Cant install OS X El Capitan on Macbook pro

[needhelpnow]

Hey guys, first time on this forum and asking a question so if I am doing something wrong, let me know.

So i have a late model 2012 Macbook pro 17 inch. I was running mavericks for a while and didnt want to update due to the new look of the OS. Anyway, last night I tried installing a game but its only playable on latest version.

So i downloaded the el capitan update, followed all the instructions and it rebooted to install...

Now when i try to click on my "Macintosh HD" as the drive of installation, it tells me there is not enough free space and it wont allow me to install.

Ok, cool, so I run terminal through recovery mode and try to delete some old files that way but I cannot do that.
I keep getting a

"device is write locked" message

or when trying to -rm -rf folders i get a "read-only file system" message

How do I get permissions or change them so I can delete some files??

NOTE: I also have a bootcamp partition that boots up fine, but i am unable to delete files through that as I get a "file is too big for system" message or something or other. Its not a fat32 4gb message, as i tried with the small text files and large movie files, same result.

Thanks in advance!

Please please please!!! I need this computer working by monday morning!

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello and welcome.

-Do you have a current Time Machine or other backup? We strongly recommend this.
-Does the Mac still work normally currently?
-If so, startup normally and delete the files to make enough free space.
-How much free space do you have?
-Do you have some purchased movies or apps you could delete from iTunes to get enough space? They usually take up the most space and can be re-downloaded later.
-You can't delete files when started up from the Recovery Partition. We don't recommend changing permissions via the Terminal in the Recovery Partition, as it could cause the Mac to not startup properly afterwards.
-We can deal with the Boot Camp issue later.

If you need this Mac for Monday, I don't suggest trying to add the new version of OS X just for a game, until you resolve the issues preventing the upgrade.

C

 

[needhelpnow]

Hello and welcome.

-Do you have a current Time Machine or other backup? We strongly recommend this.
-Does the Mac still work normally currently?
-If so, startup normally and delete the files to make enough free space.
-How much free space do you have?
-Do you have some purchased movies or apps you could delete from iTunes to get enough space? They usually take up the most space and can be re-downloaded later.
-You can't delete files when started up from the Recovery Partition. We don't recommend changing permissions via the Terminal in the Recovery Partition, as it could cause the Mac to not startup properly afterwards.
-We can deal with the Boot Camp issue later.

If you need this Mac for Monday, I don't suggest trying to add the new version of OS X just for a game, until you resolve the issues preventing the upgrade.

C

-No, I do not currently have a Time Machine backup

-No, I cannot boot it up normally. When i hold option at startup, I have three options, Windows, OS X Installer and Recovery-10.11.3

-I have 7.99Gb of free space

- I do not have anything purchased through iTunes.

-So, what exactly are my options? I can't delete files, but it won't let me do anything until I do. There has to be a way...



Thanks for the quick reply, I appreciate it. What am I missing here?

 

[Cory Cooper]

~8 GB of free space should be enough to startup the Mac with. You'll need about 10 GB or more to perform a reinstall.

One option would be to install El Capitan on an external hard drive (if you have one) and then use it to startup from. You can then see the contents of the internal drive, and be able to delete some files to make space.

C

 

[needhelpnow]

~8 GB of free space should be enough to startup the Mac with. You'll need about 10 GB or more to perform a reinstall.

One option would be to install El Capitan on an external hard drive (if you have one) and then use it to startup from. You can then see the contents of the internal drive, and be able to delete some files to make space.

C

-I cannot start up the mac. That is the whole issue here. It boots up into OS X Installer, and this is where the problems happen. When I hold option on start up, my choices are "Windows"(bootcamp) , " OS X Installer" and "Recovery-10.11.3"

-Would a USB thumbdrive be able to do that? It has enough space, and can be formatted as needed.


Thanks again for the help

 

[needhelpnow]

SOLVED

I was able to use a program called Macdrive for bootcamp and was able to delete the files off my mac hd that way