Computer says memory is full?

HI Mack

Ummmm... it's not the memory that is the issue, it's the amount of free start up disk space. Right or Control click the MacintoshHD icon on your Desktop, click: Get Info. In the Get Info window click: General Make sure you have at least 15% available disk space.

If you need to free up disk space go here; Freeing up space on your Mac OS startup disk

Viewing Mac OS memory usage and installed RAM

Get What Size to determine which files are taking up the most space.

Run Disk Utility (Applications/Utilities) and Repair Disk Permissions.

And go here for information on how to check the startup disk for any problems:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1782

Also, could you please update your profile with the Mac OS version you are running. Click the Apple logo top left in your Desktop (Apple Menu)l, then click: About This Mac. The version number will be displayed there. Please add that to your profile. Thanks!

Message was edited by: Carolyn Samit

15% is a somewhat uncertain value since it means very different things depending upon if you have a 20GB drive or a 1000GB drive. Tiger usually needs 5-10GB of free hard drive space absolute minimum for temporary files. The amount depends upon how much RAM you have, computer usage, etc. However, in order for it to run freely it should not have to hunt for space, so I would leave at least 15 GB free at all times, preferably 20GB.

You can check how much virtual memory (hard drive space) Tiger is using in Activity Monitor, memory tab, VM.

Correction on terms - memory refers to RAM on your Mac.

You are getting a message that your startup disk (your hard drive) is almost full. It's saying that you have a small amount of free or available space.

Has your Mac been running slow? If you continue to use your Mac & the space gets smaller, you could crash or freeze.

Click once on your hard drive icon (it will darken) & then go to the Apple menu & select File>Get Info. In the window that opens, what is the Capacity of your hard drive & what is the space Available?

Your Mac needs adequate hard drive space to operate normally. How full can a drive be before it's too full? There is no hard and fast rule that says “X” amount or “%” of free drive space is needed. A low amount of RAM requires more drive space for Virtual Memory’s swap files.

Problems from insufficient RAM and free hard disk space are discussed in this link
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/lackofram.html

Here’s some general guidelines for minimum hard drive free space:
1. As a general rule, your available space should be 5GB as an absolute minimum as it generally requires that much free space to perform an Archive and Install of Mac OS X and still preserve some free space for VM swap files.
2. Some say that your hard drive should have at least 5% (or possibly more) of it's capacity available for use, especially if you have a small capacity drive.


Look at these links.

Where did my disk space go?
http://www.macfixitforums.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=Forum38&Number=770243
Download & use WhatSize described in this link or Disk Inventory X @ http://www.derlien.com/

Freeing space on your Mac OS X startup disk
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/freeingspace.html

Amazing Disappearing Drive Space
http://www.pinkmutant.com/articles/TigerMisc.html

Increase HD Free Space
http://macosx.com/forums/howto-faqs/275191-how-easily-increase-hd-free-space-lap top.html

How to free up my disk space
http://www.macmaps.com/diskfull.html

 Cheers, Tom 😉

there is not much downloaded onto the computer.

What you downloaded apparently was huge! Movies & videos take up a lot of space.

Follow the advice already given in your post.

Are you using File Vault?

 Cheers, Tom 😉

Do you empty the trash periodically? Files stay on your hard drive until the trash is emptied.

Here's some general tips but I'd also check with Disk Inventory since it's free.


Where did my disk space go?
[http://www.macfixitforums.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=Forum38&Number=770243]

Disk Inventory (free) [http://www.derlien.com>

WhatSize (now shareware and only useful on <20GB drives until you buy it) [http://www.id-design.com/software/whatsize>

Freeing space on your Mac OS X startup disk
[http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/freeingspace.html]

Amazing Disappearing Drive Space
[http://www.pinkmutant.com/articles/TigerMisc.html]

Increase HD Free Space
[http://macosx.com/forums/howto-faqs/275191-how-easily-increase-hd free-space-laptop.html]

How to free up my disk space
[http://www.macmaps.com/diskfull.html]