Disk fills up permanently

[Muzdrav]

Hallo,

I cannot google any answer for my problem, that would help - when I download a bigger files (1 - 3 gb), ssd fills up permanently. First time it happened it went from 80gb of free space to 50gb. Now it happened again and I'm at 40gb of free space. Restart, cache cleaning didn't help, it is not a problem with TIMES. Right now i use Debian for 1/2 year as my main work laptop, I installed it on one 150gb partition of disk, I plan to do a new installation on a new M2 ssd, but would like to solve this first.

Could somebody suggest, what I'm doing wrong? I'm really a new to linux, if you could also instruct me, what and how to show you additionaly needed infos.
Thank you.

[ruwolf]

My 3rd result from search-engine.
Virtono.com: How to find the largest files in Linux

Everywhere by du command, both files & directories:

Code: Select all

sudo du -ah / | sort -rh | head -n 32

In your home directory by find command, only files:

Code: Select all

find $HOME -type f -printf '%s %p\n' | sort -nr | head -32

Of course, you can change number on the ends of these command by your needs (how many largest files/directories do you want to see)...

Warning: You should not run any command, which you do not know from manual or similar documentation (except you are indiferent to lost of your data or system).

[Muzdrav]

It lists only:
du: directory '/proc/13098/task/13098/net' cannot be read: Illegal argument
du: directory '/proc/13098/net' cannot be read: Illegal argument
du: cannot access '/proc/1441063/task/1441063/fd/4': Directory or file does not exist
du: cannot access '/proc/1441063/task/1441063/fdinfo/4': Directory or file does not exist
du: cannot access '/proc/1441063/fd/3': Directory or file does not exist
du: cannot access '/proc/1441063/fdinfo/3': Directory or file does not exist
du: cannot access '/run/user/1000/gvfs': Operation denied
du: cannot access to '/run/user/1000/doc': Operation denied

[ruwolf]

You could wait for end of the execution of these commands in pipe;
the results will follow these harmless error messages.

[Muzdrav]

94G /
60G /timeshift/snapshots
60G /timeshift
36G /timeshift/snapshots/2025-01-16_10-00-01/localhost
36G /timeshift/snapshots/2025-01-16_10-00-01
25G /timeshift/snapshots/2025-01-16_10-00-01/localhost/var
23G /timeshift/snapshots/2025-01-16_10-00-01/localhost/var/lib
22G /timeshift/snapshots/2025-01-16_10-00-01/localhost/var/lib/flatpak
14G /var
13G /timeshift/snapshots/2025-01-20_18-00-01
12G /timeshift/snapshots/2025-01-20_18-00-01/localhost/var/lib/flatpak
12G /timeshift/snapshots/2025-01-20_18-00-01/localhost/var/lib
12G /timeshift/snapshots/2025-01-20_18-00-01/localhost/var
12G /timeshift/snapshots/2025-01-20_18-00-01/localhost
11G /usr
11G /timeshift/snapshots/2025-01-16_10-00-01/localhost/usr
10G /timeshift/snapshots/2025-01-16_10-00-01/localhost/var/lib/flatpak/repo
9,8G /var/lib
9,6G /timeshift/snapshots/2025-01-16_10-00-01/localhost/var/lib/flatpak/repo/objects
9,5G /timeshift/snapshots/2025-01-16_10-00-01/localhost/var/lib/flatpak/runtime
9,5G /timeshift/snapshots/2024-10-08_15-56-54
9,4G /timeshift/snapshots/2024-10-08_15-56-54/localhost
9,2G /timeshift/snapshots/2024-10-08_15-56-54/localhost/var
9,0G /var/lib/flatpak
8,8G /home/mu
8,8G /home
8,7G /timeshift/snapshots/2024-10-08_15-56-54/localhost/var/lib
8,5G /timeshift/snapshots/2024-10-08_15-56-54/localhost/var/lib/flatpak
7,8G /timeshift/snapshots/2025-01-20_18-00-01/localhost/var/lib/flatpak/runtime
6,6G /var/lib/flatpak/runtime
5,6G /home/mu/.var/app
5,6G /home/mu/.var

[ruwolf]

You can see cause here.
Timeshift snapshots consume your disk.
To resolve it, you can change(limit) timeshift's setting (lowering kept amount of snapshots) or uninstall it...

[mrmazda]

To be clear, you do understand that moving files to trash does not free any disk space, right?

[Muzdrav]

I deleted some times states and changed it only to 3 instances. Still, from my 150gb I have only 50gb left. Could you tell me, what else could I remove?

