The Mac-Users Forum

[Diva]

My MacBook (which I've had for 3 years) has been sluggish recently and today gave me a message that my start up disk is full. How do I access my Start Up disc and what sorts of stuff should I delete or move off my computer. Yes, I'm that computer illiterate.

[Slestak]

Do you empty your Trash Can?

ETA: Here's a link on different ways you can deal with this problem ... http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/freeingspace.html

[Diva]

Yes. It's clean.

Edit: Thanks for the link!

[Princess Kate]

Hey everyone, I need your help to save my mom from throwing her money away

She complains her mac is slow (it's really not), and now she's paying someone FIVE HUNDRED FUCKING DOLLARS to work on that issue for her. It's a three year old mac book.

Am I correct that she will see either little or no improvement, and that she's essentially paying for a placebo?

[Sleeplesslumber]

Originally Posted by Diva

My MacBook (which I've had for 3 years) has been sluggish recently and today gave me a message that my start up disk is full. How do I access my Start Up disc and what sorts of stuff should I delete or move off my computer. Yes, I'm that computer illiterate.

My mom had the same problem. Basically your hard drive is nearing it maximum capacity.

Video and photo files are usually the biggest culprit. Your iTunes library can also fill up your hard drive pretty fast. You best hope is to copy files onto an external hard drive and then delete them off your computer or just delete all of your unwanted files without copying them.

[Anjin]

Yeah. scout through your Home folder and check Documents, Photos & Videos and trash the stuff you know you don't need. Back up the things you want to keep but don't use every day. See if that helps.

If that doesn't do the trick, hit up your Applications folder and trash any apps you know 100% you'll never need.. but be very careful that you know what it is you're throwing away.

Macbooks have small hdds, unfortunately. They're not too good for carrying around large multimedia collections. Firewire or USB external drives are a must.

500 bucks is a bit much to have somebody basically delete some files, clear a few caches and run some diagnostic apps. Is there an Apple store near your mothers area? They'll look at the Mac for a lot cheaper than that, I'm sure.

[Princess Kate]

Originally Posted by Anjin

Yeah. scout through your Home folder and check Documents, Photos & Videos and trash the stuff you know you don't need. Back up the things you want to keep but don't use every day. See if that helps.

If that doesn't do the trick, hit up your Applications folder and trash any apps you know 100% you'll never need.. but be very careful that you know what it is you're throwing away.

Macbooks have small hdds, unfortunately. They're not too good for carrying around large multimedia collections. Firewire or USB external drives are a must.

500 bucks is a bit much to have somebody basically delete some files, clear a few caches and run some diagnostic apps. Is there an Apple store near your mothers area? They'll look at the Mac for a lot cheaper than that, I'm sure.

Thanks so much for the advice. It turns out they're "doubling her ram" and giving her some sort of external hard drive. Also an OS upgrade for 29$. Now I don't know what to think