[ozchicaggo]

ok I can't get into my emac, i turn it on, and i login- have 2 accounts and am unable to get in using either one!?!

any help??

it loads my background and then won't go any further in, (just shows the spinning coloured mouse curser) I can use/move the mouse but i can't even open the disc drive, have over riden it and put teh hardware test cd in but nothing different happens when i restart..

I have figured out that the disc is full... i know i need to delete files to fix this but i can't get in to delete anything!? anyone know how i can get in to delete files to clear some space!?


so much work to do today as well!?! any help would be fantastic!!

[chabig]

Boot off of an external drive, if you have one.

[ozchicaggo]

i have an external hard drive- how do i go about booting from it!?

thanks for any help!!

[dowNNshift]

Is your external drive Firewire? You can only boot externally from a Firewire drive, not USB2.

Also, have you tried booting in Safe Mode? This will force Mac OS to run a directory repair and not load start up items. This way you can troubleshoot and clean off space from your hard disk. Keep in mind though, you'll only have the most basic functions of the Mac OS available to you in Safe Mode. To boot into Safe Mode, hold down the shift key right after you hear the start-up chime, and release the shift key when you see the spinning gear.
When you're finished working in Safe Mode, simply reboot the Mac.

Hope this helps!

[ozchicaggo]

yeah only have a usb external hard drive.

have tried booting in safe mode - shows 'safe boot' in teh loading window but when i log in(ie type my password etc) still doesn't let me in...

[shifuimam]

Do you have another Mac or access to another Mac? Boot into Firewire Target Disk Mode on your eMac, connect to another Mac, and start deleting files.

You could also try booting off a Linux LiveCD (Ubuntu is my personal choice), backing up your stuff to your external drive, and reinstalling. If you're feeling particularly adventurous, you can try this guy's tutorial on how to use a LiveCD to have write access to an HFS+ partition (Mac-formatted).

[ozchicaggo]

no access to another mac, but i may try and chase one down!
i have access to a pc/laptop ;( lol

don't really want to take it in to get it fixed, would cost more than its worth!

any other thoughts would be great!

[shifuimam]

Like I mentioned, you can pretty easily back up your data from an Ubuntu LiveCD and then just wipe the drive. That's probably the least painless - and cheapest - route to go. Don't pay someone to clean up your data when you can do it yourself with a little time and motivation.