Something keeps eating up my HDD space..

[Lavezzi]

I've got a problem that is really getting on my nerves now and I have no idea what is causing it.

Basically I will have switched on my MBP with around 2-3GB of HDD space free, and after working on it for around 2-3 hours with applications that shouldn't demand any space whatsoever (Firefox, Safari, Preview), I get that little OS X error that tells me I have limited space left.

As I mentioned before I have no idea why this is happening. Has anyone experienced anything similar, as I'm desperate for a solution. I can't keep deleting important personal files every few hours in order to keep the system running.

help!

 

[spinnerlys]

That is most likely the swapping process, when Mac OS X writes contents of the RAM to the HDD in order to make room inside the RAM for other content.

If you have the money, get an external HDD to store some less important files on or even backup your internal HDD, as it is recommended to have 10 to 20% free HDD space (20 to 40GB free on a 200GB HDD).

ALso take a look at Disk Inventory X, OmniDiskSweeper or GrandPerspective to see where your HDD space went to.

 

[Lavezzi]

That is most likely the swapping process, when Mac OS X writes contents of the RAM to the HDD in order to make room inside the RAM for other content.

If you have the money, get an external HDD to store some less important files on or even backup your internal HDD, as it is recommended to have 10 to 20% free HDD space (20 to 40GB free on a 200GB HDD).

ALso take a look at Disk Inventory X, OmniDiskSweeper or GrandPerspective to see where your HDD space went to.

I would have thought that 4GB ram would be enough to cater for my simple needs, and it's never all used up. For example I still have 2GB free right now.

I have an external hard drive which works as my time machine. The problem isn't that I've got a huge amount of files I don't think - I'm only on a 128GB SSD so I don't really use it for storage anyway!

I've been using Disk Inventory X to delete files I don't need anymore but like I said it's going to come to a point where I can't do that anymore.

 

[spinnerlys]

As I wrote before, it is recommended to have 10 to 20% free HDD space, you only have 1.6% free HDD (or SSD) space. The OS needs free space to write temporary files, be it swap or the caches or something else. Maybe invest in a bigger SSD/HDD (Momentus XT perhaps) or move some files off the internal SSD onto an external 2.5" USB HDD.

I once had a 27.8GB HDD in my iBook and I sometimes had less than 500MB free and the slow down was incredible.

Either live with that message or move 11 to 24 GB off your SSD.

 

[The Beatles]

I just commented on a post like this. Your computer needs at least 25 gigs of free space on the hard drive. otherwise its gonna slow down.

its good that you have 4 gigs of ram. now give your computer some extra disk space. my suggestion of 25 gigs is what i had luck with. i recommend more. you dont want to only have 25 gigs left on your main hard drive, thats basically maxed out. no room for files.


you say you have 2 to 3 gigs of HD space left, thats a system thats in serious need of expansion. im surprised its still running.

 

[cube]

According to Micromat, if an HFS+ disk is more than 85% full, it can get corrupted.

 

[maflynn]

According to Micromat, if an HFS+ disk is more than 85% full, it can get corrupted.

Of course Micromat is also selling a defragging tool, so you need to take some of that with a grain of salt.

 

[cube]

Of course Micromat is also selling a defragging tool, so you need to take some of that with a grain of salt.

TechTool Pro also repairs disks. If the statement is true and people upgrade their drives instead of corrupting them, it means less sales.

I would say people buy these tools when the worst happens, not to defrag.