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I am unable to boot my laptop and, from what I have read, it is due to the disk being full, which in turn is because Evolution downloaded 6000 emails, clogging the system. I can boot from a USB memory stick and then can see the files on the hard drive, but there is no option to delete them.

I have identified two very big files but how can I get rid of them to free up some space so I can boot the laptop and then sort out the rest of the problems? There were of course lots of files on the laptop with no backup.

Can solutions please be in plain English as I am not an expert by any means, and strings of code mean nothing to me unless they have precise instructions as to where to type them.

The version on the USB stick is Ubuntu 10.04 LTS.

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  • Try right-clicking and selecting delete... Commented Apr 23, 2015 at 13:40
  • There is no delete option the right mouse menu and the delete key does nothing. I need to permanently delete the files not just move them to the wastebasket Commented Apr 23, 2015 at 13:44
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    Can you launch the terminal?? Commented Apr 23, 2015 at 14:12
  • On the memory stick yes Commented Apr 23, 2015 at 15:04
  • What are those "two big files"? Commented Apr 23, 2015 at 17:40

3 Answers 3

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Mount the hard drive first then navigate to the desired directories in it.

To find out the hard drive use this command in the terminal 

fdisk -l

Then mount the hard drive partition using 

mount /dev/partition_name /mnt

You can now list the directories for the mounted partition for checking by 

ls /mnt

Then cd to the desired directory in the /mnt directory and delete the files using 

rm -f file-name

I think this might solve the problem

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  • I got there, and ls confirmed the file names to delete, I typed rm -f The Prestige.avi and nothing happens. I just get the cursor flashing after > Commented Apr 23, 2015 at 18:12
  • Use the ; and then enter to get out of that situation or use ctrl+d either Commented Apr 23, 2015 at 18:17
  • If there is a space between the file name in itself then use tab key to complete the name automatically while typing or use the \ as rm -f The\ prestige.avi Commented Apr 23, 2015 at 18:19
  • I then get cannot remove 'The Prestige.avi' : Permission denied Commented Apr 23, 2015 at 18:24
  • That is because you are not the owner of the file and does not have the permission to do so. You can try to change the permission of the file by using the command as a root user or a sudo user . To become a root user you can use the command 'sudo -s' and then 'chmod a+x filename' to change the permission of the file. Now use the rm command to delete the file Commented Apr 23, 2015 at 18:28
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  1. Launch terminal.

  2. Navigate to the directory containing the files: cd /directory.

  3. Use rm -f filename to permanently delete the files. The option -f will force the operation. Be sure to select the correct files you will not be able to undo.

  4. Repeat until you have cleared enough space; to check free space, use df -h.

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  • That looks useful, but how do I get to the hard drive? I can get to folders on the USB stick, but don't know what the command is to get to the hard drive. Commented Apr 23, 2015 at 17:47
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What helped me: recreating the vfat filesystem on the USB will format the disk and delete all the files:

umount /mount_point (e.g. umount /mnt)

mkfs.vfat /name_of_the_partition (e.g. mkfs.vfat /dev/sdc1 - make sure to use the correct partition to not delete data from other disks)

mount /name_of_partition /mount_point (e.g. mount /dev/sdc1 /mnt)

cd /mount_point

ll (to check you are in the correct partition and there should be no files now)

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