Hard disk FULL, Mac wont boot up, cannot install Leopard

Hi, I was recording the screen with an application when my screen froze, i quit what I was filming and the computer was running extremely slow. The force quit window opened very slowy so i looked at my hard drive and there was only 1 GB left. I decided to hold the shut down button and restart it. Except it wouldnt. The spinning wheel just kept spinning and nothing happened.

This isnt the first time that happened to me, last time i fixed it by reinstalling Leopard, except now I only have 1 GB left so i dont know how the heck im going to reinstall it =*( Does anyone have any ideas? I need to get onto my hard drive and delete what i was filming but i cant boot up!

Does anyone have any ideas?
Thanks

boot from the osx install cd.

You need a larger HD and an external also urgently. Drives require about 10-20% free space in order to work satisfactorily, and at peak performance. Sounds like the poor thing is being constantly flogged resulting in your problems.

You may have trouble getting the install DVD to boot even. If it does start, run Repair Disk, reboot and remove some files to create disk space.

Ok thank you so much guys! I didnt know that was possible... is it easy like an option to boot from the leopard disk or do I have to do something special, e.g. hold a key while booting or something? Thanks again.

Pop in the install DVD, reboot and hold down 'C'. A clean install of Leopard will wipe all you currently have on the drive.

if you haven't already done the above, it might be also worth trying this...

If you have another PC or Mac handy and a 6 pin to 6 pin firewire lead....

connect your mac to the other mac or PC with the fire wire lead, boot up your Mac (if it is able to) and hold down the letter 'T' on the keyboard of your full Mac. This turns the mac into an expensive external hard drive.

It should show up on the other computer as a hard drive. Go into it and find the humungous file you created using the screen capture software, and delete it. Then turn off your mac, disconnect it and boot up, and there should be enough space for it to boot fully.

Of course, this only works if you can actually get your mac to switch off and also turn on again, and if you have a spare computer and the firewire lead.

BUT, it does mean you can keep everything else as it is without having to do a full re-install.

Mel

I'm having a similar problem - is there a way to go into single user mode and delete files from the prompt? Something similar to DOS?

Forgive my ignorance but I'm not very mac-savvy.

With modern files, music, photos etc. being so large an external HDD is essential. How about getting a 250GB drive and backing up your entire system with SuperDuper and placing that drive then in the computer and using current drive, after formatting, as your external?

Fort most of us, what once were huge drives, say 125/150GB, now are everyday. My first Mac had 160MB, yes MB, drive with 8MB memory and at the time I thought I would never fill it and would never need a faster machine!

That's probably what I'll do next but I need to get the thing to start up first......