Your startup disc is almost full - yet 101GB free !!!

I ran disc cleanup and got the message 'your startup disc is almost full' yet if I check Get Info for the drive I have...used = 48 GB, free = 101GB !!!
Any idea why I'm being told it's almost full.
PS: I have backup of two (2) 320GB LeCie external HDs

I don't know why it is saying that, but that utility is not really doing anything for you. All it does is is erase the bits that the OS has already declared "free."
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=DiskUtility/10.5/en/duh1010.html
Are you running Adobe Photoshop? If you are, how big is the swap disk?

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Startup disc is almost full

A window pops up and says that my "startup disc is almost full". What does this mean and how can i fix it?

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
See my FAQ*:
http://www.macmaps.com/diskfull.html
Make sure your hard drive never becomes more than 85% full. That's an arbitrary number most have found to significantly degrade Mac OS X performance.
* Links to my pages may give me compensation.

Hello mac community! My startup disc is almost full and I need to make space. What sort of stuff gets stored as "other"? once i know this, I can make some space. many thanks susan

Hi
My mac air startup disc is almost full. What does mac store as "other"? this category is taking up more than half the space on the disc
many thanks susan

For more on "Other" and very helpful tips:
http://pondini.org/OSX/DiskSpace.html
http://pondini.org/OSX/LionStorage.html
Hope this helps.
1. Empty Trash.
    http://support.apple.com/kb/PH10677
2. Delete "Recovered Messages", if any.
    Hold the option key down and click "Go" menu in the Finder menu bar.
    Select "Library" from the dropdown.
    Library > Mail > V2 > Mailboxes
    Delete "Recovered Messages", if any.
    Empty Trash. Restart.
3. Repair Disk
    Steps 1 through 7
    http://support.apple.com/kb/PH5836

I got my first macbook air about a year ago. awhile ago i started getting these notifications saying "your startup disk is almost full" or "your startup disk is full". i was wondering how to get more space on my startup disk, if that is possible?

i got my first macbook air about a year ago. awhile ago i started getting these notifications saying "your startup disk is almost full" or "your startup disk is full". i was wondering how to get more space on my startup disk, if that is possible?

Freeing Up Space on The Hard Drive
1. See Lion's 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.

What do i do if Your startup disk is almost full?

what do i do if Your startup disk is almost full?

About “Other”
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT6047
Try these steps.
1. Startup in Safe Mode
    http://support.apple.com/kb/PH14204
2. Increase Disk Space
    http://support.apple.com/kb/PH13806?viewlocale=en_US
3. Delete "Recovered Messages", if any.
    Hold the option key down and click "Go" menu in the Finder menu bar.
    Select "Library" from the dropdown.
    Library > Mail > V2 > Mailboxes
    Delete "Recovered Messages", if any.
    Empty Trash. Restart.
4. Repair Disk
    Steps 1 through 7
    http://support.apple.com/kb/PH5836
5. Local Time Machine Snap Shots
    http://support.apple.com/kb/PH14329
6. Delete old iOS Devices Backup.
    iTunes > Preferences > Devices
    Highlight the old Backups , press “Delete Backup” and then “OK”.
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4946?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
7. Re-index Macintosh HD
   System Preferences > Spotlight > Privacy
   http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2409
If this does not help, you have to move iPhoto, iMovie and iTunes data to an external HD.

I have a mac notebook and time capsule. I got a message that my startup disc is almost full. not sure where to go from here. if i delete files will they still be on the time capsule.

I have a Mac notebook and back up to time capsule. I Got a message that my statup disc is almost full and I need to delete files. Not sure which files it means and will i lose my files if they are saved on the time capsule.

Visit
The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on freeing up space on the hard drive. Also see Freeing space on your Mac OS X startup disk.
About TM "Backup Drive is Full"
Alert TM only deletes older files if they have been deleted from the source and when TM needs space on the backup drive for a new incremental backup. Time Machine "thins" it's backups; hourly backups over 24 hours old, except the first of the day; those "daily" backups over 30 days old, except the first of the week. The weeklies are kept as long as there's room.
So, how long a backup file remains depends on how long it was on your Mac before being deleted, assuming you do at least one backup per day. If it was there for at least 24 hours, it will be kept for at least a month. If it was there for at least a week, it will be kept as long as there's room.
Note, that on a Time Capsule the sparsebundle grows in size as needed, but doesn't shrink. Thus, from the user's view of the TC it appears that no space has been freed, although there may be space in the sparsebundle.
Once TM has found it cannot free up enough space for a new backup it reports the disk is full. You can either erase the backup drive and start your backups anew or replace the drive with a larger drive.

"Your Startup disk is almost full" How do you fix this?

