Q: Storage issues

Hi FM99,

If you have your original install discs, insert the Mac OS X Install Disc (not applications) and boot the computer up while holding C.  Once booted to the install disc choose English as the main language and continue once.  Once you see the welcome to the installer screen, click on the Utilities menu at the top of the screen.  Choose Disk Utility, then once it appears click on Macintosh HD on the left side of the window.  To the right, click on Erase, then click on Erase Options.  Choose a type of erase (1-pass is usually enough, 7-pass is government standard, 35-pass is typically complete overkill) just bear in mind that the more passes the longer it will take.  After choosing how many passes, click okay, then click Erase.  It will take a little while to erase but once it's finished, you can close Disk Utility and continue with the installer to re-install the OS.  Hope this helps!

If you do not have the disks, follow this:

Restart the computer, and hold down the “Option” key when the screen turns white. If your computer is has a Recovery partition, you will see an icon for your hard drive, and another for Recovery. Select the recovery partition to boot into it. When the you are presented with the OS X Utilities menu, we first need to launch the Disk Utility to erase the contents from the disk. In Disk Utility, Select your Mac’s disk in the upper left hand corner and view the Erase tab. From the drop down box select Mac OS X Exteneded (Journaled) as the format, and give the disk a name. If your Mac is equipped with a Solid State Disk (SSD), you will notice that the “Security Options” button will be greyed out and unavailable. SSDs store data in a different way from traditional hard drive. Apple disabled Security Options for SSDs because they claim that a standard erase will makes data recovery difficult. If however, the Security Options button is availible, go ahead and use it, but it will take a few hours depending on the size of the hard drive and the number of times you want it overwritten.

Once the Disk Utility is finished formatting the drive, close it to return to OS X Utilities. Now we are ready to Reinstall OS X. Follow the on-screen instructions and your ready to go!

Best Wishes,

Time Machine Snapshots:

Time Machine will use up to 80% of the disk space for local snapshots. 

If you turn Time Machine OFF, Time Machine will immediately stop creating new ones, and start deleting all existing snapshots (that may take a while).

Time Machine FAQ, What are Local Snapshots: http://pondini.org/TM/30.html

OS X: What is "other" space in About This Mac? http://support.apple.com/kb/HT6047

What is "Other" and What Can I Do About It?  https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-5142

Where did my disk space go?   http://pondini.org/OSX/DiskSpace.html

For hints on how to free disk/SSD storage see

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5872318?tstart=0

and

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5939678?tstart=60

Backup your data before beginning to delete any files.

Always maintain at least 10 GB of free space and an additional 10 GB as a buffer to avoid going under 10 GB.

There also is a chance the previous owner had a BootCamp partition for a windows OS installation, and did not use BootCamp to remove the partition it created. When that happens, the suggested erase and reinstall method is the best fix to reclaim lost space; from any other cause including a Windows partition that can't be touched without an erase and reformat of the hard disk drive. And Time Machine can make backups to the internal drive; a bad idea due to the failure of an alternative to this 'archive' when the HDD dies.

Also, it should be unnecessary to secure erase (or zero) a solid state drive, the device has a built-in means of assuring the circuits get erased or ignored in such a way as to make accessing their former content difficult. And most have 'wear leveling technologies' that also evenly re-use SSD capacity so sections do not wear unequally.

Good luck & happy computing!

The first thing to do with a second-hand computer is to erase the internal drive and install a clean copy of OS X. You — not the previous owner — must do that. How you do it depends on the model, and on whether you already own another Mac. If you're not sure of the model, enter the serial number on this page. Then find the model on this page to see what OS version was originally installed.

If you see a lock screen when trying to boot from installation media or in Recovery mode, then a firmware password was set by the previous owner, or the machine was remotely locked via iCloud. You'll either have to contact the owner or take the machine to an Apple Store or another authorized service provider to be unlocked. You may be asked for proof of ownership.

1. You don't own another Mac.

If the machine shipped with OS X 10.4 or 10.5, you need a boxed and shrink-wrapped retail Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6) installation disc from the Apple Store or a reputable reseller — not from eBay or anything of the kind. If the machine has less than 1 GB of memory, you'll need to add more in order to install 10.6. Preferably, install as much memory as it can take, according to the technical specifications.

If the machine shipped with OS X 10.6, you need the installation media that came with it: gray installation discs, or a USB flash drive for some MacBook Air models. For early MBA models, you may need a USB optical drive or Remote Disc. You should have received the media from the previous owner, but if you didn't, order replacements from Apple. A retail disc, or the gray discs from another model, will not work.

To boot from an optical disc or a flash drive, insert it, then reboot and hold down the C key at the startup chime. Release the key when you see the gray Apple logo on the screen.

If the machine shipped with OS X 10.7 or later, you don't need media. It should boot into Internet Recovery mode when you hold down the key combination option-command-R at the startup chime. Release the keys when you see a spinning globe.

2. You do own another Mac.

If you already own another Mac that was upgraded in the App Store to the version of OS X that you want to install, and if the new Mac is compatible with it, then you can install it. Use Recovery Disk Assistant to create a bootable USB device and boot the new Mac from it by holding down the C key at the startup chime. Alternatively, if you have a Time Machine backup of OS X 10.7.3 or later on an external hard drive (not a Time Capsule or other network device), you can boot from that by holding down the option key and selecting it from the row of icons that appears. Note that if your other Mac was never upgraded in the App Store, you can't use this method.

Once booted in Recovery, launch Disk Utility and select the icon of the internal drive — not any of the volume icons nested beneath it. In the Partition tab, select the default options: a GUID partition table with one data volume in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format. This operation will permanently remove all existing data on the drive.

After partitioning, quit Disk Utility and run the OS X Installer. You will need the Apple ID and password that you used to upgrade. When the installation is done, the system will automatically reboot into the Setup Assistant, which will prompt you to transfer the data from another Mac, its backups, or from a Windows computer. If you have any data to transfer, this is usually the best time to do it.

Then run Software Update and install all available system updates from Apple. To upgrade to a major version of OS X newer than 10.6, get it from the Mac App Store. Note that you can't keep an upgraded version that was installed by the previous owner. He or she can't legally transfer it to you, and without the Apple ID you won't be able to update it in Software Update or reinstall, if that becomes necessary. The same goes for any App Store products that the previous owner installed — you have to repurchase them.

3. Other issues

If the previous owner "accepted" the bundled iLife applications (iPhoto, iMovie, and Garage Band) in the App Store so that he or she could update them, then they're linked to that Apple ID and you won't be able to download them without buying them. Reportedly, Mac App Store Customer Service has sometimes issued redemption codes for these apps to second owners who asked.

If the previous owner didn't deauthorize the computer in the iTunes Store under his Apple ID, you wont be able to  authorize it immediately under your ID. In that case, you'll either have to wait up to 90 days or contact iTunes Support.

When trying to create a new iCloud account, you might get a failure message: "Account limit reached." Apple imposes a limit of three iCloud account setups per device. Erasing the device does not reset the limit. You can still use an account that was created on another device, but you won't be able to create a new one. Contact iCloud Support for more information.