs to find memory the size of the disc (700 MB).
Can I buy another/ a different memory chip for my ibook? When I first bought it I replaced the 128 MP chip with a 512 MB chip. Supposedly the maximum memory of the ibook I have is 640 MB.
The only program that I really use to its full capacity is Itunes, there are no other heavy files on my ibook. I don't really want to delete anything in Itunes.
Is Itunes even related to the startup disk memory problem?
What to do what to do???

aelaski, Welcome to the discussion area!
Backup any important files to CD or external drive before deleting them.
1-How do I delete files from the hard drive?
Drag the file to the trash. Empty the trash.
How do I avoid deleting system files (that can affect the operation)?
Deleting files in your user directory (/Users/username) won't affect the OS operation. Deleting some of the preferences may make your user experience horrible but they won't crash OS X.
Usually people fill up their disk with music or video files.
2-I have both OS 9 and OS X. I don't use 9 at all and tried to delete applications. I'd be just as happy to get rid of the OS altogether if I had the option...do I? How do I avoid deleting system files (that can affect the operation)?
OS 9 resides in the folder "/System Folder" (NOT "/System"). You can delete OS 9 but it isn't going to free up a lot of room.
3-Can I turn off extensions and open up Hard Disk space?
OS X doesn't have extensions.

Startup Disk Full Message Keeps Occuring

I'm new at maintaining our Xserve here at work. It seems that each day the serevr gets incapacitated because the Startup Disk space fills up. I keep deleting log files and other files that are temporary, but to no avail. I can free a Gig or 2 then a day or two alter it's full again. Is there something wrong with the configuration?

You found a disk-full message and, well, piled onto the thread. OK. There's a decent shot that there is no connection to the previous disk-full error, too. If you lift the hood and look at the Unix layers, there are a large number of files being written, and many differing triggers for general or for excessive disk consumption.
As was mentioned earlier in the thread, this likely isn't specific to Xserve hardware, and this is probably a generic Mac OS X or Mac OS X Server issue, too; something occurring within the Unix layer of the platform. Something writing a log. Caching. A run-away process. Etc.
Get the [Grand Perspective tool|http://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net> as a start. That can show you where your space is going.
Also launch Terminal.app and use the shell commands:
find / -size 1k -print+
sudo du -sHh /*
mdfind 'kMDItemFSSize > 10000000'
The first shows files larger than 1K, the second shows disk space. There are commands around to sort this stuff, too; to rank your use as output by du. That last one, the mdfind command, is a (fast) Mac search command that works reasonably well as part of a pipe.
And 150 gigabytes? That's comparatively tiny. I'm running 750 GB drives on servers that are now three years old. Go get yourself actual disk storage devices. Smaller drives can sometimes be used for high performance, but SSD is infiltrating that usage. The tiny SAS disks that were sold with various Xserve boxes were built for speed and bandwidth (as HDDs go), and aren't so good for storage or for sharing the operating system installation with, for instance, users.
And if it's log files, have a look at what's going on as - as is typical with many of these cases - the log can be filling because there's an error somewhere. And the specific trigger for the error can by most anything. Do your due diligence as a Unix server administrator and find your big file(s) and have a look at what's going on with your Unix server, in other words.
Also try a few Google searches, as this problem is a common one, and there are any number of discussions around of various find and du and mdfind and other commands that can be used here. It'd be nice if there was an integrated and GUI-friendly mechanism within Mac OS X, but that's not available; it's add-on or Unix shell commands for now...

ITunes, iPhone startup disk full messages

Since I got my iPhone 3G 2 weeks ago I have started getting "Startup Disk Full" messages. I then noticed that if iTunes is running, not downloading anything or searching for anything my remaining drive space starts to reduce until the messages. If I reboot this will give me back anywhere from 1 GB to 3 GB of drive space. I used to go for months without rebooting now I can't go a day. What would cause this? iTunes 8.0.2, OSX 10.5.5, iPhone OS2.2, Powerbook G4 1Ghz, 160GB drive, 1GB ram.

open up iTunes to see what is taking up the space.. is it applications/Media/Photos and delete appropriately. If not then you might have just hit a bug or installed some bad application.

