the difference in used hard drive space as shown by df and du is HUGE!

Question

It seems that du discounts the #open files when calculating the disk usage, and this hit me when I saw that df is showing 100% usage, while du says only 40% is in use.

when i looked up on this, i came to realize that there are some open files that are used by the active processes that take up space

sudo /usr/sbin/lsof | grep services

Output:

java       3772      root   44r      REG                9,5     76608   11649161 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/jsp-api.jar
java       3772      root   74r      REG                9,5    724225   16829492 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/webapps/myapp/WEB-INF/lib/mysql-connector-java-5.1.10-bin.jar
smbd       3794      root  mem       REG                9,5      8192   12320776 /services/samba/etc/secrets.tdb
smbd       3794      root    2w      REG                9,5      1096   12320780 /services/samba/logs/smbd.log

the grand total of open files shown by this command (7th column in the output shown) is almost >60% of the total allotted 200GB space.

This is surprising to me that i can count on only 40% of my partition for actual storage. Really! is this normal.

I use this partition for hosting mysql database, tomcat server, samba, svn etc.

What are my options here? How can i tune this up to be able to use all 200GB for my data and not open files, if that is a normal expectation!

Newly added information

as per some of your suggestions here is the output from du, df and lsof. the problem i want to resolve is not have too many open files which is unusually occupying more than 50% of the allotted disk space.

My /services partition is originally allotted 184GB space (as shown in df command)
But my du command shows only 67GB (649GB-582GB) is occupied (excluding /services/BackupDir which is external drive)
while my lsof shows that there is 205GB open files (grand total of column#7), which is absurd because 205GB + 67GB is > 184GB!

#df showing the hard drive and the external drive on /dev/sde >df -h Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on /dev/md0 43G 21G 21G 50% / /dev/md1 145M 37M 101M 27% /boot tmpfs 1.9G 0 1.9G 0% /dev/shm /dev/md3 230G 168G 63G 73% /sharefolder1 /dev/md4 230G 51G 179G 23% /sharefolder2 /dev/md5 184G 183G 1.4G 100% /services /dev/md6 138G 33G 106G 24% /home /dev/md7 94G 3.5G 90G 4% /users /dev/md8 230G 196G 23G 90% /sharefolder3 /dev/md9 230G 102G 116G 47% /sharefolder4 /dev/md10 459G 367G 69G 85% /sharefolder5 /dev/sde1 459G 141G 318G 31% /services/BackupDir/ext1 /dev/sde2 230G 85G 145G 37% /services/BackupDir/ext2 /dev/sde3 230G 102G 128G 45% /services/BackupDir/ext3 /dev/sde5 230G 47G 183G 21% /services/BackupDir/ext4 /dev/sde6 230G 172G 58G 75% /services/BackupDir/ext5 /dev/sde7 230G 38G 192G 17% /services/BackupDir/ext6 /dev/sde8 230G 188M 230G 1% /services/BackupDir/ext7

#du showing only /services partition on the hard drive the subfolder BackupDir is the mounted external hard drive

sudo du --max-depth=1 -h /services

1.2G /services/svn 331M /services/httpd 582G /services/BackupDir 16K /services/lost+found 600M /services/netbeans-6.8 55G /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20 9.3G /services/apache-tomcat-5.5.25 365M /services/mysql 3.7M /services/samba 649G /services

