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.

Similar Messages

  • "Startup Disk Full" error when playing World of Warcraft

    Whenever I play World of Warcraft for an hour or more, the "Your Startup disk is almost full" error pops up. I know this is not true and to prove it I have taken a screen shot (might be hard to read) with the error message above my finder window stating there is 396.74 GB free on my Macintosh HD. Does anyone have any idea what is going on?
    If it helps, the performance of World of Warcraft has decreased dramatically since 2/23/07. Before that the program ran flawlessly.

    If you open System Preferences and then go to the Software Update pane, you can click on the Installed Updates tab to see when various updates were installed. Look in particular for the Mac OS X Update Combined 10.5.2 and the Leopard Graphics Update; when were they installed relative to 2/23.
    Three things you can do as general trouble-shooting steps, if you haven't done them already.
    Run Disk Utility. Use the Repair Disk Permissions routine under First Aid tab on your internal drive.
    Restart from the Mac OS X installation disk. From the Installer's Utilities menu, select Disk Utility. Use the Repair Disk routine under First Aid on your internal drive. See if that reports any problem.
    Reset PRAM. Some display parameters are stored in PRAM, so this may help.
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=2238

  • Startup Disk Full Error when it is not full.

    When ever my swap files reach the size of the free space on my startup disk (60GB) I receive this error even though my swap files are stored on a separate disk with 500GB free. The startup disk continues to have 60GB free when this error occurs. The swap file disk has 440GB free. I know the program has a memory leak, but it should continue to run until the swap file disk is full. Please help!

    If you open System Preferences and then go to the Software Update pane, you can click on the Installed Updates tab to see when various updates were installed. Look in particular for the Mac OS X Update Combined 10.5.2 and the Leopard Graphics Update; when were they installed relative to 2/23.
    Three things you can do as general trouble-shooting steps, if you haven't done them already.
    Run Disk Utility. Use the Repair Disk Permissions routine under First Aid tab on your internal drive.
    Restart from the Mac OS X installation disk. From the Installer's Utilities menu, select Disk Utility. Use the Repair Disk routine under First Aid on your internal drive. See if that reports any problem.
    Reset PRAM. Some display parameters are stored in PRAM, so this may help.
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=2238

  • 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.

  • After clean install of Snow Leopard, Time Machine did not restore all files.  When I try to restore these files I get "Not enough disk space" error.  What do I need to do to get these important files back onto my Mac from my external hard drive??

    After clean install of Snow Leopard, Time Machine did not restore all files.  When I try to restore these files I get "Not enough disk space" error.  What do I need to do to get these important files back onto my Mac from my external hard drive?? 

    Janet.b wrote:
    About 3 years old...pretty dated now I guess.  Am thinking I may just need to have it upgraded by a Mac tech.
    For what the Apple Store's charge you can buy almost buy a new computer.
    Just for giggles I brought my old laptop in for a drive upgrade and asked, they wanted $600 for a drive that only cost $120 at the time and it was a slow 5,400 RPM drive. The new Mac's of a similar make were going for $1000.
    I did the drive replacement myself, got a faster drive of better quality for $300 instead.
    Then another time I asked for a RAM upgrade from 4GB to 8GB, they wanted to charge $400 + $35 for the labor.
    The same RAM is on Crucial.com for $90 and all I need is a 00 micro phillips screwdriver.
    So you see what's going on here.
    I think what you should do, if your out of warranty/AppleCare, is to call up the local PC tech guy who also does Mac's and have them fix you right up.
    They can offer more personalized care which you need. Clone your old drive to the new and everything.
    With Apple they are overworked at the Genius Bar and just place roadblocks so you buy a new machine instead.
    For instance, all new iMac's now have proprietary drive software installed on the hard drives for heat monitoring. So now the only choice a user has is to bring their iMac into a Apple Store for a very expensive drive upgrade, which a person then decides the money is better spent buying a new machine.

  • HT1904 I'm having trouble getting the digital booklet when I download an album. What do I need to do?  I get an error message saying the booklet can't be downloaded at this time.

    I'm having trouble getting the digital booklet when I download an album. What do I need to do?  I get an error message saying the booklet can't be downloaded at this time.

    Hello Bdev15,
    I would be concerned too if the songs I purchased from iTunes were not downloading to my iPhone. You have taken some great troubleshooting steps already, and thank you for providing the details of the steps you too.  I have a few additional suggestions to get it downloaded to your iPhone.
    First, I recommend checking to see if the download was interrupted:
    If your download was interrupted using your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch
    From the Home screen, tap the iTunes app.
    For iPhone or iPod touch, tap More > Downloads. For iPad, tap Downloads.
    Enter your account name and password if prompted.
    Tap the blue download arrow to resume.
    iTunes: How to resume interrupted iTunes Store downloads
    http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1725
    If the songs still do not download, next I recommend downloading the songs when connected to another network.  For example, if you are using the cellular network, you could switch to Wi-Fi, or you could try an alternate Wi-Fi network.  Follow the steps in the section titled "iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch > Music" in the article below to download the songs:
    Downloading past purchases from the App Store, iBookstore, and iTunes Store
    http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2519
    If you are still not able to download the songs, you can report an issue with these purchases using the steps in this article:
    How to report an issue with your iTunes Store, App Store, Mac App Store, or iBookstore purchase
    http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1933
    Best,
    Sheila M.

