I recently run out of disc space no my server due to implementing some audit tools on Postgresql database. Two tables holding data about changes made by users quickly reached 16GB each, and totally filled 40GB server. I've checked size of this tables by command in PGAdmin4:
SELECT
relname as "Table",
pg_size_pretty(pg_total_relation_size(relid)) As "Size",
pg_size_pretty(pg_total_relation_size(relid) - pg_relation_size(relid)) as "External Size"
FROM pg_catalog.pg_statio_user_tables ORDER BY pg_total_relation_size(relid) DESC;
Following that, I deleted these two tables to save space, but despite that I haven't actually recovered any disc space. I run df and du commands in debian to check disc usage:
root@vps673587:/home/maciejzak# df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda1 40G 36G 2.4G 94% /
udev 10M 0 10M 0% /dev
tmpfs 774M 81M 694M 11% /run
tmpfs 1.9G 8.0K 1.9G 1% /dev/shm
tmpfs 5.0M 0 5.0M 0% /run/lock
tmpfs 1.9G 0 1.9G 0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs 387M 0 387M 0% /run/user/1003
tmpfs 387M 0 387M 0% /run/user/1001
root@vps673587:/home/maciejzak# sudo du -sh /*
8.9M /bin
72M /boot
8.0K /dev
7.0M /etc
92M /home
0 /initrd.img
0 /initrd.img.old
537M /lib
4.0K /lib64
16K /lost+found
8.0K /media
4.0K /mnt
4.0K /opt
du: cannot access ‘/proc/10127/task/10127/fd/4’: No such file or directory
du: cannot access ‘/proc/10127/task/10127/fdinfo/4’: No such file or directory
du: cannot access ‘/proc/10127/fd/4’: No such file or directory
du: cannot access ‘/proc/10127/fdinfo/4’: No such file or directory
0 /proc
124K /root
81M /run
4.9M /sbin
12K /srv
0 /sys
44K /tmp
968M /usr
3.6G /var
0 /vmlinuz
0 /vmlinuz.old
So as you can see, 94% (36GB) on sda1 is used. Meanwhile only 3,6 GB is actually used on /var. What happened with rest of that disc space? I've run lsof command:
root@vps673587:/home/maciejzak# lsof | grep -i deleted
sudo 2529 root 0u CHR 136,0 0t0 3 /dev/pts/0 (deleted)
sudo 2529 root 1u CHR 136,0 0t0 3 /dev/pts/0 (deleted)
sudo 2529 root 2u CHR 136,0 0t0 3 /dev/pts/0 (deleted)
proftpd 2530 root 0u CHR 136,0 0t0 3 /dev/pts/0 (deleted)
proftpd 2530 root 1u CHR 136,0 0t0 3 /dev/pts/0 (deleted)
proftpd 2530 root 2u CHR 136,0 0t0 3 /dev/pts/0 (deleted)
proftpd 2530 root 10r REG 8,1 5262 29171 /etc/init.d/proftpd (deleted)
systemctl 2540 root 0u CHR 136,0 0t0 3 /dev/pts/0 (deleted)
systemctl 2540 root 1u CHR 136,0 0t0 3 /dev/pts/0 (deleted)
systemctl 2540 root 2u CHR 136,0 0t0 3 /dev/pts/0 (deleted)
systemd-t 2541 root 0u CHR 136,0 0t0 3 /dev/pts/0 (deleted)
systemd-t 2541 root 1u CHR 136,0 0t0 3 /dev/pts/0 (deleted)
systemd-t 2541 root 2u CHR 136,0 0t0 3 /dev/pts/0 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 19u REG 8,1 24576 262826 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68886_fsm (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 58u REG 8,1 0 263332 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68886 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 59u REG 8,1 8192 263850 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68886_vm (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 60u REG 8,1 0 263783 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68894 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 61u REG 8,1 0 263782 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68893 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 62u REG 8,1 4251648 263049 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68889_fsm (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 64u REG 8,1 4251648 263320 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69116_fsm (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 65u REG 8,1 24576 262943 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69110_fsm (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 66u REG 8,1 0 262940 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69110 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 67u REG 8,1 8192 263851 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69110_vm (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 68u REG 8,1 0 263336 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69119 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 69u REG 8,1 0 263341 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69120 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 70u REG 8,1 16777216 263791 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/pg_wal/000000010000000B0000003A (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 72u REG 8,1 0 263759 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68891 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 73u REG 8,1 0 263781 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68892 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 74u REG 8,1 0 263340 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68889 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 75u REG 8,1 1073741824 263822 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68889.1 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 76u REG 8,1 1073741824 263824 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68889.2 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 77u REG 8,1 1073741824 263826 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68889.3 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 78u REG 8,1 1073741824 263828 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68889.4 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 79u REG 8,1 1073741824 263831 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68889.5 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 80u REG 8,1 1073741824 263834 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68889.6 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 81u REG 8,1 1073741824 263838 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68889.7 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 82u REG 8,1 1073741824 263841 