HT201364: OS X Mavericks system requirements

Learn about OS X Mavericks system requirements
Danielle2465
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: what is a startup disk

my macbook keeps telling me my startup disk is almost full and that i should delete some items to free up some space. but i don't know where that is or what a startup disk is. help

MacBook Pro

Posted on Mar 27, 2014 6:29 PM

by Barney-15E,Solvedanswer
Barney-15E Barney-15E
Level 9 (50,871 points)
Mac OS X
A:

The "startup disk" is the disk that has the Operating System on it and is booted into it. It is your "Macintosh HD."

 

Go into your Documents, Movies, Pictures, etc and move any unneeded items to an external disk, the Trash, or somewhere else. If you move them to the Trash, make sure to Empty the Trash.

 

Also note that if you are backing up with Time Machine, do not rely on it to restore items you delete from your hard drive. If it needs the space, TIme Machine may delete the backups of those files as they are no longer on your hard drive.

 

Edit; In addition, if you use iPhoto and regularly move pictures to the Trash in iPhoto, it has its own Trash, so go into iPhoto and Empty the trash there.

Posted on Mar 27, 2014 6:34 PM

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Danielle2465

Q: what is a startup disk

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  • by Ralph Landry1,Helpful

    Ralph Landry1 Mar 27, 2014 6:33 PM in response to Danielle2465
    Level 8 (41,782 points)
    Mar 27, 2014 6:33 PM in response to Danielle2465

    That is the drive you regularly starup on...normally the internal hard dive.

     

    Click Finder and start looking at your files, likely candidates are the big things like videos.

  • by Barney-15E,Solvedanswer

    Barney-15E Barney-15E Mar 27, 2014 6:34 PM in response to Danielle2465
    Level 9 (50,871 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 27, 2014 6:34 PM in response to Danielle2465

    The "startup disk" is the disk that has the Operating System on it and is booted into it. It is your "Macintosh HD."

     

    Go into your Documents, Movies, Pictures, etc and move any unneeded items to an external disk, the Trash, or somewhere else. If you move them to the Trash, make sure to Empty the Trash.

     

    Also note that if you are backing up with Time Machine, do not rely on it to restore items you delete from your hard drive. If it needs the space, TIme Machine may delete the backups of those files as they are no longer on your hard drive.

     

    Edit; In addition, if you use iPhoto and regularly move pictures to the Trash in iPhoto, it has its own Trash, so go into iPhoto and Empty the trash there.