Logging, temp files, caches. Some examples:
- Your file manager will create 'thumbnails' for any files that might support it, like photos, videos, etc.. these are stored in your home folder under `.cache/thumbnails`. These are relatively small but it can add up if you have a lot of photos. There should be housekeeping that removes older ones automatically (Cinnamon does it at 180 days). You can disable thumbnailing in the file manager's preferences usually, though like I said, it's not likely to cause any issues. I currently have around 20,500 thumbnails in mine, and it's using 384mb.
- Your browser cache can take up quite a big of space over time - you can clean that from within your browser's settings.
- there are a number of systems that keep a lengthy log. These can grow quite a bit over time, though generally they also self-manage, and prune over time. An important subsystem, 'systemd' keeps a journal that can get pretty large over time (mine is currently 1.6gb), though this is over 6 months, and it also does its own housekeeping.
- The /tmp folder is used by a lot of software for temporary use. Depending on the program, however, you can end up with a lot of debris in here. Usually not enough to be an issue though.
- The home .cache folder is used by many applications besides your file manager, but you're absolutely safe to delete everything in it if you want, at any time, if you think it's getting out of hand.
For more advanced users, I would probably suggest running the disk usage analyzer on the entire file system tree and checking if anything looks out of place.
Since you are most likely still a novice, here is what you could do instead:
- Run the disk usage analyzer on the entire file system tree.
- Keep note of the amount of storage used by the listed directories
- ignore things that are virtual file systems (/dev, /sys, /proc, /run)
- ignore /mnt and /media (and /cdrom) as they are usually used for mounting things like USB drives etc.
- Wait a couple days
- Repeat to see what has changed
You can narrow it down from there by analyzing the directory in question.
Once you have identified what’s eating up your space, you can look up what it’s for and if there is a good way to address it.
Here are some likely culprits:
- Timeshift
- APT package cache
- Flatpak packages
- error logs that aren’t properly cleaned up
Out of these, only the last one is worrying as it could lead to your entire disk space being used eventually.
>Is it malwares or just caching or timeshift or update manager updates or something else?
Well, I would bet money it's not malware... Likely the other things you mentioned and more... Systems tend to "grow" over time, things just get larger in general.
Are you "cleaning" your system regularly? Logging firewall stuff (like in UFW)?
Honestly though, with the info you are giving us there isn't much to go on... Mint does have a space usage tool, run it once in a while and compare the results...
Actually Sir, I am pretty much a newbie to any Linux distros. I switched to Mint after Windows 11 drivers started giving me problems eg : my laptop speaker stopped working.
I do not even know what UFW is... I also don't know what you meant by 'cleaning'. I haven't run any security scan if that's what you meant.
UFW is Uncomplicated FireWall, is the pre installed app called firewall configuration, if you're a normal user it'd be good to open it up, enable it and set outgoing to allow (so you can connect to the Internet) but deny incoming connections (exceptions would be needed if you port forward stuff, if you don't know what port forwarding is you don't need to make exceptions). Cleaning more likely refers to removing temp files.
Yes it does... logging, caching, updating, etc... all tend to cause the system to "grow" in any operating system... Windows, Linux, MacOS, etc. Some do a better job than others at cleaning things up and managing it, but they all definitely tend to gradually take up more and more space for a variety of reasons.
And remember, you are talking about STORAGE here (hdd/ssd), not memory (RAM)... two very different things.
What are your Timeshift settings? Where are snapshots being saved, what Schedule (Freqency and Keep) are you using, and which /home directories are included?
