Manjaro Disk Full? How to Pinpoint the Culprit and Reclaim Your Space

Encountering a "disk full" error on your Manjaro Linux system can be frustrating, especially when you're not sure what's hogging all the space. You might be surprised when seemingly small files accumulate and eat away at your storage. This article will guide you through troubleshooting steps to identify the space-consuming culprits and reclaim valuable disk space on your Manjaro system.

Why is My Manjaro Disk Suddenly Full?

Before diving into the solutions, let's consider a few common reasons why your Manjaro disk might be filling up unexpectedly:

• Large Log Files: System logs can grow significantly over time, especially if you're experiencing errors or running resource-intensive applications.
• Package Cache: The pacman package manager caches downloaded packages, which can accumulate over time.
• Unnecessary Applications and Programs: applications you don't use can consume a lot of space.
• Orphaned Packages: Packages no longer required by any installed application can linger and waste space.
• Timeshift Snapshots: If you use Timeshift for system backups, snapshots can take up considerable storage space.
• Hidden Files and Directories: Some applications create hidden files and directories that can consume space without being immediately obvious.

Troubleshooting Steps: Finding the Space Hogs

Here's a structured approach to identifying the files and directories consuming the most space on your Manjaro system:

1. Using the Command Line: du and sort

The command-line is your friend when it comes to disk space analysis. The du (disk usage) command, combined with sort, can reveal the largest directories. Open a terminal and run the following commands:

sudo du -hsx /* | sort -rh | head -20

Explanation:

• sudo: Executes the command with superuser privileges, ensuring access to all directories.
• du -hsx /*: Calculates disk usage.
  • -h: Prints sizes in human-readable format (e.g., 1K, 234M, 2G).
  • -s: Displays only the total for each argument.
  • -x: Skips directories on different filesystems. This is important if you have separate partitions (e.g., /boot, /home).
  • /*: Specifies that all top-level directories should be analyzed.
• sort -rh: Sorts the output in reverse numerical order (largest to smallest).
• head -20: Displays the top 20 largest directories.

This command provides a quick overview of the largest directories on your system.

2. Analyzing Specific Directories

Once you've identified potential space hogs, you can drill down further. For example, to investigate the /var/log directory (a common culprit):

sudo du -hsx /var/log/* | sort -rh | head -20

This will show you the largest files and subdirectories within /var/log.

3. Cleaning Unnecessary Files

Once you have identified what is using up space, you can then decide what to remove.

• Clean pacman Cache: Pacman keeps a cache of downloaded packages. You can safely remove older versions with:

sudo pacman -Sc

To remove all cached packages (use with caution):

sudo pacman -Scc

• Remove Orphaned Packages: These are packages that were installed as dependencies but are no longer needed by any installed software. Find and remove them with:

pacman -Qdt
sudo pacman -Rs $(pacman -Qdtq)

• Clear Journal Logs: If your journal logs are taking up a lot of space, you can limit their size. For example, to limit the logs to 1GB:

sudo journalctl --vacuum-size=1G

• Remove unused applications and programs: Uninstall programs that you no longer use to free up disk space.

4. Graphical Tools: Beyond Disk Usage Analyzer

While the built-in "Disk Usage Analyzer" can be helpful, it might not always provide the most detailed information. Explore alternative graphical tools like:

• Baobab: This is an alternative disk usage analyzer.

Important Considerations

• Hidden Files: By default, many file managers don't display hidden files (those starting with a .). Make sure you're viewing hidden files when analyzing disk usage. Check your file manager settings on how to display hidden files.
• Root Privileges: Accurately analyzing disk usage often requires root privileges. Use sudo when running commands to ensure you can access all relevant directories.
• Timeshift Configuration: Review your Timeshift settings. Adjust the frequency of snapshots and the number of snapshots to keep to balance backup frequency with disk space usage.

By following these steps, you should be able to quickly identify what's filling up your Manjaro disk and take appropriate action to reclaim your space, ensuring a smoother and more efficient system. Remember to always double-check before deleting any files, especially system files, to avoid potential problems.