MacBook Air saying hard drive is full when it's really not

Question

MacBook Air saying hard drive is full when it's really not

I have just started getting error messages saying that my startup disk is full, saying I have "Zero KB" available, which makes sense being I have been doing a lot of downloading recently and have been learning Java programming (lots of Java and Class files), and the fact that 80GB isn't a lot of storage space these days (and hasn't been for at least the last 5 years), most notebooks these days have at least 200GB hard drives in them (that is one thing, that as much as I love Macs, has always irked me about them, very little storage space)

I have deleted over 30KB worth of unimportant files to free up some space (one file being 24KB alone), then opened a Finder window only to find out that it still says "Zero KB Available", if I delete 30+KB worth of files, shouldn't there be an equivalent amount of storage space afterwards? It doesn't make any sense that I would still be getting "Zero KB Available" after I deleted 30+KB worth of data

I am not sure if it's related, but for quite a while, I have noticed that my MacBook has been making a clicking noise, this has been happening for quite a while, though I have been hearing it less than before, and just recently I am now hearing what sounds like a screech coming from the MacBook (mostly when I put it on standby by closing the screen, right when the sleep mode initiates), though I have ignored it, being until now, I have not noticed any problems with the MacBook, no loss of data, no corruption, etc., and now the only problem I am experiencing is that it's saying my hard drive is 100% full even after deleting some files, though does fail when I try to verify the disk in Disk Utility

So is there a reasonable explanation for why it's saying my hard drive is full, or is it possible that there could be a potential disk failure?

Message was edited by: Mikedamirault2 Reason for edit: Paragraph Spacing

MacBook Air, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Apr 26, 2012 11:34 PM

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Answer 1

Apr 27, 2012 1:44 AM in response to Mikedamirault2

Hi..

though does fail when I try to verify the disk in Disk Utility

Click "Repair Disk"

Apparently it needs repairing which is probably why you are seeing the disk space issue.

If you have not done so already, backup your important files ASAP.

Using Disk Utility to verify or repair disks

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Answer 2

Apr 27, 2012 2:03 AM in response to Carolyn Samit

Can't, it only gives me the option to repair disk permissions, the option to repair disk is grayed out

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Answer 3

dwb

Level 7

32,920 points

Apr 27, 2012 6:27 AM in response to Mikedamirault2

You cannot repair the boot drive. If you have OS X 10.7 (lion) reboot while holding Command R to boot into the recovery mode, then run Disk Utility. If you are running a previous OS you'll need to boot with an external drive and then repair.

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Answer 4

18tracks

Level 1

11 points

Apr 27, 2012 9:26 AM in response to Mikedamirault2

You know that 30kb of data that you are freeing up is basically the size of this message alone, right? KB is tiny...you need to free up MB or GB of data, not KB.

Rgds

Rod

Perth

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Answer 5

Apr 28, 2012 12:29 AM in response to dwb

Thanks dwb, I was kinda thinking that, I am not currently around my OS X install discs, but that's something I can try as soon as I get them

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Answer 6

Apr 28, 2012 1:06 AM in response to 18tracks

18tracks, a KB is small, Ill give you that, but the reply you typed alone, if copied to TextEdit and saved in TXT or RTF format should only be several bytes (under a KB), I have Java and Class files with plenty more text in it and they only range from 1KB to 8KBs, way below 30KB, though if I were to save this webpage as an HTML file, then yes, it would probably get close

Regardless, it doesn't matter how little I delete, even if I only delete one 1KB file, it should still say 1KB free, yes that is barely anything, but at least that means it would be accurate

My point, was I deleted 30+KBs worth of data (that is a rough estimate, I am not exactly sure how much I deleted) and Finder STILL said that I had "Zero KB" available, I don't know about you, but 30KB sure sounds like a HUGE difference than 0KB

To me, this means that it doesn't matter if I deleted 1KB, 1MB, or even 1GB worth, Finder would still say that "Zero KB" is available, and the OS will still refuse to save or manipulate files, to me, that's a sign that something much bigger is going on, and with the clicking and screeching going on (which may not necessarily be the hard drive, but you never know), and the fact that my hard drive failed a verification, something tells me my hard drive must not be in good shape, and could possibly be disastrous

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