Blinking Red Storage Space Warning [Solved]

[Sky Aisling]

"0MiB personal Storage, free space 0MiB"

The Partview icon in the lower right side of the JWMdesk tray1 normally shows green and 3/4 full.
But, randomly flashes red with the warning "0MiB personal storage, free space 0MiB".
When I left click on the flashing icon, Partview shows ample room in both partitions.
A message indicates more space is needed in personal storage file.
But, when I open Resize Personal Storage File, the message is "Puppy is currently using a savefolder. There is no need to resize it." I right click on the blinking icon to 'quit' and the icon goes away. The green 3/4 full icon will reappear after a reboot.

Here is the description of the environment during the blinking session: (taken from PupSysInfo Sys-specs base report)
Dell Inspiron N7010
Personal Storage Folder:
Name: /bionicpup6480uefi/bionicpup64save-12-05-20-a
Total Size:
Free Space:
Location: partition sda1

Memory Allocation:
Total RAM: 5760 MB
Used RAM: 1571 MB
Free RAM: 4189 MB
Buffers: 92 MB
Cached: 1249 MB
Total Swap: 0 MB
Free Swap: 0 MB

PUPMODE=13
PUPSFS=sda1,ext4,/bionicpup6480uefi/puppy_bionicpup64_8.0.sfs
PUPSAVE=sda1,ext4,/bionicpup6480uefi/bionicpup64save-12-05-20-a

Any clue as to what is causing this and how to repair the situation?
Thank you in advance for your suggestions.

Sky

Personal Storage3.png (360 KiB) Viewed 1389 times

Personal Storage6.png (184.83 KiB) Viewed 1389 times

[Feek]

I once had a similar experience as you describe.
At first I thought the save folder was damaged, but it was fine.
I tried to find the reason why it happened, but without success. After the reboot, everything was OK again and this strange behavior has not been repeated since.
Maybe a one-time "dog indisposition"

[bigpup]

in PUPMODE=13 operation.

There are two things used for save operation.
A save ramdisk using part of the computers RAM.
The actual save file/folder.

The save file/folder is loaded read/write, but not directly written to.

As you do things that would normally be written into the save.
It first is written to the save ramdisk.

What is in the save ramdisk is written to the actual save file/folder, when you do one of the following:
A set time to automatically do it.
Select the save icon on the desktop.
Shutdown or reboot.

The save ramdisk is made a specific size based on how much RAM is in the computer.

You could be filling up this save ramdisk, if you have auto write to save set too high or turned off and do not click the save icon on the desktop.

All the settings are in the Puppy Event Manager>Save Session

[rockedge]

I agree with bigpup, seems like the RAM disk is almost full and after a save write (PUPMODE 13) the RAM is freeing up again.

It is not reflecting the partitions or HDD but the RAM DISK. (In theory)

[mikeslr]

Ditto what's been said above. After Saving whatever changes you've made to open data files, try Menu>Exit>Restart-X (AKA Graphical Server). That will clear RAM of no longer needed files. You might also try using Argolance's CleanRAM, https://www.forum.puppylinux.com/viewto ... 26e#p25645; https://oldforum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?t=109772

[snoring_cat]

Hi Sky,

If it happens again, can you please open a Terminal and type

Code: Select all

save2flash

That might force what is using up your memory's ramdisk to write to your hard disk,and reset your red blinking icon to green status. No rebooting necessary.

[Sky Aisling]

Hello All,
As bigpup so wisely says; "The things you do not tell us, are usually the clue to fixing the problem."
Also, you might be interested in the background story why I'm setting up this lovely but aged Dell Inspiron.
See story at end of this post.

Did I mention I didn't put a swap partition on the Puppy flash drive? I figured there was enough RAM to accommodate my needs. Would a swap partition help in this case?

So, the Puppy Event Manager looks like the place to start. I set this Puppy stick up over two years ago, so my memory is a bit foggy. Did I set the PUPMODE to = 13? Or, is this something Puppy does? I vaguely remember being asked if I wanted to put the save file in a folder and I said 'yes'. EDIT: does putting in a folder matter? Could I put the save file directly into sda1?

The PEM says it will save every 30 minutes. Do I change that? If so, do I make it a longer time or a shorter time? Or, do I set PEM to zero (never)? Then I can save manually when I want by using the desktop save button? I like the security of the constant saving. I am assuming that if I set PEM to zero save that a save session will still occur at shutdown, unless I indicate not to save?

Personal Storage8-PUPMODE1.png (111.13 KiB) Viewed 1322 times

Personal Storage9-PUPMODE1.png (204.23 KiB) Viewed 1322 times

[/i]

Personal Storage7-no swap.png (50.32 KiB) Viewed 1322 times

NOTE: Background Story... I managed to accidentally destroy the CPU chip in my lovely big Lenovo H535 desktop. I decided to get tidy last week and clean the dust bunnies out the spacious case. I saw there was dust collecting around the cage that protected the CPU chip. There was a handy little lever that released the cage. Therein lays the folly. I unclipped the cage as it was easier to clean the cage outside the big box. The moment I did that I realized my mistake. The top connection pins separated from the bottom receiving pin holes. Never again would they match up...to many bent pins to re-align. Lesson learned. Anyone out there have an extra CPU chip for a Lenovo 535 you might want to send my way? Thanks again, Sky

[Sky Aisling]

A small update...

