I recently successfully installed Ubuntu Mate 1.8.2 on a partition on my computer. The size of the partition is approx. 200GiB. After a couple of weeks running well I am now getting messages that disk space is low. And indeed it is. It's got just a few megabytes left. What's using it all and how can I stop it, please?
1 Answer
The first thing to check is if the Rubbish Bin / Trash folder is full - if so, empty it.
There are a few things you can do to find out what's using your disk space.
Use the Gnome Partition Editor tool GParted check that the size of the partition is what you think it is.
You can install it from Ubuntu Software Centre (search for "gparted") or from a terminal:
sudo apt-get install gparted
You should then be able to find it in the Menu, either as "GParted" or "Partition Editor". You might need to enter your password to run it. This will show you your disk and the size of each partition.
If you have more than one hard disk installed, select the appropirate one at the top right of the screen.
If you decide to make any changes to your partitions with this tool (or any other) then make sure you back up anything you want to keep before you start.
There is also the Disk Usage Analyzer tool, which has the unusual name "baobab". If not installed by default, install via the Software Centre, or from a terminal with
sudo apt-get install baobab
This program works better if run as root, because there are certain files not visible to normal users. Run this command (ALT + F2)
pkexec env DISPLAY=$DISPLAY XAUTHORITY=$XAUTHORITY baobab
and enter your password.
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1Excellent answer! I would have also suggested using
du -ck
but I think your answer is more suited. Jan 26, 2015 at 18:33 -
I would have added in something about checking log files in /var/log/. 1 unnoticed error can fill up a log file pretty quickly and it can also give pointers to what is happening.– RinzwindJan 26, 2015 at 18:56