Start up disk is full

**Giaguara** · December 28th, 2009, 05:23 PM

1.2 GB of mails isn't the main thing - there has to be other stuff in it. What is the total disk size on your Mac? The recommendation is to keep always at least 15 % free, no matter what size. So for a 100 GB that would translate to 15 GB free etc.
Do you have lots of downloads, videos etc? Get an external drive and move the files you don't need constant access to there. Or depending on the Mac model and disk size, getting a bigger hard drive will most likely make sense too.
Freeing 1.2 GB from mails will not do the magic here.

**cshironaka** · December 29th, 2009, 03:54 PM

This is the info from the computer that I am using.

Machine Model: Power Macintosh G3 Series
CPU Type: PowerPC 750 (2.2)
Number Of CPUs: 1
CPU Speed: 350 MHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 1 MB
Memory: 320 MB
Bus Speed: 100 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 1.1.1f1

The hard drive is around 5 GB I think.

We don't have any big things downloaded on this computer. We download pictures and scan documents, but every week I delete and empty trash.

Thanks!

**MisterMe** · December 29th, 2009, 05:47 PM

Originally Posted by cshironaka

This is the info from the computer that I am using. ...

The hard drive is around 5 GB I think. ...

OK. Your boot drive has a total capacity of 5 GB. This is less than the capacity of most new iPhones. It is inadequate for MacOS X and grossly inadequate for any version past MacOS X 10.2.

Quite frankly, I don't understand the point of your most recent post. You have already been told that you need a higher capacity hard drive. Your new post reinforces the advice given to you by Giaguara and me.

You can back-up the entire contents of your internal drive to a single [8 GB] USB thumb drive. Do so. Take your computer to a local Mac technician or to a friend with a proven track record working with Macs. Have him to replace your 5 GB drive with one that is at least 100 GB. Then move the contents of your old drive to your new one.

There is nothing more to be said until you get this done.

**cshironaka** · December 29th, 2009, 10:46 PM

MisterMe,

Thanks for your response. I really feel that you are talking down to me and I don't appreciate that. We don't have a local computer tech that deals with Mac computers, if there were I would not have tried to get answers from a forum. The nearest Mac tech is 100 miles away and that is not stretching the truth one bit. I'm sorry that you feel that I have not taken your advice from the very beginning, but it isn't as simple as you make it sound given that I am not in a place that has someone versed in Mac computers. No one in this small community uses Macs and I have no friend that is a proven mac almost tech. Please be considerate to those of us that are not versed in computers and were hoping for a different answer.

To the others that have responded to this post, I appreciate you and your responses and thank you for your consideration to a person that is not at all computer minded.

**djackmac** · December 29th, 2009, 10:55 PM

Then get an external HD like was already mentioned. Everybody has said everything that can be done. What else could you possibly be looking for? The only other option after you clear out some space is to do an archive & install. Then go into the options an deselect everything but the essential system software. After this is done get rid of the previous system folder an then maybe you will only have essential system files taking up 1 GB of hard drive space.

**cshironaka** · December 30th, 2009, 12:16 AM

I will tell the owner of the business what you have suggested. You asked what else I could be possibly looking for, what I was looking for was to be able to clear something off this computer without having to get another hard drive of some sort. As I stated before this has happened once before and once we cleaned off the emails, we gained most of our space back. I was hoping that someone would be able to tell me what I could do to do that again, but apparently there isn't a way or someone would have suggested it.

Thanks!

**ElDiabloConCaca** · December 30th, 2009, 09:06 AM

On a 5GB drive, 1.3GB of emails is a significant amount. You mentioned that emails were the culprit before, and they may just be so again.

Do exactly what you did before -- clear the 1.3GB of emails off the machine. You can do this via Mail, or, as I think you mentioned before, contact the ISP and have them remove the emails from the server.

I gotta stick my hand up in the air and vote for an external hard drive and/or a larger internal drive, too. Managing free disk space is the user's responsibility -- you cannot simply let a drive fill up to the point of being completely full. This is not the responsibility of the computer, nor the operating system. It is solely up to the user or users of the computer to ensure that things run smoothly, and that entails drive maintenance. Someone needs to keep an eye on the disk space from time to time, possibly performing maintenance and/or backing up unwanted/unneeded files to a different location...

...otherwise, we'll just keep this thread active and see you back here in a few when your drive fills up again.

**nixgeek** · December 30th, 2009, 09:25 AM

Well, most operating systems do let you know when you've reached a critical low. However, it is up to the user to do the work of clearing out the space. I know that Windows will do what it can to assist, as does the latest Ubuntu (not sure about other Linux distros), but it can only do so much. I haven't played with anything beyond Tiger to any extent, so I don't know if those also do what they can to assist in freeing up space. Hoping to change that little problem soon, though...