Well Im pretty sure this is a stupid question but being brand new to the mac world I thought I would just ask. I just recently got my macbook (60gb hard drive, 512mb memory) no more than 3 months ago. I recently put all my pictures (about 800), my mp3s (about 2400), and my tv shows as well (about 20 episodes of 30min shows) transfered from my windows based desktop to my new macbook, I also have like 5 or 6 very small word documents as well. Anyway I am now getting this message that my start up disk is full. First off...could this be right? I was just shocked that my laptop was already full. I checked my disk usage in the activity monitor program and it says: Space Utilized:55.41 GB Space Free:166.68 MB, so according to this I figure that it must be full. I currently have all my videos and mp3s on my ipod and it says that I have 27.8 gb capacity with 16.3gb avaliable. I have my photos in a folder on my desktop (which I eventually plan on putting in iPhoto) and when I "get info" for the folder it says that it has 1.48gb. For some reason things just are not adding up for me. So I just thought I would post this to see what some experienced mac users thought. Last but not least if my laptop really is full what are my options? I know this was long winded but I just wanted everyone to have all the details. Thanks in advance for the help.
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Start Up Disk Full...HELP!
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For a start, you should check the size of your iTunes Library at the bottom of your iTunes window, not on the iPod: when you transfer mp3s to the iPod, they get re-encoded to 128kbps, so it'll look much smaller if some of the originals are lossless or a high bitrate. I wouldn't be surprised if the same applied to videos.
Yep...you're full. 28 GB of iTunes stuff plus about 20 GB for OS X and all the bundled software and support files gets you most of the way there.
Your options include deleting some stuff, and getting a new drive. The hard drive is very easy to swap out on a MacBook, so I'd recommend getting a nice big SATA drive (depending on how much you can afford) and pop that into your MacBook. Also get an enclosure and you can put your 60 GB drive in there as an external...once you install OS X on the new drive, you can easily migrate everything over from the old drive.
Your options include deleting some stuff, and getting a new drive. The hard drive is very easy to swap out on a MacBook, so I'd recommend getting a nice big SATA drive (depending on how much you can afford) and pop that into your MacBook. Also get an enclosure and you can put your 60 GB drive in there as an external...once you install OS X on the new drive, you can easily migrate everything over from the old drive.
Thanks for the quick replies. On the bottom of my iTunes it says 8.94gb. Also Just to let you know I would really like to have everything(music, tv shows, photos, and documents) I have on my laptop without the use of external drives. So I take it my best bet would be to get a new hard drive? If this is the case where would I go to get one and what would it cost? Also is this a common procedure...something i could do myself? Any and all advice is well appreciated from this mac newbie. Thanks again.
Get yourself an external firewire drive -- Seagate 250 Gb plus a nice aluminum case won't set you back any more than a 160 Gb internal.
Then you can back up your OS, have a bootable emergency drive, Back up all your files, and STILL have about 180 Gb to fill with movies.
For the immediate future, get Monolingual or DeLocalizer (from www.versiontracker.com) and delete the language resources you aren't using. That'll gain you about 1 Gb. You can selectively throw away printer resources from your Library for printer brands you don't (or will likely never) own.
Then you can back up your OS, have a bootable emergency drive, Back up all your files, and STILL have about 180 Gb to fill with movies.
For the immediate future, get Monolingual or DeLocalizer (from www.versiontracker.com) and delete the language resources you aren't using. That'll gain you about 1 Gb. You can selectively throw away printer resources from your Library for printer brands you don't (or will likely never) own.
Although it should be extended to all the other iPods, but that's for another time...
Well, that's one way to solve your space crunch!
It will work...just be sure you're willing to spend that much for it. You can save $100 or so by going with a 160 GB drive. Or as CanadaRAM you can go with an external drive solution and get much more bang for your buck. But it's of course up to you whether you want to have everything onboard at all times or if you can leave some stuff on an external.
If you do want to go the big internal drive, OWC also sells some nice external enclosures to make your current drive a small external...their Mercury line of enclosures is very well-liked.
The price of that doesnt bother me (but if there is a cheaper product that would do the same thing please let me know). I just want to make sure I am buying the right thing to solve my problem. And yes I would like to have everyhting on board at all times. Also is this something I can install myself or would I need to get someone to install it for me?
Okay...in particular there's the Hitachi 160 GB that has been getting good reviews from MacBook owners, and it's only $189. But as you've probably seen from browsing their site any of the SATA drives on the right side of this page will work for you. Seagate and Hitachi are my favorite hard drive manufacturers. Seagates come with an industry-best five-year warranty, while Hitachi also gives good quality, usually at a slightly lower price point.
As for their 2.5" SATA enclosures for your other drive, this is the only one I'm seeing on their site...it's a bit pricey, but has great specs.
The actual process of swapping the drive on the MacBook is very easy. Here is Apple's guide. Once the new drive is in, boot from your Tiger install disc, format the hard drive using Disk Utility, connect your old drive/new enclosure, and migrate everything over to the new drive.
As for their 2.5" SATA enclosures for your other drive, this is the only one I'm seeing on their site...it's a bit pricey, but has great specs.
The actual process of swapping the drive on the MacBook is very easy. Here is Apple's guide. Once the new drive is in, boot from your Tiger install disc, format the hard drive using Disk Utility, connect your old drive/new enclosure, and migrate everything over to the new drive.
You would connect the external to your computer via Firewire. The enclosure I linked to includes the necessary cables to connect it to your computer.
thanks wildcowboy and everyone else for there quick replies. I do not know what I would do without this forum. I think what I am going to do is just install a bigger hardrive that way I can have everything on my laptop. Once again thanks to all who responded.
OK well I just recently purchased from www.OWC.com these two items for my space crunch problem. I just want to make sure I will have everything I need. I ordered 1 160GB 2.5" Hitachi Travelstar 5K160 5400RPM SATA Notebook Drive with 8MB Cache to place in my macbook and to use my current 60gb hard drive that came with my macbook as an external drive I ordered 1 OWC Mercury On-The-Go 2.5" FW800/USB2.0 Enclosure Kit for SATA 2.5" Drive. Is there anything else I am going to need? And any tips or advice for a newbie switching out a hard drive?
I think I had a similar problem.
I had a log file which didn't close and just kept growing until my hard disk was full. (13GB).
Restart your Mac, this will stop the file from growing any bigger.
Go to http://www.derlien.com/ and download Disk Inventory X. Run the software and it gives a display of your HD in pretty colours. On mine, there was an obvious huge file, in my case it was called windowserver_last.log.
I got someone to delete it using the Terminal stuff. I don't pretend how to use that stuff (I'm sure the super techies here will help), he just deleted the file, everything has been fine since.
I hope this helps.
I had a log file which didn't close and just kept growing until my hard disk was full. (13GB).
Restart your Mac, this will stop the file from growing any bigger.
Go to http://www.derlien.com/ and download Disk Inventory X. Run the software and it gives a display of your HD in pretty colours. On mine, there was an obvious huge file, in my case it was called windowserver_last.log.
I got someone to delete it using the Terminal stuff. I don't pretend how to use that stuff (I'm sure the super techies here will help), he just deleted the file, everything has been fine since.
I hope this helps.
This sounds like a terrific setup. Just follow the instructions for the MacBook swapping...it's very easy. Format it while booted from your install disc, pop your old drive into your enclosure, and clone it onto your new drive. Post here if you run into any difficulties.
Adding up the numbers, it's pretty clear that the OP's drive is actually filled with his own data. It doesn't look like there's a runaway log file, although that's the usual source of unexplained loss of disk space. Just about all of his seems to be accounted for though.