Why is my satrt up disk telling me it's full...and what is it?

Hi guys, I'm pretty much new to Mac and have an imac 27" which I bought myself for my 40th on a whim of self indulgence. I must say I'm pleased with it.....although I have an message telling me on screen whenever I try to load any new software or put a memory stick in that.....I have "no space on my startup disk".....now I'm not the brightest computer whiz on the block but I thought I had enough space on my hard drive left which I do. I'm just confused about what this startup disk is. Could one of you more experienced apple mac users lend a hand please. <Edited by Host> thank you.

HI and Welcome to Apple Discussions...
As for the startup disk. Launch the Disk Utilitly application. It's located in your Applications / Utilities folder.
In the Disk Utility window on the left you will see: MacintoshHD
That is your startup disk. When you boot your iMac, that is the disk that holds all your system software. Select MacintoshHD in the Disk Utility window then look at the bottom of that window you will see; Capacity and Available and Used.
I'm confused as to how you are connecting a memory stick? USB? Are you certain that hardware is compatible with the Mac OS X??
When you say, "load new software"... are you referring to 3rd party software or Apple software?
You just purchased a 27" iMac and it came pre-installed with Leopard 10.5 not Snow Leopard 10.6??
Make sure... click the Apple Menu  / About this Mac to make certain which Mac OS X your iMac is running.
Carolyn

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