/ partition filled. What went wrong?

[Jastring]

So when I installed my 12.04 LTS, I partitioned my drive with linuxswap (17Gb), /boot (500 Mb), / (28 Gb), and /home (420 Gb). Everything has been working fine up until a few minutes ago. I noticed that my / filesystem was filled with only 3Mb left. How did my / fill up in one week? My first suspicion is that somehow / and /home are not talking correctly. Here are some outputs:

user@user-office-desktop:~$ df -h
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda6        28G   27G  3.3M 100% /
udev            3.9G  4.0K  3.9G   1% /dev
tmpfs           1.6G  852K  1.6G   1% /run
none            5.0M     0  5.0M   0% /run/lock
none            3.9G  356K  3.9G   1% /run/shm
overflow        1.0M   56K  968K   6% /tmp
/dev/sdb1       932G  559G  373G  60% /media/Family Media Drive
/dev/sda1       461M   69M  369M  16% /boot
/dev/sda7       415G   24G  371G   6% /home

user@user-office-desktop:~$ df -i
Filesystem        Inodes  IUsed     IFree IUse% Mounted on
/dev/sda6        1831424 229660   1601764   13% /
udev             1011064    573   1010491    1% /dev
tmpfs            1022303    501   1021802    1% /run
none             1022303      1   1022302    1% /run/lock
none             1022303      9   1022294    1% /run/shm
overflow         1022303     30   1022273    1% /tmp
/dev/sdb1      390966600  17244 390949356    1% /media/Family Media Drive
/dev/sda1         121920    235    121685    1% /boot
/dev/sda7       27631616   6492  27625124    1% /home

and

user@user-office-desktop:~$ sudo du -h --max-depth=1 | sort -hr
[sudo] password for user: 
24G     .
11G     ./VirtualBox VMs
5.7G    ./Videos
3.9G    ./Music
2.2G    ./Pictures
835M    ./Downloads
386M    ./.cache
225M    ./Dropbox
59M     ./.kde
50M     ./.VirtualBox
48M     ./.dropbox-dist
30M     ./.config
22M     ./.mozilla
15M     ./.thumbnails
1.8M    ./.dropbox
1.6M    ./Documents
1.3M    ./.adobe
896K    ./.gstreamer-0.10
832K    ./.dvdcss
716K    ./pysdm-0.4.1
616K    ./.macromedia
460K    ./.gimp-2.6
268K    ./.local
268K    ./.gconf
192K    ./.pulse
40K     ./.fontconfig
36K     ./.pki
32K     ./.gnupg
28K     ./.easytag
28K     ./Desktop
24K     ./.gtkpod
20K     ./.dbus
16K     ./.gegl-0.0
12K     ./.mission-control
8.0K    ./.gnome2
4.0K    ./Templates
4.0K    ./Public
4.0K    ./.gvfs
4.0K    ./.gphoto
4.0K    ./.gnome2_private

Now, I know it that my /VirtualBox VMs, /Videos, /Pictures, and /Music are taking up all the room, but those should be in a separate partition, right? When I click on /root then /Home in dolphin, it highlights that I'm currently looking at the /Home partition. So how is that folder taking up my / partition? What's the relationship that I'm missing here?

[Snowhog]

When was the last time you cleared out the package cache? What is the result of:

ls -l /var/cache/apt/archives && ls -l /var/cache/apt/archives/partial

Also, how many kernel versions do you have? What is the result of:

[S]dpkg --list | awk '\''/linux-image/ {print $2}'\''[/S]  dpkg --list | awk '/linux-image/ {print $2}'

[Jastring]

