Hi !

This is peculiar situation. I did a mistake when running a linux program which creates backup mirrors on partitions. This program tried to create a mirror of my partition containing my Windows XP. The mistake was I instructed the program to save the mirror files on the Linux partition. The program created six files at 2 Gb each, total 12 Gb. After this the Linux partition was full and the program halted because of this.

Now I can't boot up Linux. During boot up, just before logging into gnome, a message appear saying gnome can't start because the disk is full.

How do I delete the six 2 Gb files?

Can I delete them from whithin Windows XP?

Is there some Windows software allowing me to delete files on Linux partitions?

I have the Windows program Exlore2fs installed, but it can't delete files. Only view them or copy them to Windows.

You should still be able to boot into single user mode (init S) or runlevel 3 (multi user command line mode).

When the bootloader starts up, edit the boot parameters to add init S or init 3. When the system is booted, locate those files and delete one or more. That will gain enough hard disk for the temporary files needed to boot into GUI (runlevel 5).

Thanks bigrigdriver !

I have the grub bootloader installed. My boot parameters look like this:

root (hd0,4)

kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.12-10-386 root=/dev/hda5 ro quiet splash

initrd /boot/initrd.img.2.6.12-10-386

boot

Where shall I add init S?

Hi again bigrigdriver (and all other readers) !

I did a google search and found the Windows program Ext2 IFS 1.10b for Windows XP. It adds the Linux partitions to the Windows XP Explorer. And I was surprised! You can even delete files on the Linux partitions.

So, now my problem is solved. I deleted the six 2 Gb files and my Ubuntu Linux is back to normal.