no space on disk, using xubuntu

Question

I can't save things because there is no disk space left.

I am a complete novice, please can someone tell me what is wrong, or what other information I should provide?

Is my computer just FULL now?

Is there something wrong with snap? I don't really know what snap is.

Many processes cannot complete.

Saving is often not possible in one application until I close all other applications.

I have deleted a lot of software and also run everything I can Google in the Terminal! Output is pasted below:

(I checked inodes at the end too)


talyadavies@talyadavies-E201NAS:~$ sudo du -sh
30G .
talyadavies@talyadavies-E201NAS:~$ sudo df -h
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
udev            1.9G     0  1.9G   0% /dev
tmpfs           381M  1.7M  380M   1% /run
/dev/mmcblk0p2   57G   54G     0 100% /
tmpfs           1.9G     0  1.9G   0% /dev/shm
tmpfs           5.0M  4.0K  5.0M   1% /run/lock
tmpfs           1.9G     0  1.9G   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
/dev/loop0       19M   19M     0 100% /snap/chromium-ffmpeg/30
/dev/loop2      324M  324M     0 100% /snap/kde-frameworks-5-qt-5-15-core20/14
/dev/loop1      9.2M  9.2M     0 100% /snap/python38/22
/dev/loop3      165M  165M     0 100% /snap/gnome-3-28-1804/194
/dev/loop5      461M  461M     0 100% /snap/gnome-42-2204/99
/dev/loop4      377M  377M     0 100% /snap/digikam/70
/dev/loop6       56M   56M     0 100% /snap/core18/2721
/dev/loop7       37M   37M     0 100% /snap/nikola/252
/dev/loop8      141M  141M     0 100% /snap/gnome-3-26-1604/104
/dev/loop9      128K  128K     0 100% /snap/bare/5
/dev/loop11     165M  165M     0 100% /snap/gnome-3-28-1804/198
/dev/loop22     449M  449M     0 100% /snap/kf5-5-104-qt-5-15-8-core22/9
/dev/loop14     242M  242M     0 100% /snap/firefox/2579
/dev/loop16      38M   38M     0 100% /snap/hunspell-dictionaries-1-7-2004/2
/dev/loop15     5.2M  5.2M     0 100% /snap/eog/706
/dev/loop17     219M  219M     0 100% /snap/gnome-3-34-1804/93
/dev/loop18      64M   64M     0 100% /snap/core20/1852
/dev/loop13     350M  350M     0 100% /snap/gnome-3-38-2004/137
/dev/loop12     155M  155M     0 100% /snap/brave/232
/dev/loop10     117M  117M     0 100% /snap/core/14784
/dev/loop21      78M   78M     0 100% /snap/easy-disk-cleaner/43
/dev/loop20     323M  323M     0 100% /snap/wine-platform-6-stable/19
/dev/loop19     242M  242M     0 100% /snap/firefox/2605
/dev/loop25     438M  438M     0 100% /snap/kde-frameworks-5-98-qt-5-15-6-core20/9
/dev/loop28      73M   73M     0 100% /snap/core22/617
/dev/loop33     219M  219M     0 100% /snap/gnome-3-34-1804/90
/dev/loop31     239M  239M     0 100% /snap/digikam/55
/dev/loop29      28M   28M     0 100% /snap/chromium-ffmpeg/28
/dev/loop35      45M   45M     0 100% /snap/nikola/1739
/dev/loop23      82M   82M     0 100% /snap/gtk-common-themes/1534
/dev/loop24      56M   56M     0 100% /snap/core18/2714
/dev/loop27     154M  154M     0 100% /snap/brave/228
/dev/loop26     141M  141M     0 100% /snap/dbtarzan/19
/dev/loop30     5.3M  5.3M     0 100% /snap/eog/708
/dev/loop32     437M  437M     0 100% /snap/kde-frameworks-5-96-qt-5-15-5-core20/7
/dev/loop34     449M  449M     0 100% /snap/kf5-5-105-qt-5-15-9-core22/5
/dev/loop36     1.1G  1.1G     0 100% /snap/libreoffice/272
/dev/loop37     449M  449M     0 100% /snap/kf5-5-104-qt-5-15-8-core22/7
/dev/loop38     117M  117M     0 100% /snap/core/14946
/dev/loop40     347M  347M     0 100% /snap/wine-platform-runtime/343
/dev/loop39     350M  350M     0 100% /snap/gnome-3-38-2004/140
