PDA

View Full Version : Low disk space error yet I have 35GB free in File Browser



juliushibert63
November 10th, 2010, 09:05 AM
Every time I start my system I'm getting an error message that says


The volume "Filesystem root" has only 352.7 MB disk space remaining.

The weird thing is in my File Browser it's saying there's plenty of space 30+GB available. But I'm guesing it might be refering to the system partition. The system is setup as 8GB / ext4, I think a 2gb SWAP and then the rest for the remainder of the drive for things like HOME directories (was suggsted setup by an online tutorial).

I've found a few bits online talking about it's possible that files were deleted as root and so are in root's Trash. So I've used the following commands to clear it;


gksudo nautilus
Press Ctrl+H to view hidden folders and then delete anything in;

PHP Code:
/root/.Trash
/.Trash-root
/root/.local/share/Trash

But I've only cleared up around 300MB. As this is messing around on the root filesystem I'm wary to start deleting stuff as my linux system knowledge is still developing.

Any suggestions what else I might be able to delete as I'm sure there must be some rouge files somewhere as the machine is only used as a HTPC?

Viciou§
November 10th, 2010, 09:38 AM
Yes there's low disk space on the root file system, just as the warning says.
You can free some space by removing unused programs.
If it's a htpc you could remove openoffice for example.
Open synaptic package manager and sort by status and then installed.
For every program that you don't need: right click and select total remove.
(Not sure of the exact naming since I translated mine to english)

Edit: you can use the Disk Usage Analyzer (Menu: Accessories > Disk Usage Analyzer) to see what consumes the most space. Start it and then press Ctrl+F to analyze the filesystem.

sikander3786
November 10th, 2010, 09:43 AM
If you've got any personal files on the root partition, I would suggest you move them to some other place.

You can free up some space by cleaning the apt-get cache by


sudo apt-get clean

Some related threads.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1037151

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1032262

juliushibert63
November 10th, 2010, 07:54 PM
Thanks for the links and suggestions. All very helpful especially in learning some new bits and pieces on the filesystem and in Terminal.

I tried cleaning out the apt-cache and configuring dpkg. But it hasn't really cleared up any space.

Digging around though it looks like the big chunk of space is being taken up in /var/log/