user@user-office-desktop:~$ ls -l /var/cache/apt/archives && ls -l /var/cache/apt/archives/partial
total 498244
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    22052 Dec  3 22:03 acpi-support_0.140.1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    16232 Feb 27 17:22 acroread_9.5.4-1precise1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 60119840 Feb 27 13:54 acroread-bin_9.5.4-1precise1_i386.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   143290 Feb 27 17:04 alsa-base_1.0.25+dfsg-0ubuntu1.1_all.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1100990 Mar 14 09:33 apt_0.8.16~exp12ubuntu10.10_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    15862 Jan 11 22:03 aptdaemon_0.43+bzr805-0ubuntu8_all.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   163458 Jan 11 22:03 aptdaemon-data_0.43+bzr805-0ubuntu8_all.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    16282 Mar 14 09:33 apt-transport-https_0.8.16~exp12ubuntu10.10_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   190484 Mar 14 09:33 apt-utils_0.8.16~exp12ubuntu10.10_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   190236 Nov 20 14:33 brasero_3.4.1-0ubuntu1.1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    37300 Nov 20 14:33 brasero-cdrkit_3.4.1-0ubuntu1.1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   305376 Nov 20 14:33 brasero-common_3.4.1-0ubuntu1.1_all.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 26334010 Mar 11 18:30 chromium-browser_25.0.1364.160-0ubuntu0.12.04.1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2692764 Mar 11 18:30 chromium-browser-l10n_25.0.1364.160-0ubuntu0.12.04.1_all.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   455126 Mar 11 18:30 chromium-codecs-ffmpeg_25.0.1364.160-0ubuntu0.12.04.1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    37502 Feb  7 12:36 dmsetup_2%3a1.02.48-4ubuntu7.2_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   103710 Feb  5 14:04 ecryptfs-utils_96-0ubuntu3.1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     2228 Jan 28 09:04 ffmpeg_4%3a0.8.5-0ubuntu0.12.04.1_all.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 24169064 Mar  8 11:05 firefox_19.0.2+build1-0ubuntu0.12.04.1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    50290 Mar  8 11:05 firefox-globalmenu_19.0.2+build1-0ubuntu0.12.04.1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   496648 Mar  8 11:05 firefox-locale-en_19.0.2+build1-0ubuntu0.12.04.1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     7014 Mar 13 14:33 flashplugin-installer_11.2.202.275ubuntu0.12.04.1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   143374 Jan 25 04:53 fonts-opensymbol_2%3a102.2+LibO3.5.7-0ubuntu4_all.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  4844538 Dec 10 09:33 gimp_2.6.12-1ubuntu1.2_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1983746 Dec 10 09:33 gimp-data_2.6.12-1ubuntu1.2_all.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1739854 Jan 28 13:34 gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad_0.10.22.3-2ubuntu2.2_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1951020 Feb 26 22:05 gstreamer0.10-plugins-good_0.10.31-1ubuntu1.2_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   110996 Feb 26 22:05 gstreamer0.10-pulseaudio_0.10.31-1ubuntu1.2_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   157808 Dec  4 21:03 gwibber_3.4.2-0ubuntu2.1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    39972 Dec  4 21:03 gwibber-service_3.4.2-0ubuntu2.1_all.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     7720 Dec  4 21:03 gwibber-service-facebook_3.4.2-0ubuntu2.1_all.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     7744 Dec  4 21:03 gwibber-service-identica_3.4.2-0ubuntu2.1_all.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     8946 Dec  4 21:03 gwibber-service-twitter_3.4.2-0ubuntu2.1_all.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   776322 Mar  5 18:33 icedtea-6-jre-cacao_6b27-1.12.3-0ubuntu1~12.04.1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   512094 Mar  5 18:33 icedtea-6-jre-jamvm_6b27-1.12.3-0ubuntu1~12.04.1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    16398 Feb 26 21:33 im-switch_1.20ubuntu5.2_all.