FileVault problem...

I just tried to make a workflow to automatically rename some pictures, but an error kept coming up. I checked the Automator help and it mentioned FileVault may cause errors since it encrypts your files. I tried to turn off FileVault in the system preferences and it said, "Turning off FileVault requires an additional 4060.0 GB of free disk space to create an unencrypted copy of the home folder. Try emptying the Trash or deleting files you don't need."

I have a 160 GB harddrive with 111 GB already used, how is it that I need 4060 GB free? Am I missing something? How could they expect you to have 4 Terabytes of harddrive space?

MAKE A BACKUP OF YOUR IMPORTANT FILES BEFORE TRYING THIS

File vault saves your home folder as a 'Sparse image' inside the 'Users' folder on your harddrive .

What you could do is make a new user, log in as that user, then goto the 'Users' folder on your harddrive and open up the old users folder (you may not have sufficient access privileges, to solve this click on the folder and then goto 'File/get info' in the finder and change the privileges to the user that your logged in as)
Inside the old users folder their should be a sparse image. Click on the sparse image twice and enter the password of your old user. The image should open onto the desktop and then you can copy it's content to the account that your logged into. Don't copy the keychain or preference files as this can mess things up. You will need to re enter email passwords and maybe re install some programs. When finished check that everything works and if it's all ok then you can delete the old user. It would be a good idea to 'Repair disk permissions' in Disk utility when your done.

wow...thank you, i found another answer on Apple support that I'd like to try first...only because its a little easier ...heres the link it if anyone else is interested

Yes, it sounds complicated but isn't really all that bad. I always make backups of my home folder this way by logging in as another user and dragging the file vault spare image to an external drive. Good luck with the Apple method.