Hard Disk/Startup Disk full

[Madelynn]

I've got a 250 gb iMac G5. I've used about 70 gb of HD space and last night while I was watching a DVD I got two separate popups for separate applications, one saying that my startup disk was full and stuff needed to be deleted. Then another later, don't remember which app, but I hadn't opened it and said that my hard drive was full. This morning I got another one from Entourage saying that it was closing because I had no HD space. Funny cause I'm still only using about 70 gb, I didn't open entourage today, or ever for that matter. I did a virus scan (even if it was unlikely) and came back all clean, emptied my trash, etc...

Any idea what is going on? I've also been having problems with Safari since about November when I updated it. It frequently closes with an error message or freezes, although that doesn't happen as often as the first.

So anyone have any idea what exactly is happening and what I should do to fix it?

 

[yellow]

Open Terminal.app.

Type in:

df

And hit Return. Post the results here.

 

[hobbbz]

also empty your trash. (have to cover all the bases)

 

[Madelynn]

Filesystem              512-blocks      Used     Avail Capacity  Mounted on
[COLOR="Red"]/dev/disk0s2             489562928 161903192 327147736    33%    /[/COLOR]
devfs                          194       194         0   100%    /dev
fdesc                            2         2         0   100%    /dev
<volfs>                       1024      1024         0   100%    /.vol
automount -nsl [186]             0         0         0   100%    /Network
automount -fstab [191]           0         0         0   100%    /automount/Servers
automount -static [191]          0         0         0   100%    /automount/static
/dev/disk1                14493456  14493456         0   100%    /Volumes/VERONICA_MARS_Y3_D2
chrissy-andersons-computer:~ chrissyanderson$

ETA: hobbz

Original post

also empty your trash. (have to cover all the bases)

I did a virus scan (even if it was unlikely) and came back all clean, emptied my trash, etc...

 

[yellow]

As you said, your startup disk is definitely not full.

Does this issue follow you if you try logging in as another user? (create a test user if need be)

 

[Madelynn]

As you said, your startup disk is definitely not full.

Does this issue follow you if you try logging in as another user? (create a test user if need be)

No dice.

 

[yellow]

No dice.

Same problem? Odd problem, this. Not one I've encountered before.

I think your best bet is to boot from your Installer DVD, run Disk Utilities to Repair the disk AND repair the permissions. This will repair the permissions to an outdated set (ones that were relevant when the OS was installed), but it's a safe starting point. Make sure you check the SMART status of your hard drive.

Once you're done with all that and the OS is back running from the hard drive, do a permissions repair from Disk Utility.

Still complaining about a full startup disk?

 

[Madelynn]

Same problem? Odd problem, this. Not one I've encountered before.

I think your best bet is to boot from your Installer DVD, run Disk Utilities to Repair the disk AND repair the permissions. This will repair the permissions to an outdated set (ones that were relevant when the OS was installed), but it's a safe starting point. Make sure you check the SMART status of your hard drive.

Once you're done with all that and the OS is back running from the hard drive, do a permissions repair from Disk Utility.

Still complaining about a full startup disk?

I meant it's not having the same problem. Should I still do that?

 

[yellow]

Oh.. wait.. confused now.

When you log in as another user, you do NOT have the same issues, right?

Is that issue reproducible when you are logged in as your "normal" user?

 

[Madelynn]

Oh.. wait.. confused now.

When you log in as another user, you do NOT have the same issues, right?

Is that issue reproducible when you are logged in as your "normal" user?

I don't have the same issues when logged in as a test user, only myself. Although, I haven't had any problems yet. I haven't gotten another error thus far today. But I've also only been home about 15 minutes since I last posted.

Thanks for any help.