[SOLVED] Hard drive is full but it's not even close to being full. It's only 25% full but won't let me add more files

[James_Smith]

I am setting up a Dell 13 7378 with Linux Mint 18.3 Cinnamon for my mom. I've done something wrong and I can't figure out what. As I said in the Subject above, it's a 256 GB SSD but it has less than 60 GB of stuff in it (mostly music). When I try to transfer movies and music from my external hard drive to her laptop, I am unable to and I get a warning that there is not enough space on the hard drive.

Here is the hw/sw info for her computer:

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michele@michele-Inspiron-13-7378 ~ $ inxi -Fxzd
System:    Host: michele-Inspiron-13-7378 Kernel: 4.13.0-32-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 5.4.0)
           Desktop: Cinnamon 3.6.7 (Gtk 3.18.9-1ubuntu3.3)
           Distro: Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia
Machine:   System: Dell (portable) product: Inspiron 13-7378
           Mobo: Dell model: 0DD6CR v: A00
           Bios: Dell v: 1.9.0 date: 06/05/2017
CPU:       Dual core Intel Core i5-7200U (-HT-MCP-) cache: 3072 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 10848
           clock speeds: max: 3100 MHz 1: 2700 MHz 2: 2700 MHz 3: 2700 MHz
           4: 2700 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Intel Device 5916 bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 1920x1080@60.05hz
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 620 (Kaby Lake GT2)
           GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 17.2.8 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card Intel Device 9d71 driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1f.3
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.13.0-32-generic
Network:   Card-1: Qualcomm Atheros QCA6174 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter
           driver: ath10k_pci bus-ID: 01:00.0
           IF: wlp1s0 state: up mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Atheros usb-ID: 001-003
           IF: null-if-id state: N/A speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: N/A
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 256.1GB (29.6% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: SK_hynix_SC308_S size: 256.1GB
           Optical: No optical drives detected.
Partition: ID-1: / size: 220G used: 56G (27%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 16.94GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda5
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 40.0C mobo: N/A
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 204 Uptime: 13 min Memory: 820.4/15812.5MB
           Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 5.4.0
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.481) inxi: 2.2.35

Here is a screenshot of the Disk Usage Analyzer and my partitions...




Now, I can tell you a few things I've done that might give you troubleshooting clues.

1. I put in a temp 1GB file to prevent her hard drive from getting full and locking her out. This 1GB file disappears at every log-out and reappears at every log in. Here is a detailed description of why I do this and how I implemented it.

I seriously doubt if this is the problem, because I've set up about ten Linux computers this same way and I never had any kind of problem.

2. I did most of the things recommended by Frank in this video. I doubt if any of these might have caused the problem because, again, I've taken Frank's advice on about ten previous Linux set-ups and have never had a problem. Also, Frank's advice is pretty basic (e.g. installing MS fonts, turning on the firewall, downloading Hard Info, etc.).

3. I followed some of the advice on this video. Some of the recommendations were already covered in Frank's video above so I ignored them; some of them were things I didn't want to do or care enough to do (e.g. item #11 tweak LibreOffice); but there were a few things that I think are relevant—particularly item #4: decrease swap use.

And the reason I suspect that one over all the rest is because I tried to do it as "Average Linux User" recommended in the video, but it didn't work, so I came up with a work-around that may have caused a problem.

What I did was go to /proc/sys/vm/swappiness as root and change the 60 to 10, saved, and closed.

What have I done?

Oh yeah, one thing I should mention (but I don't think it's relevant but it could be): this SSD had been in my old laptop. It was a dual boot W10/LM18.2 machine.

Lastly, I'm posting this in the Newbie section for two reasons: even though I've been using Linux for a few years, I'm not a computer guy and I still feel like a Newbie. Not only that, but perhaps the mistake I've made is something that a true newbie might make and then come looking for the solution here.

[Flemur]

a 256 GB SSD but it has less than 60 GB of stuff in it (mostly music) and it won't let me add anything at all while giving me a warning that there isn't enough room on the hard drive.

What is "it" and exactly what is the error message? Your partition (plus swap) and home directory look OK.

What output does this produce?

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fallocate -l 10M $HOME/tempfile 

Normal is no written output and a it creates a 10MB file in $HOME.

How about

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df
blkid

?

[James_Smith]

a 256 GB SSD but it has less than 60 GB of stuff in it (mostly music) and it won't let me add anything at all while giving me a warning that there isn't enough room on the hard drive.

What is "it" and exactly what is the error message? Your partition (plus swap) and home directory look OK.

I mean that when I try to transfer music, videos, or large files from my external hard drive to this laptop—no matter their size—I am unable to and a warning pops up telling me that there's not enough room on the hard drive. I get the "Error while copying to "Videos" warning and the message telling me "there is not enough space on the destination. Try to remove files to make space." The problem is that I have plenty of space.

I thank you for your response and your offer of help. I'll do what you said and post the results here in a bit. I've actually undone a couple of the things recommended in the second video and I'm testing to see if they worked.

Also, I haven't eaten yet today, so I have to get some food.

[austin.texas]

What method are you using to transfer? File manager? rsync? command line?

[Flemur]

I mean that when I try to transfer music, videos, or large files from my external hard drive to this laptop—no matter their size—I am unable to and a warning pops up telling me that there's not enough room on the hard drive. I get the "Error while copying to "Videos" warning and the message telling me "there is not enough space on the destination. Try to remove files to make space." The problem is that I have plenty of space.

So "it" is the Cinnamon file browser "nemo" - ? nemo sometimes has ... issues.

After you try the commands above (prev post), try copying the same file(s) with the "cp" command in a terminal, or install the lightweight "xfe" file browser, which has solved nemo issues for at least one person, and try that.

[James_Smith]

Ok, it's solved. I shut it down and rebooted. Previously, I had selected restart, but that's apparently not the same as shutting it down and restarting it manually.

Everything works now and looks normal.

Weird.