Some tables in mysql crashed, mythtv wouldn't run, and I noticed that the disk space on / was at 100%. It's a 7.5GB partition, and usually it's only around 40 or 50%. I repaired the database, myth now runs, but I can't find what's taking up all the diskspace.

/var/log/mysql only has 5.3M.
/var/log/mythtv only has 12K

all of /var/log itself has 147M.

apt-get clean all brought it down to 99%.

/tmp had some .ICE-unix and .X11 directories, but those were empty. I deleted them anyway in case there were some hidden files and rebooted. Still at 99%.

This is on an up to date debian lenny, with kernel 2.6.27.4. I just did a dist-upgrade yesterday -- I guess that did something. How can I find out where that extra space is being taken up?

The following command will find the top 10 directories using disk space, run it first (as root) from / and then go to the biggest directory and run it again, and so on, until you find the space-hog

du -x --block-size=1024K | sort -nr | head -10

HTH
C

Found it, thanks. My NFS backup directory wasn't mounted and the backup filled the partition.