My macintosh HD - data drive is full

My macintosh HD - data drive is full how do I find out what is on this drive so that I can erase what I do not need?

iMac 27″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Jul 7, 2020 07:15 AM

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Posted on Jul 7, 2020 07:21 AM

The only way the data drive can be full is if the entire drive or hard partition itself is full. This is dangerous as the OS has no room to work with for temporary data. It's a very good way to lose data.


Stop using the main startup drive, immediately. If you don't have one, purchase an external drive and install the OS to it. While booted to the external, make room by moving files you need to keep to another drive, or deleting unwanted files.


What to remove? Photos and video take up the most space. Start there.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jul 7, 2020 07:21 AM in response to framefiller

The only way the data drive can be full is if the entire drive or hard partition itself is full. This is dangerous as the OS has no room to work with for temporary data. It's a very good way to lose data.


Stop using the main startup drive, immediately. If you don't have one, purchase an external drive and install the OS to it. While booted to the external, make room by moving files you need to keep to another drive, or deleting unwanted files.


What to remove? Photos and video take up the most space. Start there.

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My macintosh HD - data drive is full

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