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Low disk space on file system

Low disk space on file system message on:

  • Elementary: elementary OS Freya (64-bit) Built on "Ubuntu 14.04 LTS"
  • File manager: Files 0.2.4

I want to create more disk space and running the command df-h gives the following output:

Filesystem  Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
udev            1.9G  4.0K  1.9G   1% /dev
tmpfs           390M  1.2M  389M   1% /run
/dev/sda1        19G   18G  637M  97% /
none            4.0K     0  4.0K   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
none            5.0M     0  5.0M   0% /run/lock
none            2.0G   78M  1.9G   4% /run/shm
none            100M   44K  100M   1% /run/user
/dev/sdb1       823G   31G  751G   4% /home

I can't install any programs as there is no space on /dev/sda1, so I cannot install a program with a user interface to view files.

Therefore we took the following route:

So, the first disk is very small, and Plan A is just to free up enough stuff on it to stop it moaning. Plan B would he to move some stuff over to the spacious disk, and link it in. But hopefully A will work!

I reckon there's a lot of unused kernel images in /boot, it seeks to get a known weakness with elementary that it doesn't tidy old ones up. I had a web page up that described how to remove them and then update the grub menu so it didn't offer them anymore. But the first command was giving a funny error. I'm following the suggestions on this page:

How to remove old kernel versions?


So, we ran this command:

dpkg -l | fgrep linux-image-

It will list a lot of kernel images, most of which you aren't actively using. They're all similarly named, differentiated by a numerical suffix e.g. ".151" To find out which one you are using when you boot up, run this:

uname -r

The result was an old kernel image: 3.13.0-44-generic

We are assuming that any other kernel images newer than this can go:

So starting with 3.13.0-45-generic

$ sudo su 
# apt-get purge linux-image-3.13.0-45-generic
# exit

Running this command produced the following:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
You might want to run 'apt-get -f install' to correct these:
The following packages have unmet de pendencies:
 linux-headers-generic : Depends: linux-headers-3.13.0-151-generic but it is not going to be installed
 linux-image-extra-3.13.0-45-generic : Depends: linux-image-3.13.0-45-generic but it is not going to be installed
E: Unmet dependencies. Try 'apt-get -f install' with no packages (or specify a solution).
root@Gary-PC:/home/gary# 

I ran apt-get -f install but not sure if I should now run apt-get autoremove - I guess there will be a net gain of disk space that will accommodate the 13.5MB need for the new installations?

root@Gary-PC:/home/gary# apt-get -f install
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Correcting dependencies... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  libbonobo2-0 libbonobo2-common libgconf2-4 libgnome2-0 libgnome2-bin
  libgnome2-common libgnomevfs2-0 libgnomevfs2-common libidl-common libidl0
  libntdb1 liborbit-2-0 liborbit2 libqpdf13 linux-headers-3.13.0-105
  linux-headers-3.13.0-105-generic linux-headers-3.13.0-116
  linux-headers-3.13.0-116-generic linux-image-3.13.0-105-generic
  linux-image-3.13.0-116-generic linux-image-extra-3.13.0-105-generic
  linux-image-extra-3.13.0-116-generic python-ntdb
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
The following extra packages will be installed:
  linux-headers-3.13.0-151-generic
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  linux-headers-3.13.0-151-generic
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 8 not upgraded.
2 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0 B/706 kB of archives.
After this operation, 13.5 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] apt-get -f install

Then running this command:

root@Gary-PC:/home/gary# apt-get autoremove
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
You might want to run 'apt-get -f install' to correct these.
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 linux-headers-generic : Depends: linux-headers-3.13.0-151-generic but it is not installed
E: Unmet dependencies. Try using -f.

...

root@Gary-PC:/home/gary# apt-get -f install
    Reading package lists... Done
    Building dependency tree       
    Reading state information... Done
    Correcting dependencies... Done
    The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
      libbonobo2-0 libbonobo2-common libgconf2-4 libgnome2-0 libgnome2-bin
      libgnome2-common libgnomevfs2-0 libgnomevfs2-common libidl-common libidl0
      libntdb1 liborbit-2-0 liborbit2 libqpdf13 linux-headers-3.13.0-105
      linux-headers-3.13.0-105-generic linux-headers-3.13.0-116
      linux-headers-3.13.0-116-generic linux-image-3.13.0-105-generic
      linux-image-3.13.0-116-generic linux-image-extra-3.13.0-105-generic
      linux-image-extra-3.13.0-116-generic python-ntdb
    Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
    The following extra packages will be installed:
      linux-headers-3.13.0-151-generic
    The following NEW packages will be installed:
      linux-headers-3.13.0-151-generic
    0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 8 not upgraded.
    2 not fully installed or removed.
    Need to get 0 B/706 kB of archives.
    After this operation, 13.5 MB of additional disk space will be used.
    Do you want to continue? [Y/n] n
    Abort.

After this operation, 13.5 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] yes

(Reading database ... 1223843 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../linux-headers-3.13.0-151 generic_3.13.0-151.201_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking linux-headers-3.13.0-151-generic (3.13.0-151.201) ...
dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-headers-3.13.0-151-generic_3.13.0-151.201_amd64.deb (--unpack):
error creating symbolic link `./usr/src/linux-headers-3.13.0-151-generic/include/linux/if_arp.h': No space left on device
No apport report written because the error message indicates a disk full error
      
Errors were encountered while processing:
/var/cache/apt/archives/linux-headers-3.13.0-151-generic_3.13.0-151.201_amd64.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
gary@Gary-PC:~$ 

Now confused. Any help appreciated.