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 18277558 Jan 30 10:33 inkscape_0.48.3.1-1ubuntu1.1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   390572 Mar  7 17:34 iptables_1.4.12-1ubuntu5_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    99812 Mar 14 09:33 libapt-inst1.4_0.8.16~exp12ubuntu10.10_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   939616 Mar 14 09:33 libapt-pkg4.12_0.8.16~exp12ubuntu10.10_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2919734 Jan 28 09:04 libavcodec53_4%3a0.8.5-0ubuntu0.12.04.1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2974502 Feb  2 07:32 libavcodec-extra-53_4%3a0.8.5ubuntu0.12.04.1+medibuntu1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    29092 Jan 28 09:04 libavdevice53_4%3a0.8.5-0ubuntu0.12.04.1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    80698 Jan 28 09:04 libavfilter2_4%3a0.8.5-0ubuntu0.12.04.1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   495100 Jan 28 09:04 libavformat53_4%3a0.8.5-0ubuntu0.12.04.1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   614884 Jan 28 09:04 libav-tools_4%3a0.8.5-0ubuntu0.12.04.1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    63272 Jan 28 09:04 libavutil51_4%3a0.8.5-0ubuntu0.12.04.1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   104492 Feb  2 07:32 libavutil-extra-51_4%3a0.8.5ubuntu0.12.04.1+medibuntu1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   469004 Nov 20 14:33 libbrasero-media3-1_3.4.1-0ubuntu1.1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   171882 Dec 12 17:33 libcups2_1.5.3-0ubuntu6_i386.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    73636 Feb 27 13:33 libdbus-glib-1-2_0.98-1ubuntu1.1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    69748 Feb  7 12:36 libdevmapper1.02.1_2%3a1.02.48-4ubuntu7.2_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    10386 Feb  7 12:36 libdevmapper-event1.02.1_2%3a1.02.48-4ubuntu7.2_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    48132 Feb  5 14:04 libecryptfs0_96-0ubuntu3.1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   345258 Jan 14 13:03 libfreetype6_2.4.8-1ubuntu2.1_i386.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   619236 Dec 10 09:33 libgimp2.0_2.6.12-1ubuntu1.2_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  3031402 Feb 21 11:04 libgl1-mesa-dri_8.0.4-0ubuntu0.4_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   103876 Feb 21 11:04 libgl1-mesa-glx_8.0.4-0ubuntu0.4_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    21280 Feb 21 11:04 libglapi-mesa_8.0.4-0ubuntu0.4_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   161436 Feb 21 11:04 libglu1-mesa_8.0.4-0ubuntu0.4_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   459168 Feb 27 08:33 libgnutls26_2.12.14-5ubuntu3.2_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   448384 Feb 27 08:33 libgnutls26_2.12.14-5ubuntu3.2_i386.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   148198 Jan 28 13:34 libgstreamer-plugins-bad0.10-0_0.10.22.3-2ubuntu2.2_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    14502 Mar 11 18:41 libgudev-1.0-0_1%3a175-0ubuntu9.3_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    71356 Dec  4 21:03 libgwibber2_3.4.2-0ubuntu2.1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    63972 Dec  4 21:03 libgwibber-gtk2_3.4.2-0ubuntu2.1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   222710 Feb  7 12:36 liblvm2app2.2_2.02.66-4ubuntu7.2_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   946382 Feb 21 17:57 libmysqlclient18_5.5.29-0ubuntu0.12.04.2_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    51010 Feb 26 21:04 libnautilus-extension1a_1%3a3.4.2-0ubuntu7_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    11264 Mar 14 15:03 libnspr4-0d_4.9.5-0ubuntu0.12.04.1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   140920 Mar 14 15:03 libnspr4_4.9.5-0ubuntu0.12.04.1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    13400 Mar 14 15:03 libnss3-1d_3.14.3-0ubuntu0.12.04.1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1196326 Mar 14 15:03 libnss3_3.14.3-0ubuntu0.12.04.1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    20810 Feb 26 21:33 libpciaccess0_0.12.902-1ubuntu0.2_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     1254 Mar 19 14:03 libperl5.14_5.14.2-6ubuntu2.3_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    89770 Dec 18 21:34 libpoppler-glib8_0.18.4-1ubuntu3_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    20970 Feb  7 17:03 libportmidi0_1%3a200-0ubuntu1.12.04.2_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    63392 Jan 28 09:04 libpostproc52_4%3a0.8.5-0ubuntu0.12.04.1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   179060 Feb 14 11:35 libqt4-dbus_4%3a4.8.1-0ubuntu4.4_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1064042 Feb 14 11:35 libqt4-declarative_4%3a4.8.1-0ubuntu4.4_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  3608462 Feb 14 11:35 libqt4-designer_4%3a4.8.1-0ubuntu4.4_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   