Start Up Disk almost full message?

Yep,
I guess there is some major info missing. On top of all - is your hard disk full?
Consider to have about 10 up to 20% unused space on your hard drive in order to have your computer (any computer, not just MAC) properly working.

Liat:

Welcome to the Apple Discussions. Assuming you have sufficient free space on your HD consider this: did this begin after upgrading to Leopard? If so then it's a problem with the differences between Tiger and Leopard and privileges. I had to do the following go fix my library:

1 - open Terminal and type “sudo chmod -R -N “. Note the space after the N.
2 - drag the iPhoto library into the Terminal window and hit the Return key.
3 - enter your admin password when prompted and hit the Return key again.

That should fix it for you.

Thomas is correct about free space. It is desirable to have a minimum of 15GB free for optimal system and application performance. The system can run with as low a 5GB or even a little less but not without taking a big performance hit. If you accidently let the free space get down to 500 KB or less, you can get to a point where your can't boot. A few have gotten there.

Happy New Year

TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've created an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. It's compatible with iPhoto 08 libraries and Leopard. iPhoto does not have to be closed to run the application, just idle. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.

I just started having the same problem. I have not switched to leopard so I know thats not it. But when I go to import images off my camera it now tells me there are files it doesn't recognize then it stops importing them. I haven't switched camera's in fact it's the only camera I've used for the past 3 years on this computer. So I end up giving up and then i go back to try and import again this time I open iphoto's and it tells me that 45 photo's were found not imported should I import now. I select yes! So it's not importing them the first time but rather the second time. I just had this happen again, but this time all the photos it found were imported twice, so now i have doubles of everything. I've checked space and I know I am getting close to needing to purchase more, but I am hoping it can wait another month when I plan on purchasing a new apple.

Continued disregard for a "disk almost full" warning is not going to make it go away.

Welcome to the Apple Discussions. It's generally recommended that a minimum of 10 GB free space be maintained for good performance of both system and applications. I try to keep it at 25GB since I do a lot of image editing with Photoshop and video editing. You have to clear up some free space before you can successfully fix the iPhoto issue.

OT

So It has been established that you should always leave 15-20% of free space on your hard disk for your computer to run smoothly and not get any annoying messages. BUT - what if all I have on my computer are applications and it's STILL saying it. I have all of my image files on an external HD. There is nothing left of my computer to erase. I don't know what to do.

Miche7e

Welcome to the Apple Discussions.

WhatSize will help you figure out what's eating your disk space.

Regards

TD

BUT - what if all I have on my computer are applications and it's STILL saying it

G4 iBooks can have 40-100 GB hard drives. Which one do you have and how much free space do you have remaining? TD's suggestion of WhatSize will tell you if there are any unusually large files, cache or hidden, that may be taking up your free space.

So that "Whatsize" link wouldn't work. It kept saying something about 'version tracker being down' and it wouldn't connect me. Hmmmm.

As far as how many GB my internal HD is - I'm not really sure where to find that information. In 'about this mac' it says:
Model Name: iBook G4
Model Identifier: PowerBook6,5
Processor Name: PowerPC G4 (1.2)
Processor Speed: 1.33 GHz
Number Of CPUs: 1
L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
Memory: 768 MB
Bus Speed: 133 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 4.8.7f1

I don't know if any of this answers your question to help me answer my question but...

VersionTracker is down for maintenance. Wait a bit and try again. Either later tonight or tomorrow.

For HD size click on the HD icon on the Desktop and type Command+i. In the Info window will be listed the size of the hard drive and the amount of space used and free space still available like is seen in this Info window.

OT