Why I hate updates ... Thanks Michael ...

[Steve Litt]

>Joe,
>  I would recommend running a couple simple cleanups to get some space
> back for now.
>Keep in mind this will be a temporary fix; you will run out of space
>again fairly quickly if you cannot remove some programs or otherwise
>permanently clear some space on the root partition.

Hi Joseph,

Joe's root partition is 19GB. Here are the statistics for the root
drive on my computer:

========================================
[slitt at mydesk ~]$ df -h /
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/nvme0n1p1  1.4T   35G  1.3T   3% /
[slitt at mydesk ~]$
========================================

It's true I have *a lot* of software installed, but still, Joe will
need to every week check to see that he hasn't overgrown his 19GB. It's
like living in a studio apartment: If you live in a studio apartment
you need to understand, from the beginning, that you must severely
limit your possessions, and you can't buy something new without getting
rid of something you already have.

For $64.00 Joe can buy a 512GB SSD, which can hold 12 times his current
19GB and still leave half the SSD empty so writes don't center on a few
spots and wear out the drive prematurely.

https://www.newegg.com/samsung-500gb-870-evo-series/p/N82E16820147792

There are also similarly sized NVME m.2 devices for similar prices. I
don't know Joe's financial condition or situation, but if he can afford
$64, he gets:

1) It will be years before he faces this problem again, and he won't
   need to second guess every piece of software he installs or updates,
   nor will he need to do weekly evaluations of his root partition
   space.

2) Assuming his current root partition isn't on an SSD, this will
   spectacularly decrease the latency of starting programs.

3) Less noise, less power, less vulnerability to physical shock than a
   spinning rust drive.

$64 gets Joe past this problem the right way, by sizing his root
partition in line with the increased size of 2021 software.

So if he can afford $64, that's the way to go. By the way, there are
250GB SSDs for about $40, and those will also get him past the problem
for at least a couple years. There are even 128GB SSDs for about $22
which will kick the can down the road 1 to 2 years.

SteveT

Steve Litt 
Spring 2021 featured book: Troubleshooting Techniques of the Successful
Technologist http://www.troubleshooters.com/techniques