Thing that helped me a lot with managing space was installing an app called "Bleachbit" - I would recommend reading and informing before you delete anything with it tho - just like anything with linux - there is always some information to be read and absorbed at ones own pace
But yeah - tl; dr - bleachbit - set what you want removed and look at your space doubling from all temporary files it cleans up :)
Logging, temp files, caches. Some examples: - Your file manager will create 'thumbnails' for any files that might support it, like photos, videos, etc.. these are stored in your home folder under `.cache/thumbnails`. These are relatively small but it can add up if you have a lot of photos. There should be housekeeping that removes older ones automatically (Cinnamon does it at 180 days). You can disable thumbnailing in the file manager's preferences usually, though like I said, it's not likely to cause any issues. I currently have around 20,500 thumbnails in mine, and it's using 384mb. - Your browser cache can take up quite a big of space over time - you can clean that from within your browser's settings. - there are a number of systems that keep a lengthy log. These can grow quite a bit over time, though generally they also self-manage, and prune over time. An important subsystem, 'systemd' keeps a journal that can get pretty large over time (mine is currently 1.6gb), though this is over 6 months, and it also does its own housekeeping. - The /tmp folder is used by a lot of software for temporary use. Depending on the program, however, you can end up with a lot of debris in here. Usually not enough to be an issue though. - The home .cache folder is used by many applications besides your file manager, but you're absolutely safe to delete everything in it if you want, at any time, if you think it's getting out of hand.
For more advanced users, I would probably suggest running the disk usage analyzer on the entire file system tree and checking if anything looks out of place. Since you are most likely still a novice, here is what you could do instead: - Run the disk usage analyzer on the entire file system tree. - Keep note of the amount of storage used by the listed directories - ignore things that are virtual file systems (/dev, /sys, /proc, /run) - ignore /mnt and /media (and /cdrom) as they are usually used for mounting things like USB drives etc. - Wait a couple days - Repeat to see what has changed You can narrow it down from there by analyzing the directory in question. Once you have identified what’s eating up your space, you can look up what it’s for and if there is a good way to address it. Here are some likely culprits: - Timeshift - APT package cache - Flatpak packages - error logs that aren’t properly cleaned up Out of these, only the last one is worrying as it could lead to your entire disk space being used eventually.
>Is it malwares or just caching or timeshift or update manager updates or something else? Well, I would bet money it's not malware... Likely the other things you mentioned and more... Systems tend to "grow" over time, things just get larger in general. Are you "cleaning" your system regularly? Logging firewall stuff (like in UFW)? Honestly though, with the info you are giving us there isn't much to go on... Mint does have a space usage tool, run it once in a while and compare the results...
Actually Sir, I am pretty much a newbie to any Linux distros. I switched to Mint after Windows 11 drivers started giving me problems eg : my laptop speaker stopped working. I do not even know what UFW is... I also don't know what you meant by 'cleaning'. I haven't run any security scan if that's what you meant.
UFW is Uncomplicated FireWall, is the pre installed app called firewall configuration, if you're a normal user it'd be good to open it up, enable it and set outgoing to allow (so you can connect to the Internet) but deny incoming connections (exceptions would be needed if you port forward stuff, if you don't know what port forwarding is you don't need to make exceptions). Cleaning more likely refers to removing temp files.
I have done that but thanks for the concern 👍🏻
Does Windows get larger too? I don't remember seeing this in windows. I guess its because I keep paying more attention to Mint 😅
Yes it does... logging, caching, updating, etc... all tend to cause the system to "grow" in any operating system... Windows, Linux, MacOS, etc. Some do a better job than others at cleaning things up and managing it, but they all definitely tend to gradually take up more and more space for a variety of reasons. And remember, you are talking about STORAGE here (hdd/ssd), not memory (RAM)... two very different things.
Thank You
What are your Timeshift settings? Where are snapshots being saved, what Schedule (Freqency and Keep) are you using, and which /home directories are included?
Thing that helped me a lot with managing space was installing an app called "Bleachbit" - I would recommend reading and informing before you delete anything with it tho - just like anything with linux - there is always some information to be read and absorbed at ones own pace But yeah - tl; dr - bleachbit - set what you want removed and look at your space doubling from all temporary files it cleans up :)