Storage occupied for unknown reason

Issues & Assistance Newbies
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1

I am facing an issue regarding my storage drive, which is used by some unknown factor. Total 46 GB of data is being used but I don’t know what it is being used for, first I thought it might be the steam game I have installed but then I checked and it wasn’t the game. I have formatted the storage more than two times, but no result. Can you please identify what it’s being used for? or how can I get that storage back? screenshots are attached, Thank you.

Kernel: 6.5.8-zen1-1-zen arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 13.2.1
clocksource: tsc available: hpet,acpi_pm
parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-zen
root=UUID=cd91162f-2636-4eed-ae3d-288a3fbc2000 rw rootflags=subvol=@
quiet quiet rd.udev.log_priority=3 vt.global_cursor_default=0
resume=UUID=f195304e-a978-4f67-85e4-377a74796bd3 loglevel=3 ibt=off
Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 5.27.9 tk: Qt v: 5.15.11 wm: kwin_x11 vt: 2
dm: SDDM Distro: Garuda Linux base: Arch Linux
Machine:
Type: Laptop System: Acer product: Aspire A515-51G v: V2.02
serial: <superuser required>
Mobo: KBL model: Charmander_KL v: V2.02 serial: <superuser required>
UEFI-[Legacy]: Insyde v: 2.02 date: 01/03/2019
Battery:
ID-1: BAT1 charge: 35.8 Wh (99.7%) condition: 35.9/48.9 Wh (73.4%)
volts: 16.8 min: 15.2 model: LG 004B384234314341 type: Li-ion
serial: <filter> status: not charging
CPU:
Info: model: Intel Core i5-8250U bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Coffee Lake
gen: core 8 level: v3 note: check built: 2017 process: Intel 14nm family: 6
model-id: 0x8E (142) stepping: 0xA (10) microcode: 0xF4
Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 4 tpc: 2 threads: 8 smt: enabled cache:
L1: 256 KiB desc: d-4x32 KiB; i-4x32 KiB L2: 1024 KiB desc: 4x256 KiB
L3: 6 MiB desc: 1x6 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 719 high: 800 min/max: 400/3400 scaling:
driver: intel_pstate governor: powersave cores: 1: 700 2: 800 3: 700 4: 400
5: 800 6: 800 7: 759 8: 800 bogomips: 28800
Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Vulnerabilities: <filter>
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel UHD Graphics 620 vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: i915
v: kernel arch: Gen-9.5 process: Intel 14nm built: 2016-20 ports:
active: eDP-1 empty: HDMI-A-1 bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:5917
class-ID: 0300
Device-2: NVIDIA GP108M [GeForce MX150] vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI
driver: nvidia v: 535.113.01 alternate: nouveau,nvidia_drm non-free: 535.xx+
status: current (as of 2023-09) arch: Maxwell code: GMxxx
process: TSMC 28nm built: 2014-19 pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 4
link-max: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:1d10
class-ID: 0302
Device-3: Chicony Integrated HD WebCam driver: uvcvideo type: USB rev: 2.0
speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 1-7:4 chip-ID: 04f2:b5f7
class-ID: 0e02
Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.9 with: Xwayland v: 23.2.2
compositor: kwin_x11 driver: X: loaded: modesetting,nvidia unloaded: nouveau
alternate: fbdev,intel,nv,vesa dri: iris gpu: i915 display-ID: :0
screens: 1
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1366x768 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 361x203mm (14.21x7.99")
s-diag: 414mm (16.31")
Monitor-1: eDP-1 model: BOE Display 0x0675 built: 2015 res: 1366x768
hz: 60 dpi: 101 gamma: 1.2 size: 344x194mm (13.54x7.64") diag: 395mm (15.5")
ratio: 16:9 modes: 1366x768
API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: intel iris drv: nvidia platforms: device: 0
drv: nvidia device: 1 drv: iris device: 3 drv: swrast surfaceless:
drv: nvidia x11: drv: iris inactive: gbm,wayland,device-2
API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: intel mesa v: 23.2.1-arch1.2
glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics 620 (KBL
GT2) device-ID: 8086:5917 memory: 7.46 GiB unified: yes
