Ask the System Manager
(Frequently Asked Questions)
by Thomas Wallis

Disk Quota Problems

Each student has a disk quota of at least 200M. You should be able to easily do your work in this assigned space. Here are some tips if you outgrow this disk space.

• Make sure of the problem. Use quota to make sure you have a problem.

• Use the du command to look at EACH of your directories. Look for big numbers indicating lots of usage.

• Sometimes large hidden files indicating errors can hide in your home directory. Use ls -al to see what is in your home directory, including the hidden files. Remove any large (>1M) hidden files.

• If you use Netscape (any version), make sure your Netscape cache directory is empty (Netscape eats disk quota). Use:
  

  cd                                     <---- goto home directory 
   
  rm -rf .netscape/cache                 <---- recursively removes all 
                                               netscape cache files
  

  Similiar techniques apply for Mozilla/Firefox users. WARNING: THE ABOVE COMMAND IF MISUSED OR MISTYPED COULD DESTROY ALL OF YOUR FILES!

• If you are using Xwindows terminals, look for a file called .xdm-errors . Sometimes due to terminal problems, this file will grow forever.

• If you found .xdm-errors, and you removed it, and the system hasn't updated your quota, look for errant processes with:
  

  ps -aux | grep your-username
  

  Use kill -9 the-pid
  

  to kill them.

• Remove core files, .o files, and other junk compiler files.

• Use gzip or compress to compress your least used files.

• Clean out your email/pine directories. Get off mailing lists.

• Use floppy disks or USB Pen drives to back up your work and delete it from your directories. It is easy to do this from the LINUX labs. See the online help on the LINUX machines for more information. Or click here for the same information.

Get the UNIX Short Guide from the WSU Bookstore.

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