'Root is full' problem

Richard Kimber richardkimber at btinternet.com
Sun Jul 5 21:48:14 UTC 2015


On 5 Jul 2015 22:08, Nils Kassube <kassube at gmx.net> wrote:
>
> R Kimber wrote: 
> > I'm getting 'root is full' messages after installing a new USB drive, 
> > but I can't work out how to sort it out. 
> > 
> > The background is:- 
> > 
> > I had a failing USB drive (there are two). 
> > I unmounted both USB drives. 
> > I commented out both drives in /etc/fstab. 
> > I unplugged the failing drive. 
> > I rebooted. 
> > 
> > I used gparted to format the new drive. 
> > 
> > It turned out that the good USB drive was mounted after the reboot, 
> > though not of course the new drive, but not where it had been 
> > specified in fstab. (How does that happen? I thought fstab controlled 
> > drive mounting). And I get the 'root is full' message. 
> > 
> > So, where do I go from here? 
>
> I don't think the "root is full" message is related to the mounted USB 
> drive. Please check if there is really no space on / with the command 
>
> df -h / 
>
> To free some space, you could try the command 
>
> sudo apt-get clean 
>
Thanks. . I've tried that and similar remedies,  and am convinced there is space in reality.  I have separate drives for usr/local and /home.  The situation is now that, after much experimenting and rebooting,  I'm not able to boot to my normal desktop (mate),  but can get to a terminal on the Ubuntu desktop.  I've switched off the new USB drive for the moment. And I'm having to type this from my tablet. So unless someone specifically knows the answer I'm going to have to reinstall 😣
								
Richard


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