#lsof command on /services

sudo /usr/sbin/lsof | grep services

mysqld 3632 mysql cwd mysqld 3632 mysql 1u mysqld 3632 mysql 2u mysqld 3632 mysql 3uW mysqld 3632 mysql 8uW mysqld 3632 mysql 9uW mysqld 3632 mysql 13u mysqld 3632 mysql 14u mysqld 3632 mysql 15u mysqld 3632 mysql 16u mysqld 3632 mysql 17u mysqld 3632 mysql 18u mysqld 3632 mysql 19u mysqld 3632 mysql 20u mysqld 3632 mysql 21u mysqld 3632 mysql 22u mysqld 3632 mysql 23u mysqld 3632 mysql 24u mysqld 3632 mysql 26u mysqld 3632 mysql 27u smbd 3752 root mem smbd 3752 root 2w smbd 3752 root 7u smbd 3752 root 24w nmbd 3755 root 2w nmbd 3755 root 3w java 3772 root mem java 3772 root mem java 3772 root mem java 3772 root mem java 3772 root mem java 3772 root mem java 3772 root mem java 3772 root mem java 3772 root mem java 3772 root mem java 3772 root mem java 3772 root mem java 3772 root mem java 3772 root mem java 3772 root mem java 3772 root mem java 3772 root mem java 3772 root mem java 3772 root mem java 3772 root mem java 3772 root mem java 3772 root mem java 3772 root mem java 3772 root mem java 3772 root mem java 3772 root mem java 3772 root mem java 3772 root mem java 3772 root mem java 3772 root mem java 3772 root mem java 3772 root mem java 3772 root mem java 3772 root mem java 3772 root 1w java 3772 root 2w java 3772 root 5r java 3772 root 9r java 3772 root 10r java 3772 root 11w java 3772 root 12w java 3772 root 13w java 3772 root 14w java 3772 root 15r java 3772 root 16r java 3772 root 17r java 3772 root 18r java 3772 root 19r java 3772 root 20r java 3772 root 21r java 3772 root 22r java 3772 root 23r java 3772 root 24r java 3772 root 25r java 3772 root 26r java 3772 root 27r java 3772 root 28r java 3772 root 29r java 3772 root 30r java 3772 root 31r java 3772 root 32r java 3772 root 33r java 3772 root 34r java 3772 root 35r java 3772 root 36r java 3772 root 37r java 3772 root 38r java 3772 root 39r java 3772 root 40r java 3772 root 41r java 3772 root 42r java 3772 root 43r java 3772 root 44r java 3772 root 74r smbd 3794 root mem smbd 3794 root 2w smbd 3794 root 5w smbd 3794 root 7u bash 10449 user1 cwd smbd 10647 root mem smbd 10647 root 2w smbd 10647 root 7u smbd 10647 root 27w rsync 11030 user1 3r REG smbd 11267 root mem smbd 11267 root 2w smbd 11267 root 7u smbd 11267 root 28w smbd 11334 root mem smbd 11334 root 2w smbd 11334 root 7u smbd 11334 root 32w smbd 11489 root mem smbd 11489 root 2w smbd 11489 root 7u smbd 11489 root 28w sudo 11525 root cwd grep 11526 user1 cwd lsof 11527 root cwd lsof 11528 root cwd DIR 9,5 4096 15220739 /services/mysql/lib REG 9,5 51725 15220742 /services/mysql/log/mysqld.log REG 9,5 51725 15220742 /services/mysql/log/mysqld.log REG 9,5 161480704 15220797 /services/mysql/lib/ibdata1 REG 9,5 5242880 15220798 /services/mysql/lib/ib_logfile0 REG 9,5 5242880 15220799 /services/mysql/lib/ib_logfile1 REG 9,5 1024 15220750 /services/mysql/lib/mysql/host.MYI REG 9,5 0 15220751 /services/mysql/lib/mysql/host.MYD REG 9,5 2048 15220753 /services/mysql/lib/mysql/user.MYI REG 9,5 2032 15220754 /services/mysql/lib/mysql/user.MYD REG 9,5 4096 15220747 /services/mysql/lib/mysql/db.MYI REG 9,5 17520 15220748 /services/mysql/lib/mysql/db.MYD REG 9,5 5120 15220759 /services/mysql/lib/mysql/tables_priv.MYI REG 9,5 3404 15220760 /services/mysql/lib/mysql/tables_priv.MYD REG 9,5 1024 15220762 /services/mysql/lib/mysql/columns_priv.MYI REG 9,5 0 15220763 /services/mysql/lib/mysql/columns_priv.MYD REG 9,5 1024 15220795 /services/mysql/lib/mysql/procs_priv.MYI REG 9,5 0 15220796 /services/mysql/lib/mysql/procs_priv.MYD REG 9,5 3072 15220792 /services/mysql/lib/mysql/proc.MYI REG 9,5 1852 15220793 /services/mysql/lib/mysql/proc.MYD REG 9,5 8192 12320776 /services/samba/etc/secrets.tdb REG 9,5 1096 12320780 /services/samba/logs/smbd.log REG 9,5 8192 12320776 /services/samba/etc/secrets.tdb REG 9,5 1096 12320780 /services/samba/logs/smbd.log REG 9,5 2028 12320784 /services/samba/logs/nmbd.log REG 9,5 2028 12320784 /services/samba/logs/nmbd.log REG 9,5 17508 11649135 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/bin/bootstrap.jar REG 9,5 9341 11649138 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/bin/commons-daemon.jar REG 9,5 19399 11649146 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/bin/tomcat-juli.jar REG 9,5 795412 11649645 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/poi-scratchpad-3.5-FINAL-20090928.jar