199850 Feb 14 11:35 libqt4-help_4%3a4.8.1-0ubuntu4.4_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   535672 Feb 14 11:35 libqt4-network_4%3a4.8.1-0ubuntu4.4_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   293240 Feb 14 11:35 libqt4-opengl_4%3a4.8.1-0ubuntu4.4_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1021302 Feb 14 11:35 libqt4-qt3support_4%3a4.8.1-0ubuntu4.4_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   757570 Feb 14 11:35 libqt4-script_4%3a4.8.1-0ubuntu4.4_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   220286 Feb 14 11:35 libqt4-scripttools_4%3a4.8.1-0ubuntu4.4_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    96996 Feb 14 11:35 libqt4-sql_4%3a4.8.1-0ubuntu4.4_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    30004 Feb 14 11:35 libqt4-sql-mysql_4%3a4.8.1-0ubuntu4.4_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    22474 Feb 14 11:35 libqt4-sql-sqlite_4%3a4.8.1-0ubuntu4.4_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   137062 Feb 14 11:35 libqt4-svg_4%3a4.8.1-0ubuntu4.4_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    60154 Feb 14 11:35 libqt4-test_4%3a4.8.1-0ubuntu4.4_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    91812 Feb 14 11:35 libqt4-xml_4%3a4.8.1-0ubuntu4.4_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1032394 Feb 14 11:35 libqt4-xmlpatterns_4%3a4.8.1-0ubuntu4.4_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2024564 Feb 14 11:35 libqtcore4_4%3a4.8.1-0ubuntu4.4_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  4024142 Feb 14 11:35 libqtgui4_4%3a4.8.1-0ubuntu4.4_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   873898 Jan 25 03:51 libreoffice-base-core_1%3a3.5.7-0ubuntu4_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  6330566 Jan 25 03:51 libreoffice-calc_1%3a3.5.7-0ubuntu4_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 20948682 Jan 25 04:53 libreoffice-common_1%3a3.5.7-0ubuntu4_all.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 38785346 Jan 25 03:51 libreoffice-core_1%3a3.5.7-0ubuntu4_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  3253354 Jan 25 03:51 libreoffice-draw_1%3a3.5.7-0ubuntu4_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    36120 Jan 25 04:53 libreoffice-emailmerge_1%3a3.5.7-0ubuntu4_all.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  9079602 Jan 25 04:53 libreoffice-help-en-us_1%3a3.5.7-0ubuntu4_all.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   659186 Jan 25 03:51 libreoffice-impress_1%3a3.5.7-0ubuntu4_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   114824 Jan 25 03:51 libreoffice-kde_1%3a3.5.7-0ubuntu4_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   412098 Jan 25 03:51 libreoffice-math_1%3a3.5.7-0ubuntu4_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2299324 Jan 25 04:52 libreoffice-style-oxygen_1%3a3.5.7-0ubuntu4_all.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  7698068 Jan 25 03:51 libreoffice-writer_1%3a3.5.7-0ubuntu4_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   187272 Jan 14 09:03 libservlet2.5-java_6.0.35-1ubuntu3.2_all.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2158432 Mar  7 18:06 libsmbclient_2%3a3.6.3-2ubuntu2.4_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1010238 Feb 28 13:33 libssl1.0.0_1.0.1-4ubuntu5.7_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    92220 Jan 28 09:04 libswscale2_4%3a0.8.5-0ubuntu0.12.04.1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   142580 Dec  5 15:04 libtiff4_3.9.5-2ubuntu1.4_i386.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    29050 Mar 11 18:41 libudev0_175-0ubuntu9.3_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   128882 Feb 14 11:35 libupnp3_1%3a1.6.6-5.1ubuntu0.12.04.1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    14680 Feb 26 21:33 libusbmuxd1_1.0.7-2ubuntu0.1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    45478 Jan 12 03:03 libvlc5_2.0.5-0ubuntu0.12.04.1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   418316 Jan 12 03:03 libvlccore5_2.0.5-0ubuntu0.12.04.1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    30316 Mar  7 18:06 libwbclient0_2%3a3.6.3-2ubuntu2.4_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   351634 Feb 21 11:04 libxatracker1_8.0.4-0ubuntu0.4_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   662188 Dec  5 18:33 libxml2_2.7.8.dfsg-5.1ubuntu4.3_i386.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     1718 Feb 28 13:38 linux-generic_3.2.0.39.47_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 11695426 Feb 28 13:39 linux-headers-3.2.0-39_3.2.0-39.62_all.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   992630 Feb 28 13:39 linux-headers-3.2.0-39-generic_3.2.0-39.62_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     2592 Feb 28 13:38 linux-headers-generic_3.2.0.39.47_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 38464052 Feb 28 13:39 linux-image-3.2.0-39-generic_3.2.0-39.62_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     2592 Feb 28 13:38 linux-image-generic_3.2.0.39.47_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   868862 Feb 28 13:39 linux-libc-dev_3.2.0-39.62_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    15150 Feb 27 17:04 linux-sound-base_1.0.25+dfsg-0ubuntu1.1_all.deb
