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TICKET ARCHIVE -> "Start Up Disk Almost Full" message

jbonnell - Apr 1, 2007 - 2:59 pm

Hello,

I have been receiving messages on both my laptop and my desktop saying "start-up disk is almost full" and advising me to delete some files. I wasn't suprised to receive this message from my laptop, as I recently uploaded some large video files, but I'm not sure why I am getting this message from my desktop.

As an interim measure, I deleted some photos from iphoto and deleted all the music in my Itunes folder (as these are duplicate files from my laptop). I also checked and repaired disk permissions.

My hard disk is divided into two partitions--one entitled "OSX" which contains applications, etc, and one entitled "documents" which is largely word files. I've provided the specs below re: current and available capacity on each partition.

Although I seem to have reached a temporary solution by deleting files, I would like to avoid this happening again. I have a lot of space remaining in my "documents" partition (see below), and I'm wondering if there is a way to adjust the space on each partition without erasing the material within. I tried to drag the "split" bar between partitions using disk utility, but it wouldn't allow me to save my changes.

It also occurs to me that perhaps my applications like iphoto and itunes are storing data files next to the program files (so on my "OSX" partition rather than my "documents" partition). I'm not sure if there is a way to change this.

Thanks for any assistance you may be able to offer. Please see disk specifications (copied from disk utility) below. This lists the current used/available disk space after I deleted the photo and music files.

Jennifer Bonnell


Maxtor 6Y120P0
Total Capacity: 114.5 GB

Partition 1: OSX
Capacity : 29.9 GB
Format : Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
Available : 16.2 GB (17,373,614,080 Bytes)
Permissions Enabled : Yes
Used : 13.7 GB (14,701,506,560 Bytes)
Number of Folders : 33,255
Number of Files : 134,319

Partition 2: Documents
Mount Point : /Volumes/Documents
Capacity : 84.4 GB (90,594,910,208 Bytes)
Format : Mac OS Extended
Available : 79.3 GB (85,106,532,352 Bytes)
Permissions Enabled : Yes
Used : 5.1 GB (5,480,669,184 Bytes)
Number of Folders : 15,357
Number of Files : 51,856

stottm - Apr 2, 2007 - 7:43 am

3 Things:
--------

1. Get an external firewire drive 120GB+ (Maxtor, LaCie are recommended brands). Get as much disk space as you can afford.
2. Download the free http://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net/ to find what files are taking the most space. i.e. the really big ones will standout.
3. Download SuperDuper! (partly free, buy it only if you love it). http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDup...scription.html

Use SuperDuper! to clone your partitions to the external firewire drive, thus making a full backup. If something goes wrong you can at least boot your iMac from the external disk and it will be just like normal. Or you can copy your data back to the internal disk. Test boot the external disk to make sure it works before you take drastic measures.

At this point you have some decisions to make. It's not really necessary to partition a disk unless it contains more then one operating system. You could just wipe and install Mac OS X back on your internal disk onto a single partition that takes the entire disk. Then use the /Applications/Utilities/Migration Assistant to restore your user accounts, applications, and data from the external firewire disk. Or you could purchase a non-destructive partition tool like, iPartition - http://www.coriolis-systems.com/iPartition.php.

If you must have a distinct mountable disk/partition for Documents because your workflow has become accustomed to it; you can do this with a sparse disk image file that can grow as you add more files to it. Make it slightly larger then your existing documents. When you add documents, it will grow larger. However, it will not shrink when you remove files... It mounts like an external disk or partition. Use Disk Utility to create a new image, set it's starting size and choose Sparse Image as the type. To have it auto-mount when you login copy the image to the Login Items under your user account settings. This will run the disk image when you login and it will auto-mount like a real disk. You can also create sparse disk images that are AES-128 encrypted to protect sensitive documents. Your keychain can store the password, just don't forget the password!

You could also burn CD-R/DVD-R backups of old data that you don't want to discard but don't need on a daily basis. i.e. archive the old data and remove it from the hard disk. Make two of each disc, keep them in a case away from extreme heat/cold and keep them in the dark away from sunlight.
http://www.mcetech.com/products.html is a company that sells Mac DVD/CD burners that are excellent.

Keep the external firewire drive and when Leopard 10.5 ships, buy it! TimeMachine will use the external disk to automatically backup your files through a full disk copy and then automatic snapshots of daily changes after that. You will need a drive as big as possible (as much as you can afford) so you can make larger data backup sets. Try at least twice the size of your internal disk. The sweet spot is about two to four weeks worth of snapshots.

jbonnell - Apr 3, 2007 - 9:09 am

Thanks so much for your detailed response to my question--this is really helpful. I wasn't sure what you meant by a "sparse disk image file"--i take it this doesn't require an external drive, but takes an image of the disk, yes? What confused me is how my system would have room for a duplicate image of the disk, if space is already a problem.

