Not enough free space to install OS X

[BertieWooster96]

Hi all, newbie to the forum here.

I went to install El Capitan and was informed to remove some files make enough room which I did (I had been having problems regarding a big 'other' part taking over my hard drive). Installer went ahead and computer restarted; upon restarting I was informed that I did not have enough free space:



Very recklessly I haven't backed up my computer so that isn't an option. I cannot start in Safe Mode, it crashes displaying a message that no OS X is selected (or installed). Also, tried and failed to get an appointment at a Genius bar.

I have looked around online and found this: http://mintcloud.tumblr.com/post/65138101209/not-enough-free-space-how-to-survive-mavericks

I know that a lot of my big files are in a folder called 'Movies' within 'Downloads', and also unnecessary applications in 'Applications', it's just being able to navigate them in Terminal to delete said files (I'm not very confident regarding Terminal commands).

(If it makes a difference, when I was originally updating to El Capitan my Mac lost power and I had to reboot which took me to the screen above so I'm wondering if this could be part of the issue.)

I have other Macs at hand if that helps, I'd really hate to lose my files.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Shaaun]

Hi all, newbie to the forum here.

I went to install El Capitan and was informed to remove some files make enough room which I did (I had been having problems regarding a big 'other' part taking over my hard drive). Installer went ahead and computer restarted; upon restarting I was informed that I did not have enough free space:



Very recklessly I haven't backed up my computer so that isn't an option. I cannot start in Safe Mode, it crashes displaying a message that no OS X is selected (or installed). Also, tried and failed to get an appointment at a Genius bar.

I have looked around online and found this: http://mintcloud.tumblr.com/post/65138101209/not-enough-free-space-how-to-survive-mavericks

I know that a lot of my big files are in a folder called 'Movies' within 'Downloads', and also unnecessary applications in 'Applications', it's just being able to navigate them in Terminal to delete said files (I'm not very confident regarding Terminal commands).

(If it makes a difference, when I was originally updating to El Capitan my Mac lost power and I had to reboot which took me to the screen above so I'm wondering if this could be part of the issue.)

I have other Macs at hand if that helps, I'd really hate to lose my files.

Thanks in advance.

Hey, I would advise Re indexing your HDD and also you could repair the disk permissions in Disk Utility maybe clean up any cache files there are lot of programs out the on the App Store that could help you with that.

 

[BertieWooster96]

Hey, I would advise Re indexing your HDD and also you could repair the disk permissions in Disk Utility maybe clean up any cache files there are lot of programs out the on the App Store that could help you with that.

Thanks for replying.
Can you please explain how I would do these from the OS X installer? (as I can't actually 'get in' to my Mac and log on.)

 

[Shaaun]

Thanks for replying.
Can you please explain how I would do these from the OS X installer? (as I can't actually 'get in' to my Mac and log on.)

Go into Recovery Mode this is where you can fix permissions but this will not guarantee that it will fix it.

CMD + R when powering on the Mac
Select Disk Utility
Select Macintosh HD
Verify Disk Permissions
Repair Disk Permissions

Utilities located on the top of the status bar select Terminal.

In Terminal window type
sudo mdutil -E /
Enter Password

Restart Mac

If this doe not work you may need to erase and re install OSX i hope you have a Time Machine Backup.

 

[DeltaMac]

Go into Recovery Mode this is where you can fix permissions but this will not guarantee that it will fix it.

CMD + R when powering on the Mac
Select Disk Utility
Select Macintosh HD
Verify Disk Permissions
Repair Disk Permissions
...
If this doe not work you may need to erase and re install OSX i hope you have a Time Machine Backup.

This is not an issue that would be affected by disk permissions.
But it also can't be done that way, El Capitan Disk Utility does not offer the capability to repair disk permissions.
The other, to re-index the spotlight database, can help with how the free space is displayed, but won't help anything if the drive is actually running low on space.

One step that might help would be to delete the user/Library/Caches folder. There might be several GBytes stored there (maybe), which might be enough so the OP can reinstall. Got to take care of the space issue before you can reinstall OS X. No way around that..

 

[BertieWooster96]

One step that might help would be to delete the user/Library/Caches folder. There might be several GBytes stored there (maybe), which might be enough so the OP can reinstall. Got to take care of the space issue before you can reinstall OS X. No way around that..

Hi DeltaMac, thanks for the reply.
Please can you explain how I would delete that folder via. terminal? If the cache folder doesn't work, I know a movies folder within my Downloads can be deleted. As I said in the original post, I'm not particularly confident, mainly because I don't have a backup (very stupidly). I know it's a long shot, but I have a family member's Time Capsule at hand (or will even buy an external hard drive), is it possible to make a backup now before I try anything?

 

[DeltaMac]

I think your next step will be to backup your hard drive.
Once you have the backup, then you can simply erase the hard drive, and then there's little reason to try to move files and folders from your hard drive.
You can just erase, then reinstall OS X. The new user setup will offer to find your backup on another drive. You make sure that is plugged in to your newly formatted Mac, and let it transfer back. The restore can take an hour or more.

 

[BertieWooster96]

I think your next step will be to backup your hard drive.
Once you have the backup, then you can simply erase the hard drive, and then there's little reason to try to move files and folders from your hard drive.
You can just erase, then reinstall OS X. The new user setup will offer to find your backup on another drive. You make sure that is plugged in to your newly formatted Mac, and let it transfer back. The restore can take an hour or more.

I think such a thing would be a good idea considering I was having problems prior to this regarding space.
Do you have step-by-step instructions at hand to do this by any chance? (with a Time Capsule, or am I better buying an external hard drive?)
Never done such a thing on a Macintosh before.