Is it safe to delete /private/var/sleepimage on OS X?

Question

So I have an OS X machine running desperately low on hard drive space. I ran DiskInventory X and found that

/private/var/sleepimage

is taking up 2GB of space. I understand that this file is used to hold the contents of RAM or some such thing, so in the event of sudden battery or power loss, no data will be lost.

If I start the machine up in Target mode, and wipe that file out, is there any bad repercussions outside of risking data loss in the event of a crash?

Solution

You can safely delete it without going into Target Disk Mode.

sudo rm /private/var/vm/sleepimage

Note that this will be recreated when you sleep your computer again. To disable safe sleep altogether (something I don't recommend),

sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0
sudo rm /private/var/vm/sleepimage

Doing this may cause you to lose data if your computer loses power while sleeping.

Comments

[mozzer]

Thanks. I still had to boot into Target Mode since the disk was too full to boot properly.

[Nabil]

You could have probably started in single mode by keeping command-s pressed at boot. After enabling writing on root mount point as per screen instructions you could have deleted the sleepimage file without the need for a second computer.