Someone please help! More and more frequently my Mac Mini (Mac OS X Version 10.5.8) say that "My startup disk is almost full" So I deleted everything non critical to the maintenance and function of my Mac Mini but still it tells me that my "Start up disk is almost full" Also some important information. I tried installing Boot camp to my mac but halfway though the installation something went wrong. I took out Windows XP (the program i was trying to place on Boot Camp) and a message saying "No bootable device" appears. It appears everytime I try to turn my Mac on unless i hold down the command key during startup which then gives me the option to select "Hard Drive". Also some applications Ex. iTunes will refuse to startup at all and say "iTunes cannot be opened. An unknown error has occurred (13014). I do not know what (13014) is and I cannot find it anywhere. Can someone *PLEASE HELP ME!* I think the problem can be solved by getting the failed Bootcamp program on but I am not totally sure.

OK, so you have one of the first Intel Mac Mini's that came out. I also have one of those models but now has a bad logic board.
What about the other part of the question above?
Do you have 2 Hard Drive icons on your desktop still?
Or just the one?
If you have 2 icons, then you still have 2 partitions...
If you only have the one HD icon, then your HD is only 60 GB in size and you are running out of room as you only have 8.6 GB left which is getting minimal...
You may be running out of HD space as it appears you only have a 60 GB Hard Drive.
You may have a lot of music, movies, photos, etc., that are taking up a lot of space.
If that is the case, I would suggest buying an external Hard Drive to store your music, movies, photos, and other items like that on which will free up your internal drive.
I have an external 500 GB Hard Drive attached to my Mac MIni... This gives me a lot of extra room to grow and I also have it partitioned so I can use Time Machine to backup my internal HD...
If you don't already have some kind of backup, an external drive is one good way to have a backup.

My startup disc is almost full??

I am getting a message stating that my Start-up disc is almost full. I appear to have only 350 Mb available out 320Gb. I have no photos or videos on the device. What must I do?

You must move or delete files from your internal drive. Either Move them to an external drive or Move them to the trash then empty the trash.

Getting "Your Startup disk is almost full" on 1st use of new Macbook Pro

This is a brand new 13" Macbook Pro with a 320 GB drive and 2 GB Ram.
As a test of the new machine, I just captured video from a video camera into iMovie - the uploaded file used 19 GB - I did a couple other tests that created files of just under 2GB each, and went to export the 19GB file, which would have used another 19 GB, when I got the "... almost full" message. Finder reported I had around 50GB free from the original 320 GB drive, which didn't make any sense - considering all my activities today should have taken up around 50 GB of space.
I loaded WhatSize on the machine, and proceeded to find out what's going on, and "WhatSize" reported I have 250 GB free (more like what I'd expect). I checked the Finder, and it now says 250 GB free - I know Apple has been having other issues with the 500 GB and 320 GB drives - has anyone seen the problem I'm having??

Yeah, it's big, but given the size of what you were dealing with, it's not astronomical. It could have been invisible (especially given that it was temporary), so it would not show up in finder... or it could have been erased before you started hunting it down.

Options now that Startup disc is almost full?

I have a Macbook Pro, running Mac OS X 10.7.4.
It just ran through its 3 year waranty period in January but not before having its entire back screen replaced as well as the 2 x 2Gb ram cards intergrated into the motherboard all due to a video issue. So all in all, seems like a new laptop aside from that there is 5 Gb left on the hard disc (out of 320.)
Still somewhat new to tech stuff, I have backed everything up to our 2 TB TIme Capsule. Additionally, I had an external drive which I backed everything up to again.
So, what can I do with this hard disc? I fear that it might soon just die off. Is a solid state hard drive an easy replacement? Should I just dump files off the hard disc since its nearly full and I have dual back ups?
A friend of mine mentioned something about NAS but the phone reception was tough.
PLease share some advice and wisdom. Thank you!

suggestion: install a larger hard drive if you feel that your hard drive is about to fail.
go to owc to see what size suits your needs. a 10 minute install if you're technically capable.
cloning your new hard drive is quite easy but a little time consuming. so expect to spend a minimum of one hour or more depending on how much data you wish to clone or transfer.
good luck.

