[SOLVED] Hdd partition is full- unable to install any apps

handshake92 · 07-08-2022, 08:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michaelk

You should be able to highlight the text in the terminal by clicking the left mouse button, then right click and select copy.
Press the "Go advanced" button and select the balloon (third from the left) which is the wrap in quotes, click the mouse between the two quotes and paste the text.

1. The "clean /tmp" is not an executable command but to actually look in the /tmp directory and actually manually delete files. I would not expect there to be much to actually delete.

2. The "It is held by process.." is synaptic trying to automatically find stuff to update. As soon as it finishes you can run the apt commands.

3. Without seeing the output of the df -h command we can not tell where to look for big files etc.

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Ans: I have appended the screenshot of "lsblk" and "df -h". Hopefull this will be helpful. Thanks

handshake92 · 07-08-2022, 08:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michaelk

How did you partition the drive?
Is this a dual boot computer?

The basic system installs in less then 10GB so either you downloaded a lot of stuff or just maybe did not create some partitions with enough space. Post the output of the command lsblk and df -h.

apt clean
and
apt autoclean

Will clean up the cache and free up space.

Ans: Yes This is a dual boot computer sharing with Windows 10 managed with Grub2win.
Kindly refer to latest reply with attachments showing "lsblk" and "df -h" command.

michaelk · 07-08-2022, 08:53 PM

You have one system partition which is 93% full. I assume it is an ext4 filesystem which means you are limited to 95%.
To find what directories have the must junk try this command:

sudo du -a / | sort -n -r | head -n 10

du estimates file space usage, sort list them by size and head -n 10 outputs the top 10. You can check the man pages for more information on what they do.

business_kid · 07-09-2022, 04:21 AM

Another useful trick is to run 'ls -lht' which lists each directory contents in human readable form and date order. At the bottom of the list is the oldest files. If you haven't touched it in years, do you need it?

handshake92 · 07-09-2022, 06:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jailbait

If you have enough spare space to enlarge the partition I would suggest that you create another new partition instead of expanding the existing one. Then move a portion of the existing partition to the new partition. You could move /home, /usr, or any other directory tree that has a large amount of data.

Ans: My apology for the delay in responding.When I have moved the contents from /home or /usr -will the Debian OS automatically read them in the new location in the adjacent partition?
Thnaks.

handshake92 · 07-09-2022, 06:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michaelk

You have one system partition which is 93% full. I assume it is an ext4 filesystem which means you are limited to 95%.
To find what directories have the must junk try this command:

sudo du -a / | sort -n -r | head -n 10

du estimates file space usage, sort list them by size and head -n 10 outputs the top 10. You can check the man pages for more information on what they do.

Ans: thanks, I have type "sudo du -a" and it list out a very long page - listing every file and when I type "sort -n -r. The screen is not responding -it must have froze.

As I recall this Debian setup is my first foray into Linux OS so I chooose the setup partition for beginner where all those directories are pre-selected.
Hence I wouldnt know of any better & efficient setup that could have prevent ed this problem ( insufficient space).

What must I do now to removed those files hogging my hdd space.
Kindly advise. Thanks

michaelk · 07-09-2022, 07:22 AM

Code:

sudo du -a / | sort -n -r | head -n 10

While those are separate commands the | above is what is known as a pipe. The output of the du command is "passed" to the sort command which is "passed" to the head command to get the desired answer. Need to find what and where the files are located.

For a beginner having everything in one partition is fine it is just that you ran out of space. Adding space is not difficult but can be tense since you are shrinking an existing partition and moving things around on the disk. gparted is a good tool but must be run from a live USB.

handshake92 · 07-09-2022, 07:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by business_kid

Another useful trick is to run 'ls -lht' which lists each directory contents in human readable form and date order. At the bottom of the list is the oldest files. If you haven't touched it in years, do you need it?

Ans: Thanks, I have type "ls -lht" it list plenty of files however I find the largest file is only 20Mb followed by multiple 4.0K files.
I am baffled how can the largest file of 20Mb and other files hog up to 95%.
How do I removed those large un-needed files?

Thanks

business_kid · 07-09-2022, 07:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by handshake92

Ans: Thanks, I have type "ls -lht" it list plenty of files however I find the largest file is only 20Mb followed by multiple 4.0K files.
I am baffled how can the largest file of 20Mb and other files hog up to 95%.
How do I removed those large un-needed files?

Thanks

Post #6. Also, directories show as 4k when their contents can be many GB.

mrmazda · 07-15-2022, 07:43 PM

Did you empty /var/cache/apt/archives/? Files found there that don't have today's timestamp are rarely of any use, yet consume considerable space. Use apt clean to remove them. If any is/are found to be needed again, they can be readily retrieved from Debian's mirrors.

handshake92 · 07-23-2022, 07:26 AM

Now I am at a critical situation where on boot up to the debian desktop I see a critical message that my Debian has only 1.0Gb available and should increase more space.
After I have tried all the suggestions and yet was unsuccessful in doing so. I may have to reinstall Debian again.

As this present setup is my first linux installation, I have choosen the default setup with the readied partitions.
where did I go wrong in the setup that has cause the short hdd space?

My hdd partition is SSD 230Gb (Windows 10-120Gb, Debian 11 40Gb, [win97] -30Gb]
IDE hdd 1.0Tb (Archive data, Backups, Data)
Grub2win -boot manager.
Thanks

handshake92 · 07-23-2022, 07:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrmazda

Did you empty /var/cache/apt/archives/? Files found there that don't have today's timestamp are rarely of any use, yet consume considerable space. Use apt clean to remove them. If any is/are found to be needed again, they can be readily retrieved from Debian's mirrors.

Ans: Have tried as sugg.but the files cannot be deleted hence still no difference.
Thanks

michaelk · 07-23-2022, 09:04 AM

How large is your home directory?

du -h /home

business_kid · 07-23-2022, 09:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by handshake92

where did I go wrong in the setup that has cause the short hdd space?

We don't know because you have wrung your hands and concealed the information. Please post the output of these commands:

df -h
sudo du -sh /*

We can make sense of it from there.

pan64 · 07-23-2022, 10:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by handshake92

Ans: thanks, I have type "sudo du -a" and it list out a very long page - listing every file and when I type "sort -n -r. The screen is not responding -it must have froze.

As I recall this Debian setup is my first foray into Linux OS so I chooose the setup partition for beginner where all those directories are pre-selected.
Hence I wouldnt know of any better & efficient setup that could have prevent ed this problem ( insufficient space).

What must I do now to removed those files hogging my hdd space.
Kindly advise. Thanks

This is not how it works. You need to provide some answers to be able to help. We have given you a lot of advice, it would be nice to explain what you tried, exactly what you typed and what the response was.
Telling your thoughts isn't really helpful, but telling the facts can get you somewhere.