Unexplained full start-up disk

I just experienced a situation where an unknown task was writing to my start-up disk continuously until it was filled (0 bytes available). I forced a restart (power switch) and rebooted from a cloned back-up of the start-up (fortunately I had one that was only a few days old).
I inspected the original start-up drive and determined that the /Volumes folder (the mount point for other drives, and normally quite small)contained 50GB of material that appeared to be a (partial) copy of one of my other drives!
Has anyone else experienced this bizarre behaviour or have an explanation?
I have since used the clone to restore my start-up drive and everything is working normally now; I was just wondering if I had been a victim of some virus and I am afraid of a reoccurrence.
Thanks for any suggestions.

The most usual cause of a "false clone" being created in /Volumes is an interruption of the connection to the target volume during the cloning.
I presume you know that you can remove anything from /Volumes that is NOT an alias/link. If you need instructions, see http://forums.bombich.com/viewtopic.php?t=3852
It is NOT a virus.
Andreas (a moderator at the bombich forums)

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Full start up disk but 100GB free??

Hi guys
I just received my new blackbook and I am loving it. I transferred all my files over from my iMac and cleaned the iMac up so my family can use it as their main computer. The iMac is running Tiger and the blackbook Leopard. Both have 250GB hard drives. I have never had any prompting about a full start up disk before. Both computers have over 100GB free HDD space. I just completed a 'repair permissions' and 'erase free space' in disk utility for both machines. At the completion of this both machines warned me that my startup disk is almost full
What does this mean and how do I fix it? Is it an error, since I have 100GB free at least?
Thanks for any help.

Use WhatSize or Disk Inventory X to see what is taking up all the space.
You can also get some help here, The XLab: Freeing space on your Mac OS X startup disk, for ideas on what could be causing the problem. Pay special attention to the very last thing about console logs. Someone else a few days ago had a similar problem and he found the console logs were the problem in taking up space quickly.

Full start up disk... problem with disk partition.

Hi,
Ive got an original blueberry ibook which an ex, who considered himself some sort of high flying computer buff, decided to fiddle with... In his vast wisdom he deemed that my ibook would run better if he partitioned the start-up disk. The result being a slow running laptop, constant warnings that my start-up disk is full, a keyboard that doesnt function properly, hence missing characters and being unable to use the delete key.
The message that comes up warning about the start-up disk being full says that I need to delete stuff to make room so that it can run properly. Ive tried going into the disk utility thing but it wont allow me to restore the disk back to its original state. I dont know a huge amount about computers but I have tried deleting all programs I dont use and having a good clear out but it hasnt made an ounce of difference.
Does anyone have any idea how to get around this problem? All suggestions appreciated.

Hi dancingdryad
The first thing to check is, have you emptied the trash.
Deleting Applications (programs) should not be necessary, rather the space is more likely being taken up by too many of your documents.
The space has been filled up by your own files, generally called documents, but also includes, videos you have downloaded, photos, music. These are files that you have either created or downloaded and these are the things to move.
So look in your Documents folder, in the iTunes and iPhoto applications, for excess photos and music that you can move onto an external drive, or burn to a CD.
And after trashing something, do empty the trash.
If you have a Previous System Folder on the hard drive, you can trash that as well.
Extra tips from Dr Smokes can be read here:
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/freeingspace.html
happy house cleaning.
regards roam

Full Start up disk-Blue screen

I have a mac pro and the past couple of weeks-I was getting a pop up saying my start up disk was almost full. I wasn't sure how to clear it without losing things I needed and today when I was using my laptop- a pop up came up saying that my disk was full. Now when It turn on my laptop- alls I see is a blue screen. What do I need to do? I am needing my laptop in order to do homework so I'm looking for a solution ASAP.
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Start by doing a the following google search:
"start up disk is full" site:discussions.apple.com
I'm not trying to be flip or sarcastic so don't take it that way. But I am suggesting the search (limited to just within these forums -- remove the site clause to make it wider) because this topic has come up so many times already.