/dev/loop41     141M  141M     0 100% /snap/gnome-3-26-1604/111
/dev/loop42     1.1G  1.1G     0 100% /snap/libreoffice/275
/dev/loop43     141M  141M     0 100% /snap/dbtarzan/18
/dev/loop44     425M  425M     0 100% /snap/kde-frameworks-5-qt-5-15-3-core20/8
/dev/loop45      73M   73M     0 100% /snap/core22/607
/dev/loop46      64M   64M     0 100% /snap/core20/1828
/dev/loop47      92M   92M     0 100% /snap/gtk-common-themes/1535
/dev/loop48     461M  461M     0 100% /snap/gnome-42-2204/87
/dev/mmcblk0p1  511M  6.1M  505M   2% /boot/efi
tmpfs           381M   44K  381M   1% /run/user/1000
talyadavies@talyadavies-E201NAS:~$ sudo lsof | grep deleted
lsof: WARNING: can't stat() fuse.gvfsd-fuse file system /run/user/1000/gvfs
Output information may be incomplete.
xfdesktop 1410           talyadavies   15r      REG              179,2     19732     264111 /home/talyadavies/.local/share/gvfs-metadata/root (deleted)
xfdesktop 1410           talyadavies   16r      REG              179,2     32768     264561 /home/talyadavies/.local/share/gvfs-metadata/root-dbcec989.log (deleted)
gmain     1410 1414      talyadavies   15r      REG              179,2     19732     264111 /home/talyadavies/.local/share/gvfs-metadata/root (deleted)
gmain     1410 1414      talyadavies   16r      REG              179,2     32768     264561 /home/talyadavies/.local/share/gvfs-metadata/root-dbcec989.log (deleted)
gdbus     1410 1415      talyadavies   15r      REG              179,2     19732     264111 /home/talyadavies/.local/share/gvfs-metadata/root (deleted)
gdbus     1410 1415      talyadavies   16r      REG              179,2     32768     264561 /home/talyadavies/.local/share/gvfs-metadata/root-dbcec989.log (deleted)
pulseaudi 1526           talyadavies    6u      REG                0,5  67108864      32654 /memfd:pulseaudio (deleted)
alsa-sink 1526 1563      talyadavies    6u      REG                0,5  67108864      32654 /memfd:pulseaudio (deleted)
alsa-sour 1526 1564      talyadavies    6u      REG                0,5  67108864      32654 /memfd:pulseaudio (deleted)
snapd-gli 1526 1573      talyadavies    6u      REG                0,5  67108864      32654 /memfd:pulseaudio (deleted)
gnome-sof 2362           talyadavies   20r      REG              179,2     19732     264111 /home/talyadavies/.local/share/gvfs-metadata/root (deleted)
gnome-sof 2362           talyadavies   21r      REG              179,2     32768     264561 /home/talyadavies/.local/share/gvfs-metadata/root-dbcec989.log (deleted)
gmain     2362 2363      talyadavies   20r      REG              179,2     19732     264111 /home/talyadavies/.local/share/gvfs-metadata/root (deleted)
gmain     2362 2363      talyadavies   21r      REG              179,2     32768     264561 /home/talyadavies/.local/share/gvfs-metadata/root-dbcec989.log (deleted)
gdbus     2362 2364      talyadavies   20r      REG              179,2     19732     264111 /home/talyadavies/.local/share/gvfs-metadata/root (deleted)
gdbus     2362 2364      talyadavies   21r      REG              179,2     32768     264561 /home/talyadavies/.local/share/gvfs-metadata/root-dbcec989.log (deleted)
dconf\x20 2362 2365      talyadavies   20r      REG              179,2     19732     264111 /home/talyadavies/.local/share/gvfs-metadata/root (deleted)
dconf\x20 2362 2365      talyadavies   21r      REG              179,2     32768     264561 /home/talyadavies/.local/share/gvfs-metadata/root-dbcec989.log (deleted)
talyadavies@talyadavies-E201NAS:~$ sudo apt-get autoclean
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
talyadavies@talyadavies-E201NAS:~$ sudo apt-get autoremove
