Low Disk Space on Filesystem Root

[MassiveMUg]

Hello,

I have been using linux mint for a while and I have started to the notification in the title. In disk analyser it shows that the majority of the space is being taken up from /var. I'm not really sure where to go from there. I have another 800MB that is unallocated that I could use to add to it but I am not really sure how to use it. I've left some details below. Many thanks.

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Filesystem     1K-blocks     Used Available Use% Mounted on
udev             3812484        0   3812484   0% /dev
tmpfs             770016     1624    768392   1% /run
/dev/nvme0n1p5  15314280 12873664   1642972  89% /
tmpfs            3850072   110584   3739488   3% /dev/shm
tmpfs               5120        4      5116   1% /run/lock
tmpfs            3850072        0   3850072   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
/dev/nvme0n1p1    262144    35292    226852  14% /boot/efi
/dev/nvme0n1p7  60294012 22592408  34609076  40% /home
tmpfs             770012       32    769980   1% /run/user/1000

[LanceM]

Let's look at the output of this command:

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sudo du /var/log -h

[senjoz]

With Disk Usage Analyzer go further in /var directory and find out what takes disk space. Journal files can be quite big. Your root partition looks small.

Regards,
Jože

[MassiveMUg]

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4.0K	/var/log/hp/tmp
8.0K	/var/log/hp
1.6M	/var/log/timeshift
4.0K	/var/log/dist-upgrade
1.7M	/var/log/installer
68K	/var/log/cups
465M	/var/log/journal/aaa642a1efb049fba8d6ca0c8d22ff0a
465M	/var/log/journal
4.0K	/var/log/samba
180K	/var/log/lightdm
268K	/var/log/apt
4.0K	/var/log/openvpn
4.0K	/var/log/speech-dispatcher
482M	/var/log

[LanceM]

Well your log file isn't bloated, but you can run pjotr's cleanup. It will gain some space. It's a very good cleanup. Also we can look at all of /var used with:

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

[MassiveMUg]

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6095	/var
3674	/var/lib
3286	/var/lib/flatpak
3039	/var/lib/flatpak/repo
3032	/var/lib/flatpak/repo/objects
1760	/var/tmp
1412	/var/tmp/flatpak-cache-6O3GP0/repo-CbAVJe
1412	/var/tmp/flatpak-cache-6O3GP0
1340	/var/tmp/flatpak-cache-6O3GP0/repo-CbAVJe/objects
498	/var/log

[senjoz]

It looks like flatpaks use a lot of disk space. I am not very familiar with flatpaks. Maybe others, more knowledgeable about that, will suggest you how to clean up.

Regards,
Jože

[linux-rox]

Your root partition looks small.

This. By my calculation, only 15 GB.

By the way, MassiveMUg, where are you saving Timeshift snapshots?

[LanceM]

You can run this command to remove no longer needed flatpak files:

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flatpak uninstall --unused

Then run the command again to see:

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

[cliffcoggin]

I had a similar problem with var/tmp growing to fill all available space that turned out to be a Flatpak application adding a new file every day. Deleting hundreds of files was a short term solution; removing Flatpaks entirely was the long term solution for me.

[MassiveMUg]

My root partition is only 15GB. I think I allocated way too little space for the linux distro as I wasn't sure how I much space I was going to need for the windows one as well.

My timeshift snapshots are saved in the /home directory.

I followed the instructions and here is the result.

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5713	/var
3264	/var/lib
2861	/var/lib/flatpak
2372	/var/lib/flatpak/repo
2365	/var/lib/flatpak/repo/objects
1760	/var/tmp
1412	/var/tmp/flatpak-cache-6O3GP0/repo-CbAVJe
1412	/var/tmp/flatpak-cache-6O3GP0
1340	/var/tmp/flatpak-cache-6O3GP0/repo-CbAVJe/objects
531	/var/log

Also, I'd like to say thanks for any help. You don't have to do this but I really appreciate it.

[LanceM]

You need to expand your root partition or do a different install to a bigger disk. Flatpak are huge downloads and take lat lot of space. uninstalling unneeded gained some space. Enough you might not get a warning for a short while.

[deck_luck]

I had a very unusual experience with flatpak. I never recall installing any software using flatpak. One day I was checking space, and I found the /var/lib/flatpak directory had consumed 4GiB (scratched my head). I ran the flatpak list command, and it did not reveal any packages. I ran the flatpak repair, and it cleaned up the space in /var/lib/flatpak directory. I was thinking maybe an previous package actually pulled in a flatpak without my knowledge. Even if it did that, it does not explain why the flatpak list command did not reveal any packages or why the repair cleaned it all up.

[LanceM]

Your running out of space on / is why I don't suggest to inexperienced users, that they create a separate Home partition. Had you done a default install, you would still be okay. However, overall, that's a small drive, especially if you are using Flatpak and keeping Timeshift snapshots on the same drive. They would be much better in your case, especially, to be stored on a portable drive. Fixing it as it is, requires a convoluted process. A clean install would be easier. You could consider Btrfs for / which includes Home if you don't create a separate directory. You can create a 2GB Swap partition right after the EFI partition, then the rest as / with Btrfs. Snapshots take up almost no space and are instant. It's what I use in machines with small drive capacity. Plus, I use it on my own system and have for years.

[BG405]

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cd /var/cache/apt/archives/ && pwd | sudo du -h

Post the output. Maybe your APT cache is getting full.

[asinoro]

Run these commands and check again:

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sudo apt clean
sudo apt autoclean

[deck_luck]

I think the mug is full.