Macbook says "Startup Disk is full" but it isn't full

I'm using a Mac Air mid 2012 running Mt Lion. You have been tremendously helpful, but I'm having trouble finding this stuff:

delete OfflineCache" at: "~/Library/Mail/(your email address here)/.OfflineCache

And delete "Recovered Files" Mailbox folder at "~/Library/Mail/Mailboxes/Recovered Messages (your email address here).mbox

Iam going to Go and Go to Folder and putting in the adress just as you have shown, but the folders "can not be found". Can you give me a little more direction. Thanks!

Thank you SOOOOO MUCH!!! I've been researching this for months now!! Can't tell you how much frustratration you relieved for me. 🙂

Hi Matt,

Thanks for getting back to me. That's where I looked in the Library folder and can't seem to find the files. I've tried typing the following in "Go to Folder" and it couldn't locate them...

delete OfflineCache" at: "~/Library/Mail/(your email address here)/.OfflineCache

And delete "Recovered Files" Mailbox folder at "~/Library/Mail/Mailboxes/Recovered Messages (your email address here).mbox

Can't figure it out...argh!

Connie

I have a macbook air about a year old that has 128gb hdd. I've been getting the 'Startup disk is almost full' message and I see that I only have about 20gb of disk space available. I have a few pictures and about 25 gb of music on the laptop. But that is about all the large information I have. No video's, no movies. When I go to Computer - Mac HD - Users - Home directory, the folders within only add up to about 30gb of usage, however when i click on Get Info on the actual home directory it says 70gb. There isn't a 'Library' folder within the home directory, but there is one on the side tab. It shows about 4gb of usage. I recently upgraded to the latest version of Mountain Lion. Can someone tell me what I can do here? Could this be an issue with mail as people have been reporting? Can someone tell me where I can look for that. Thanks for any help.

Have you tried Omni Disk Sweeper to see where the GB's are going?

DALE

Turns out my space problem was being caused by downloading video itunes U courses. One place to check if your drive is full.

I can't find the right 'mail' folder either and having the same issue. I can only see the library folder that has been screenshotted earlier in this thread. Dale I have tried to use the omni disk sweeper but I cant download it as I havent got enough disk space. Any other ideas? I have already deleted ALL of my files from college and have deleted a load of photos and a few applications but it's still saying it's full.

Any ideas? I can't even save a word doc or an excel doc cos the disk is apparently full even though I've been deleting like crazy and I have emptied out my trash too.

Have you read the Freeing up disk space in my old post on page 1 of this thread? Make sure you restart your mac after deleting stuff.

hey i'm having a same sort of problem with my storage, could you please help me with it? my mac tells me my storage (containing a capacity of roughly 120gb) is filled for 90gb with "other", as you can see below. The problem is that i absolutely do not have 90gb's in use for "other". With my whole storage use, everything included (like music, programms, document, movies, pictures etc.), i should use op to a maximum of 15gb's. That's why i find it rather weird that my mac tells me i use 90gb extra for something which is "invisible". Invisible because i can`t seem to find the file(s) in finder or actually anywhere. I've literally checked every folder. Is this because of the, as above explained, mail-issue or is there something else going on?
Ps: I already brought my mac to the store and they told me i had to install a program that locates files and then shows you how big they are, so i did. But onfortunately that didn't work at all, i scanned every folder but the 90gb's on files were nowhere to be found.. By the way, that programm should've showed a surplus on undeleted mails, right?

Did you ever find a solution to this problem because my macbook has the same problem?

Hi I have the same a macbook pro 512GB it says a have 1.7GB left on storage, i deleted the contentfrom my itunes home movies library which was about 125GB then when i restarted it said i have 1.7GB left, when i checked the storage the GB in the purple moves section had decresed and the Other section increased to way over 200GB, it seems to me the file has deleted from home movies and plonked itsself somewhere else, can anyone help on this?

Thanks

Si

Did you remember to empty your trash can after deleting?

I did indeed.. and i re-started.. 😟 i have tried above steps too and i dont even have a mail folder.. 😟

This is my screenshot

You could try using OmniDiskSweeper to help find the mystery data. Only delete data if you know what it is though.