Mac Server Startup Disk Full

[linkazoid]

Hi,

 

Our 1 year old Mac Server on 10.5.7 is saying that the startup disk is full.

 

Looking at the info for the drive it is displaying 0kb free, but highlighting all the files in finder and doing get info, only adds up to about 15GB.

 

I found a article server-startup-disk-full but i'm lacking when it comes to mac....

 

Can anybody help?

 

Regards,

 

Michael

[GAS]

:)Hi,

Download what size from Download WhatSize for Mac - Helps find out what files are taking up all your HD space. MacUpdate Mac File Management Software Downloads and you can see witch folder taking more space, also r u running update (server) ??? That will take more space.

Stop update server and delete some update (you can download again late on) and only one way to delete file as you have to log in as ROOT (BE CARE FULL when you login as ROOT)

If you stuck PM me you’re NO and I call you.

 

- Ajay 

[bladedanny]

When you highlight folders in Mac and get info it doesn't count files you don't have permissions to, these will mainly user's home folders (if you have them stored on your mac server) as the Administrator account doesn't have full access to the user's files.

 

So to sum up, it might say you only have used 15Gb but there's a good chance your drive is actually full.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Dan

[linkazoid]

: GAS

 

Thanks.... But i'm having trouble putting the software on the server... It won't show my memory stick and i can't copy the file to it as it always wants to put it on the desktop during transferring using remote desktop - thats the volume that is full.

 

: Dan,

 

All the user's homefolders are saved to a different volume.

 

Cheers

 

Michael

Edited May 19, 2009 by linkazoid

[bladedanny]

Even though the user profiels are on a different volume it could still be the same problem, just with different files.

 

Short term if you just want to copy a file/folder to the server via ARD, when you click manage and copy items there should be an option of where to copy it to (default current user's desktop) you should be able to select a custom location from the drop down menu, ive added a screenshot of the screen.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Dan

[linkazoid]

Thanks Dan,

 

Just changed the location and it's now there, but when I run it it just closes it self. Nothing happens - Have tried to run the app from another volume and the same thing.

 

Have tried it on another mac and it works fine. So must be to not having any space to create a temp file or something.

 

Even more puzzled now

 

Michael

Edited May 19, 2009 by linkazoid

[bladedanny]

You might have to have a look in each folder and get info on each folder see if that brings up anything. On our server for example if you get info on top folder it says 3Gb yet a folder within it it 10Gb.

 

So have a look in some folders see if that brings anything up.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Dan

[DMcCoy]

Thanks Dan,

 

Just changed the location and it's now there, but when I run it it just closes it self. Nothing happens - Have tried to run the app from another volume and the same thing.

 

Have tried it on another mac and it works fine. So must be to not having any space to create a temp file or something.

 

Even more puzzled now

 

Michael

 

You have no room to create preference files, it's probably crashing.

 

You should be able to delete /Users//Library/Caches to free up some space to allow you to run applications again, there should be nothing that won't be recreated in this folder (note it's in the users folder not the /Library or /System/Library).

[linkazoid]

Cheers Guy's... I'm getting closer......

 

I used a program called Houdini to view all hidden folders and found a 23Gb folder within

 

usr/share/swupd/html/content/downloads/

but cannot delete them as I dont have permission.

 

Anyone know how i can delete these as my google searches are comming up blank. So going to have look for advice from a Mac Guru...

 

Can this path be changed as I dont want this to happen again?

 

Michael

[GAS]

Hi,

 

you have to login as root then only you can delete, those file is from mac updates.

also you have to check the logfile as well.

 

Ajay

[linkazoid]

Cheers Guys.....

 

All done now... Managed to free up 52GB overall, from a 80GB partition.... :eek:

 

Have got a couple of other issues you may be able to help me with, but will start another topic.

 

Michael

Edited May 19, 2009 by linkazoid

[linkazoid]

Help Guy's....

 

 

This problems seems to have reared it's head again...

 

Exactly the same as before, the boot volume fills completely up which stops Mac Homes from being able to view or save. But restarting the server frees up all the free space again, about 50Gb...

 

Using houdini shows no huge files, i've searched everywhere.......

 

Cheers,

 

Michael

[linkazoid]

Ok.....

 

This problem seems to get weirder...

 

 

Today no one can access their mac homefolder.... when we checked our sadmin account is no longer a admin on the server. Which means we can do nothing logged in as that account. All bindings between server and client were created with this sadmin account.

 

We can log in as root and have tried to make the account an administrator again but it will not save the change.

All this has been since 10.5.7....

 

Someone please help!!!

 

Or does anyone know of any reliable Mac support companies in London?

 

Cheers,

 

Michael

[GAS]

Hi Ya,

 

We use company call Toucan Give call to Mr Kristian Taylor on 020 8351 5111 or 07970 777 433

Toucan Computing

I will not gain any thing from them to recommend, only recommending as they very good for us.

 

GAS

[linkazoid]

We tried Toucan, but they are busy for 2 weeks apparently.

 

Anyone else?

 

Michael

[jbiesta]

that certainly is a strange problem. The only thing i can think of is following the steps in that link you posted at the beginning. Along with that, it could still be caused by the updates? is this something you have checked? as if your server pushes out apple updates it could be trying to download a huge amount of data for the updates (this may not be the case but its worth a try) If you have had your server for less than a year you can phone apple themselves for some support which you get with it when you buy it. If not you could try phoning them anyway their normally quite helpfull and if its an issue they've seen before they will most probably be happy to help you.

Hope this is of some help, let me know how you get on

Jo

[HodgeHi]

You may need to check your logs to see when they are being archived and at what time periods. You may also want to check to make sure that they are not left in debug mode.

 

You can use server admin to do this. Also if the Users' home dirs are on the same disk and you have network-based connections all of their cache files and browsing files will be stored on there if you don't re-direct them to a tmp folder on the local client when they log in.

 

The folder you mentioned earlier was the folder location for the software update server. This is where the software update service downloads its updates to.

 

Also remember that some files/folders are hidden and owned by root which means that you may need to resort to the terminal to delete/remove them. Using the sudo command will allow you to run commands as a super user (Root).

 

I'm not sure that the path can be changed for the swupd. I vaguely remember reading something about this but can't remember the outcome. Sorry.

[Marci]

Should be able to copy the entire swupd store folder to anywhere (ie: a volume with loads more space), then replace the original source folder with a symlink to the new folder...

 

Stop softwareupdate service, then do following in Terminal...

 

sudo cp -Rp /usr/share/swupd /path/to/new/location
sudo rm -R /usr/share/swupd
sudo ln -s /path/to/new/location /usr/share/swupd

 

Then restart softwareupdate service.

Edited June 11, 2009 by Marci