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My Macbook won't boot up because there isn't enough free space for my start up disk. It's now stuck on a blue screen. How am I meant to delete files to free up space if I can't access the computer?

My Macbook won't boot up because there sin't enough free space to run the startup disk. My Macbook now won't go past the blue screen so exactly how am I meant to be able to delete files if I can't access the computer?

MacBook

Posted on Feb 12, 2013 3:10 AM

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2 replies

Feb 12, 2013 4:31 AM in response to jamesbeckettward

Do you have a bootable backup?


What operating system are you running? If OS X 10.6 or lower, boot from your original OS X DVD or a retail OS X DVD and then delete files as needed. Your goal should be to get to 10% of your disk capacity free.


If you have OS X 10.7 Lion or 10.8 Mountain Lion, you don't have many choices in recovery mode (boot holding the command and r keys down).


If you have a FireWire or Thunderbolt connection, you can try target disk mode with another mac.


If none of those work, perhaps your local Apple store can help with a bootable external drive.

My Macbook won't boot up because there isn't enough free space for my start up disk. It's now stuck on a blue screen. How am I meant to delete files to free up space if I can't access the computer?

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