-rw-r----- 1 root root        0 Mar 19 15:33 lock
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1932404 Feb 21 17:57 mysql-client-core-5.5_5.5.29-0ubuntu0.12.04.2_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    13462 Feb 21 18:43 mysql-common_5.5.29-0ubuntu0.12.04.2_all.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  6055268 Feb 21 17:57 mysql-server-core-5.5_5.5.29-0ubuntu0.12.04.2_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 11069688 Mar  5 18:33 openjdk-6-jdk_6b27-1.12.3-0ubuntu1~12.04.1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   232428 Mar  5 18:34 openjdk-6-jre_6b27-1.12.3-0ubuntu1~12.04.1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 25336706 Mar  5 18:33 openjdk-6-jre-headless_6b27-1.12.3-0ubuntu1~12.04.1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  6144028 Mar  5 18:33 openjdk-6-jre-lib_6b27-1.12.3-0ubuntu1~12.04.1_all.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   523476 Feb 28 13:33 openssl_1.0.1-4ubuntu5.7_amd64.deb
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root     4096 Mar 24 18:52 partial
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  4409440 Mar 19 14:03 perl_5.14.2-6ubuntu2.3_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1507632 Mar 19 14:03 perl-base_5.14.2-6ubuntu2.3_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  3388936 Mar 19 14:03 perl-modules_5.14.2-6ubuntu2.3_all.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 80795928 Mar 18 04:15 plexmediaserver_0.9.7.17.471-0282320_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    82674 Jan 11 22:03 python-aptdaemon_0.43+bzr805-0ubuntu8_all.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    14798 Jan 11 22:03 python-aptdaemon.gtk3widgets_0.43+bzr805-0ubuntu8_all.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     4190 Nov 12 11:04 python-libproxy_0.4.7-0ubuntu4.1_all.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   158016 Jan 25 03:51 python-uno_1%3a3.5.7-0ubuntu4_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    28696 Feb 14 11:35 qdbus_4%3a4.8.1-0ubuntu4.4_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   325756 Mar  7 18:06 samba-common_2%3a3.6.3-2ubuntu2.4_all.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  6174670 Mar  7 18:06 samba-common-bin_2%3a3.6.3-2ubuntu2.4_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 14106214 Mar  7 18:06 smbclient_2%3a3.6.3-2ubuntu2.4_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   288410 Feb 28 08:03 sudo_1.8.3p1-1ubuntu3.4_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   319558 Mar 11 18:41 udev_175-0ubuntu9.3_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   597880 Jan 25 03:51 uno-libs3_3.5.7-0ubuntu4_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2416512 Jan 25 03:51 ure_3.5.7-0ubuntu4_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    37096 Feb 26 21:33 usbmuxd_1.0.7-2ubuntu0.1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1373030 Jan 12 03:03 vlc_2.0.5-0ubuntu0.12.04.1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  9466298 Jan 12 03:03 vlc-data_2.0.5-0ubuntu0.12.04.1_all.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2816926 Jan 12 03:03 vlc-nox_2.0.5-0ubuntu0.12.04.1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     6148 Jan 12 03:03 vlc-plugin-notify_2.0.5-0ubuntu0.12.04.1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    22062 Jan 12 03:03 vlc-plugin-pulse_2.0.5-0ubuntu0.12.04.1_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    31682 Feb 26 21:33 xserver-common_2%3a1.11.4-0ubuntu10.12_all.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1721838 Feb 26 21:33 xserver-xorg-core_2%3a1.11.4-0ubuntu10.12_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   109488 Feb 21 11:04 xserver-xorg-video-nouveau_1%3a0.0.16+git20111201+b5534a1-1build3_amd64.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    58516 Nov 21 14:03 xul-ext-ubufox_2.6-0ubuntu0.12.04.1_all.deb
total 0

