Start disk full // copying data external hard drive

Hello all,

First back round - then issue - questions

Mac book pro was functioning very slow and from time to time it would freeze up.
Quite often I would receive the "start disk is almost full". Advice retrieved from the Internet suggested that this meant there was too little space on the hard drive.
I've connected a WD device. ***see below.
I then opened the folder "all images" under the 'search for' heading in Finder.
I high-lighted all of the data in the folder (21,722 items) and dragged it on to the device.
A small box opened titled 'Copy'.
Within the box was the Text "preparing to Copy to 'photos ... Sept 2013' which is the file folder I named on the external hard drive and the location of where I dropped the dragged data.
This text was followed by a blue and white striped horizontal bar moving from left to right. All looked very good, except for the fact that its been running now for 3 hours. There are no other applications open on my MBPro.

***note device was configured for PC's and for my Mac in March 2013 after purchase and the last time I used the WD external hard drive was to retrieve some data, mainly music, from my old PC a few months back ***


Is it true that the "start disk is almost full" means there was too little space on the hard drive?

I don't see any use for the pre-inIstalled image files on my MBPro. Is there any serious danger towards the functionality of my MBPro should I just start deleting them?

How long should it take copy over 21k plus image files to an external device?

After the WD external hard drive has been successfully configured, Is the configuration process ever required again?

Many Thanks in advance for any advise.

A very sad Fan_of_mac...

Welcome to Mac-Forums..

The message does indicate that your HDD is filling up. OS X is very unhappy when you get to this state. We usually recommend keeping 15-20% of your HDD free for OS X to operate properly.

To make things work faster, you should delete unused files or move them to external media. So you should select all those files you selected and then drag & drop them to the external WD drive while holding down CMD. This will move them and free up space on your HDD..

Great to know... But...

Hello razor...

Many thanks!

On the other questions.. I think I dragged correctly. Is it really copying?


I don't see any use for the pre-inIstalled image files on my MBPro. Is there any serious danger towards the functionality of my MBPro should I just start deleting them?

How long should it take copy over 21k plus image files to an external device?

After the WD external hard drive has been successfully configured, Is the configuration process ever required again?


Thanks again for your help

A very sad Fan_of_mac...

The default behavior of OS X when copying files on the same HDD is to move, but when you go across different drives, it defaults to copying. While on the same drive, you have to hold down the OPTION key to force a move and you have to hold down the CMD key when you're going across drives to force the move.

Now what do you mean by pre-installed images? As in actual images (JPG/PNG/BMP) or something else? If just the images, then there's no harm in you deleting them. However if you mean pre-installed applications, be careful with these.

Did the copy dialog ever calculate how much space those 21k images were taking up?

Continue...

Yes, there are many PNG files, which are images, but nothing I added nor have I ever required them

Did the copy dialog ever calculate how much space those 21k images were taking up?

No. Nothing.. No size was given nor an estimated time.


Many hanks. This is really terrific help.

Laurie

It has ran thru the night and now displays an amount of GB data and a time. I'm not going to interupt it but will use the CMD key for the next move of data. Thanks so much

Where exactly are these "pre-installed images"? OS X doesn't come with pre-installed images. Especially not that many. Did you buy this mac used or new? You can possibly just delete them if you don't want them.

The Mac worked 19 hours on the copy and now the files are on the WD. Now the actual goal... I'm deleting the files (into trash) from the Mac and its look'n like it will also require a day. There must be an easier . . . faster way.

There is but it requires using Terminal. And you can really MESS THINGS UP there if you don't know what you're doing.