Startup Disk is full

[AppleGoat]

Hi all,

Perhaps someone here could help me before I do something drastic like a fresh OS re-install. I've already called Apple Support to no avail.

I am running El Capitan -- 10.11.6

I always get the "Your Startup Disk is full" message. I delete large files. Free up gigabytes of space. Still get the message. Looking at the storage breakdown, the "Other" category randomly swells to eliminate whatever free space I have. Apple Support agent had me run "first-aid" then reset "spotlight." Doing the latter, changed the storage breakdown. Now, my apps takes up a disproportionate amount of space.

Any idea what a good solution would be?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Internet Enzyme]

Hi all,

Perhaps someone here could help me before I do something drastic like a fresh OS re-install. I've already called Apple Support to no avail.

I am running El Capitan -- 10.11.6

I always get the "Your Startup Disk is full" message. I delete large files. Free up gigabytes of space. Still get the message. Looking at the storage breakdown, the "Other" category randomly swells to eliminate whatever free space I have. Apple Support agent had me run "first-aid" then reset "spotlight." Doing the latter, changed the storage breakdown. Now, my apps takes up a disproportionate amount of space.

Any idea what a good solution would be?

Thanks in advance!

How much ram does your computer have, and do you find that ran usage is frequently maxed out? One thing may be that your computer is frequently using disk space for memory because your computer does not have enough, this is known as memeory swapping.

 

[Fishrrman]

Do you use Time Machine?
Try "turning it off" and see what happens.

 

[AppleGoat]

Sorry just saw this. I have since "upgraded" to High Sierra. I did a fresh install of High Sierra and, as a consequence, I have more space on my machine. I haven't seen the message once since making this thread.

FWIW, I have 16 GB of RAM (mid-2014 15" MacBook Pro.)

My only issue is getting the Photos app to run more efficiently.