This is baffling me...Startup Disk Full issue

Dear Members,
Yesterday I posted on this forum for some help with resolving a Startup Disk Full message that was appearing when I was using Adobe PhotoShop CS. This only started to happen recently ( 2 days ago). When I try and crop a TIFF or RAW file I get the Scratch Disk Full and the Startup Disk Full errors.
So I followed your advise and made backups, rebooted from an external CD (Tiger osx) and did the repair thing. There was minor header damage at the time. But this was fixed. I did a small test with Photoshop and all appeared OK, that is until this morning. I tried to edit/crop a TIFF file and I got the same messages again.
I have approx 152GB of total disk space now and after deleted/re moving to external media, I have approx 82GB of available space. I also have 2 GB of RAM. Yes I removed the files prior to doing the Disk Utility repair. And yes I did run Repair Permissions too. I have been using this setup for over a year with no issues, and YES the TIFF and RAW files have always been huge (approx 35MB).
What is baffling me now is why do I still get this error message. I took the liberty to re-run Disk Utility from external bootable CD and the Verify showed everything to be fine. So my questions are:
1. why am I still getting this error?
2. Am I at risk of damaging my system in any way?
3. How can I fix this issue?
Any help/pointers appreciated.
Max

OK Guys I think I have solved my problem.
In my desperation to find meaning to why this was happening I stumbled across another forum where a user had a slightly related issue -> http://kubotaworkshops.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1028&sid=5e2982e3da6027f683997 ffbcf088d59
In there he had mentioned a root cause of a related issue. Immediately I checked to see what the settings for the Crop tool were set to, and to my surprise they were at 300inches x 400 inches at 300 dpi. According to his calculations this put the Scratch Disk size at pretty large.
Anyway I am not quite sure on his mathematics and how he arrived at the 60.3GB file size, but I am guessing that my files were large to start with and somehow the scratch disk size needed was even larger, hence the reason for the error. Would appreciate if someone can explain how the 60.3GB was derived from a 100K file, 400x600inc @ 300dpi as in the link above
Hopefully this was the fix. I have tried it out and I am able to crop. But then again thats what I said yesterday
Max

Startup disk full on new Macbook Pro

I bought a Late 2013 13 inch 8 gb Macbook Pro to replace a mid 2010 that had hung up during an update and seized up. I migrated a backup of the 2010 to the 2013 and immediately began getting "startup disk full" notices. I mainly use it for pictures and music and very little document type stuff. I have emptied the trash and repaired permissions and emptied email and downloads etc. I can't figure out what is taking up my space. Storage looks like this, 16.94 free of 250.14. Other storage 166 gb, Apps 37 gb, Photos 14 gb, Movies 5 gb, Audio 10 gb. Any suggestions?

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.

Help: Premiere is making my startup disk full, but I set everything to go on an external hard drive.

The iMac I am using is for the sole purpose of editing and nothing else. I have no idea what is making my startup disk full, and I can not locate the files that are filling the startup disk except the fact that it is telling me I am running out of space. The startup disk is a 250GB SSD, the second internal drive is 1 TB HDD. All of my premiere and video files are loaded ton a 4TB G-RAID.

Do you have your projects set to use a drive other than startup?
My 3 hard drives to edit AVCHD are configured as...
1 - 320Gig Boot for Win7 64bit Pro and ALL program installs
2 - 320Gig data for Win7 paging swap file and video project files
When I create a project on #2 drive, the various work files follow,
so my boot drive is not used for the media cache folders and files
3 - 1Terabyte data for all video files... input & output files

Startup disk full, can't get in to delete files, help!

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