Root \ File System Full - Can't get my Head Around It

[Quarkrad]

Sorry - this is the third time I've had this problem and I still cannot get my head around the fix. I have a \ partition (sda5) that is full - the partition is 30GB that should only contain 14.04. I have a separate \home partition (sda6) that is 70GB and another storage partition 731GB (sda7) (see attached picture - I'm ignoring sda1, a win7 partition). I have unplugged my backup hd so it is not showing - that is normally sdb1. I have a backup script that backs-up \home\user and \store to my backup disk. All this works ok but my (repeated) problem is when I manually force the the pc switch off instantly - it seems the backup runs but instead of backing up to sdb1 it's fills up \. I need to 'look' in \ and delete anything to do with \home\user or \store - but I cannot get my head out of thinking in terms of partitions. File managers show everything under \ so when I look in File System \media\ I'm not sure whether I'm seeing something in \ (sda5) that shouldn't be there or I'm looking at my actual \store partition (sda7). At this point I do not want to delete media/store because it could be sda7. How do I know when I'm looking at media\store whether it is sda7 or a copy that sits on sda5 and filling up my root directory/partition?

[Lars Noodén]

Run the "Disk Usage Analyzer" and it will show in a graph where your system is filling up. Once you know which parts are full, you have an idea about what the cause might be. Often it's something in /var, either /var/log/ or /var/cache/

[Quarkrad]

Is it the case that if, in Nautilus, I unmount store (that is sda7) then it will not be seen by the system? I have unmount store and note that when I look in Computer/File System/media/ I have folders called dad (that is me the user), store, win7, winxp. (I use to dual boot ubuntu and winxp - I deleted winxp and install win7). As I have unmounted store/sda7 I'm not sure what I'm looking at in file system/media - is it save to delete /media?

[Lars Noodén]

Is it the case that if, in Nautilus, I unmount store (that is sda7) then it will not be seen by the system? I have unmount store and note that when I look in Computer/File System/media/ I have folders called dad (that is me the user), store, win7, winxp. (I use to dual boot ubuntu and winxp - I deleted winxp and install win7). As I have unmounted store/sda7 I'm not sure what I'm looking at in file system/media - is it save to delete /media?

Unmounted filesystems will not be seen. The directory /media is empty but it is needed as a mount point for removable media. So it is best to leave it. You will not save any space by deleting it and will create some problems if it is gone. Try running the "Disk Usage Analyzer". It will show you where the space is being used so you can get to the cause of the problem rather than deleting randomly.

[sudodus]

Please run the "Disk Usage Analyzer" and it will show in a graph where your system is filling up. If you want help, you can attach a screenshot picture of the graph.

[Quarkrad]

OK - thanks, that did it. I have attached baobab 1, 2 and 3 - it looks (to me) like I have a dad (me the user) - so I'm expecting to see /backup/dad in the trash folder. I could not see it so I looked via gksudo nautilus and still nothing there - see gksudo.png. Not sure what to do now.

[sudodus]

/root/.local/share/Trash contains a lot of cruft (old files that were moved to the wastepaper basket). You need to remove the cruft from there (from the wastepaper basket). It belongs to root, so you need elevated permissions (for example gksudo nautilus or with sudo and plain command lines)

[Quarkrad]

Many thanks - that did it. Disk Analyzer is now showing \ as 9.0 GB / 31.3 GB.

[sudodus]

I'm glad I could help you

[yancek]

The GParted image in your initial post shows that both your / (root filesystem) and /media/store are nearly full. The images in post # 6 show that the /root directory, which is the directory for the root user has a lot of data. This would indicated that you are moving files to the Trash while logged in with sudo privileges. There should be a .local/share/Trash directory for your user as well as for root. If you move to Trash while logged in as a user, they would go to the /home/dad/.local/Trash sub-directory.

With your / partition so full, I'm surprised you can boot at all.