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68889.8 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 83u REG 8,1 1073741824 263844 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68889.9 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 84u REG 8,1 1073741824 263847 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68889.10 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 85u REG 8,1 0 263308 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69118 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 86u REG 8,1 0 263085 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68896 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 87u REG 8,1 0 263305 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69116 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 88u REG 8,1 1073741824 263823 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69116.1 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 89u REG 8,1 1073741824 263825 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69116.2 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 90u REG 8,1 1073741824 263827 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69116.3 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 91u REG 8,1 1073741824 263829 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69116.4 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 92u REG 8,1 1073741824 263832 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69116.5 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 93u REG 8,1 1073741824 263835 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69116.6 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 94u REG 8,1 1073741824 263839 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69116.7 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 95u REG 8,1 1073741824 263842 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69116.8 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 96u REG 8,1 1073741824 263845 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69116.9 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 97u REG 8,1 1073741824 263848 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69116.10 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 99u REG 8,1 0 263342 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69121 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 100u REG 8,1 1073741824 263016 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68889.11 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 101u REG 8,1 1073741824 263074 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69116.11 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 102u REG 8,1 1073741824 263020 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68889.12 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 103u REG 8,1 1073741824 263113 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69116.12 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 104u REG 8,1 1073741824 263082 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68889.13 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 105u REG 8,1 1073741824 263133 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69116.13 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 106u REG 8,1 1073741824 263131 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68889.14 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 107u REG 8,1 1073741824 263136 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69116.14 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 108u REG 8,1 1073741824 259461 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68889.15 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 109u REG 8,1 1073741824 263153 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69116.15 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 110u REG 8,1 50221056 263135 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68889.16 (deleted)
postgres 8927 postgres 111u REG 8,1 49745920 263155 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69116.16 (deleted)
postgres 9058 postgres 78u REG 8,1 24576 262826 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68886_fsm (deleted)
postgres 9058 postgres 79u REG 8,1 0 263332 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68886 (deleted)
postgres 9058 postgres 80u REG 8,1 8192 263850 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68886_vm (deleted)
postgres 9058 postgres 81u REG 8,1 0 263781 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68892 (deleted)
postgres 9058 postgres 82u REG 8,1 0 263782 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68893 (deleted)
postgres 9058 postgres 83u REG 8,1 0 263783 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68894 (deleted)
postgres 9058 postgres 84u REG 8,1 0 263085 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68896 (deleted)
postgres 9058 postgres 85u REG 8,1 24576 262943 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69110_fsm (deleted)
postgres 9058 postgres 86u REG 8,1 0 262940 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69110 (deleted)
postgres 9058 postgres 87u REG 8,1 8192 263851 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69110_vm (deleted)
postgres 9058 postgres 88u REG 8,1 0 263336 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69119 (deleted)
postgres 9058 postgres 89u REG 8,1 0 263341 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69120 (deleted)
postgres 9058 postgres 90u REG 8,1 0 263342 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69121 (deleted)
postgres 9058 postgres 91u REG 8,1 16777216 263313 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/pg_wal/000000010000000B000000E8 (deleted)
postgres 9087 postgres 106u REG 8,1 0 263332 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68886 (deleted)
postgres 9087 postgres 107u REG 8,1 0 263781 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68892 (deleted)
postgres 9087 postgres 108u REG 8,1 0 263782 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68893 (deleted)