  • HT5622 what do i need to do when verifying my email address for facetime it tells me invalid account for this email address

    What do i need to do when verifying my email address for facetime and it tells me invalid account for this email address?  HELP!!!

    You need to use your Apple ID to log into FaceTime

  • What do I need to do when I lost my iPod and didn't activate MobileMe nor iCloud

    what do I need to do when I lost my iPod and didn't activate MobileMe nor iCloud

    Maybe a physic can help since there is no other way except to look for it. Report to the police and change the passwards for all accounts used on the iPod.

  • What do I need to do when sending my iPad in for warranty repair?

    What do I need to do when sending my iPad in for warranty repair? I live too far away from an apple store so they told me to send it in using UPS but that's about all they told me. I have looked on the website but have found no additional information. What all do I need to do besides backing it up and what all do I need to send? Thanks in advance.

    What to do when you return or send your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch in for service
    http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1438
    7 Things to do before sending your iPhone or iPad for Repair
    http://www.laptop-repair-manchester.co.uk/blog/7-things-to-do-before-sending-you r-iphone-or-ipad-for-repair/
     Cheers, Tom

  • HT1689 What do I need to do when my Ipod is stolen?

    What do I need to do when my Ipod is stolen?  I didn't have a Find Ipod app loaded.  Appreciate any help.

    The password for what?
    You don;t know how to change your e-mail password?
    Or any other password that was stored on your ipod?
    Apple ID: Changing your Apple ID password

  • What do I need to install when I install oralce in linux and oracle client

    What do I need to install when I install oralce in linux and oracle client in windows?
    I want to connect oracle from windows to Linux, what do I need to install or setup? thanks.

    Are you trying to install the DB on Linux from your Windows Box? if so, you need to have an XWindows client on your client. You have to SSH or Telnet into the box, set your DISPLAY variable. In fact, it is all in your documentation for the DB install. We still don't understand what you are exactly asking.
    Do you have direct access to your Linux machine? If so, and it has a graphical GUI, then you can find install guides for most flavors of Linux at dizwell.com. His are most excellent and show examples, but do not go over the XWindows problem. You would have to resolve that first.
    A free XWindows environment for Windows is Cygwin.
    Once the DB is running on Linux then all you do is create a TNS entry on it on your client and it connects. It is the same as setting up a connection to connect to Oracle on a Windows box.

  • What do you do when message is "startup Disk Full"?

    what do you do when message is "startup Disk Full"?

    You must Move or trash some really big GB+ sized files right away, before OSX destroys itself.
    Empty the Trash if you haven't lately.
    How much free space is on the HD, where has all the space gone?
    OmniDiskSweeper is likely the easiest/best, and is now free...
    http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnidisksweeper/download/
    And if needed, you can use Terminal to run it in admin mode to see files/folders your user can't see...
    http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/how_to_recover_missing_hard_drive_space/

  • 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

  • My boyfriend wants to play is mac book pro through our television. what do we need? i want to get this for him for x-mas

    my boyfriend wants to play is mac book pro through our television. what do we need? i want to get this for him for x-mas

    MiniDisplayPort-to-? adapter, available at Apple stores and Best Buy and antplace selling Apple.  Plugs into the Thunderbolt or "lightning bolt" port.
    Replace ? with HDMI or VGA or DVI.
    Know that TVs spave pixels further apart, for viewing at 10-15 ft instead of close as monitors do.  Makes viewing small text at 10 ft difficult sometimes.
    Another poster also recently reported that using the mouse on the external display is "laggy".  Some models of Mac have only a graphics card integrated into the CPU (which can be challenged by running a big external TV) and some have a "discrete" or "second" graphics card that handles TVs better.

  • What do I need to do to fix a problem such as an error message stating "iTunes has stopped working"?

    What do I need to do to fix a problem such as an error message stating "iTunes has stopped working"?

    Hello westerboy,
    Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
    For more information on this, take a look at:
    iTunes for Windows XP: Troubleshooting unexpected quits, freezes, or launch issues
    http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1421
    Best of luck,
    Mario

Maybe you are looking for

  • Shockwave and Flash Player installed works fine but it says damaged in the dependency tab.

    I have Windows Vista Home Premium 32 bit. When I go to downloaded programs in windows where your active x programs are. The icons on the leftt of shockwave player are white. I right click on the shockwave player and click on properties and in the dep

  • Can I create a local calendar in the iPad?

    I eliminate the iPad calendar to have them all sync with iCloud, but I would like to have it back. Can I create it from my iPad, but ouside iCloud?

  • Question on line selection in table control in dialog programming....

    Hello, I have a internal table displayed on a screen using Table control wizard. Now, when user selects a particular line and double clicks it, I want to write a query based on the line user selected. How can this be achieved ? Regards, Rajesh.

  • Mac os X often crashed

    Hi guys, does anybody here knows whats wrong with my imac? i bought my imac in february '09 but not the newest one. Everytime i want to quit few applications at the same time such as, Logic pro 8, reason 4, my mac os x always crashed which a black sc

  • ISE : MAB, SoA ...

    Hello, I'd like to implement Cisco ISE on my network so that 802.1x authentication will be operationnal. When I give a look to this document : http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/security/ise/1.0.4/compatibility/ise104_sdt.html#wp55038 There's a lot of C