Cleaning my disk

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bachcole
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Cleaning my disk

Post by bachcole »

I have partitions on my hard disk going all of the way back to Windows. I want only the current Linux Mint 19.1 Mate and the previous Linux Mint 17.3. How do I clear up that wasted space so I can use it?
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WharfRat

Re: Cleaning my disk

Post by WharfRat »

bachcole wrote: Wed May 01, 2019 1:59 pm I have partitions on my hard disk going all of the way back to Windows. I want only the current Linux Mint 19.1 Mate and the previous Linux Mint 17.3. How do I clear up that wasted space so I can use it?
A gparted screenshot wouldn't hurt :wink:
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Larry78723
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Re: Cleaning my disk

Post by Larry78723 »

As would the results of running the following command in a terminal

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lsblk
Highlight the results and copy them (ctrl-shft-c) then paste them in your reply. Enclose the results between the code markers by selecting </> from the mini toolbar above the textbox where you type your reply.
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bachcole
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Re: Cleaning my disk

Post by bachcole »

How do I do a gparted screenshot?
bachcole
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Re: Cleaning my disk

Post by bachcole »

roger@roger-H81M-S2H:~$ lsblk
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda 8:0 0 465.8G 0 disk
├─sda1 8:1 0 462.3G 0 part /media/root/e1d5c088-250d-43d7-a015-f3a54f28fb3
├─sda2 8:2 0 1K 0 part
└─sda5 8:5 0 3.5G 0 part
sdb 8:16 0 298.1G 0 disk
├─sdb1 8:17 0 100M 0 part
├─sdb2 8:18 0 109.6G 0 part
├─sdb3 8:19 0 1K 0 part
├─sdb5 8:21 0 41.6G 0 part
├─sdb6 8:22 0 1.8G 0 part
├─sdb7 8:23 0 61.4G 0 part
├─sdb8 8:24 0 55.2G 0 part
└─sdb9 8:25 0 28.5G 0 part /
sr0 11:0 1 1024M 0 rom
roger@roger-H81M-S2H:~$
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lsemmens
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Re: Cleaning my disk

Post by lsemmens »

Is there a real need to keep an old version of Linux? I'd just boot from a Live CD/USB and install from there and let it blow everything away.
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oldgranola
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Re: Cleaning my disk

Post by oldgranola »

lsemmens wrote: Mon May 06, 2019 11:09 pm Is there a real need to keep an old version of Linux? I'd just boot from a Live CD/USB and install from there and let it blow everything away.
Yup..
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lsemmens
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Re: Cleaning my disk

Post by lsemmens »

OK have you got Gparted on you computer? You might need to load it from the Software Repository. Open it up and then press the PrtScr on your computer. Save the screenshot somewhere you can get to it and post it back here.
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bachcole
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Re: Cleaning my disk

Post by bachcole »

I am getting confused by all of the different answers.
oldgranola
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Re: Cleaning my disk

Post by oldgranola »

[Edited to hopefully go to the point]Ya a little random but folks like more info and perhaps we really didn't read you question as you nicely and simply put it. Your lsblk shows you have a fairly complicated hard drive partition setup on two different drives

To try to paraphrase your question, you want to get rid of old OS's and unneeded partitions, and just stick with Linux Mint correct?
If so,
Just perform a fresh install of Linux Mint (LM19.1 is most current, works for most folks machines) on which of the two drives you want. The process can if you wish reformat/simplify which ever drive you choose. Usually which one is your main internal on the first sata/ide slot. Thats the simplest way to simplify this setup. Then you can use Gparted to reformat the second drive to your liking.

What I had previously wrote without thinking that you just wanted to simplify the setup and go with mint was..
The methodical route is a bit more complicated.