Startup disc is almost full - warning

I'm getting this warning so I purchased and installed a 1 tb sata drive in bay 2. I thought that I would now have the additional space but continue to get the warning. I see the drive in the system profiler but apparently it doesn't automatically carry over. Reading through the forums I see that it's recommended to use the bay 1 drive for apps and 2 for media. How do I move my media files to the second drive if this is the case? Is there something else I'm missing? Help!!
Thanks,
Richard

How large is your system drive?
How much free space is reported?
Do you have at least two backup drives already?
Download and look through the pdf for SuperDuper $29 for backups and clone the system.
What type of files and media etc do you have?
And yes most people do use all four internal drive bays for system, data, editing, backup - but always have one or more external (and off line) backup drives.
And this assumes it is working properly, no freezes or crashes, and in good working order. If not, even more important to backup and repair. And for repairs, definitely invest in 3rd party utility (Alsoft, MicroMat, Prosoft, or something).
For now, I would just "clone" your original drive to the new 1TB.
You can use SuperDuper free for full copy; you can use Disk Utility - Restore also for making the copy. That way you know you have one good full backup.
I hope it is not Seagate, there are STILL problems with Seagate firmware with their drives.
You could just copy video, photo library, but don't delete anything until you know everything is working, and I would still want a 3rd drive.
System
Media
Backup #1
Backup #2
Clone means it is bootable. Test that it is. Boot from it. Insure it works properly. Pull the original for safe keeping.
The third drive could be backup system. Also useful to have. Before applying any updates, BACKUP your system and run disk repairs.
OWC MacSales has 640GB WD for $69. Great fast little drives. 1TB for $95 (Green) and up (RE3, Black, others). There are also 1.5 and 2TB WD models. So very affordable.

Getting a Message "startup disc is almost full"

What does that mean? Is this the main Hard Drive?
Explain to me (like I'm a first time computer user) what I need to do please.
Thank you

You can move some of your iPhoto pictures to a new library on an external drive, if you want to, and that should free up some space, too. To do that, follow these directions from iPhoto Help, substituting "copy" for "move":
Your iPhoto library is located in your Pictures folder. The library contains photos you have imported into your photo library and any albums, slideshows, books, calendars, or cards you’ve created using iPhoto.
WARNING: To avoid permanently deleting or corrupting your iPhoto library, do not attempt to alter the contents of this file. It is a good idea, however, to routinely back up your iPhoto library to a DVD or external hard disk so you have a copy in case your photos become lost or corrupted for any reason.
To move your iPhoto Library:
Quit iPhoto.
Move your iPhoto Library to a new location on your computer.
IMPORTANT: If you’ve created multiple photo libraries, be sure to move only the library currently displayed when iPhoto is open. If you want to move a photo library other than the one you’re currently working on, you first need to switch to it.
Open iPhoto.
Click Choose Library in the dialog that appears.
Navigate to where you moved the library and select it.
Click Open.
Now you can delete some of your photos from your original library, thus freeing up some much-needed space. Good luck!

HT3680 I get the message 'your startup disc us full' at random time point I'm trying to import photos to iPhoto and get'iPhoto cannot import your photos because there is not enough free space on the volume containing your iPhoto library'.

I get the message 'your startup disc us full' at random time points. I'm trying to import photos to iPhoto and get'iPhoto cannot import your photos because there is not enough free space on the volume containing your iPhoto library'. This is a new Macbook Pro and all my files were transferred from my old Macbook.

What size internal drive do you have and how much of it is used?

My start up disc is almost full. How do I make more room?

I keep getting this message that my Startuo disc is almost full. Please delete some files to make more room. I have deleted several files, but a few weeks later I get the same message again. Is there something else I should be doing or checking?
I own a MAC OS X version 10.5.8
Processor: 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory: 2GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
Please help.
Thanks

There is no magic bullet. You need to delete stuff off the startup drive.
The biggest hard drive space hogs are videos, images and music. The good news is that all of these can - and probably should - be moved to an external drive. So my advice would be to get yourself an external hard drive, connect it to your Macbook, format it correctly, move what you can to that drive, and the ERASE them off the startup.
Good luck.

I keep getting the message that my start up disc is almost full, what can I do?

I keep getting the message that my start up disc is almost full. What can I do?

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 restart the computer. 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 the 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.
When Time Machine backs up a portable Mac, some of the free space will be used to make local snapshots, which are backup copies of recently deleted files. 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. If you followed bad advice to disable local snapshots by running a shell command, you may have ended up with a lot of data in the Other category. Ask for instructions in that case.
See this support article for some simple ways to free up storage space.
You can more effectively use a tool such as OmniDiskSweeper (ODS) or GrandPerspective (GP) to explore the 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. Note that ODS only works with OS X 10.8 or later. If you're running an older OS version, use GP.
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 or GP 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 the app you downloaded in the Applications folder as usual. Quit it if it's running.
Triple-click anywhere in the corresponding 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
sudo /Applications/GrandPerspective.app/Contents/MacOS/GrandPerspective
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 by pressing 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. It may take a few minutes for the app to finish scanning.
I don't recommend that you make a habit of doing this. Don't delete anything 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 the app, quit it and also quit Terminal.

Your startup disc is almost full - yet 101GB free !!!

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