Disk full, but I can't delete any files because my disk is full

[Anotherrr]

Please I'm getting insane. I need to delete files to free up space in my MacBook Pro. But I can't. Because I need more space to free up space…

So far, I've tried… :

- …to (force) delete files without using trash. Didn't work.
- to use the terminal and sudo rm rf. But I c'ant even type anything because I don't have enough space!
- I even tried to use a third party app I already had but it did'nt work…
- CCleaner doesn't even work!

I am lost, and I'm really scared to shut down/restart the computer because I don't want to lose any data. I use that Mac for work. I didn't even use TimeMachine or clone that computer for a long time/

Please, help me… It's urgent

 

[toMACsh]

Wild guess: connect to another Mac or an external drive and move some things.

Of course, you need to be more cautious after this.

 

[IWT]

I'm with @toMACsh on this.

Use an External Hard Drive (EHD) and drag the largest Files to the EHD.

I suggest drag rather than Copy/Paste because the Mac may reject that command as you would, by copying, double the file size.

And: A warm welcome to Mac-Forums.

Ian

 

[djdawson]

I'm with @toMACsh on this.

Use an External Hard Drive (EHD) and drag the largest Files to the EHD.

I suggest drag rather than Copy/Paste because the Mac may reject that command as you would, by copying, double the file size.

And: A warm welcome to Mac-Forums.

Ian

Dragging files to an external hard drive doesn't delete the original, so just doing that won't free up any space on the source drive. Mounting the full drive on some other Mac would probably be the easiest solution, assuming you have another Mac to use even if only temporarily.

The other possibility would be to boot into Single User Mode as described in this MacSales blog post. Once there you'll have a command line (i.e.Terminal) session with full administrative privileges, so BE CAREFUL! I expect you'd be able to delete files from this mode, but if not then the other method of mounting your Mac as an external drive on a different Mac would probably be the best approach.

Good luck!

 

[IWT]

Dragging files to an external hard drive doesn't delete the original, so just doing that won't free up any space on the source drive.

You are correct. But dragging the big files to an EHD would then allow the OP to bin the those files from the internal drive.

There are other ways and your suggestions are welcome.

Ian

 

[krs]

Is that actually normal with maOS now?
That the boot disk gets so full that one cannot delete any files.
Or is theres omething else going on?

I had a situation like that years ago when an app I downloaded generate log files like crazy.
Eventually a message popped up that the disk was full - well, when the "full"messaeame up it still showed a few KB available and deleting files was no issue.

I'm wondering if (an then why) the OP did not get a warning message like that.

PS: Maybe some more ideas here:

The startup disk is almost full on my Mac but I can’t delete anything!

When your startup disk is completely full, you can't even delete files to make more space anymore. Find out what to do if this happens.

appletoolbox.com

 

[MacInWin]

Is that actually normal with maOS now?

Normal? No, but definitely possible. And deleted files, even with the Trash emptied, may still be on the drive in a snapshot if Time Machine is turned on. After 24 hours, the snapshot will "age" out, and the space recovered, but you do need room on the drive to operate almost anything.

 

[Slydude]

Although it's worth trying to move some files to an external drive and them afterward I don't think that's going to work. That hasn't freed up the space that seems to be needed to go forward.

Target Disk Mode should word but I'm not always set up to do that as easily as I would like. I tend to use a cloned drive for situations like this. That should work if you have one.

 

[Horsa]

This idea might be utterly useless, but you never know. It just popped into my head.

As I understand it, you've got everything - OS, apps, personal file storage etc. - all on the same system drive, with no separate partitions, yes?

The OS may not be allowing you to delete anything, but I wonder if it would allow you to uninstall a few non-critical, rarely-used apps? If it does, it might free up enough HDD real estate to enable the delete function to work again. Maybe.

 

[Lifeisabeach]

Try using Safe Mode.

Start up your Mac in safe mode

Starting up your Mac in safe mode may help you diagnose problems with your Mac.

support.apple.com

 

[krs]

Try using Safe Mode.

Start up your Mac in safe mode

Starting up your Mac in safe mode may help you diagnose problems with your Mac.

support.apple.com

That seems like the best bet if all the other options failed.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

Keep in mind, that when using a disk formatted as APFS, if you delete a file, it might not actually get deleted for 24 hours.

See:
https://tidbits.com/2023/02/24/auditing-free-drive-space-where-have-all-the-gigabytes-gone/

 

[toMACsh]

I suggest drag rather than Copy/Paste because the Mac may reject that command as you would, by copying, double the file size.

Option-Drag should move rather than Copy.

The OP asked this on MacRumors also. Seems like this suggestion has already failed, if memory serves.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

If the OP has a bootable external hard drive, I recommend that he boot from it and then try to delete things.

 

[Alan_B]

Option-Drag should move rather than Copy.

The OP asked this on MacRumors also. Seems like this suggestion has already failed, if memory serves.

And here:

Disk full, but I can't delete any files because my disk is full

Please I'm getting insane. I need to delete files to free up space in my MacBook Pro. But I can't. Because I need more space to free up space… So far, I've tried… : - …to (force) delete files without using trash. Didn't work. - to use the terminal and sudo rm rf. But I c'ant even type...

www.mac-help.com

Maybe Safe Mode is worth a try. What about opening up a terminal window in Recovery and attempting rm -rf there?

 

[Slydude]

I think that would work. It's worth a try. With the usual caveat about being careful with Terminal commands of course.

Someone with more experience with Terminal will have a better idea if that should work.

 

[krs]

I think that would work. It's worth a try. With the usual caveat about being careful with Terminal commands of course.

Someone with more experience with Terminal will have a better idea if that should work.

OP already tried that,
See post #1

So far, I've tried… :

- …to (force) delete files without using trash. Didn't work.
- to use the terminal and sudo rm rf. But I c'ant even type anything because I don't have enough space!
- I even tried to use a third party app I already had but it did'nt work…
- CCleaner doesn't even work!

 

[MacInWin]

I think the best approach is to boot from an external drive. That way the various caches are on the external, not internal drive, and may free up enough space to delete from the internal. Also, I would try deleting small files first, then as space is available, move up to larger ones. I suspect the move to Trash involves some duplication during the move itself, so taking small bites might be better. Empty the trash between moves, of course.

 

[Slydude]

@krs You're right. That was mentioned. What I didn't make clear in my post was that I thought the combination of booting from the recovery partition and using Terminal might work.