REG 9,5 383040 11649637 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/commons-io-1.3.2-javadoc.jar REG 9,5 1516415 11649642 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/poi-3.5-FINAL-20090928.jar REG 9,5 1395266 11649159 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/jasper-jdt.jar REG 9,5 103201 11649158 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/jasper-el.jar REG 9,5 123820 11649154 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/catalina-ha.jar REG 9,5 88209 11649162 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/servlet-api.jar REG 9,5 724225 11650061 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/mysql-connector-java-5.1.10-bin.jar REG 9,5 1146570 11649156 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/catalina.jar REG 9,5 163177 11649641 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/commons-io-1.4-sources.jar REG 9,5 109043 11649639 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/commons-io-1.4.jar REG 9,5 197445 11649164 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/tomcat-dbcp.jar REG 9,5 69040 11649643 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/poi-contrib-3.5-FINAL-20090928.jar REG 9,5 27814 11649157 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/el-api.jar REG 9,5 391250 11649644 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/poi-ooxml-3.5-FINAL-20090928.jar REG 9,5 230149 11649155 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/catalina-tribes.jar REG 9,5 275779 11649634 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/commons-fileupload-1.2.1-javadoc.jar REG 9,5 513722 11649160 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/jasper.jar REG 9,5 87776 11649636 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/commons-io-1.3.2.jar REG 9,5 135544 11649638 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/commons-io-1.3.2-sources.jar REG 9,5 66144 11649165 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/tomcat-i18n-es.jar REG 9,5 499643 11649640 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/commons-io-1.4-javadoc.jar REG 9,5 49147 11649153 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/catalina-ant.jar REG 9,5 43742 11649166 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/tomcat-i18n-fr.jar REG 9,5 57779 11649632 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/commons-fileupload-1.2.1.jar REG 9,5 10807 11649152 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/annotations-api.jar REG 9,5 750470 11649163 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/tomcat-coyote.jar REG 9,5 73721 11649635 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/commons-fileupload-1.2.1-sources.jar REG 9,5 49021 11649167 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/tomcat-i18n-ja.jar REG 9,5 76608 11649161 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/jsp-api.jar REG 9,5 724225 16829492 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/webapps/myapp/WEB-INF/lib/mysql-connector-java-5.1.10-bin.jar REG 9,5 79186 9404433 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/logs/catalina.out REG 9,5 79186 9404433 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/logs/catalina.out REG 9,5 17508 11649135 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/bin/bootstrap.jar REG 9,5 9341 11649138 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/bin/commons-daemon.jar REG 9,5 19399 11649146 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/bin/tomcat-juli.jar REG 9,5 32125 9404434 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/logs/catalina.2013-09-18.log REG 9,5 24718 9404435 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/logs/localhost.2013-09-18.log REG 9,5 5336 9404436 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/logs/manager.2013-09-18.log REG 9,5 0 9404437 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/logs/host-manager.2013-09-18.log REG 9,5 795412 11649645 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/poi-scratchpad-3.5-FINAL-20090928.jar REG 9,5 383040 11649637 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/commons-io-1.3.2-javadoc.jar REG 9,5 1516415 11649642 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/poi-3.5-FINAL-20090928.jar REG 9,5 1395266 11649159 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/jasper-jdt.jar