commands like df?

wh33t · 03-15-2014, 03:51 PM

Hey LQ,

I've got a linux system whose harddrive is 10% full which seems way higher than it should be at this point in time. I'm trying to find out which directory on the system is using up this space. I want to know what command will tell me which directories are using the most space.

I know that "df" will kind of do what I want. It reports that /dev/xvda1 is using 10%, but now I want to go into /dev/xvda1 and see which directories in there are using what not. How can I accomplish this?

sycamorex · 03-15-2014, 04:05 PM

You could try the following:

Code:

du -a /home/fred/ | sort -n -r | head -n 20

Obviously, replace the path above with the mount point for /dev/xvda1.

wh33t · 03-16-2014, 07:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sycamorex

You could try the following:

Code:

du -a /home/fred/ | sort -n -r | head -n 20

Obviously, replace the path above with the mount point for /dev/xvda1.

Thanks, I'll try that out.

wh33t · 03-22-2014, 03:04 PM

Ok I've tried that command

Code:

du -a /home/fred/ | sort -n -r | head -n 20

And it tells me that 1.8gb are in my folder where I thought there would be a lot more. So this makes me curious about something.

I used to have many gbs of images inside of mysql database. But I deleted that system and I'm pretty sure my disk space never went down to reflect that delete. Is there any chance that I need to do a defrag of the mysql database or something to get that disk space back? I'm pretty sure I'm not using as much disk space as my system thinks I am.

sycamorex · 03-22-2014, 03:22 PM

Here's an article about the fact that Linux does not need any kind of defrag software.
http://www.howtogeek.com/115229/htg-...defragmenting/

Here's how to locate where MySQL stored data. Perhaps you need to manually delete the old database content:
http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/mysql-d...ed-unix-linux/

Also check for some old/forgotten dot files/folders (hidden files with names starting with a dot .)

wh33t · 03-22-2014, 08:50 PM

Thanks for that. Here is something interesting.

Code:

root@wh33t:/var/lib/mysql# ls -l
total 7203752
-rw-r--r-- 1 root  root           0 Feb  1 18:55 debian-5.5.flag
-rw-rw---- 1 mysql mysql 7358906368 Mar 22 18:48 ibdata1
-rw-rw---- 1 mysql mysql    5242880 Mar 22 18:48 ib_logfile0
-rw-rw---- 1 mysql mysql    5242880 Mar 22 17:11 ib_logfile1

I see that there is an ibdata1 file in there that is 7.3gb?! Is it safe for me to just go ahead and remove it?

sgosnell · 03-22-2014, 08:59 PM

When you delete files, they don't go away entirely. They just go into the trash. You have to empty the trash to reclaim the disk space used by the deleted files.

wh33t · 03-22-2014, 09:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sgosnell

When you delete files, they don't go away entirely. They just go into the trash. You have to empty the trash to reclaim the disk space used by the deleted files.

Yeah, and even then emptying the trash doesn't "really" delete them, but even still, the free space should still be reported correctly right?

Anyhow, I deleted that file and now my mysql server won't boot. I guess I need to trouble shoot that now... damn it!~

sycamorex · 03-23-2014, 03:33 AM

Try the links below, if nothing helps, just try reinstalling mysql so that that file is recreated.

The links also suggest how to prevent the ibdata from growing so much.
https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...-mysql-757527/
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3...-file-in-mysql
http://forums.mysql.com/read.php?22,181987

wh33t · 03-23-2014, 03:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sycamorex

Try the links below, if nothing helps, just try reinstalling mysql so that that file is recreated.

The links also suggest how to prevent the ibdata from growing so much.
https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...-mysql-757527/
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3...-file-in-mysql
http://forums.mysql.com/read.php?22,181987

Thank you. You've been a great help.