And re: Leopard 10.5's TimeMachine feature--to make sure I understood correctly--this is a back-up feature that requires an external drive to operate?

One thing I failed to mention about my system is that I have a back-up system called BounceBack pro, from CPS, which operates using an external back-up drive. With a little research, I should be able to use this to remove the partition on my desktop.

My laptop drive is not partitioned. I've copied the disk capacity information for the laptop below, in case this seems like a different problem. I'm assuming because we loaded some large movie clips onto the hard drive (60 GB in total) that it's just overloaded, and I either need to purchase an external drive, as you suggest, or get rid of some files (we also have a lot of music and photo files on this computer). I deleted some files yesterday, so there's a bit of breathing room, but before we can do any editing of the movie files, I'll need to address this space issue.

Capacity : 55.8 GB (59,877,387,264 Bytes)
Format : Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
Available : 869.7 MB (911,904,768 Bytes)
Owners Enabled : Yes
Used : 54.9 GB (58,965,479,424 Bytes)
Number of Folders : 98,888
Number of Files : 384,490

Thanks very much once again for your response. I'll get back to you if I have any other questions when I look into fixing the problem over the weekend.

Jennifer

stottm - Apr 4, 2007 - 7:05 am

A sparse disk image can be any size and then grow. It's much like a normal disk image that you download and mount then drag a new program to your /Applications folder, unmount and discard. It's a mountable disk image that can grow to accommodate more files. Since you had 5.1 GB's of files on your /Documents partition you could clean out what you don't need, create a 40 MB sparse disk image file, copy the documents to this new disk image and it will grow to allow for more then 40 MB. If you want it always available and ready to use and you want it to behave like your /Documents partition; you can keep the file in say your Home/Documents folder on your main disk then drag and drop it to the System Preferences Accounts Login Items and it will automatically mount when you login. It will look and work just like the /Documents partition, but will take less space and will grow over time as you add files. It will also be easy to backup because all you do is unmount it and then drag and drop the filename.dmg file to another hard disk or CD/DVD and burn it. It will always grow if there is available disk space but it will never shrink in size. You can also encrypt it with a password to keep the files safe from others. However, in that case, I would make a smaller file and use it just for confidential files.

A good idea is to scan your important documents and put them in an encrypted sparse disk image. Add text files with important phone numbers (credit card company, insurance company, etc.). Then put copies of this file onto cheap USB Flash drives and keep one in each car and if you're in a disaster prone area (earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados, fire storms, etc) then you can keep a survival bag and put one Flash USB drive in each bag. If your house, cars, etc. are all destroyed you have the information you need to start over. You'll be able to get up and running much faster because you'll have the important files with you at all times.

As far as the laptop, get the free Grand Perspective software http://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net/ and copy it to your /Applications folder. Then run it. You'll see an image that will show all your files and there relative size. Click the big files and it will tell you what they are. Delete what you don't need or backup and then delete things you wish to save and archive. i.e. burn them onto DVD's or copy to your external backup drive. You need several Gigabytes of free space on your hard disk in order for Mac OS X to function properly. It's likely that your computer is running very slow at the moment. Freeing space will help a lot, it gives the operating system elbow room to run.

Buying another external firewire drive is recommended. They are cheaper then they have ever been before. You can't have too much disk space! ;-) LaCie and Maxtor are good brands. Avoid USB drives, firewire is many many times faster! Archive things you wish to keep but don't need all the time onto the external disks. Give yourself lots and lots of room for movie editing especially.

I've got so much stuff, I am considering this product:
http://www.infrant.com/products/prod...dyNAS%20NVPlus

It's an external multiple disk upgradable Network Array Storage device. It plugs into your network and you can connect to it like a server. It's really fast and really reliable and you can expand it for the future. It's not cheap, but you can buy it without disks and then buy the disks you want to save some money. This way I have somewhere to store all those iTunes T.V. shows, music, and movies.

Yes, TimeMachine is a backup feature built into Mac OS X Leopard that should be available in June. It's the easiest backup system ever made. Apple's not the first to do this but it is the easiest. It will use any external disk and it will make a complete copy of your disk then take daily snapshots of the changes and only store what's needed to recreate what's changed. This way it saves a lot of disk space. http://www.apple.com/macosx/leopard/timemachine.html