[hart]

I was trying to open Photoshop elements when I ran out of space on my hard drive (unpleasant suprise). Elements gave a "can't open" type error message and put up a window about the scratch disk that I skipped over before I thought to read it. So I started deleting things to clear up some space. As I was deleting mysterious stuff started happening. I'm not even sure what was going on. command-delete stopped working, the things I put in trash by hand seemed to appear in a folder one level about the folder I was deleting from. It just looked like a mess. One thing I'm thinking is that I put the whole folder I was deleting bits and pieces from in the trash but then why would it be on the desktop for me to delete from if I didn't open the trash.

So I restarted and suddenly it's like I just upgraded my OS but not quite. Mail started fresh with none of my stuff in it asking me if I want to import from another app but Address Book has my addresses in it. Finder prefs back to default, dock cleared of all my stuff but the replacement icons I had chosen for system apps were still in place.

what happened here anyway? I'm worried that there is more bad news to discover. Could filling the HD up completely have triggered some general computer mental breakdown?

more importantly where is all my Mail stuff stored so I can get it back! (please don't harass me for not placing that question in software forum.)

Help! Thanks

[hart]

PS: Safari prefs were also back to zero with my starting page and tab prefs eliminated but all my bookmarks were still in place.

[SMacTech]

I assume you are running Jag and this is a known issue of low disk space. Your mail should all still be there, but the preferences holding account info got borked when the low disk space was encountered.

[Uncle Skeleton]

SMacTech: are you implying that 10.3 fixed this problem? if so, I didn't know that

hart: Here's what happened. When apps save their preferences, they read in the old prefs file, modify it, and write a new one to replace it. If the disk is full, they can't write the new file, but the old one still gets deleted. So basically any app you had open when the disk space ran out lost all it's preferences. But most apps that have important info like Mail, store it in other places than their preferences file, but without the preferences file they don't know where to find those other places (sometimes). dig?

[arekkusu]

This is not fixed in Panther-- I have lost my Dock / Appearance /etc prefs running out of disk space.

In Panther there is a warning dialog telling you that you are about to run out of disk, and to please quit applications. But at that point since you are likely thrashing VM, you have very little chance of actually doing anything.

Summary: don't run out of disk.

[malvolio]

Originally posted by arekkusu:
Summary: don't run out of disk.

How To Not Run Out Of Disk Space - Create a dedicated swapfile partition.

[hart]

Is there supposed to be a low disk space warning? I never got one unless I clicked through it at some point without realizing.

Okay, so how exactly do I reunite Mail with my mail stuff? I see everything lurking there in home/library/mail.

Actually, this seems like an area of importance which you all seem to be well informed on but ....well, it's not covered in the (usually useless) Mac Help but also no mention in my backup help "Mac OSX: The Missing Manual" and little of use turns up in a quick search of Apple discussions or even searching these forums.

For the less proficient please explain "swap file" issues, what are they, what do they do, where are they, should I be doing something about them

Thanks for all help. Where would I be without this forum?!

[hart]

oops, successfully imported mailboxes from "previous version of Mac OSX mail". Discovered this by randomly looking at Mail menus. So that part of my problem solved although I have to do a little rearranging.

Still, however, would love to have the Mystery of Swap Files revealed to me. And what is the consensus of exactly how much space needs to be free on HD to keep from running into difficulties.

Thanks

[Geobunny]

Originally posted by hart:
<snip>
And what is the consensus of exactly how much space needs to be free on HD to keep from running into difficulties.

I generally try to keep about 10% free. Sometimes this is quite hard, but as you've found out, it's worth it! I've run into a similar problem before.

"Swap" is a slightly more technical term for virtual memory. Files (which contain portions of memory not currently in use <- very simplified view!) are stored in an invisible part of your hard disk. As you run more and more applications and use up more and more memory, these swap files grow to accommodate the required amount of RAM. By telling OS X to use a separate partition/hard disk for your swap files, you're slightly less likely to run out of hard disk space without noticing.

[sheer]

Rule of thumb is not to go below 10% capacity on a disk anyways so how anyone can run out of space is beyond me

[aehaas]

Since the beginning of computers there was this saying:

You can never have enough memory.

This is still true today. Back a few years ago memory in RAM and hard drives was expensive. Today this stuff costs as much as going out to a fancy restaurant. Skip the meal and triple your RAM and hard drive space.

Even then you will not have enough but now you can make it to the next time you upgrade and again maximize your RAM/HD.

This is always at discussion levels. It is a moot point. The truth is:

YOU CAN NEVER HAVE ENOUGH RAM, NEVER.

aehaas

I am currently considering a new PBook. Why? So I can get 2 Gig of RAM, a larger HD and the backlit keyboard. 'Not because it is faster, that is just a bonus.

[hart]

Every time I buy a new piece of equipment I think "how could I possibly use all that space up?" I have a 80 GB HD that just has my applications and assorted miscellaneous. I put all my photos on a seperate 200GB drive.

I guess I downloaded too many icon sets.

Thanks for the info. I learn something every time from you guys.

[LightWaver-67]

Originally posted by hart:
I guess I downloaded too many icon sets.

Oh... so is THAT the latest slang term for porn...?



j/k