Problem with space keeps filling up

[qais]

There seems to be a problem with my disk space on zorin, I installed it two months ago and it works fine until two weeks ago when i started to notice that the free space on my disk keeps filling up, I don't know what keeps filling up the space left but i know very little about bash script and linux terminal, but when i refresh to see free space its fluctuating increasing and decreasing but its increasing more then decreasing and when time pases it takes up the whole space and i cant boot up the sys unless i remove some snaps from which i use

[qais]

Also i was having a problem with extending my disk space because iam using dual boot and the partition on which windows uses is very big and i want to decrease the space on that partition and assign it to linux

[Aravisian]

Snap and Flatpak both can claim a lot of space.
Another thing to look at is whether /var directory is being filled with logs.

Snap and Flatpak both carry their own dependencies instead of relying on your already installed dependencies on the system. This brings the benefit of being able to run different versions than you might if using APT, but carries the downside of taking up large swaths of space. Some ways of mitigating this:

• Only use containerized apps when you need that particular version. Otherwise, stick with the standard APT packages.
• Prefer Flatpak over Snap. Flatpak groups the installed dependencies across all Flatpaks, whereas Snap will bring along the same dependencies for each application over and over.

For your system logs; if they are filling up you can check to see if anything generating errors can be solved halting the errors. You can post your Logs contents and we can see if anything can be done. Otherwise, regular cleaning with Ubuntu Cleaner or BleachBit application can keep that reduced.

@qais

Also i was having a problem with extending my disk space because iam using dual boot and the partition on which windows uses is very big and i want to decrease the space on that partition and assign it to linux

In order to create and then claim free space, the drives must be unmounted. You can boot into the LiveUSB that you used to install Zorin OS to perform the procedure.
To create and claim freespace, the Zorin Partition and the Windows Partition must be adjacent to each other. They must be touching side by side. If they are not... then things get more complicated...
Be sure to thoroughly defragment the Windows partition before managing the partition that it is on.

[qais]

I did use bleachbit to clean space and it worked really well, but why on the disk usage analyzer shows different from the file manager, there should be at least 10gb free showing at the file manager

Also directory /var/log/syslogs doesn't exist somehow

[Aravisian]

@qais

but why on the disk usage analyzer shows different from the file manager

Without getting into the topic of file sizes, a quick description of this is:
The Disk Usage Analyzer and the File Manager look at free space differently. The amount of free space is simply the amount of free space. However, the disk usage analyzer will allocate a certain and safe amount of space toward tmp files. It will show less space available, in order to account for that which is in use currently for temporary files or processing files.

@qais

Also directory /var/log/syslogs doesn't exist somehow

That is a file, not a directory. You can change directory (cd) into a directory, but not a file.
You can open the file with Nano

sudo nano /var/log/syslog

Or cd into the parent directory

cd /var/log

[Frog]

@Aravisian

Otherwise, regular cleaning with Ubuntu Cleaner or BleachBit application can keep that reduced.

I have used Ubuntu Cleaner now for quite a while ever since you suggested it to me way back when ..... it helps remove unwanted kernels as well as lots of other items .... simple to use ....

I use it at least once a week or when ever I get the message telling me that Software & Updates can't upgrade because of not enough space .... Ubuntu Cleaner will always delete unwanted items and allow S & U to go ahead with updates ....

[zabadabadoo]

I regularly clean apt and also vacuum my logs e.g.

Very big space eater

I see very little difference between the two. Have you tried clearing out your logs? journalctl --vacuum-time=10d Check your space usage after running the above command and relay if there is a difference.

But I vacuum logs to size.

Using the Terminal Emulator in Linux Distros

I find it useful to write down commands or series of commands in a simple notebook to refer to when needed for specific tasks. That is especially helpful for occasional housekeeping tasks and running CLI utilities e.g. Rkhunter etc. Maybe this thread can also become a "notebook" of useful commands. The CLI is powerful, but should not be frightning to the user. I would reitterate what others have mentioned on the forum elsewhere. Read the screen output carefully before clicking "Y". It is like …

[qais]

I left my laptop overnight after cleaning some files and before it 3.5gb free
i woke up a few hours later to find only 3.1gb free, is there anyway to limit space from filling up? is there is some application that keeps writing error logs and fills space, if i forgot and left the space filling at some point my laptop will crash and i wont be able to boot it up

[swarfendor437]

I found out the hard way in Devuan by dedicating a partition to /var - it filled up quite quickly and broke my system (it became unusable). Using 'apt clean' should help.

sudo apt-get clean

How to Clear Apt Cache and Reclaim Precious Disk Space

For a graphical cleaner I use Stacer.

Optimize Ubuntu System with Stacer GUI Tool

[Luca_Pavan]

I just use Zorin OS default options, on Settings > Privacy > File history and recycle bin

[4box]

I'm not an expert, but I wonder if you have set up some backup software (e.g. Timeshift). If so, maybe the backups it's automatically creating are taking up space and you might want to adjust the backup settings.

(And further to what others have said, I've noticed there are huge differences in file sizes between getting software in regular packages {"Zorin OS package" in Software store, apt, synaptic) and all-in-one's like Snap/Flatpak. Like 9mb for package but 800mb for Snap!!!)