Ubuntu

How can I reclaim lost disk space after uninstalling virtual box?

Asked by Steven D. Shown

I am now currently running Ubuntu 14.04 on a Dell Inspiron 2200 with a 40 gb HDD. I installed Virtual Box and installed Windows XP as a virtual system. I allocated 10 gb of hard drive space for the virtual machine. I have since removed the windows xp system, and uninstalled virtual box, but I have been unable to reclaim the lost 10.3 gb of hard drive space. I deleted the virtual box foldersfrom my home folder, but to no avail. So I have re-installed virtual box but have not reinstalled any guest operating systems on it yet, but it still does not give me any way to reclaim my disk space. How can I get my lost disk space back?

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Thomas Krüger (thkrueger) said : 		#1

In your home folder there should be a folder called "VirtualBox VMs" it should contain all the data of the virtual machine. You can delete it if you have no further need for it. Don't forget to purge the recycle bin afterward or the space will not be freed.

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#2

Also look at the size of ~/.Virtualbox

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Steven D. Shown (stevenshown90) said : 		#3

Ok I did like you said to do, now there is no more folders in my home folder for virtual box. I deleted them and also emptied the trash bin, but somehow the disk space has still not been freed up. Is there any thing I can type into the terminal to accomplish this task? Since my HDD is only 40 gb to start with, and I have a lot of data stored on my computer, I need all the free disk space I can get. My home folder properties show 20.0 gb used and 11.2 gb free space. Which means that I am now about 8 gb short. It was showing the same 11.2 gb free space before I deleted the virtual machine and all associated folders.

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Best actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#4

You can use:

du -sch *

In a folder to see how big each folder is. The starting path for a new terminal is $HOME

Once you see a large folder go into it with the 'cd' command as normal and rerun the du command to review the size.

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Steven D. Shown (stevenshown90) said : 		#5

Thanks actionparsnip, that solved my question.