Intel Mac :: Why Does Disk Say It's Full When It's Clearly Not
Jun 26, 2012
Tried to backup my 1TB iMac (OSX 10.6.8) hard drive with a 1TB backup disk using Time Machine.Â
Backup failed because the Time Machine backup was too large for the 1TB backup disk.Â
Indeed, the iMac's disk says it's nearly got 1TB of content on it. However, when I actually search for files, I can only locate about 300GB of files on the disk ...Â
Why is the disk tell me there's another 600 GB on my hard drive that I can't see? Is it really there or have I got a faulty disk? If it is there, how do I get rid of it so I can backup?Â
Info:
iMac (20-inch Early 2006), Mac OS X (10.6.8), 1 TB hard drive
I have an Imac with Snow Leopard but my startup disk is full; I tried the System Disk to start it up and I also ran the disk utility but nothing. Any ideas on how to acces the hard drive to delete some files and free up space for the startup? Or what should I do to get it to start?
Info:iMac (21.5-inch Late 2009), Mac OS X (10.6.1)
I ran omnidisk sweeper and it shows I only have 39GB of used space. However, when I check the info on the startup disk it shows that I only have 300mb-5GB left depending on the day. I have deleted all unnecessary files that I can. I can't really find anything else to delete. I only have a couple programs installed that are pretty basic like word and excel.
Info: iMac (21.5-inch Mid 2011), Mac OS X (10.7.3)
Bought this iMac not quite a year ago. I had very few files - some pictures and music mostly. Tried to update ANYTHING and kept receiving "start up disk is almost full". Burned pictures to disc and deleted them. Also, accidentally deleted all music as well. I am still receiving the error message. I called Apple and removing media files was their suggestion as well. I have no idea what to do next - I have no "tech savvy" Processor 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5Memory 8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3Software Mac OS X Lion 10.7.2 (11C74)
Info: iMac (21.5-inch Mid 2011), Mac OS X (10.7.2)
keep getting message start up disk almost full. Got rid of garage band. Have no moves on mac.Just word for mac and documents created on word. Have never used for photos, music and keep nothing except documents. Says 232 GB used on Hardrive and only have 13 mb left but has fluctuated in last 3 days from 600+ MB to now 13 MB. Have emptied the trash and all downloads numerous times?
My 2009 mac has been telling me the start up disk is full so I thought to save iphoto and itunes to an external drive. But I have been advised to upgrade the os first as I am still on snow leopard. Before I buy lion (I can't wait for mountain lion) can I upgrade while the start up disk is full? Or will it not let me (it won't do the updates that are coming through at the moment)? If I save iphoto and itunes to the external drive first will I still be able to access them/ properly?
I can't update my software as i keep getting the message that my start up disk is full - (mackintosh HD 1TB SATA disk) When i click on 'about this mac' - storage, almost every bit of space is taken up by 'other'. Hardly any audio, photos, video etc. I am a complete novice when it comes to things like this and thought it virtually impossible to fill a disk of this capacity!Â
I have had my imac for 8Â months with 500gb space. It is saying my start up disk is full and when I check where the space is allocated 435 is in mail. I have tried deleting mailboex( I do have 4, 2 are IMAP and 2 normal) But the beachballs just roll.
I have an iMac that is less than a year old and I have very few applications installed other than what comes on it. I recently received a message that my startup disk was almost full. I keep all of my media on an external drive, have an apple time machine that stores the backups. I purchased the Space Gremlin and there is nothing on the hard drive that shows it's taking up that much space. The 500 GB hard drive shows only 11 GB free.
Info: iMac (21.5-inch Mid 2011), Mac OS X (10.7.4)
I turned on my iMac (20in 2008 model) and after the apple logo appears, I get a gray screen that says "process 1 exec of sbin/launched failed". I'm pretty sure it's because my hard disk is full. I tried booting up in safe mode, but my wireless keyboard battery died. I put in new batteries, but I need to get to the desktop to reconnect the keyboard. I tried using a usb wired keyboard, but it doesn't power up until I'm on the desktop screen. I don't know what else to do. I need a keyboard to boot to safe mode, but I need to be fully booted to work the keyboard.
Our iMac running OS X 10.5.8 has several problems, some of which may be related.Â
1. The hard disk is close to full. I am not sure this is the root problem. I would like to either find junk files that I can delete (sort of like disk cleanup in Windows) or copy some old, but possibly still useful, files to a CD or an external hard drive, but I have not been able to do so.Â
2. I cannot connect via WiFi to my home LAN. If I try to connect, I get an "invalid password" error message, even though I am using the same password that other devices are using to connect successfully.Â
3. I cannot open iTunes because an unknown error occurs (13014). Â
The problems started when we tried syncing an iPad and the process would not stop. Then there was a temporary power outage. Â
We have also recently tried adding a Time Capsule to our home network. I am not sure that it is configured properly. I want to continue to use our older router for WiFi but use the Time Capsule for backing up Macs.Â
I have taken everything off my desk top and backed it up and it's still saying the same thing! I've also emptied the trash. I get it when I try to use Photoshop.
My iMac does not start up as usual. I now get a ' start up disk is full. You need to make space available on your start up disk by deleting files' message. Â I am able to key my log on password however I just get the purple galaxy screen with no desktop.Â
If I try to use the keyboard I get a tone when pressing the keys. Â
Has worked perfectly well up until I got this dusk full message. Â
Every time I try to export a movie in iMovie or burn a disk in iDVD an error message pops up and says that my startup disk is full. So I bought an external hard drive and backed up my mac using Time Machine. Now I want to delete everything off my mac's internal Hard Drive and use my external hard drive so I can empty my disk. Does this make sense? If so will you please tell me how to do so.
Yesterday we starting getting "Disk is Full" errors on our 1TB iMac. We have approximately 100GB of music, photos, etc., as well as the operating system and Office. It does not seem as if this should fill up the disk. In looking at the activity monitor, it shows that 999GB is in use, with 1GB free (approximately). While I was watching the activity monitor, it went from 1.7 GB free down to 1GB, while nothing was being (intentionally) downloaded. Virusbarrier did a full sweep and returned no threats; spotlight turned up no files added or modified yesterday to help identify where the space is being used.
My MacBook pro keeps telling me my startup disk is full. I've tried searching and browsing to figure out where my startup disk is so I can figure out how it got full and delete stuff... but I can't find it.
I ran SuperDuper last night and the backup failed with an unknown error. After, Spotlight didn't find files. I rebooted and at the login screen was given the error message 'backup disc full, delete some files' - problem is, OS X won't boot beyond the starfield screen, so there's no way of deleting files or running the system. I took the drive out and put it in a USB caddy on another machine and ran Disk Utility - it said repairs were needed, so I did this. However, putting it back into the MBP nothing has changed, it still won't boot and insists the disc is full - there is over 180GB free! (I can see this when I mount it on another machine.)
I've sold my old Macbook pro and bought a shiny new one. I want to take a clone of the disk on my old one in case there's anything I've forgotten to copy over.