and

dpkg --list | awk '\''/linux-image/ {print $2}'\''

the second command doesn't give me anything. Just moves to > on the next line. What is that first command showing me?

[Snowhog]

Sorry 'bout the second command. Use this:

dpkg --list | awk '/linux-image/ {print $2}'

You should clean out the package cache, which will regain you (likely) a lot of space. Type:

sudo apt-get --purge autoremove && sudo apt-get clean

[Jastring]

user@user-office-desktop:~$ dpkg --list | awk '/linux-image/ {print $2}'
linux-image-3.2.0-37-generic
linux-image-3.2.0-39-generic
linux-image-generic

Cleaning the package cache got me about 500Mb back:

user@user-office-desktop:~$ df -h
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda6        28G   26G  565M  98% /
udev            3.9G   12K  3.9G   1% /dev
tmpfs           1.6G  872K  1.6G   1% /run
none            5.0M     0  5.0M   0% /run/lock
none            3.9G  216K  3.9G   1% /run/shm
overflow        1.0M   60K  964K   6% /tmp
/dev/sdb1       932G  559G  373G  60% /media/Family Media Drive
/dev/sda1       461M   69M  369M  16% /boot
/dev/sda7       415G   18G  377G   5% /home

[HalationEffect]

Another thing worth checking, although it's a long-shot:

sudo lsof / | grep '(deleted)'

See if anything excessively large shows up in the results.

[Snowhog]

Well, there is still something taking up way to much space on your root partition. I'd suggest identifying which root directory contains the bulk of the space being consumed. What is the result of:

sudo du -h --max-depth=1 --exclude=proc / | sort -hr

(This command will take a bit before it outputs the results)

[jlittle]

I don't think your VMs and videos are filling the root file system; df -h shows 24G in /home and your du says the same.

Rather, I'd suspect a log or spool or some such file from a runaway process. What's the output of sudo du -hx --max=1 /?

Regards, John Little

[Jastring]

@Snowhog:
I was successfully able to run that command last night, but lost my internet connection this morning for some reason. Now when I try to re-run it, my computer freezes up. Not sure what that's about.

@Jlittle:
Here's the output of the command:

user@user-office-desktop:~$ sudo du -hx --max=1 /
[sudo] password for user: 
8.0K    /.config
4.0K    /mnt
3.4M    /lib32
4.0K    /lib64
14M     /etc
1.0K    /boot
8.7M    /sbin
3.8G    /usr
374M    /lib
4.0K    /srv
0       /proc
0       /dev
8.9M    /bin
22G     /var
0       /sys
192M    /opt
0       /run
16K     /lost+found
4.0K    /selinux
56K     /media
4.0K    /cdrom
52K     /tmp
4.0K    /home
336K    /root
26G     /

What is sitting in /var? Why is that folder at 22G?

[Jastring]

on a hunch, I ran jlittle's command with a couple of tweaks:

user@user-office-desktop:~$ sudo du -hx --max=1 /var
3.2M    /var/backups
84K     /var/spool
899M    /var/lib
21G     /var/log
4.0K    /var/opt
4.0K    /var/local
4.0K    /var/mail
708K    /var/crash
275M    /var/tmp
161M    /var/cache
22G     /var

and

user@user-office-desktop:~$ sudo du -hx --max=1 /var/log
4.0K    /var/log/dist-upgrade
68K     /var/log/cups
16K     /var/log/ConsoleKit
260K    /var/log/apt
4.0K    /var/log/news
4.0K    /var/log/samba
432K    /var/log/upstart
4.0K    /var/log/unattended-upgrades
12K     /var/log/fsck
1.4M    /var/log/installer
4.0K    /var/log/hp
21G     /var/log

[oshunluvr]

Obviously some logs files are out of control. Look at the output of

ls -lhS /var/log

and see what files are huge.

[Jastring]

@oshunluvr:

