Running out of space on start up disc - recovered on reboot

[myotis]

On my Macbook Pro (Tiger) I suddenly got an error message about running out of space on the start up disc (woking on a word 2008 document). Checking suggested I had only 124MB left.

A couple of days earlier I had 60gb free. Deleting a few gb of programs reduced the space to zero!!

I couldn't work out were the space was being used but as most programs were now refusing to work. I just shut down.

On switching back on, the HD space had come back and I had my 60gb of free space back.

Has anyone any idea what migh have happened and whether its a sign of a problem I should try and sort out, or is it just "one of those things".

Many thanks

Graham

 

[scienide09]

Could be one of those things where a log file or temporary file got out of hand. It happens.

If the shutdown/restart worked for you, I wouldn't worry about it. If it happens again, then you should poke around to find out what's using up all the space.

 

[myotis]

Thanks, that was my instinct, but being newish to Macs, I didn't want to risk ignoring a well known warning sign.

Graham