Locating downloaded TV Shows on my Hard Disk--full start up disk

I received a full startup disk message--I went into my hard disk to get rid of tv shows I've been downloading--only to be totally amazed by all the unknown files. I have no idea what to get rid of. I've been searching for 2 days for the tv shows and I have a dead end. Can someone please assist me. Why are the files hidden? Why is this so difficult?

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
Whatever program you are using to download the shows probably has a setting to download the files to a specific location. Mind you, you can use this article to find out what is filling your hard disk and where those files are:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=122973&tstart=20

Full start-up disk error with 8GBs left

I have an iBook G4 with 10.5.2 and I get the startup disk is full error even though I have around 8 GBs free on the startup disk - over 10% of the total disk space. I have also been experiencing application crashes - many non-Apple applications crash on startup. Page ins/outs seem to be within normal limits, and the VM swap files are only about 250 MBs. Any ideas would be much appreciated.

No matter whether 8GB is enough or not, at this point you need to stop using the drive, update your backup, repair the drive with Disk Utility and clear out temp files, caches, and check for corrupt files and plists.
You may want to look at Carbon Copy Cloner, SuperDuper, Disk Warrior.
8GB may be enough for you, but it depends on how small they are and whether these crashes are compromised the system, files, and directory.
You could have 8GB in one unfragmented chunk and be fine, except for performance which seriously degrades past 70% usage, or you might have a lot of small 512MB spaces, or worse with only 512K blocks of free space to work from.
Clone the system to another drive and boot from there and see how that works and do all your repairs.
If you must, install OS X to an external drive and gradually merge your old files and take a chance.
Leopard DVD will let you restore from TimeMachine, or you can use DU Restore to restore an image, or to/from discreet disk drives like a USB or FW drive.
80GB drive formats to less than 80GB if that and if 8GB is more than 10% it is seriously small size. I have a 750GB drive and the last 60GB is so small as to turn my system to a snail's pace while the first area of the disk gets 85MB/sec.

Full start up disk

How do I remove items from the startup disk?

Read here...
Freeing space on your Mac OS X startup disk

Mac won't start up due to full start up disk

Mac won't fire Up , put log in details in and that's it nothing happens, any ideas?

iMac G5: Fails to startup
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2173?viewlocale=en_US

Start up disk full--computer will not boot.

Our Mac gives a "start up disk full" error message and freezes on the blue screen after the password login. Resetting did no good, and entering safe mode only allows it go one step further but without any icons. Unfortunately, we are traveling overseas and do not have a boot disk to use. Is there a way to boot the computer, with a full start up disk, in order to resolve the issue without using a separate boot disk?

If you have files on the drive you can delete then you can try this:
Boot into single-user mode by holding down the COMMAND and S keys until the computer starts up to a black screen with white type. Once it stops scrolling you should see a prompt with the cursor. Enter the following:
/sbin/fsck -fy
Press RETURN. If you receive a message that says "***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****" then re-run the command until you receive a message that says "** The volume (name_of_volume) appears to be OK." If you re-run the command more than seven times and do not get the OK message, then the drive cannot be repaired this way. If you were successful then enter:
/sbin/mount -uw /
cd /Users/username
Replace "username" with your admin account's username or shortname. Press RETURN after each command line.
You may navigate into any one of your folders located in the Home folder which include:
Desktop
Documents
Downloads
Movies
Music
Pictures
by using the 'cd' command. For example, to move into your Documents folder:
cd Documents
ls -al
This moves you into the Documents folder then lists the contents of the folder. Press RETURN after each command line.
To return to your Home folder enter:
cd ..
which moves you up one level in the hierarchy. To delete a file enter:
rm -rf "filename"
where "filename" is the name of the file you want to delete. For a whole folder it's the same command only use the folder's name instead of the file's name. The quotes are use for names that have spaces in them.
If you are able to delete some large files this will free up space on your hard drive.
To restart the computer normally enter:
reboot
Be careful to enter commands correctly because in single-user mode you can permanently screw things up if you aren't careful what commands you enter. I suggest you print this out so you will have everything at your fingertips for verification.
Alternatively, find an Apple retailer and see if they will fix things for you, perhaps install a larger hard drive.