user@user-office-desktop:~$ ls -lhS /var/log
total 21G
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm  9.9G Mar 24 07:38 kern.log.1
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm  5.1G Mar 26 12:03 kern.log
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm  4.8G Mar 25 07:38 syslog.1
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm  293M Mar 26 12:05 syslog
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm  272M Mar 22 07:43 syslog.4.gz
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm  5.5M Mar 20 08:03 syslog.6.gz
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm  5.1M Mar 21 07:38 syslog.5.gz
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm  5.0M Mar 23 07:57 syslog.3.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root   root 1.2M Mar 24 18:53 dpkg.log
-rw-r--r-- 1 root   root 334K Mar 26 12:03 udev
-rw-rw-r-- 1 root   utmp 286K Mar 19 16:39 lastlog
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm  280K Mar 24 07:39 syslog.2.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root   root 129K Mar 20 08:03 jockey.log.1
-rw-rw-r-- 1 root   utmp 102K Mar 26 12:06 wtmp
-rw-r----- 1 root   adm   74K Mar 26 10:27 dmesg.0
-rw-r----- 1 root   adm   73K Mar 26 12:03 dmesg
-rw-r--r-- 1 root   root  72K Mar 26 12:03 pm-powersave.log
-rw-r--r-- 1 root   root  59K Mar 26 12:04 Xorg.0.log
-rw-r--r-- 1 root   root  59K Mar 26 10:37 Xorg.0.log.old
-rw-r--r-- 1 root   root  52K Mar 19 22:18 alternatives.log
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm   50K Mar 24 07:30 auth.log.1
-rw-r--r-- 1 root   root  47K Feb 13 20:17 bootstrap.log
-rw-r--r-- 1 root   root  32K Mar 19 16:39 faillog
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm   23K Mar 26 12:03 auth.log
-rw-r----- 1 root   adm   17K Mar 26 10:21 dmesg.1.gz
-rw-r----- 1 root   adm   17K Mar 26 09:22 dmesg.2.gz
-rw-r----- 1 root   adm   17K Mar 25 19:47 dmesg.3.gz
-rw-r----- 1 root   adm   17K Mar 25 12:10 dmesg.4.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root   root 6.9K Mar 26 12:03 kdm.log
drwxr-xr-x 2 root   root 4.0K Mar 19 15:39 apt
drwxr-xr-x 2 root   root 4.0K Mar 19 15:47 ConsoleKit
drwxr-xr-x 2 root   root 4.0K Mar 25 07:38 cups
drwxr-xr-x 2 root   root 4.0K Oct 10 11:34 dist-upgrade
drwxr-xr-x 2 root   root 4.0K Feb 13 20:16 fsck
drwxr-xr-x 2 root   root 4.0K Jul 10  2012 hp
drwxr-xr-x 2 root   root 4.0K Mar 19 15:45 installer
drwxr-xr-x 2 root   root 4.0K Mar 19 15:47 news
drwxr-x--- 2 root   adm  4.0K Jun  8  2012 samba
drwxr-xr-x 2 root   root 4.0K Nov 14 19:34 unattended-upgrades
drwxr-xr-x 2 root   root 4.0K Mar 25 10:07 upstart
-rw-r----- 1 root   adm  3.0K Mar 26 12:03 apport.log
-rw-r--r-- 1 root   root 2.6K Mar 19 22:13 fontconfig.log
-rw-r--r-- 1 root   root 2.4K Mar 25 07:38 kdm.log.1
-rw-r--r-- 1 root   root 1.2K Mar 26 12:03 boot.log
-rw-r----- 1 root   adm  1001 Mar 24 19:52 apport.log.1
-rw-r----- 1 root   adm   889 Mar 19 22:20 apport.log.5.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root   root  780 Mar 23 07:55 kdm.log.2.gz
-rw-r----- 1 root   adm   278 Mar 20 21:57 apport.log.4.gz
-rw-r----- 1 root   adm   276 Mar 22 14:39 apport.log.2.gz
-rw-r----- 1 root   adm   271 Mar 21 17:26 apport.log.3.gz
-rw-r----- 1 root   adm    31 Feb 13 20:16 boot
-rw-rw---- 1 root   utmp    0 Feb 13 20:16 btmp
-rw-r--r-- 1 root   root    0 Mar 20 08:03 jockey.log
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm     0 Mar 19 15:47 mail.err
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm     0 Mar 19 15:47 mail.log
-rw-r--r-- 1 root   root    0 Mar 19 22:16 pycentral.log
-rw-r----- 1 syslog adm     0 Mar 19 15:47 ufw.log

can I just delete those log files? Will they regenerate?

[oshunluvr]

Yes and yes but you'd be better off reading them first to figure out what processess are causing the problem. They are obviously too large to post here but maybe you have dropbox or some other way to share them?

[Jastring]

the sad part is that they're too big for even a dropbox. Is it safe to assume that after I delete them, the problem should make them regen at a smaller size?

[oshunluvr]

I would at least start reading them first. If you still need a bit of space to keep running, delete the older ones first keeping the two newest for review. Do you have a gmail account? Supposedly you can send a file up to 10GB. I'll take a look if you're unsure of what to look for but I'm not going to post my gmail address openly. Send me a PM if you want to try and I'll give you my gmail.