[solved] confusion: moving Mint to SSD

[oxygenfarm]

I'm currently using Mate 18.3 and wanted to move it to a 120 GB SSD, but am confused when I look at the size of my current installation on sda1. Gparted tells me there is 115 GB used by Mint; File Browser shows 40 GB for /home. None of the component folders add up to anywhere near that total.
My current thought is to make a new clean install, saving the /home backup for re-use, after preparing the SSD as in 'SSD: how to optimize your Solid State Drive for Linux Mint 18.x'. I already used the backup tool to create a list of installed software.
I do not like the prospect of reconfiguring the new installation, but do admit to two confusions: (1) the size shown for the current installation, and (2) the various methods of 'cloning' to a new drive. Obviously I do not want to include mystery junk in the new installation. I will retain the current HD and the new SSD both internal.
Should I make a clean new installation, then restore /home and reconfigure?
Good advice appreciated.

[Pjotr]

Do you currently have Flatpaks installed? Those might account for the inordinate use of disk space.

[oxygenfarm]

I've heard of flatpaks but did not intentionally install.

[Pjotr]

Well, in this case I'd certainly be selective in what you copy to your new SSD. So I advise to do a clean installation of Mint....

If you wish to avoid installing Flatpaks (good idea on a small disk), I recommend to do this:
https://sites.google.com/site/easylinux ... astructure
(item 6, left column)

[Flemur]

but do admit to two confusions: (1) the size shown for the current installation, and

Run "disk usage analyzer" = baobab, or

Code: Select all

sudo du / | sort -n

to see where space is used.

(2) the various methods of 'cloning' to a new drive.

Probably better to reinstall. If you're reinstalling the same version and desktop, probably safe to restore it all; if different OS, restores parts as needed (e.g. gimp or firefox). You might also want to analyze the space under /home, too, in case you have junk there, too.

[oxygenfarm]

Disk Analyzer shows: in .local SHARE is 52 GB; junk is 35 GB
What did I do wrong?

[Flemur]

Disk Analyzer shows: in .local SHARE is 52 GB; junk is 35 GB
What did I do wrong?

"trash" is in there! Empty it!

Edit: what is "junk"?

[mank_in]

.deb file downloaded by package manager/update manager is saved in /var/cache/apt/archives
you can safely delete it

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get clean

[oxygenfarm]

Thanks for the help, and the patience.
Apparently I had goofed with a weird backup program which nested backups in /home rather in the remote storage HD.
I finally found/deleted that massive space waste but then did a clean install anyway to the SSD. I'll be more careful in future with backups, but the current Backup Tool requires restating the destination if it isn't the default.
Thanks again.