Problems with filesystems

English Install/Boot/Login
1

So I am a newbie with Linux. Installed windows 7 along with opensuse 11.3 64bit on my desktop and everything has worked fine. I tried saving a large file though today and it told me I did not have enough space, which i thought was crazy because I split my 500 gb hard drive so I could dual boot linux and windows, and there is no way i filled up like 200 some gb of space doing nothing in like a month. So I click on my computer and It shows that i have 2 Ext4 filesystems. the first one is like 19.7 gb (this is the full one) and then the other one is like 208 gb (obviously the bulk of my linux partition) which only has like 40 gb full. Then there is this tiny System Reserved which is only like 100 mb and my windows partition, the other 250 gb. Oh ya the 19.7 gb filesystem is labeled “/_” and the 208 gb filesystem is labeled “/home”. So can I somehow merge the two together or what should I do, because currently my desktop is useless. And also, why was it even set up like this? Perhaps it was my own fault, something stupid i did on the install, but I don’t remember telling to create a small 19.7 gb partition. So any help would be great because besides this problem, opensuse has been my fav distro so far and I would like to keep it.

Thanks.

2

The full one is the root partition
If you boot to openSUSE normally do this and reboot:
Clear Temp Files at Boot

Let me know if you can’t boot normally and I will guide you
The above will sort the problem forever

3

Thank you soo much, that seemed to do the trick. I just rebooted and the root filesystem is only 6 gb full now. So why is there such a tiny root filesystem and then such a large home filesystem? I don’t see the purpose of splitting them. So does the root filesystem just store temporary files?

4

Something you are doing is saving file to/tmp
Some applications do that (k3b, k9copy to mentions a couple)
My root is 20GB and is never more than half in use
/home is where all your personal files are and ideally where you should save data to. You just need to get familiar with the differences of Linux / Windows
At least now when you install the next version you will have all you user files safe in a partition separate from the OS and will still be there when you have installed.

5

BadBeatKing wrote:
> Thank you soo much, that seemed to do the trick. I just rebooted and
> the root filesystem is only 6 gb full now. So why is there such a tiny
> root filesystem and then such a large home filesystem? I don’t see the
> purpose of splitting them.

Linux and other Unix-like systems grew from a multi-user systems…as
in hundreds (or thousands) of user spread all across the enterprise
using one (usually IBM) main-frame computer (in the computer room, or
basement)…

in those systems the computer’s Operating System is kept completely
isolated from the users…in the “root file system” (named: /) which
is accessible only to the System Administrator (aka: ‘root’, ‘root
user’ or ‘super user’)

and, each regular user is given a /home in which to keep his/her
letters, photos, music, movies, etc etc etc…

a ‘routine’ install of openSUSE will use from 5 to 10 Gigs of the root
file system which is plenty for most application needs…but, a
gigantic /home can soon be stuffed with can’t-live-without-things…

so, don’t try to ‘solve’ your problem by combining the two sections
into one…you WANT them separate, if for no other reason than you
can upgrade your operating system easily without touching your good
stuff in /home!

the problem you faced came (as caf said) because some application(s)
was using the directory /tmp as a transit it point and for some reason
hadn’t cleaned up after themselves…

for example, you might have downloaded a movie or whatever to
somewhere in your /home (which is where they should go if you wanna
keep them) but while the system was downloading it initially put the
inflowing stream into /tmp and THEN transferred the completed file to
your /home…but, it didn’t then delete the temporary…

so, /tmp filled up…and, the solution caf gave you will dump the
unneeded file on the next boot…

now, if you have a typical install of 6 GB with (say) 13.7 GB free and
try to download a file 14+ GB in size you might very well run into a
disk full situation if the downloading app is using /tmp as a
collection point…)

> So does the root filesystem just store temporary files?

yes, but you must never remove files from /tmp while the system is
running…because, Linux puts many currently in-use files in /tmp and
(if all goes as it should) they are deleted when no longer needed…

the trick caf gave you cleans the entire /tmp during boot, before the
system has started using /tmp for the current session…

there are thousands of expanded explanations of *nix file systems on
the web…the more you know the more you will understand, and enjoy…

here are 800,000 to get you started:
http://www.google.com/search?q=linux+file+system+basics

–
DenverD
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD [posted via NNTP w/openSUSE 10.3]
When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.