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I have a problem with disk space on my VPS server (Ubuntu 16.04.3 LTS (GNU/Linux 4.4.0-97-generic x86_64)), so I am trying to find the problem.

So I used the command:

df -h

And the result was:

Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
udev            236M     0  236M   0% /dev
tmpfs            49M  7.8M   42M  16% /run
/dev/vda1        15G   14G  952M  94% /
tmpfs           245M     0  245M   0% /dev/shm
tmpfs           5.0M     0  5.0M   0% /run/lock
tmpfs           245M     0  245M   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs            49M     0   49M   0% /run/user/0

How can I clear used memory in /dev/vda1 ?

I try to use command du -hx --max-depth=1 /. So I found a lot of files with a size of 100 MB in /usr/src:

106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-169
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-157
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-128-generic
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-141
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-127-generic
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-143
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-173
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-138-generic
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-133-generic
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-45-generic
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-151
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-28
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-142-generic
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-93
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-142
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-98
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-178-generic
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-161-generic
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-170
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-159-generic
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-171-generic
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-103-generic
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-124
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-143-generic
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-165-generic
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-108
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-174
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-169-generic
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-145
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-176-generic
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-137-generic
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-119
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-134
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-139-generic
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-130
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-96
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-93-generic
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-154
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-141-generic
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-173-generic
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-109-generic
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-96-generic
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-148
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-179-generic
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-119-generic
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-159
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-157-generic
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-124-generic
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-177
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-108-generic
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-174-generic
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-130-generic
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-109
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-121-generic
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-128
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-154-generic
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-151-generic
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-148-generic
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-166
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-116
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-45
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-97-generic
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-112-generic
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-134-generic
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-161
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-165
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-97
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-116-generic
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-170-generic
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-121
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-176
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-112
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-150
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-127
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-139
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-133
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-104
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-28-generic
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-178
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-184
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-171
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-177-generic
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-98-generic
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-101-generic
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-104-generic
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-137
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-150-generic
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-103
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-166-generic
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-101
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-179
106M    /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-138
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-145-generic
15M /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.0-184-generic

Same result is in /lib/modules ...

54M /lib/modules/4.4.0-170-generic
54M /lib/modules/4.4.0-171-generic
53M /lib/modules/4.4.0-101-generic
54M /lib/modules/4.4.0-159-generic
54M /lib/modules/4.4.0-176-generic
54M /lib/modules/4.4.0-141-generic
54M /lib/modules/4.4.0-130-generic
54M /lib/modules/4.4.0-124-generic
54M /lib/modules/4.4.0-173-generic
53M /lib/modules/4.4.0-108-generic
54M /lib/modules/4.4.0-165-generic
54M /lib/modules/4.4.0-184-generic
54M /lib/modules/4.4.0-151-generic
54M /lib/modules/4.4.0-178-generic
54M /lib/modules/4.4.0-138-generic
54M /lib/modules/4.4.0-142-generic
53M /lib/modules/4.4.0-104-generic
54M /lib/modules/4.4.0-177-generic
54M /lib/modules/4.4.0-148-generic
42M /lib/modules/4.4.0-28-generic
54M /lib/modules/4.4.0-133-generic
42M /lib/modules/4.4.0-45-generic
54M /lib/modules/4.4.0-179-generic
53M /lib/modules/4.4.0-112-generic
54M /lib/modules/4.4.0-143-generic
53M /lib/modules/4.4.0-93-generic
54M /lib/modules/4.4.0-116-generic
53M /lib/modules/4.4.0-103-generic
53M /lib/modules/4.4.0-96-generic
54M /lib/modules/4.4.0-157-generic
54M /lib/modules/4.4.0-137-generic
53M /lib/modules/4.4.0-98-generic
54M /lib/modules/4.4.0-154-generic
54M /lib/modules/4.4.0-121-generic
54M /lib/modules/4.4.0-150-generic
54M /lib/modules/4.4.0-161-generic
54M /lib/modules/4.4.0-127-generic
54M /lib/modules/4.4.0-166-generic
54M /lib/modules/4.4.0-139-generic
54M /lib/modules/4.4.0-169-generic
54M /lib/modules/4.4.0-134-generic
53M /lib/modules/4.4.0-109-generic
54M /lib/modules/4.4.0-145-generic
54M /lib/modules/4.4.0-128-generic
54M /lib/modules/4.4.0-119-generic
53M /lib/modules/4.4.0-97-generic
54M /lib/modules/4.4.0-174-generic

Can I delete the all files?

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1 Answer 1

Reset to default
12

general approach

Use du -hx --max-depth=1 / to see which first level directories contain most of the data. Repeat that for the respective subdirectories (e.g. du -hx --max-depth=1 /home) until you reach those directories which contain much data (few large files or many small files).

Then think about where that data comes from (important data, log files), which you can delete and how you can maybe slow down the growth of stored data. Maybe it helps to automatically have old data deleted (man logrotate).

The problem in your case

Your problem are kernel updates which do not delete the old kernels. That is useful to some extent (keep one or two) just in case the new one causes problems. You probably have a lot of those files in /boot, too.

You can delete all files of kernels you do not need any more. The best way is probably to delete the kernel packages.

I do not use Ubuntu thus I cannot tell any details but there is a Ubuntu solution for having old kernels deleted after updates automatically. Should be easy to find with a search engine or on https://askubuntu.com/

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5
  • Check my edit now please Commented Jun 20, 2020 at 16:52
  • @Ady96 I extended my answer. Commented Jun 20, 2020 at 17:14
  • Yes, you are correct, the /boot dir has a lot of generic files Commented Jun 20, 2020 at 17:22
  • How do I know which ones I can delete safely in /boot? Commented Jan 24, 2023 at 19:28
  • @Houman It is your decision which old kernel versions you will never go back to (at least not without reinstalling the package). That may be all kernels except the running / newest one or one older for safety. But that is policy, there is no one true answer. You should not delete the files manually, though. Use your package management for deleting the whole kernel package (they consume a lot of space under /lib/modules). Commented Jan 25, 2023 at 9:57

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