postgres 9087 postgres 109u REG 8,1 0 263783 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68894 (deleted)
postgres 9087 postgres 110u REG 8,1 0 263085 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68896 (deleted)
postgres 9087 postgres 111u REG 8,1 0 262940 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69110 (deleted)
postgres 9087 postgres 112u REG 8,1 0 263336 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69119 (deleted)
postgres 9087 postgres 113u REG 8,1 0 263341 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69120 (deleted)
postgres 9087 postgres 114u REG 8,1 0 263342 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69121 (deleted)
postgres 9500 postgres 56u REG 8,1 0 263332 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68886 (deleted)
postgres 9500 postgres 57u REG 8,1 0 263781 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68892 (deleted)
postgres 9500 postgres 58u REG 8,1 0 263782 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68893 (deleted)
postgres 9500 postgres 59u REG 8,1 0 263783 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68894 (deleted)
postgres 9500 postgres 60u REG 8,1 0 263085 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68896 (deleted)
postgres 9500 postgres 62u REG 8,1 0 263759 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68891 (deleted)
postgres 9500 postgres 63u REG 8,1 0 263340 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68889 (deleted)
postgres 9500 postgres 64u REG 8,1 1073741824 263822 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68889.1 (deleted)
postgres 9500 postgres 65u REG 8,1 1073741824 263824 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68889.2 (deleted)
postgres 9500 postgres 66u REG 8,1 1073741824 263826 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68889.3 (deleted)
postgres 9500 postgres 67u REG 8,1 1073741824 263828 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68889.4 (deleted)
postgres 9500 postgres 68u REG 8,1 1073741824 263831 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68889.5 (deleted)
postgres 9500 postgres 69u REG 8,1 1073741824 263834 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68889.6 (deleted)
postgres 9500 postgres 70u REG 8,1 1073741824 263838 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68889.7 (deleted)
postgres 9500 postgres 71u REG 8,1 1073741824 263841 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68889.8 (deleted)
postgres 9500 postgres 72u REG 8,1 1073741824 263844 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68889.9 (deleted)
postgres 9500 postgres 73u REG 8,1 1073741824 263847 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/68889.10 (deleted)
postgres 9500 postgres 74u REG 8,1 0 262940 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69110 (deleted)
postgres 9500 postgres 75u REG 8,1 0 263336 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69119 (deleted)
postgres 9500 postgres 76u REG 8,1 0 263341 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69120 (deleted)
postgres 9500 postgres 77u REG 8,1 0 263342 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69121 (deleted)
postgres 9500 postgres 80u REG 8,1 8192 263851 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69110_vm (deleted)
postgres 9500 postgres 81u REG 8,1 0 263308 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69118 (deleted)
postgres 9500 postgres 82u REG 8,1 0 263305 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69116 (deleted)
postgres 9500 postgres 83u REG 8,1 1073741824 263823 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69116.1 (deleted)
postgres 9500 postgres 84u REG 8,1 1073741824 263825 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69116.2 (deleted)
postgres 9500 postgres 85u REG 8,1 1073741824 263827 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69116.3 (deleted)
postgres 9500 postgres 86u REG 8,1 1073741824 263829 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69116.4 (deleted)
postgres 9500 postgres 87u REG 8,1 1073741824 263832 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69116.5 (deleted)
postgres 9500 postgres 88u REG 8,1 1073741824 263835 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69116.6 (deleted)
postgres 9500 postgres 89u REG 8,1 1073741824 263839 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69116.7 (deleted)
postgres 9500 postgres 90u REG 8,1 1073741824 263842 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69116.8 (deleted)
postgres 9500 postgres 91u REG 8,1 1073741824 263845 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69116.9 (deleted)
postgres 9500 postgres 92u REG 8,1 1073741824 263848 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69116.10 (deleted)
postgres 9573 postgres 31u REG 8,1 0 262940 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69110 (deleted)
postgres 9573 postgres 32u REG 8,1 0 263336 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69119 (deleted)
postgres 9573 postgres 33u REG 8,1 0 263341 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69120 (deleted)
postgres 9573 postgres 34u REG 8,1 0 263342 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69121 (deleted)
postgres 9589 postgres 22u REG 8,1 0 262940 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69110 (deleted)
postgres 9589 postgres 23u REG 8,1 0 263336 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69119 (deleted)
postgres 9589 postgres 24u REG 8,1 0 263341 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69120 (deleted)
postgres 9589 postgres 25u REG 8,1 0 263342 /var/lib/postgresql/10/main/base/18036/69121 (deleted)
It seems that a lot of space is still used up by (deleted) files from Postgres database. How can I free that disc space?
Best Answer
using
command in debian finally deleted all files that were still using disc space. To find out process number of (deleted) files that were still using disc space use command