I have 15,686 photos on iPhoto 11 and am now, when uploading latest photos, getting a message saying that my startup disk is full. Is there any way of increasing the capacity of the start up disk?

I have 15,686 photos on iPhoto 11. As I've been uploading the latest photos in the last two days I've been getting a message stating that my start-up disk is nearly full. I had no idea there was a limit. Is there any way of increasing its capacity? I have been shooting in Raw of late and I know it takes up a lot of space but I have heard of other people who have over 20,000 photos on their computers, so what is going on here??

Two possibiilities here:
1. Your start up disk is nearly full
Or
2. You have minor damage to the iPhoto Library and it's giving you a bogus message.
But here's the thing: A full start up disk is a very serious issue and needs to be dealt with fast.
So, how big is your Hard Disk? How much free space on it?
Regards
TD

Unexplained 50GB full on start-up disk

I have used OmniDiskSweeper, and in total it only identifies less than 50GB of what my Activity Monitor shows to be full on the start-up disk. Anybody knows what is going on? I'd very much like to free this space up, because I'm running out.
Thank you!

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.
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.
Triple-click the line of text below to select it, then drag or copy — do not type — into the Terminal window:
sudo /Applications/OmniDiskSweeper.app/Contents/MacOS/OmniDiskSweeper
Press return. 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 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 you're done with ODS, quit it and also quit Terminal.

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!

Start up disk full - doesn't add up!

Hi,
I'm a first time Mac user and, I am having trouble with a full start up disc. My iMac 1 TB hard disc only has 12 GB unused space. I've seen a number of questions posted, so it seems I'm not the only one experiencing this problem. However I've not seen any answers for the problem I'm experiencing. I've downloaded DaisyDisk hoping it would point me in the right direction as to what files to delete. However this has only confirmed that something unidentifiable is eating away at my disc space (probably something in the "dark slice" seen in the graphic presentation of my hard disc seen below). When checking out the hard disc i can se that 85 GB is space used by Users (of which home video and pictures is about 45 GB), 7 GB Library-directory, 3,2 GB System, 2,5 GB Program, and finally about 2,5 GB Other smaller files. In total approx. 100 GB used space!! What is occupying the 800 GB which cannot be seen? Something not visible is eating away space or is there a problem with OX Lion which I've upgraded to?
Please help! I hope there is a MAC guru somewhere out there who can solve this in laymans terms.
(And please do not tell me there are personal files clogging my computer - there is no way that is creating this problem. As stated above I've checked for this and it only amounts to 100GB. There must be some system log file or cache file, under the radar creating this problem. And yes I have emptied the trash can, web cache as well as disconnected my gmail account from Mail and emptied it)

Pondini,
Thank you for the great help! I downloaded WhatSize (one of the programs referred to in the article you guided me to.). Logged on to every user account and ran this disk utility. Turns out Mail (connected to a gmail account) for one of the users has been creating the problem. A faulty mail has been resending and failed again to infinity and created some sort of backup log which reached more than 800 GB! I'm now back at 100 GB used disc space of 1 TB. (Perhaps DaisyDisk might have done the same thing, but I was getting desperate. WhatSize was worth every penny!)
The air is back, I can breath again.
Once again many thanks!

I can't download anything as it keeps telling me my start up disk is full. I have deleted loads of files and it still keeps popping up with the same messge??

Please help - I am not too computer savvi and my computer keeps telling me my start up disk is full. I have purchased a passport and transferred loads of images and files onto that and then deleted them from my computer but the message is still the same and I can't download anything.

How big is your hard drive, and how much space is used/free?
To find out, click once on the hard drive icon on your desktop to highlight it (it will be called Macintosh HD unless you renamed it). Click the command and I keys on your keyboard to open the information window. In "General", you will see Capacity and Available. What are those figures?
If you have a little bit of space left, I recommend that you install Omnidisksweeper (it's free) to tell you what folders are using up the most room.
Be careful when you transfer files - only move files that you know are yours. Don't move or delete any system files unless you're specifically recommended to do so (some files are safe to delete; some are not).
Matt

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!

Unexplained full start-up disk

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