Hard Drive Full - Won't Boot - Need to Delete Files

I have a 2008 MacBook

I had gotten a warning that the startup disk was near full. I ignored it and let Transmission continue to download torrents.

Later, my mac was frozen and upon restarting, it froze on the startup window - just the apple logo and the constantly spinning wheel forever.

Safe mode didn't work. I went into Single User Mode.

I have tons of avi files that had been backed up so I would like to just delete them all to free up space.

How do I do this? I am a complete novice so need step by step instructions.

I located all avis by typing find -name *.avi*

Now I just want to delete all avis - there must be a way using XXXXX *.avi*

johnnysuede said:

I had gotten a warning that the startup disk was near full. I ignored it and let Transmission continue to download torrents.

Click to expand...

Enough said!! This is like a sign saying "Don't stick hand in fire, will cause burns!"...and then the person sticks their hand in the fire anyway!!!

Boot your computer from another source (external HD with an OS on it...or a bootable DVD)...then delete enough items from the computers internal HD to get the computer to boot.

- Nick

You would think that a computer would not allow all usable space to be eaten up - effectively killing itself - to the point it cant be restarted.

So do you mean -
hook up a firewire between me and another laptop
start in target mode
delete files via other laptop

that easy?? i saw this as a solution option in my recent search

johnnysuede said:

You would think that a computer would not allow all usable space to be eaten up - effectively killing itself - to the point it cant be restarted.

Click to expand...

That's why you were given the warning. Ignoring it lead to the situation you're in at the moment (full startup disk)!

johnnysuede said:

So do you mean -
hook up a firewire between me and another laptop
start in target mode
delete files via other laptop

Click to expand...

This could be a 3rd option in addition to the two I listed above.

Good luck,

- Nick