94G /
60G /timeshift/snapshots
60G /timeshift
36G /timeshift/snapshots/2025-01-16_10-00-01/localhost
36G /timeshift/snapshots/2025-01-16_10-00-01
25G /timeshift/snapshots/2025-01-16_10-00-01/localhost/var
23G /timeshift/snapshots/2025-01-16_10-00-01/localhost/var/lib
22G /timeshift/snapshots/2025-01-16_10-00-01/localhost/var/lib/flatpak
14G /var
13G /timeshift/snapshots/2025-01-20_18-00-01
12G /timeshift/snapshots/2025-01-20_18-00-01/localhost/var/lib/flatpak
12G /timeshift/snapshots/2025-01-20_18-00-01/localhost/var/lib
12G /timeshift/snapshots/2025-01-20_18-00-01/localhost/var
12G /timeshift/snapshots/2025-01-20_18-00-01/localhost
11G /usr
11G /timeshift/snapshots/2025-01-16_10-00-01/localhost/usr
10G /timeshift/snapshots/2025-01-16_10-00-01/localhost/var/lib/flatpak/repo
9,8G /var/lib
9,6G /timeshift/snapshots/2025-01-16_10-00-01/localhost/var/lib/flatpak/repo/objects
9,5G /timeshift/snapshots/2025-01-16_10-00-01/localhost/var/lib/flatpak/runtime
9,5G /timeshift/snapshots/2024-10-08_15-56-54
9,4G /timeshift/snapshots/2024-10-08_15-56-54/localhost
9,2G /timeshift/snapshots/2024-10-08_15-56-54/localhost/var
9,0G /var/lib/flatpak
8,8G /home/mu
8,8G /home
8,7G /timeshift/snapshots/2024-10-08_15-56-54/localhost/var/lib
8,5G /timeshift/snapshots/2024-10-08_15-56-54/localhost/var/lib/flatpak
7,8G /timeshift/snapshots/2025-01-20_18-00-01/localhost/var/lib/flatpak/runtime
6,6G /var/lib/flatpak/runtime
5,6G /home/mu/.var/app
5,6G /home/mu/.var

[mrmazda]

Check /var/cache/apt/archives/. Are you configured to keep upgrade packages in the cache? If yes, either clean excess periodically or after each upgrade, or reconfigure to keep none.

[kalle123]

You should rethink your backup settings ....

My timeshift lists 23 GB, var 1.5 GB. I use timeshift with 2 weekly's for the system only. Data is saved once a month on external drives using grsync.

Do have some 'heavies' here

314G /mnt/DATA
314G /mnt
216G /mnt/DATA/VirtualBox VMs

but those are not on the system drive.

[ruwolf]

You can see 9GB of current FlatPak, + 8.5G + 13G + 22G for snap-shots of it. It is more than 52 GB totally for FlatPak
Do you really need it? What do you have installed via FlatPak, if it’s not a secret?

If I were in your place, I would currently proceed as follows:
(But this is just my personal opinion; it might not suit everyone.)
... keep only one snap-shot: the one you consider the safest.
... delete the others snap-shot (except that chosen).
... clean up FlatPak from unused garbage
... empty trash of file-manager, if you use it
... disable and delete back-ups in Profile-sync-deamon, if you use it
... create a new snap-shot
... delete all except the most recent one snap-shot
... set the TimeShift tool to keep only 2 snap-shot
... ensure that the above-described disk cleanup is always performed before creating a new snap-shot

(If there is anything from the above that you do not understand, feel free to ask.)

[Muzdrav]

That makes sense. Will do it. Thank you for your help, kind stranger!

[ruwolf]

As I have mentioned, you can see longer list of biggest items, if you want, e.g.:

Code: Select all

sudo du -ah / | sort -rh | head -n 64

[mrmazda]

When opening ncdu, you'll automatically see most heavily used directories at the top of each directory list. Ncdu may not be installed, but installing is as easy as:

Code: Select all

sudo apt install ncdu

It isn't very big, and works in any kind of terminal.

[sdibaja]

dunno much that can help... but timeshift is a big red flag for me.

I use it only on a _separate partition_. 50 Gb or so.

[Muzdrav]

cou you tell, why is timeshift a red flag? For a newbie like me, it is a life saver.

[sdibaja]

It uses a lot of space.
Perhaps it's the cause

[kalle123]

It uses a lot of space.

If you use weekly timeshift backups to safe, besides the Debian system the holiday pictures, you made years ago, that would probably use a lot of space .....