Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

I can't update my macbook air because it says my start up disk is full. So I erased my trash, deleted files, and nothing worked. I looked about the storage on my computer and the whole thing is yellow for 'other' it says audio zero KB, movies zero KB, etc

I can't update my macbook air because it says my start up disk is full. So I erased my trash, deleted files, and nothing worked. I looked at the storage on my computer and the whole thing is yellow for 'other' it says audio zero KB, movies zero KB, etc and other is taking up 59.64 GB. I also looked at the size of my files and they all say -- ...none of them have an actual size. I tried to restore my Mac HD but it said error 254. Is it malware? How do I fix? Thanks!

MacBook Pro, iOS 5.1.1

Posted on Sep 22, 2013 5:26 AM

Reply
3 replies

Sep 22, 2013 5:55 AM in response to allie1017

Try a Safe Mode boot ...


Startup your Mac in Safe Mode


A Safe Mode boot takes much longer than a normal boot so be patient.


Once you are in Safe Mode, click Restart from the Apple () menu.


Then check available disk space. Click your Apple menu top left in your screen. From the drop down menu click About This Mac > More Info > Storage


Make sure there's at least 15% free disk space.



Sep 22, 2013 5:36 PM in response to allie1017

To fix the Storage display, rebuild the Spotlight index. If you try to search now from the magnifying-glass icon in the top right corner of the display, a pulsing dot will appear in the icon. When the dot disappears, the indexing is complete.



Empty the Trash if you haven't already done so. If you use iPhoto, empty its internal Trash first:


iPhoto Empty Trash


Then reboot. That will temporarily free up some space.


According to Apple documentation, you need at least 9 GB of available space on the startup volume (as shown in the Finder Info window) for normal operation. You also need enough space left over to allow for growth of your data. There is little or no performance advantage to having more available space than the minimum Apple recommends. Available storage space that you'll never use is wasted space.


If you're using Time Machine to back up a portable Mac, some of the free space will be used to make local snapshots, which are backup copies of files you've recently deleted. The space occupied by local snapshots is reported as available by the Finder, and should be considered as such. In the Storage display of System Information, local snapshots are shown as "Backups." The snapshots are automatically deleted when they expire or when free space falls below a certain level. You ordinarily don't need to, and should not, delete local snapshots yourself.


To locate large files, you can use Spotlight. That method may not find large folders that contain a lot of small files.


You can more effectively use a tool such as OmniDiskSweeper (ODS) to explore your volume and find out what's taking up the space. You can also delete files with it, but don't do that unless you're sure that you know what you're deleting and that all data is safely backed up. That means you have multiple backups, not just one.


Deleting files inside an iPhoto or Aperture library will corrupt the library. Any changes to a photo library must be made from within the application that created it. The same goes for Mail files.


Proceed further only if the problem isn't solved by the above steps.


ODS can't see the whole filesystem when you run it just by double-clicking; it only sees files that you have permission to read. To see everything, you have to run it as root.


Back up all data now.


Install ODS in the Applications folder as usual. Quit it if it's running.


Triple-click the line of text below on this page to select it, then copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C):

sudo /Applications/OmniDiskSweeper.app/Contents/MacOS/OmniDiskSweeper

Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:


☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)


☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.


☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.


Paste into the Terminal window (command-V). You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning not to screw up. If you see a message that your username "is not in the sudoers file," then you're not logged in as an administrator.


The application window will open, eventually showing all files in all folders. It may take some minutes for ODS to list all the files.


I don't recommend that you make a habit of doing this. Don't delete anything while running ODS as root. If something needs to be deleted, make sure you know what it is and how it got there, and then delete it by other, safer, means. When in doubt, leave it alone or ask for guidance.


When you're done with ODS, quit it and also quit Terminal.

I can't update my macbook air because it says my start up disk is full. So I erased my trash, deleted files, and nothing worked. I looked about the storage on my computer and the whole thing is yellow for 'other' it says audio zero KB, movies zero KB, etc

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.