-You need to know the details of which os is installed (and booted, assuming you are in linux mint) and good anyway to know your system
in a terminaly type

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inxi Fzx
-You need to know next what partitions you can get rid of and combine the storage space with the partitions you want.
in terminal type

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sudo fdisk -l
you'll need your system password. This will better show your partitions than just lsblk with information on which has efi settings, your bios boot, swap and any linux file systems
then type

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sudo df -h
assuming you are booted in the OS you want to keep you will see which has the main filesystem mounted. Combine the information from both and you have the information needed. Here's an example of a system with one main hard drive with two linux distros currently booted to /dev/sda5 and an external drive /dev/sdf

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$ sudo fdisk -l
Disk /dev/sda: 465.8 GiB, 500107862016 bytes, 976773168 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 6528D7B8-28B4-4C75-ACB9-19DF5EFFB030

Device         Start       End   Sectors   Size Type
/dev/sda1       2048   1050623   1048576   512M EFI System
/dev/sda2    1050624 257880063 256829440 122.5G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda3  970078208 976771071   6692864   3.2G Linux swap
/dev/sda4  504641536 504643583      2048     1M BIOS boot
/dev/sda5  504643584 970078207 465434624   222G Linux filesystem

Partition table entries are not in disk order.




Disk /dev/sdf: 931.5 GiB, 1000156954624 bytes, 1953431552 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
fun@fun2:~$ sudo df -h
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
udev            5.9G     0  5.9G   0% /dev
tmpfs           1.2G  2.9M  1.2G   1% /run
/dev/sda5       218G  143G   64G  70% /
tmpfs           5.9G  537M  5.4G   9% /dev/shm
tmpfs           5.0M  4.0K  5.0M   1% /run/lock
tmpfs           5.9G     0  5.9G   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
/dev/sdf        916G   67G  804G   8% /mnt/cd56cea7-6cb1-41a1-9c2d-72ba1a0f2811
tmpfs           1.2G   48K  1.2G   1% /run/user/1000
Got one linux file system on sda2 and one on sda5, swap sda3, EFI on sda1, grub on sda4

Code: Select all

sudo df -h
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
udev            5.9G     0  5.9G   0% /dev
tmpfs           1.2G  2.9M  1.2G   1% /run
/dev/sda5       218G  143G   64G  70% /
tmpfs           5.9G  537M  5.4G   9% /dev/shm
tmpfs           5.0M  4.0K  5.0M   1% /run/lock
tmpfs           5.9G     0  5.9G   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
/dev/sdf        916G   67G  804G   8% /mnt/cd56cea7-6cb1-41a1-9c2d-72ba1a0f2811
tmpfs           1.2G   48K  1.2G   1% /run/user/1000
currently mounted sda5 which is where LM is currently.
Probably TMI but hopes it helps.
Lastly, you want to delete unwanted partitions and resize the ones you want to keep. Thats where Gparted comes in. If you are running linux mint you will have gparted. That is a graphical (GUI) interface for managing partitions. After you post the results from above folks can help you with using Gparted to manage those partitions. Then there may be some updating to do so at boot, you will see what is indeed installed and not what has been removed (will have to update-grub)
Last edited by oldgranola on Wed May 08, 2019 3:05 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Yet I'm still a fn nooob
oldgranola
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Re: Cleaning my disk

Post by oldgranola »

Frankly, ...Clean installs are almost always best. Even simpler, Linux mint from a live usb can take care of the reformatting for you via the install process if you choose that option. Am I reading your question right?
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lsemmens
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Re: Cleaning my disk

Post by lsemmens »

A clean install is always best - make sure you have a CURRENT backup first though!

sounds to me you might be better off. Backing up all your data, performing a clean install of 17.3 followed by 19.1 restoring whatever you need to the appropriate OS.

When you install 19.1 it will give you the option to keep 17.3 or blow it away.
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bachcole
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Re: Cleaning my disk

Post by bachcole »

I am hopelessly lost. I installed Gparted and the partitions that showed up did not look familiar nor did they give me a clue as to which partition was my current and most recent partition vs. all of the ones I don't want.
RIH
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Re: Cleaning my disk

Post by RIH »

I really think that a screen shot of Gparted would help others help you.
https://itsfoss.com/take-screenshot-linux/

Once you have GParted open the drop down arrow in the top right corner allows you to select the different drives - so you will probably need to take a couple of shots to show your complete issue..
gparted.png
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