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED
bogofilter bogofilter-bdb bogofilter-common evolution-common evolution-data-server evolution-data-server-common libcamel-1.2-61 libchamplain-0.12-0 libchamplain-gtk-0.12-0 libcryptui0a
libebackend-1.2-10 libebook-1.2-19 libebook-contacts-1.2-2 libecal-1.2-19 libedata-book-1.2-25 libedata-cal-1.2-28 libedataserver-1.2-23 libedataserverui-1.2-2 libevolution libgail-3-0
libgeocode-glib0 libgnome-autoar-0-0 libgnome-autoar-gtk-0-0 libgsl23 libgslcblas0 libgtkspell3-3-0 libgweather-3-15 libgweather-common libphonenumber7 libprotobuf10 libpst4 libytnef0
seahorse-daemon
0 to upgrade, 0 to newly install, 33 to remove and 2 not to upgrade.
1 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 51.4 MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
(Reading database ... 272475 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing bogofilter (1.2.4+dfsg1-12) ...
Removing bogofilter-bdb (1.2.4+dfsg1-12) ...
Removing bogofilter-common (1.2.4+dfsg1-12) ...
Removing libevolution (3.28.1-2) ...
Removing evolution-common (3.28.1-2) ...
Removing evolution-data-server (3.28.5-0ubuntu0.18.04.3) ...
Removing libedataserverui-1.2-2:amd64 (3.28.5-0ubuntu0.18.04.3) ...
Removing libedata-cal-1.2-28:amd64 (3.28.5-0ubuntu0.18.04.3) ...
Removing libebook-1.2-19:amd64 (3.28.5-0ubuntu0.18.04.3) ...
Removing libchamplain-gtk-0.12-0:amd64 (0.12.16-2) ...
Removing libchamplain-0.12-0:amd64 (0.12.16-2) ...
Removing libcryptui0a:amd64 (3.12.2-5) ...
Removing libedata-book-1.2-25:amd64 (3.28.5-0ubuntu0.18.04.3) ...
Removing libebackend-1.2-10:amd64 (3.28.5-0ubuntu0.18.04.3) ...
Removing libebook-contacts-1.2-2:amd64 (3.28.5-0ubuntu0.18.04.3) ...
Removing libecal-1.2-19:amd64 (3.28.5-0ubuntu0.18.04.3) ...
Removing libgail-3-0:amd64 (3.22.30-1ubuntu1) ...
Removing libgweather-3-15:amd64 (3.28.1-1) ...
Removing libgeocode-glib0:amd64 (3.25.4.1-4) ...
Removing libgnome-autoar-gtk-0-0:amd64 (0.2.3-1ubuntu0.4) ...
Removing libgnome-autoar-0-0:amd64 (0.2.3-1ubuntu0.4) ...
Removing libgsl23:amd64 (2.4+dfsg-6) ...
Removing libgslcblas0:amd64 (2.4+dfsg-6) ...
Removing libgtkspell3-3-0:amd64 (3.0.9-2) ...
Removing libgweather-common (3.28.1-1) ...
Removing libphonenumber7:amd64 (7.1.0-5ubuntu5) ...
Removing libprotobuf10:amd64 (3.0.0-9.1ubuntu1.1) ...
Removing libpst4:amd64 (0.6.71-0.1) ...
Removing libytnef0:amd64 (1.9.2-2) ...
Removing seahorse-daemon (3.12.2-5) ...
Removing libedataserver-1.2-23:amd64 (3.28.5-0ubuntu0.18.04.3) ...
Removing evolution-data-server-common (3.28.5-0ubuntu0.18.04.3) ...
Removing libcamel-1.2-61:amd64 (3.28.5-0ubuntu0.18.04.3) ...
Setting up grub-efi-amd64-signed (1.173.2~18.04.1+2.04-1ubuntu47.4) ...
dpkg: error processing package grub-efi-amd64-signed (--configure):
installed grub-efi-amd64-signed package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 255
Processing triggers for doc-base (0.10.8) ...
Processing 6 removed doc-base files...
Registering documents with scrollkeeper...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.8.3-2) ...
Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme (0.17-2) ...
Processing triggers for libglib2.0-0:amd64 (2.56.4-0ubuntu0.18.04.9) ...
Processing triggers for gnome-icon-theme (3.12.0-3) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.27-3ubuntu1.5) ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
grub-efi-amd64-signed
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
talyadavies@talyadavies-E201NAS:~$ sudo df -ih
[sudo] password for talyadavies:
Filesystem     Inodes IUsed IFree IUse% Mounted on
