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  • THanks for this detailed explanation. df returned the following as regular user and the exact same thing as root /dev/sde1 1.8T 1.7T 5.2G 100% Commented Apr 22, 2015 at 3:49
  • @Rich that's consistent with either, you'd need the df output from before deleting them to compare. I'm guessing #1, though. Commented Apr 22, 2015 at 3:56
  • I have full backups (1 of the system, 1 from crashplan with my data, + data in dropbox mirrored to about 4 computers. The backup I deleted was to a borked system backed up as root. I reinstalled OS, restored my data & made a new root system backup in a new folder & deleted the bad backup. From what you are saying, there must be hardlinks somewhere but I have no idea where they could be. I am still not seeing how I can delete a 100 gig root-owned folder, remove trash, and still have only 5 gigs left as both root or user. I hope I am not missing something in your explanation. Commented Apr 22, 2015 at 4:06
  • @Rich df always displays the amount available to a user, even if run as root. You have more than that free, look at the difference between Size and Used. Avail is confusing due to the reserved space. Commented Apr 22, 2015 at 4:12
  • hmm, ok, I see that 1.8T-1.7T=100G. I saw a command to change the amount reserved for root somewhere (it was a switch to something). I really don't think I need to reserve any for root, since nothing is actually run on the disk. It is all backups basically. Do you happen to know that command/switch. I can find it again, but have not been able to so far. Thanks for your help on this. Commented Apr 22, 2015 at 4:19