Trying to delete files from an overfilled drive -

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Level 1

4 points

Trying to delete files from an overfilled drive -

My Wife's Intel iMac will not boot - I believe she has overfilled the drive, with only about 68k available space. She was deleting files, but may not have emptied the trash, and rebooted it. It never came back, with a full progress bar but no joy. It is Running the last version of Catalina for Quickbooks compatibility. Booting into recovery mode and running disk util does not show a problem, but it will not reinstall the OS, and I can't seem to get anywhere with it. When I startup in internet recovery mode, it only wants to install the latest OS -

I purchased a cable and can boot it into Target Disk Mode, and connect it to my Mini, and see all the files and folders, but I cannot delete any of them due to a permissions(?) problem - it says its a permissions problem, but checking permissions, all is set to full R/W.

Rebooting it into recovery, I can get into Terminal, but have not been able to get to the Users folder to try RM ing the trash, or into an Applications folder to delete some generic Apps that might give me the space to boot the machine and do some more normal maintenance, moving more files to external drives, etc, etc -

Yes - I know, lots of backups, and I may have them, but after this happened my wife told me that she'd been getting error messages from Time Machine, so I don't know how current they really are - and Quickbooks, ok? - and so far Apple support seems to only be able to suggest wiping the disk and seeing what happens then -

Can I set up a Thumb drive and boot that and be able to access and clean off the internal drive? Or is that wasted time? Any other Terminal commands I need to learn to access the Trash folder and delete it, or to delete some Apple apps I can easily reinstall, like GarageBand or iMovie?

Any good ideas? And is there a way to prevent a drive from getting overfilled and causing all thee problems, automatically?

TIA!

iMac 27″ 5K, macOS 10.15

Posted on Sep 13, 2023 7:03 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Encryptor5000

Level 5

7,788 points

Sep 13, 2023 10:27 PM in response to Tadol

Hi Tadol,

If you can boot your Intel iMac into Target Disk Mode and connect it to your Mac mini, you can use the root superuser to access all of the files on the iMac without permissions errors.

IMPORTANT: The root superuser is extremely powerful and is only intended for special administrative tasks. Disable it as soon as you are finished using it.

Boot your Intel iMac into Target Disk Mode, then complete these steps on your Mac mini: How to enable the root user or change the root password on Mac - Apple Support (CA)

Once the root user is enabled on your Mac mini, log out of your user account. At the login window, choose "Other", type "root" as the username, and use the password you set earlier. If successful, the Setup Assistant will appear. Skip as many steps as possible.

Once the Desktop appears, you can navigate your Intel iMac without permissions errors. Follow these guidelines to help protect your data and system:

If you don't know what it is, leave it alone. Don't delete or modify it. It's probably system critical.
Limit your search to the home folders that appear in the top-level Users folder on the iMac. Exclude the hidden Library folder inside each of them.
Additional utilities such as Disk Inventory X or OmniDiskSweeper can help identify large files and folders on your iMac if you choose to install them on your Mac mini. For more info: What is “Other” storage on a Mac, and how… - Apple Community
Empty the Trash on your Mac mini before connecting your iMac. If the Trash then appears to have items inside, they're likely items that were in the Trash on the iMac. Those should be safe to delete.

Once you're done:

Eject the iMac from the Mac mini in Finder.
Log out of the root user on your Mac mini, and log back into your normal account.
Disable the root user: How to enable the root user or change the root password on Mac - Apple Support (CA)

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Answer 2

BDAqua

Level 10

251,409 points

Sep 13, 2023 10:19 PM in response to Tadol

Booting from a Thumb Drive should give the same results as Target Disk Mode.

Do a get info in Target Mode on the whole drive, look near the bottom, is Ignore Permissions on this drive an option you can check?

Sometimes Safe Mode will clear just enough space to work a bit with it...

Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at startup), does the problem occur in Safe Mode? Could take 10 minutes or more.

Safe mode attempts to repair Disks & clears lots of caches & loads safe Drivers, & prevents loading of 3rd party extensions, so if Safe Mode works try again in regular boot.

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Answer 3

Tadol Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 16, 2023 2:44 PM in response to BDAqua

** says APFS, writeable No, is case sensitive No, system 10.15.7 - available space 53,248 -

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Answer 4

Old Toad

Level 10

217,880 points

Sep 16, 2023 2:45 PM in response to Tadol

If you're getting asked for a password are you using yours or your wife's? Does your wife have an account on your Mac? Try creating one with here user name and password and try from that account.

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Answer 5

BDAqua

Level 10

251,409 points

Sep 16, 2023 2:35 PM in response to Tadol

In Disk Utility, what Format is reported for that drive?

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Answer 6

BDAqua

Level 10

251,409 points

Sep 16, 2023 5:43 PM in response to Tadol

FWIW, I can delete files of a 32 bit Mac from a 64 bit Mac without problems using Wifi...if the files are not in use..

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Answer 7

Tadol Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 16, 2023 2:31 PM in response to Encryptor5000

Thanks for the help - but even under the root user, I have no permissions to do anything on the iMac drive - it seems to have something to do with the iMac being under a 32bit OS, while the mini is under a 64bit OS, so it cannot modify the drive no matter what -

our last resort is to try and find an older mac running a 32bit OS, and see if it can connect to the iMac and let me make some adjustments to the drive. We have an older macbook, but it doesn’t have a USBC style thunderbolt port, just a firewire400(?) port, so more problems lie ahead. Pretty soon we’ll just re-format the drive and double check what our backups have -

thanks!

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Answer 8

Tadol Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 16, 2023 3:01 PM in response to Old Toad

No - not asking for any passwords. Drag a simple file or folder (that I know has no restrictions on it, and shows as R/W) to the trash, and I get a dialog that says “Are you sure etc, will be deleted immediately, can’t undo” and you click on “Delete”, and you get a secondary dialog box that says “ The operation can’t be completed because some items had to be skipped. For each item, choose . . . . .not designated as Read Only or No Access, try again”. So the items tested show full R/W access, but nothing works -

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Answer 9

Tadol Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 16, 2023 3:20 PM in response to Old Toad

Her imac is 10.15.7 - the mini is 13.5.2. I’m trying to delete anything, and getting the same dialogs regardless - Apple tech support says its a 32bit vs 64bit problem, and there is no answer. I was hoping to find a 32 bit machine with a USBC style Thunderbolt port, but that doesn’t seem to exist either - oh well!

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Answer 10

Old Toad

Level 10

217,880 points

Sep 16, 2023 3:06 PM in response to Tadol

What system is your wife running on here Mac?

From where are you trying to delete files, i.e. which folder/directory?

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Trying to delete files from an overfilled drive -

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