udev             468K   594  468K    1% /dev
tmpfs            477K  1.1K  476K    1% /run
/dev/mmcblk0p2   3.7M  358K  3.3M   10% /
tmpfs            477K     1  477K    1% /dev/shm
tmpfs            477K     5  477K    1% /run/lock
tmpfs            477K    18  477K    1% /sys/fs/cgroup
/dev/loop0         18    18     0  100% /snap/chromium-ffmpeg/30
/dev/loop2        41K   41K     0  100% /snap/kde-frameworks-5-qt-5-15-core20/14
/dev/loop1       1.3K  1.3K     0  100% /snap/python38/22
/dev/loop3        28K   28K     0  100% /snap/gnome-3-28-1804/194
/dev/loop5        20K   20K     0  100% /snap/gnome-42-2204/99
/dev/loop4       9.9K  9.9K     0  100% /snap/digikam/70
/dev/loop6        11K   11K     0  100% /snap/core18/2721
/dev/loop7       7.7K  7.7K     0  100% /snap/nikola/252
/dev/loop8        27K   27K     0  100% /snap/gnome-3-26-1604/104
/dev/loop9         29    29     0  100% /snap/bare/5
/dev/loop11       28K   28K     0  100% /snap/gnome-3-28-1804/198
/dev/loop22       43K   43K     0  100% /snap/kf5-5-104-qt-5-15-8-core22/9
/dev/loop14       730   730     0  100% /snap/firefox/2579
/dev/loop16       443   443     0  100% /snap/hunspell-dictionaries-1-7-2004/2
/dev/loop15      1.9K  1.9K     0  100% /snap/eog/706
/dev/loop17       19K   19K     0  100% /snap/gnome-3-34-1804/93
/dev/loop18       12K   12K     0  100% /snap/core20/1852
/dev/loop13       18K   18K     0  100% /snap/gnome-3-38-2004/137
/dev/loop12       231   231     0  100% /snap/brave/232
/dev/loop10       13K   13K     0  100% /snap/core/14784
/dev/loop21       132   132     0  100% /snap/easy-disk-cleaner/43
/dev/loop20      2.7K  2.7K     0  100% /snap/wine-platform-6-stable/19
/dev/loop19       730   730     0  100% /snap/firefox/2605
/dev/loop25       42K   42K     0  100% /snap/kde-frameworks-5-98-qt-5-15-6-core20/9
/dev/loop28       14K   14K     0  100% /snap/core22/617
/dev/loop33       19K   19K     0  100% /snap/gnome-3-34-1804/90
/dev/loop31      7.4K  7.4K     0  100% /snap/digikam/55
/dev/loop29        24    24     0  100% /snap/chromium-ffmpeg/28
/dev/loop35       11K   11K     0  100% /snap/nikola/1739
/dev/loop23       75K   75K     0  100% /snap/gtk-common-themes/1534
/dev/loop24       11K   11K     0  100% /snap/core18/2714
/dev/loop27       231   231     0  100% /snap/brave/228
/dev/loop26       16K   16K     0  100% /snap/dbtarzan/19
/dev/loop30      1.9K  1.9K     0  100% /snap/eog/708
/dev/loop32       42K   42K     0  100% /snap/kde-frameworks-5-96-qt-5-15-5-core20/7
/dev/loop34       43K   43K     0  100% /snap/kf5-5-105-qt-5-15-9-core22/5
/dev/loop36       32K   32K     0  100% /snap/libreoffice/272
/dev/loop37       43K   43K     0  100% /snap/kf5-5-104-qt-5-15-8-core22/7
/dev/loop38       13K   13K     0  100% /snap/core/14946
/dev/loop40       28K   28K     0  100% /snap/wine-platform-runtime/343
/dev/loop39       18K   18K     0  100% /snap/gnome-3-38-2004/140
/dev/loop41       27K   27K     0  100% /snap/gnome-3-26-1604/111
/dev/loop42       32K   32K     0  100% /snap/libreoffice/275
/dev/loop43       16K   16K     0  100% /snap/dbtarzan/18
/dev/loop44       42K   42K     0  100% /snap/kde-frameworks-5-qt-5-15-3-core20/8
/dev/loop45       14K   14K     0  100% /snap/core22/607
/dev/loop46       12K   12K     0  100% /snap/core20/1828
/dev/loop47       75K   75K     0  100% /snap/gtk-common-themes/1535
/dev/loop48       20K   20K     0  100% /snap/gnome-42-2204/87
/dev/mmcblk0p1      0     0     0     - /boot/efi
tmpfs            477K    52  477K    1% /run/user/1000
talyadavies@talyadavies-E201NAS:~$ ^C
talyadavies@talyadavies-E201NAS:~$

