Startup disk is too full?

Question

I keep getting this popup that says my startup disk is too full. What does that mean? What can I do about it?

Answer 1

Your signature line computer data appears askew; so as to avoid any
misinformation, please specify your computer model and config info,
OS version(s) and if it is an iBookG4, how you are using OS9...
The hard drive is dangerously full and if you can archive your works
off the computer and save them (as suggested) you will then be able
to see what else you can do to save the computer's system and
check/repair the drive. Too full a hard drive can cause damage to
the low-level area on the drive where data is saved and stored; and
in the process, the operating system and other critical data stored
on the hard drive can become irreversibly corrupted or damaged;
in the worse case, this kind of damage could kill a hard drive.
So, if you have a pile of music saved or images, you should use
an externally enclosed hard drive and make sure it is formatted to
HFS+ (by using disk utility in X Utilities folder) and it should be
a Firewire drive to be sure compatibility as a boot volume if needed.
That could accept a pile of music or images in folders quickly and
allow later easy access to sort them all out for burning to disc, etc.
Or if your computer has a Combo drive, archive stuff to CD-Rs.
Please clarify your operating system and also state the numbers
regarding total hard drive capacity verses your remaining free space.
A drive dangerously full limits the extent of which the system can
work; because the OS uses free space on the hard drive as virtual
memory in addition to the chip RAM for applications and system use.
Sometimes if the hard drive disk is too full, you may find it hard
to make/burn data to an optical disc; if that is the case, you will
see system freezes or stalls; and an external hard drive such
as a FireWire unit would work best in that situation. There may
not be sufficient free space to make any new files or copies; so
if you have duplicate items elsewhere, you can delete/trash
the copies off the hard drive to gain free space. And there is more...