drwxr-xr-x 20 root root 4096 2010-11-10 07:51 .
drwxr-xr-x 16 root root 4096 2010-10-05 22:09 ..
drwxr-x--- 2 root adm 4096 2010-11-07 09:45 apache2
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2010-03-30 23:05 apparmor
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2010-11-01 07:34 apt
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 2010-10-21 08:03 aptitude
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 318 2010-10-20 20:03 aptitude.1.gz
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 38314 2010-11-10 18:50 auth.log
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 60483 2010-11-07 09:44 auth.log.1
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 7365 2010-10-31 09:20 auth.log.2.gz
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 8155 2010-10-24 09:32 auth.log.3.gz
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 9973 2010-10-18 07:30 auth.log.4.gz
-rw-r----- 1 root adm 31 2010-08-16 10:55 boot
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 793 2010-11-10 07:22 boot.log
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 41715 2010-08-16 10:56 bootstrap.log
-rw-rw---- 1 root utmp 0 2010-11-01 07:34 btmp
-rw-rw---- 1 root utmp 218 2010-10-23 00:32 btmp.1.gz
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2010-11-01 07:34 ConsoleKit
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2010-11-10 07:50 cups
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 579937 2010-11-10 18:13 daemon.log
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 427980 2010-11-07 09:44 daemon.log.1
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 57655 2010-10-31 09:27 daemon.log.2.gz
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 51750 2010-10-24 09:53 daemon.log.3.gz
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 58860 2010-10-18 07:29 daemon.log.4.gz
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 163607 2010-11-10 07:22 debug
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 189655 2010-11-07 09:27 debug.1
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 19765 2010-10-31 09:20 debug.2.gz
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 17125 2010-10-24 09:32 debug.3.gz
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 28844 2010-10-18 07:14 debug.4.gz
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2010-07-01 22:34 dist-upgrade
-rw-r----- 1 root adm 52291 2010-11-10 07:22 dmesg
-rw-r----- 1 root adm 52515 2010-11-09 23:04 dmesg.0
-rw-r----- 1 root adm 13765 2010-11-09 18:02 dmesg.1.gz
-rw-r----- 1 root adm 13793 2010-11-09 07:55 dmesg.2.gz
-rw-r----- 1 root adm 13789 2010-11-09 07:21 dmesg.3.gz
-rw-r----- 1 root adm 13820 2010-11-08 22:46 dmesg.4.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 53065 2010-11-10 18:37 dpkg.log
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 378632 2010-10-31 18:35 dpkg.log.1
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 98841 2010-09-29 21:31 dpkg.log.2.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 32032 2010-10-31 17:58 faillog
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2964 2010-10-28 08:04 fontconfig.log
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2010-08-16 10:55 fsck
drwxrwx--T 2 root gdm 4096 2010-11-10 07:22 gdm
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2010-09-25 14:03 installer
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 2010-10-28 08:01 jockey.log
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 27495 2010-10-28 08:01 jockey.log.1
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4402 2010-09-26 00:39 jockey.log.2.gz
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 915044990 2010-11-10 18:51 kern.log
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 9836565 2010-11-07 09:45 kern.log.1
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 348792 2010-10-31 09:33 kern.log.2.gz
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 336426 2010-10-24 09:57 kern.log.3.gz
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 459808 2010-10-18 07:45 kern.log.4.gz
-rw-rw-r-- 1 root utmp 292292 2010-11-10 18:50 lastlog
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 0 2010-11-07 09:45 lpr.log
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 134 2010-11-05 07:40 lpr.log.1
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 104 2010-11-01 07:15 lpr.log.2.gz
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 105 2010-10-20 17:43 lpr.log.3.gz
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 104 2010-10-06 07:13 lpr.log.4.gz
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 0 2010-09-25 14:04 mail.err
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 0 2010-09-25 14:04 mail.info
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 0 2010-09-25 14:04 mail.log
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 0 2010-09-25 14:04 mail.warn
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 914892330 2010-11-10 18:51 messages
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 9657838 2010-11-07 09:45 messages.1
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 319661 2010-10-31 09:34 messages.2.gz
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 313136 2010-10-24 09:57 messages.3.gz
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 421710 2010-10-18 07:46 messages.4.gz
drwxr-xr-x 2 mpd audio 4096 2010-11-07 09:45 mpd
drwxr-s--- 2 mysql adm 4096 2010-11-10 07:50 mysql
-rw-r----- 1 mysql adm 0 2010-09-25 19:12 mysql.err
-rw-r----- 1 mysql adm 0 2010-11-10 07:50 mysql.log
-rw-r----- 1 mysql adm 20 2010-11-09 07:39 mysql.log.1.gz
-rw-r----- 1 mysql adm 20 2010-11-08 08:08 mysql.log.2.gz
-rw-r----- 1 mysql adm 20 2010-11-07 09:45 mysql.log.3.gz
-rw-r----- 1 mysql adm 20 2010-11-06 10:49 mysql.log.4.gz
-rw-r----- 1 mysql adm 20 2010-11-05 07:57 mysql.log.5.gz
-rw-r----- 1 mysql adm 20 2010-11-04 07:39 mysql.log.6.gz
-rw-r----- 1 mysql adm 20 2010-11-03 08:12 mysql.log.7.gz
drwxrwsr-x 2 mythtv mythtv 4096 2010-09-25 19:13 mythtv
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2010-09-25 14:04 news
drwxr-xr-x 2 ntp ntp 4096 2010-04-09 04:14 ntpstats
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8117 2010-11-10 07:22 pm-powersave.log
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 24077 2010-11-01 07:16 pm-powersave.log.1
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 390 2010-10-01 07:32 pm-powersave.log.2.gz
drwxrwxrwt 2 root root 4096 2010-11-07 09:45 pms-linux
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 2010-11-01 07:34 pm-suspend.log
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 17561 2010-10-17 19:35 pm-suspend.log.1
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2006 2010-09-26 09:29 pm-suspend.log.2.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 2010-08-16 10:56 pycentral.log
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 2010-11-08 22:58 samba
drwxr-xr-x 2 speech-dispatcher root 4096 2010-04-15 17:29 speech-dispatcher
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 193764 2010-11-10 18:51 syslog
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 1198694 2010-11-10 07:51 syslog.1
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 36631073 2010-11-09 07:39 syslog.2.gz
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 224253 2010-11-08 08:08 syslog.3.gz
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 338098 2010-11-07 09:45 syslog.4.gz
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 94884 2010-11-06 10:48 syslog.5.gz
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 340225 2010-11-05 07:56 syslog.6.gz
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 65802 2010-11-04 07:39 syslog.7.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 257923 2010-11-10 07:22 udev
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 0 2010-09-25 14:04 ufw.log
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2010-04-29 16:02 unattended-upgrades
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 744 2010-11-10 07:22 user.log
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 823 2010-11-07 09:26 user.log.1
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 215 2010-10-31 09:20 user.log.2.gz
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 797 2010-10-24 09:32 user.log.3.gz
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm 356 2010-10-18 07:14 user.log.4.gz
-rw-rw-r-- 1 root utmp 116352 2010-11-10 18:50 wtmp
-rw-rw-r-- 1 root utmp 9622 2010-11-01 07:17 wtmp.1.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 27501 2010-11-10 07:22 Xorg.0.log
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 27852 2010-11-10 00:07 Xorg.0.log.old
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 7059 2010-11-05 07:41 Xorg.1.log
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2505 2010-10-15 22:33 Xorg.1.log.old
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 7059 2010-11-05 07:41 Xorg.2.log
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 7059 2010-09-30 08:15 Xorg.2.log.old
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 7059 2010-11-05 07:41 Xorg.3.log
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 7059 2010-09-30 08:15 Xorg.3.log.old
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 7059 2010-11-05 07:41 Xorg.4.log
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 7059 2010-09-30 08:15 Xorg.4.log.old
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 7059 2010-11-05 07:41 Xorg.5.log
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 7059 2010-09-30 08:15 Xorg.5.log.old
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 39578 2010-11-05 07:44 Xorg.failsafe.log
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 39676 2010-09-30 08:17 Xorg.failsafe.log.old


