'Root is full' problem

[Richard Kimber]

On 5 Jul 2015 23:49, Joel Rees <joel.rees at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> 2015/07/06 7:06 "Richard Kimber" <richardkimber at btinternet.com>:
> >
>>>>>>>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. 

I've deleted quite a lot of old log files, but do still says root is 100% full

> Were those perhaps supposed to have been on the USB drives?

No, USB is just for music backup files
>
> > 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. 
>
> Do you mean, on the unity desktop? Or a virtual console (ctl-alt-f2 or so)?

It a desktop, but I'm not sure which. I think it's Ubuntu Gnome, but it is not really functional - windows don't have borders - except konsole. That's all the functionality I have.

> Single user mode console?
>
> > I've switched off the new USB drive for the moment.
>
> unplugged it?

I unplugged the USB cable

> Was it factory formatted VFAT or something before you started?

Not that I was aware of I had to create a partition table and a partition

> How about the good USB drive, and what were you using it for? Is it still attached and automounted somewhere you didn't intend?

Used for music backup I used lynch for this

> > > What is the output of df -i?
> > In recovery mode,  it says Iuse for the root drive is 15%
>
> Can you ssh in from your tablet, to capture the full output of

No. I've tried, but it wouldn't connect. But I'd not set it up before this issue arose, so it may not be set up right.

>     mount
>
> without options, and
>
>     df -hi
>
> and post them?
>
> If that is not possible, can you just copy the whole line for the root partition from the df -ih?

/dev/sdb1 3.6M  549K  3.1M  15% /

I've hunted for large files but can't see anything obvious.  There ought to be an easy way of listing files larger than a particular size (e.g. 1GB), but I don't know what it might be.

- Richard