REG 9,5 103201 11649158 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/jasper-el.jar REG 9,5 123820 11649154 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/catalina-ha.jar REG 9,5 88209 11649162 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/servlet-api.jar REG 9,5 724225 11650061 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/mysql-connector-java-5.1.10-bin.jar REG 9,5 1146570 11649156 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/catalina.jar REG 9,5 163177 11649641 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/commons-io-1.4-sources.jar REG 9,5 109043 11649639 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/commons-io-1.4.jar REG 9,5 197445 11649164 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/tomcat-dbcp.jar REG 9,5 69040 11649643 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/poi-contrib-3.5-FINAL-20090928.jar REG 9,5 27814 11649157 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/el-api.jar REG 9,5 391250 11649644 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/poi-ooxml-3.5-FINAL-20090928.jar REG 9,5 230149 11649155 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/catalina-tribes.jar REG 9,5 275779 11649634 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/commons-fileupload-1.2.1-javadoc.jar REG 9,5 513722 11649160 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/jasper.jar REG 9,5 87776 11649636 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/commons-io-1.3.2.jar REG 9,5 135544 11649638 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/commons-io-1.3.2-sources.jar REG 9,5 66144 11649165 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/tomcat-i18n-es.jar REG 9,5 499643 11649640 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/commons-io-1.4-javadoc.jar REG 9,5 49147 11649153 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/catalina-ant.jar REG 9,5 43742 11649166 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/tomcat-i18n-fr.jar REG 9,5 57779 11649632 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/commons-fileupload-1.2.1.jar REG 9,5 10807 11649152 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/annotations-api.jar REG 9,5 750470 11649163 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/tomcat-coyote.jar REG 9,5 73721 11649635 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/commons-fileupload-1.2.1-sources.jar REG 9,5 49021 11649167 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/tomcat-i18n-ja.jar REG 9,5 76608 11649161 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/lib/jsp-api.jar REG 9,5 724225 16829492 /services/apache-tomcat-6.0.20/webapps/myapp/WEB-INF/lib/mysql-connector-java-5.1.10-bin.jar REG 9,5 8192 12320776 /services/samba/etc/secrets.tdb REG 9,5 1096 12320780 /services/samba/logs/smbd.log REG 9,5 1096 12320780 /services/samba/logs/smbd.log REG 9,5 8192 12320776 /services/samba/etc/secrets.tdb DIR 9,5 4096 14516225 /services/BackupDir REG 9,5 8192 12320776 /services/samba/etc/secrets.tdb REG 9,5 50351 12320785 /services/samba/logs/sridevi-pc.log REG 9,5 8192 12320776 /services/samba/etc/secrets.tdb REG 9,5 50351 12320785 /services/samba/logs/sridevi-pc.log 9,10 21418176 23955858 /internalfile500GB/BackupDir/fileserver_services_bkup/internalfile-root-bkup/services/services/BackupDir/internalfile_repository_bkup/cng_repository/Deepak/DissertationDefense/Dissertation/Expression/Expression Encoder/Screen Capture Output/ScreenCapture_7-25-2011 4.55.33 PM.xesc REG 9,5 8192 12320776 /services/samba/etc/secrets.tdb REG 9,5 6298 12321110 /services/samba/logs/drwindows8.log REG 9,5 8192 12320776 /services/samba/etc/secrets.tdb REG 9,5 6298 12321110 /services/samba/logs/drwindows8.log REG 9,5 8192 12320776 /services/samba/etc/secrets.tdb REG 9,5 5918 12321012 /services/samba/logs/nmo-dataprocess.log REG 9,5 8192 12320776 /services/samba/etc/secrets.tdb REG 9,5 5918 12321012 /services/samba/logs/nmo-dataprocess.log REG 9,5 8192 12320776 /services/samba/etc/secrets.tdb REG 9,5 3484 12320915 /services/samba/logs/hippocampus-pc.log REG 9,5 8192 12320776 /services/samba/etc/secrets.tdb REG 9,5 3484 12320915 /services/samba/logs/hippocampus-pc.log DIR 9,5 4096 14516225 /services/BackupDir DIR 9,5 4096 14516225 /services/BackupDir DIR 9,5 4096 14516225 /services/BackupDir DIR 9,5 4096 14516225 /services/BackupDir

