mcrabone

Q: memory faults - startup disk full but nothing to delete?

2.53GB free of 59.44GB and getting "Startup disk is nearly full"

 

43.62GB OTHER

11.26GB APPS

1.61GB PHOTOS

310.3MB AUDIO

97.8MB MOVIES

8.7MB BACKUPS

 

I can't find anyway of finding out what OTHER is or anyway of deleting it.

Even after taking to apple a few years ago to wipe it / reformat - it was still there!!

 

I tried disk repair and it gets stuck trying to make temporary file...

 

Wondering if some file sharing site has somehow used the memory?

Caught my kids accessing such sites and since stopped it.

 

I just want to wipe everything and start again. How to do it?

MacBook Air, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)

Posted on May 25, 2016 4:22 AM

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Q: memory faults - startup disk full but nothing to delete?

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  • by dwb,Solvedanswer

    dwb dwb May 26, 2016 3:10 AM in response to mcrabone
    Level 7 (24,243 points)
    Notebooks
    May 26, 2016 3:10 AM in response to mcrabone

    Wiping the drive is a drastic “solution" and won’t really solve anything since you’ll probably wind up in the same situation again. First, as you’ve noticed Apple has labeled some specific kinds of files: Music, Apps, Photos, etc. Other is simply anything that doesn’t fit under any of the specific categories. Second, Spotlight, the technology that keeps track of files, what kind of files they are, and so forth has a bug that all too often results in the Spotlight index file becoming damaged. Once that happens files lose their designation. This makes it look like “Other” is taking over the computer.

     

    If you’d rather fix the problem than simple rinse and repeat you’ll need to do two things: 1) figure out what can be deleted or moved from the computer to an external drive and 2) reindex Spotlight so you have a more accurate sense of what’s on the computer.

     

    OmniDiskSweeper is a free program that will catalog your hard drive and let you see what’s on it. Note 1 - never delete anything from the Library or System folders - they contain vital operating system files. The Library folder in your own drive space also holds important files. Removing the wrong one(s) can mess up your account, but not the computer. Don’t erase anything from it unless you know what you are doing. Note 2 - you can delete lots of document files and even apps without freeing up much space. The biggest files are music, video, and photos. Note 3 - Your computer has an incredibly small hard drive and it requires discipline to keep from filling it. You might want to consider replacing the SSD with a larger one. Check out OWC for availability, prices, and videos showing how to do the upgrade.

     

    Here’s how to reindex Spotlight: Rebuild the Spotlight index on your Mac - Apple Support

  • by mcrabone,

    mcrabone mcrabone May 26, 2016 3:33 AM in response to dwb
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Notebooks
    May 26, 2016 3:33 AM in response to dwb

    Thanks dwb - super clear advice.

    I downloaded OmniDiskSweeper and found that a large chunk of the memory was mobile phone backups - 16GB


    ODS provides the catalogue that you can scroll through.... following the biggest chunk

    35.1GB Users -> Daughter -> 22.1GB Library -> 16.3GB Application Support -> 16GB Mobile backups

    As you advised, I did not delete files from Library, instead I googled ... Can I delete the files/folders in 'Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup'?


    Advice is delete IOS backups this way:

    iTunes>Preferences>Devices...select the backup/backups....hit delete. Do not mess with your backup folder.


    This recovered 16GB... yippee

    Now I have 19.05GB free.


    I will follow the rest of your advice and order a larger SSD from OWC, then also try to rebuild the spotlight index


    Many thanks!!