Does this answer your question? Can I remove the older revision package of duplicated snap packages? I suggest this one since you have a lot of the older versions of snaps installed as well taking the same amount of space as the current one being used. And a 57GB partition is not very large when it comes to applications and will fill up quickly. Snaps are self contained applications that include all libraries and dependencies. — Terrance, May 06 '23 at 15:20
Thanks - the answer above helps me learn more about snap but it was too complex for me to follow as there were a lot of different answers and ways to remove old snaps. @popeys answer was more helpful because it gave me exactly what to use (sudo snap remove libreoffice --revision=272) and then you inspired me to use that same format to remove an old version of digikam as well (sudo snap remove digikam --revision=55) which worked, thanks! — T Davies, May 06 '23 at 16:08
Does this answer your question? Root drive is running out of disk space. How can I free up space? — karel, May 07 '23 at 06:45

popey · Accepted Answer · 2023-05-06T18:53:33.830

3

One of the quickest wins you can get is by removing large, old snaps which you don't need. By default snap keeps the current and an old version of applications in case something goes wrong, so you can roll back.

I note you have multiple revisions of LibreOffice installed, which is quite large (1.1GB).

/dev/loop36     1.1G  1.1G     0 100% /snap/libreoffice/272
/dev/loop42     1.1G  1.1G     0 100% /snap/libreoffice/275

Remove the old one with:

sudo snap remove libreoffice --revision=272

Then I'd sudo apt install ncdu and run ncdu ~ which will show you what's eating space in your home directory. You may have large downloads or other files you could clean up.

edited May 06 '23 at 18:53

answered May 06 '23 at 14:59

popey

23,667

Thanks very much. I was wondering about Libre Office. I've removed 272. I couldn't install ncdu (what is it?) because I got this message: E: Could not open lock file /var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend - open (13: Permission denied) E: Unable to acquire the dpkg frontend lock (/var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend), are you root? – T Davies May 06 '23 at 15:26
1

@popey meant to suggest: sudo apt install ncdu Please try again. – chili555 May 06 '23 at 15:46
Thanks @chili555! I've installed ncdu now but what is the exact command to run it, and what is it, please? – T Davies May 06 '23 at 16:00
Also I got this error message - does it matter? dpkg: error processing package grub-efi-amd64-signed (--configure): installed grub-efi-amd64-signed package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 255 Setting up ncdu (1.12-1) ... Processing triggers for man-db (2.8.3-2) ... Errors were encountered while processing: grub-efi-amd64-signed E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1) – T Davies May 06 '23 at 16:01
1

As @popey said above: ncdu ~ The funny little ~ is a tilde. It's on the left side of muyUS keyboard above Tab. I know almost nothing about this subject; but I do know sudo. I'm confident that @popeye will be here to help soon. – chili555 May 06 '23 at 16:08
Wow that tilde is good! It ran, and the space-eater is... 24.7 GiB [##########] /.thunderbird !!!! Probably due to email archive? Have no idea how to deal with it! – T Davies May 06 '23 at 16:12
Thanks @user535733 it says I can't compact folders because there is not enough disk space. I don't mind deleting .thunderbird if that's possible, because I don't need anything that's not kept on the server already, but I don't know how to delete it. – T Davies May 06 '23 at 19:05
1

AskUbuntu's format is Question/Answer. It's not a threaded or forum format. Your original question was "What is taking up all the space on my storage device?" That question is answered (you should write an answer to it!) The Thunderbird problem that you have discovered should be asked as a separate new question. Multiple questions stemming from a single symptom (like "disk full") is common as you walk the chain of causes and effects. – user535733 May 06 '23 at 19:08
Oh sorry. OK thanks! – T Davies May 06 '23 at 19:11

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered May 06 '23 at 19:16

I ran ncdu as advised below and found that

.thunderbird is taking up 24.7 GiB - almost half of my disk space.

I will need to delete old emails (it won't let me compact folders because there is not enough disk space to do that) or else forego my locally saved emails and just find out how to delete .thunderbird - which I think is the folder Thunderbird Mail uses to save emails - as I don't need a local copy of old emails.

no space on disk, using xubuntu

2 Answers2