API: Vulkan v: 1.3.269 layers: 8 device: 0 type: integrated-gpu name: Intel
UHD Graphics 620 (KBL GT2) driver: mesa intel v: 23.2.1-arch1.2
device-ID: 8086:5917 surfaces: xcb,xlib device: 1 type: discrete-gpu
name: NVIDIA GeForce MX150 driver: nvidia v: 535.113.01
device-ID: 10de:1d10 surfaces: xcb,xlib device: 2 type: cpu name: llvmpipe
(LLVM 16.0.6 256 bits) driver: mesa llvmpipe v: 23.2.1-arch1.2 (LLVM
16.0.6) device-ID: 10005:0000 surfaces: xcb,xlib
Audio:
Device-1: Intel Sunrise Point-LP HD Audio vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel alternate: snd_soc_skl,snd_soc_avs
bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:9d71 class-ID: 0403
API: ALSA v: k6.5.8-zen1-1-zen status: kernel-api tools: N/A
Server-1: PipeWire v: 0.3.83 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
4: pw-jack type: plugin tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: gen: 1
speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: 3000 bus-ID: 02:00.1 chip-ID: 10ec:8168
class-ID: 0200
IF: enp2s0f1 state: down mac: <filter>
Device-2: Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3168NGW [Stone Peak] driver: iwlwifi
v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 03:00.0
chip-ID: 8086:24fb class-ID: 0280
IF: wlp3s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
Device-1: Intel Wireless-AC 3168 Bluetooth driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB
rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 1-5:3 chip-ID: 8087:0aa7
class-ID: e001
Report: btmgmt ID: hci0 rfk-id: 2 state: down bt-service: enabled,running
rfk-block: hardware: no software: yes address: <filter> bt-v: 4.2 lmp-v: 8
status: discoverable: no pairing: no
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 1.14 TiB used: 38.25 GiB (3.3%)
SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Kingston model: SA2000M8250G
size: 232.89 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s
lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: S5Z42105 temp: 33.9 C
scheme: MBR
ID-2: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Western Digital
model: WD10SPZX-21Z10T0 size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 4096 B
logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s tech: HDD rpm: 5400 serial: <filter>
fw-rev: 1A02 scheme: GPT
Partition:
ID-1: / raw-size: 224.08 GiB size: 224.08 GiB (100.00%)
used: 38.25 GiB (17.1%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1
ID-2: /home raw-size: 224.08 GiB size: 224.08 GiB (100.00%)
used: 38.25 GiB (17.1%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1
ID-3: /var/log raw-size: 224.08 GiB size: 224.08 GiB (100.00%)
used: 38.25 GiB (17.1%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1
ID-4: /var/tmp raw-size: 224.08 GiB size: 224.08 GiB (100.00%)
used: 38.25 GiB (17.1%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1
Swap:
Kernel: swappiness: 133 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default) zswap: no
ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 7.64 GiB used: 813.5 MiB (10.4%)
priority: 100 comp: zstd avail: lzo,lzo-rle,lz4,lz4hc,842 max-streams: 8
dev: /dev/zram0
ID-2: swap-2 type: partition size: 8.8 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2
dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 45.0 C mobo: N/A
Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A
Info:
Processes: 271 Uptime: 2h 36m wakeups: 3 Memory: total: 8 GiB
available: 7.64 GiB used: 2.72 GiB (35.7%) Init: systemd v: 254
default: graphical tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 13.2.1 Packages:
pm: pacman pkgs: 1392 libs: 400 tools: octopi,paru,yay Shell: fish v: 3.6.1
default: Bash v: 5.1.16 running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.30
Garuda (2.6.17-1):
System install date:     2023-10-22
Last full system update: 2023-10-29 ↻
Is partially upgraded:   No
Relevant software:       snapper NetworkManager dracut nvidia-dkms
Windows dual boot:       <superuser required>
Failed units:

So as BluishHumility asked, this is the df -h output:

Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/nvme0n1p1  225G   39G  185G  18% /
devtmpfs        4.0M     0  4.0M   0% /dev
tmpfs           3.9G   40M  3.8G   2% /dev/shm
tmpfs           1.6G  1.6M  1.6G   1% /run
/dev/nvme0n1p1  225G   39G  185G  18% /home
/dev/nvme0n1p1  225G   39G  185G  18% /root
/dev/nvme0n1p1  225G   39G  185G  18% /srv
/dev/nvme0n1p1  225G   39G  185G  18% /var/cache
/dev/nvme0n1p1  225G   39G  185G  18% /var/tmp
/dev/nvme0n1p1  225G   39G  185G  18% /var/log
tmpfs           3.9G   14M  3.9G   1% /tmp
tmpfs           782M   80K  782M   1% /run/user/1000
/dev/sda1       916G  2.1M  870G   1% /run/media/shivupd/72a82386-7432-4489-9a28-bb59c03e817a

This is ls -lar output:

drwx------  - root 29 Oct 22:40  lost+found
drwxr-x---@ - root 30 Oct 21:15  ..
drwxr-xr-x  - root 29 Oct 22:40  .

Screenshot_20231029_224341
Screenshot_20231029_2243411366×768 122 KB

Screenshot_20231030_213434

2

Deleted

The transfer you requested has been deleted.

4 Likes
3

If you don’t know what you put there, how are we supposed to know? Chicken/Egg. And please reboot.

1 Like
4

What is on the disk? Are you expecting it to be empty, or are you actively using it?

If you want to see what’s on it, just mount the disk and run ls -laR on the mountpoint.

ls -laR /path/to/mountpoint
4 Likes
5

this may be the problem.
imo the allocated logical block size should match the physical of the device.
the result of a mismatch is wasted space as any file smaller than 4096B will take up 4096B on the drive with the current format.

1 Like
6

The HDD is completely empty

7

The HDD is completely empty, I installed Garuda few days back okay I will check.

8

Any idea what should I do? Should I try change the format to fat32? Change the partition table from msdos? Never have I ever witnessed such thing. No clue (⁠・⁠o⁠・⁠)

9

I will reupload asap after my shift ends.

10

Did you check with ls -laR?

Where are you getting the idea that 46 GB are in use?

Please run df -h on the mount point and paste the output into the thread

df -h /path/to/mountpoint
2 Likes
11

New GPT table, format ext4, assuming you want it for Linux-only storage, or NTFS if you’ll either, A) share data with Windows or, B) use it for only Windows data storage. Windows does not natively support Linux formats, while Linux does recognize NTFS.

You can always symlink it 7 ways to sundown. :slight_smile:

4 Likes
13

Some of us (myself included) are not going to download some random file off of a random website to see a screenshot that may or may not be meaningful. If you have an image to share, you can paste it directly into the thread because you are TL1.

Better than a screenshot will be to see the requested terminal output.

4 Likes
14

done

15

Should be a capital R, like this:

ls -laR /path/to/mountpoint

The capital R will recurse into the directories so you can see what is inside. In this case it may not make a difference if the disk is empty, but if the lost+found directory had anything inside it would print to the terminal.

The 16GiB you are “missing” is in use by ext4 itself, for filesystem metadata. Take a look at this thread if you would like to learn more about that:

2 Likes
16

seems like he regained some space here, i’m curious to know if it was because he reformatted with a matched block size allocation.
i’m thinking so.

17

Shredded the hdd, took 11 hours 56 min, still 46 gb pre occupied… I give up for now. After shredding it was 931 gb. But as soon as I format the hdd to ext4 it is eating up that space.

18

it was explained earlier in the thread, it’s file system metadata and no matter what you do it will ALWAYS be there taking up some space.

i have a 111GB available out out of 120 on my smaller SSD’s due to file system metadata.

1 Like
19

I know. Certain amount of space is always preserved, you buy a 128 gigs SD card you get 123 gb or so but 46 GB is massive. Something must be reserved there.

20

You keep saying 46 GB but I am not seeing where you are getting that from.

In the screenshot you have shared it looks like 16 GB is in use:

This is less than 2% of the disk, and aligns with typical metadata size for ext4.

7 Likes
21

I prefer using Ext4 on all my large storage drives. A ton of space is wasted for no good reason if not using the ext4 drive to run the OS. It is possible to reduce or eliminate the reserved space used by Ext4. I always zero out the reserved space on all my ext4 drives to conserve space.

2 Likes