File system running out of space

sanjaydbs · 07-23-2020, 12:35 AM

I have installed Linux Mint in my old laptop (2GB RAM,Intel Centrino, 380GB HDD). Along side i have installed WPS office and image editors. After using for couple of weeks, i get an error message saying the file system is running out of space.

I am unable to save data. The file systems shows only 6GB of space allocated. How can i address this issue?

berndbausch · 07-23-2020, 07:23 AM

By increasing the free space in the filesystem. One strategy is removing unnecessary files, another is increasing the filesystem size.

Now the latter is easier said than done. For a start, it would be good to see how much disk space is used. The command for this is df, or df -h if you want to have easy-to-read numbers.

Next step is an analysis of which directories use how much space, which can lead you to files that you should remove. For example this tool: https://community.linuxmint.com/software/view/baobab (which I find by googling; I have not used it).

If file removal is not an option, or doesn't free up enough space, there may be ways to increase the filesystem size, but let's start looking for low hanging fruit.

syg00 · 07-23-2020, 07:40 AM

You want low hanging fruit - timeshift. Especially with lots of updates.

Soadyheid · 07-23-2020, 08:30 AM

Welcome to Linux Questions!

Is your installation only using one partition or have you spread it over a few? e.g.

Code:

,

Code:

/home

,

Code:

swap

, etc.

Quote:

I am unable to save data. The file systems shows only 6GB of space allocated

Which file system exactly?
Show us the output of

Code:

 df -h

as mentioned by berndbauch in post #2

Assuming multiple partitions, if your

Code:

partition is too small, (and it contains /usr, /var, /etc, /opt, and all.) adding programms/Apps can fill up the space and give you a "filesystem full" error
Similarly, if your

Code:

/home

partition is too small and you've been saving large image files the same will occur.

Hmmm... putting in the code tags doesn't make it look as good as I thought it should!)

Play Bonny!

crajor · 07-23-2020, 08:46 PM

with a 380GB HDD it seems that there would normally be plenty of space to use. So as has been previously mentioned, this is either too little space in the / (root) partition or the /home/username is full of stuff.
However, you did mention an image editor. Some images can take a lot of space as resolutions grow. Also taking images from videos can use up a lot of space (number of images). Would it be possible to send files to external devices or file servers on a home network (if deleting is not an option)?

MadeInGermany · 07-23-2020, 11:03 PM

Do you have open but deleted files?

Code:

lsof | grep "(deleted)"