#the size of deleted files in column#7 is 0 bytes!

sudo /usr/sbin/lsof | grep deleted

mysqld 3632 mysql 4u REG 9,0 0 7070979 /tmp/ibjpoC3F (deleted) mysqld 3632 mysql 5u REG 9,0 0 7070980 /tmp/ibTKRzCQ (deleted) mysqld 3632 mysql 6u REG 9,0 0 7070981 /tmp/ibvuExb1 (deleted) mysqld 3632 mysql 7u REG 9,0 0 7070983 /tmp/ibYLMOLb (deleted) mysqld 3632 mysql 11u REG 9,0 0 7070984 /tmp/ibQfuW1m (deleted) gpm 3690 root 0u CHR 136,0 0t0 2 /dev/pts/0 (deleted) gpm 3690 root 1u CHR 136,0 0t0 2 /dev/pts/0 (deleted) gpm 3690 root 2u CHR 136,0 0t0 2 /dev/pts/0 (deleted)

how do i respond to comments using full fromatting capabilities that i used to post my question? — user2105887, Sep 20 '13 at 15:40
I always use du -sh --apparent-size too when running du. Just an FYI. — slm, Sep 20 '13 at 16:06
Thanks, but du --appartent-size /services is showing the same size as grand total of df available size for all the partitions. — user2105887, Sep 20 '13 at 16:36
but i can't make sense of what's going on here! look the used size (column 3) is more than the available size (column 4): /dev/md5 192251868 190878620 1373248 100% /services — user2105887, Sep 20 '13 at 16:38
also, i have noticed another strange thing in lsof output. all log files are opened twice e.g., smbd.log, catalina.log, mysqld.log, etc. — user2105887, Sep 20 '13 at 16:44
The data du is missing could be shadowed by a mount, or kept in snapshots (if btrfs). Unlinked files is just one possibility. — Gabriel, Sep 20 '13 at 16:45
Can you please be more specific. I don't understand what do you mean by du is missing! Is there a command that you would suggest to check for unlinked files? — user2105887, Sep 20 '13 at 17:09
What are you talking about? You haven't shown the output of du or df and the lsof output you did show only covers a bit over 750k. du does not miss open files unless they are also deleted. — psusi, Sep 20 '13 at 17:36
yes, i have posted only partial info. Can you please tell what's the best way to post my output to this thread, they are big and the comment can take only few lines... — user2105887, Sep 20 '13 at 17:43
@user2105887 You use the "edit" link below your post to edit the requested material into your question. — user, Sep 20 '13 at 19:35
The total size of files in the lsof output is 205 MB, not GB. To have du not count files in the other mount points, use the -x switch, as in du -s -x /services. — psusi, Sep 21 '13 at 00:56

score 5 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 20 '13 at 15:14

Having this discrepancy between du and df isn't uncommon, but having this large a discrepancy is - in my experience - very unusual. This type of discrepancy happens, in my experience, when an application file (usually a log file) is removed via rm, but is still open in the application, so the filehandle remains open and the kernel won't permit deletion of the actual data, but the inode entry in the directory is removed. Thus, df shows the space is still taken, but du which looks at an enumeration of files in a directory, doesn't see that file and shows that space available. The best suggestion I can give you is to work with the applications to try to reduce the number of filehandles they keep open.

Thanks John, what you are suggesting seems very reasonable, but i don't see that here. — user2105887, Sep 20 '13 at 15:34
I tired this: sudo /usr/sbin/lsof |grep "deleted" and there are bunch of mysql files that are marked as deleted but they are 0bytes. — user2105887, Sep 20 '13 at 15:37

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 21 '13 at 00:38

It seems that you've misread the output of the commands you ran several times.

the grand total of open files shown by this command (7th column in the output shown) is almost >60% of the total allotted 200GB space.

I have no idea where you got that figure. The total for the lines you show is about 800kB, which is about 0.0004% of 200GB.

If you added more lines than shown here, keep in mind that:

If a file was opened by multiple processes, or even on multiple descriptors by the same process (it happens), you've counted it multiple times.
Some of these files are on different filesystems.

How can i tune this up to be able to use all 200GB for my data and not open files, if that is a normal expectation!

There is nothing to tune up. You can use all your space. You're just making bizarre interpretations of the output of the commands you ran to measure disk usage.

sudo du --max-depth=1 -h /services

There are mount points under /services, so this sums up the size of files that are not on the /services filesystem but on /services/BackupDir/ext1 and its siblings.

The output from this command doesn't provide much useful information about the disk usage on /services. Pass the option -x to du to tell it not to descend into mount points.

sudo du -x -h /services

If the size reported by this command is less than the “occupied” size reported by df /services, there are two possible causes:

You have some files that are deleted but still open. These files still take up space, but they have no name so du won't find them. They would show up in the output of lsof. Run lsof +F1 /services to see a list of deleted but open files on /services.
There are files hidden behind some of the mount points under /services. Maybe one of your applications ran while these filesystems wasn't mounted as expected and therefore wrote files on the parent filesystem. When a filesystem is mounted on a directory, this hides the files in that directory, but of course the files are still there. Run the following commands to create an alternate view of /services without the lower mount points and explore that.
```
mkdir /root/services-view
mount --bind /services /root/services-view
du /root/services-view/BackupDir/ext?
```

i can't believe it! like you said it is the mount point that was not created properly and the backup was written onto the disk. the df, du and lsof confused the whole thing. df is showing the size in KB, and i went with the same assumption with lsof, which was showing in bytes. — user2105887, Sep 23 '13 at 02:23

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 23 '14 at 18:35

In addition to already suggested causes, it could be also following:

a different disk is mounted "over" the existing folder which is full of data
du will calculate the size spent of mounted disk and df will show really spent
solution: (when possible) unmount all non-root disks and check the size with du -md 1 again. Fix situation by moving hidden folder to some other place or mount on different place.

the difference in used hard drive space as shown by df and du is HUGE!

Newly added information

3 Answers3

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