how to get rid of 100% inodes

Removing system folders like /usr/src is never a good idea. While this particular directory is less likely to cause serious issues since it does not generally include binaries you run or support files needed for an application to run, it does contain files required for building components of some software and since these files are managed by the package manager they should not be manually deleted.

Instead you should be looking for what you are running that is creating so many files and where those are being created. I would check your logs in /var/log to see if there are masses of files being created there by a process and review the scripts/services you are running.

Heya,

Running out of inodes can be a real headache, especially when you have a folder with millions of smaller files. Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered! Here’s a more efficient way to handle this using the find command directly.

1. Identify Inode Usage: First, let’s identify which directories are consuming the most inodes. You can use the find command combined with wc -l to get a count of the inodes used by each directory.

   find / -xdev -type d -exec sh -c 'echo -n "{}: "; find "{}" | wc -l' \; | sort -n -k2
   

This command will give you a sorted list of directories with their inode usage.

2. Drill Down Further: Once you’ve identified the main directory, you need to drill down further. For example, if /home is the culprit:

   find /home -xdev -type d -exec sh -c 'echo -n "{}: "; find "{}" | wc -l' \; | sort -n -k2
   

Keep drilling down until you find the specific directory causing the issue.

3. Handle Hidden Files: Include hidden files in your search by specifying the appropriate paths:

   find /home/youruser -xdev -type d -exec sh -c 'echo -n "{}: "; find "{}" -name ".*" | wc -l' \; | sort -n -k2
   

4. Clean Up: Once you’ve found the directory with the most inodes, it’s time to clean up. Here are a few strategies:

• Delete Unnecessary Files: Identify and delete files you don’t need. For example, temporary files, logs, or cache files:

  ```
  find /home/youruser/temp -type f -delete
  ```
  

5. Automate Cleanups: To prevent this from happening again, you can set up a cron job to regularly clean up unnecessary files:

   crontab -e
   

Add a job to clean up temporary files every week:

    0 3 * * 0 find /home/youruser/temp -type f -mtime +7 -delete

6. Increase Inode Limit: If the issue persists and you can’t delete any more files, consider resizing your filesystem to increase the inode limit. This is a more complex operation and might require backing up your data.

Here are some commands to help you get started:

# Check inode usage
df -i

# Identify high inode usage directories
find / -xdev -type d -exec sh -c 'echo -n "{}: "; find "{}" | wc -l' \; | sort -n -k2

# Drill down into specific directories
find /home -xdev -type d -exec sh -c 'echo -n "{}: "; find "{}" | wc -l' \; | sort -n -k2

# Include hidden files in search
find /home/youruser -xdev -type d -exec sh -c 'echo -n "{}: "; find "{}" -name ".*" | wc -l' \; | sort -n -k2

# Delete unnecessary temporary files
find /home/youruser/temp -type f -delete

# Compress files
tar -czvf archive.tar.gz /home/youruser/folder

# Move files to another server
scp -r /home/youruser/folder user@other-server:/path/to/destination

# Automate cleanups with cron job
crontab -e

By following these steps, you should be able to clear up some inodes and prevent this issue from recurring in the future.

Hope that this helps!