inparticular by these two files which are over 500M each


/var/log/messages
/var/log/kern.log


But reading through some of those posts it seems to indicate only clearing out *.gz logs as these are safe to bin because they've been archived, Does anyone know if I can clear these two files or not?

dFlyer
November 10th, 2010, 08:18 PM
You might want to read man logrotate and make some modification to the logrotate.conf located /etc.

juliushibert63
November 10th, 2010, 08:23 PM
It also looks like there's a few large files in here. Which looks to be a Trash directory on my external drive. Is it ok to delete the files in here or not?


72188151 255236 -rw-rw-rw- 1 gil gil 261099444 Nov 6 16:43 ./media/Media/.Trash-1000/expunged/

They're just par2 files and a few cryptic numbered files.

Viciou§
November 10th, 2010, 08:28 PM
The numbers you see are in bytes.
The highest number (579973) equals ~580 kB.

Nothing to really be concerned about :)
I know that there are something tied to teletext in docs that takes up a couple of hundred MB.
Purge the corresponding packages if you don't need them.

juliushibert63
November 10th, 2010, 08:30 PM
Purge the corresponding packages if you don't need them.

Not quite sure which packages you're referring to?

blackmail
November 10th, 2010, 08:35 PM
apt-get autoremove also helps

cforput
December 9th, 2010, 03:34 PM
I have the same problem and will used this information to try and fix it but one of juliushibert63's other questions was overlooked as everyone tried to offer fixes.

juliushibert63 also asked why the message is even happening because he had 35GB of disk space free.

I have a similar circumstance where I have over 60GB free on my drive. So why does the message even appear?

blackmail
March 1st, 2011, 12:11 PM
Regarding the second question could it not be that he has two partitions?

/ (the root partition)
and
/home (...duh)

and he is referring to the fact that he still has that space available on the /home partition?

If this is right then the answer would be straightforward because the root needs to be cleaned if not then we need to look further...