Lost HD Free Space after using Linux Mint Live

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EddieW

Lost HD Free Space after using Linux Mint Live

Post by EddieW »

Hello Forum Members:

I'm new here so please bear with me.

I've been working with Linux Mint (now v.9.0) for some time now trying to find out how much of my daily work I can get done by using it.

I've tried all four desktops so far but I tend to use mainly the Gnome and KDE versions in that order.

I am using a Gateway Laptop which is currently running Windows Vista with SP1 and SP2 installed. It gets updated every week, so it's kept fairly
current. All security software is updated every week and the system is scanned at least once a week. There are no issues with the machine that
I am aware of. Memory, hardware and peripherals all check good. I have 2GB RAM installed and about 70GB of total free space on the HD.

A couple of weeks ago, I spent an entire day running Linux Mint KDE v.9.0 from the Live DVD at my favorite "Hot Spot" and everything on the
laptop seemed to work just fine. I had been using Mint at home without an Internet connection. This is the first time I had used it online.

However, when I booted the machine with Windows the following morning, I found about 20GB of free space missing from the hard drive. OK, no
problem, I thought, just a temp. file somewhere.

But I couldn't find one. After two days of mucking around without any success, I finally broke down and defragged the HD.

My missing free space came back!

I didn't think anything more about it until a day or so later when I tried the Gnome version of Mint. I got a repeat of the previous problem.

I find that I lose around 20GB of free space when I go online with Mint. Not exactly but close enough.

I was using Firefox as the web browser but then I also use Firefox and other OpenSource software with Windows too! I've never seen this problem
show up before, so I don't "THINK" it's an issue with the Firefox browser, but...

Again, defragging the HD solved the problem and the missing free space showed up.

I would like to install Linux Mint on the HD in it's own partition with another partition for swap space and run the laptop as a dual boot
system. But if I do that am I going to have to put up with losing that extra free space from the Windows partition every time I go online?

I intend to keep all of my data on the Windows partition so Mint will be accessing and saving to the NTFS side all the time.

Anybody have an idea what the problem may be or point me in a direction where I can look to find a solution?

Eddie Warren
Wilmington, NC
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JoeFootball
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Re: Lost HD Free Space after using Linux Mint Live

Post by JoeFootball »

EddieW wrote:I would like to install Linux Mint on the HD in it's own partition with another partition for swap space and run the laptop as a dual boot system. But if I do that am I going to have to put up with losing that extra free space from the Windows partition every time I go online?
I have no idea what would be causing you to lose 20 GBs of space in the Windows partition after using the Live CD, and while I don't have too much Live CD experience, I can tell you that I have several multi-boot PCs, and I've never lost space on another OS's partition using an installed OS on its own partition.

And whatever you decide to do or not do, make a backup image of you entire hard drive. I've had great success with Clonezilla.

Joe
libssd
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Re: Lost HD Free Space after using Linux Mint Live

Post by libssd »

EddieW wrote:I find that I lose around 20GB of free space when I go online with Mint. Not exactly but close enough.

I was using Firefox as the web browser but then I also use Firefox and other OpenSource software with Windows too! I've never seen this problem show up before, so I don't "THINK" it's an issue with the Firefox browser, but...
Your speculation about FireFox is the only thing I can think of. You might want to experiment with Google Chrome browser as a control. If the space doesn't disappear while using Chrome, then FireFox seems the likely culprit.

You may find this information of interest:
Open Firefox and enter “about:config” (without quotes) in the address box.
Use the search function to find and set the following values:
#Turn your cache off for off line use
browser.cache.offline.capacity 0
browser.cache.offline.enable false

# Add this one manually (as a string).
# It instructs Firefox to use /tmp/firefox which if you recall is mounted in RAM, thus it is fast.
browser.cache.disk.parent_directory /tmp/firefox

network.http.max-connections 96
network.http.max-connections-per-server 32
network.http.pipelining true
network.http.pipelining.maxrequests 8
piratesmack

Re: Lost HD Free Space after using Linux Mint Live

Post by piratesmack »

I don't know how this could happen.

Mint doesn't touch the hard drive at all when using the live cd, you can even turn the hard drive off while running it.

All changes are written to RAM and go away when you turn off your computer.
EddieW

Re: Lost HD Free Space after using Linux Mint Live

Post by EddieW »

OK, here's an update on the original question.

After using Mint 9 from the Live CD for a couple of weeks now, it appears that Mint 9 isn't the problem. After defragging the HD, it appears that my Windows Vista Installation is reporting an incorrect Free Space amount. And, over a period of several days of use after defragging, the number reported by Windows Vista slowly falls in line with what Linux Mint 9 says I have. Keep in mind that this is a very early version of Vista with SP1 and SP2.

I installed two HD utility programs which track free space and file overhead. They also report a number close to what Linux Mint shows ... within 0.1 GB. So, this seems to be something other than a Mint problem. I don't know why Windows is doing this but I've come to trust the LInux Mint numbers more since they almost match my utility reports.

Thanks for the suggestions guys.
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Re: Lost HD Free Space after using Linux Mint Live

Post by JoeFootball »

EddieW wrote:I don't know why Windows is doing this...
The very core of what had me switch to Linux. :-) Stick with Linux Mint. It'll do you right.

Glad you were able to figure out what was going on.

Joe
colyn

Re: Lost HD Free Space after using Linux Mint Live

Post by colyn »

EddieW wrote: I don't know why Windows is doing this but I've come to trust the LInux Mint numbers more since they almost match my utility reports.

Thanks for the suggestions guys.
Vista is a memory hog. It eats huge amounts of memory then has to use virtual memory. Usually though after a reboot the virtual memory's used hard drive space is recovered.

I suspect the Windows built-in flaws are somehow holding onto the temp space till you defrag. Usually Vista is installed to a default defrag at Wed. night at 2:00am. But then it has to be running for defrag to happen..
StanTheMan

Re: Lost HD Free Space after using Linux Mint Live

Post by StanTheMan »

If you can run ' Gparted ' with a Live disk ( most Mint installers have it - just go to Terminal , ' sudo gparted ' ) It will give you a graphical display of Vist partition usage.

I you decide to dual-boot , you will need to reduce Windows C:drive by at least 15 GB , and use a Linux disk to make logical partitions for Mint.
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