I closed the Puppy down after posting the above response this morning. I opened the machine up this afternoon and immediately the flashing red icon began. So, I applied @mikeslr suggestion:

After Saving whatever changes you've made to open data files, try Menu>Exit>Restart-X (AKA Graphical Server). That will clear RAM of no longer needed files.

I've now run the machine for about 4.5 hours with no interference of the flashing red icon. And, the machine is running relatively smoothly considering the age of the machine.
▶—— Uptime ——◀

Current Time: 21:20:28
System Uptime: 0d 4h 31m
Load Average: 0.21 0.22 0.19
Processes: 147 total, 1 running

I'll continue on for several more hours tonight and see what happens.
Thank you, mikesir
Sky

[amethyst]

50% of your total RAM is normally available for the RAMDISK which means the amount of data that can be temporarily written to RAM. My concern would be what is eating up your RAM so quickly. The main culprits are normally the internet browser cache and running videos,etc. with your media player. A good idea is to move things like the browser cache out of your running system so that it doesn't eat into your RAM. You do this by physically moving the browser config folder which is normally in /root (for Palemoon this is .moonchild productions and for Firefox it is .mozilla) to your your puppy partition and symlinking it back to /root. Also restrict the size of your browser cache to a manageable size in your browser preferences (something like 250MB) although this will not be of any consequence if you have moved the browser folder as mentioned before. Also make sure you do not save big files (like big downloads) during a session directly to your running system but rather to your partition directly. Instead of restarting X you can also try to run a script with the following code:

Code: Select all

echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches

[Sky Aisling]

@amethyst Thank you.
I will try your suggestion in the morning.

You do this by physically moving the browser config folder which is normally in /root (for Palemoon this is .moonchild productions and for Firefox it is .mozilla) to your your puppy partition and symlinking it back to /root.

If your suggestion works for me then that might solve my on-going struggle with Firefox0esr's constant cache building that has plagued all my Puppys.

Sky

[bigpup]

Did I set the PUPMODE to = 13? Or, is this something Puppy does?

This was done as part of the install.

Does putting in a folder matter?

A save folder is best to use because it is not a set size and can resize as needed.

Could I put the save file directly into sda1?

It is best to have the save in the same location as the other Bionicpup files.

The PEM says it will save every 30 minutes. Do I change that? If so, do I make it a longer time or a shorter time? Or, do I set PEM to zero (never)?

That is the auto save time setting.
If you set it to zero, auto save is turned off.

Then I can save manually when I want by using the desktop save button?

Yes, remember to do this. before the ramdisk fills up.

I like the security of the constant saving. I am assuming that if I set PEM to zero save that a save session will still occur at shutdown, unless I indicate not to save?

Yes, at shutdown or reboot, it will auto save, unless you selected, in the Event Manager, to be asked save or not save. Then you say yes/no.

One thing that has not been addressed, is how some web pages, are constantly doing stuff in the background.
Popping up videos, adds, etc.....
Moving that browser cache out to a location outside of the save will help.

It is a good thing to completely power off a computer at least one time a day.
Boot up from a powered off condition.
That is the only way to completely be sure memory is completely cleaned out.
When power is removed, the memory can no longer physically retain anything, and is completely empty.

There is a chance the memory is going bad or has some bad areas in it.
memtest86 program can check memory condition.
viewtopic.php?t=159

[Sky Aisling]

Perhaps you are right about memory failure, @bigpup
BTW - I make a habit of rebooting or shutting down the system at least once during the day as I know it clears RAM. You taught me that many years ago!
Firefox floods RAM.
Here's the odd part.
The blinking icon was constantly occurring as I began to use this backup machine as my main machine last week. That is what made me query the forum for a solution.
Yesterday morning the blinkin' thing light up my machine like it was on steroids. So, I applied @mikeslr suggestion:

After Saving whatever changes you've made to open data files, try Menu>Exit>Restart-X (AKA Graphical Server). That will clear RAM of no longer needed files.

This cleared the issue for the moment. I then went on to work with the machine for a good 4 hours with no blinking icon showing, then I turned the machine off. Later I worked another 2 hours in the evening with no issues.
This doesn't make sense to me. Why would the restart of the graphical server have a lasting effect? Seems like it would work only for the live session in which it's applied?

This machine normally sets idle most the time. It has a tendency to overheat with data rich sites. Sometimes I'll put a cold ice-pack under it near the fan vent. That works pretty good.

Oppps! as I write this the blinking red icon has returned. I'll restart X.

This morning I did @amethyst's suggestion to move .Mozilla to sda1. I'm glad to have this suggestion as Firefox0esr gluts the cache at every chance.

I will check out the memtest86 suggestion today. Thank you,
Sky

[williams2]

AFAIK, the Firefox cache is /root/.cache/mozilla/ unless it was configured differently.

gdmap is useful to see what is taking up space in ram.

Looking in the save area can give you useful info.
gdmap -f /initrd/pup_rw/

Or du

Code: Select all

# du -hs /root/.cache/ /root/.mozilla/
30M	/root/.cache/
58M	/root/.mozilla/
#

Restarting X runs scripts every time X restarts.

For example, some Pups update the ppm package manager database every time X starts/restarts, from a script in /root/Startup (one of the things I disable.)

[Sky Aisling]

Thanks, @williams2

I use gdmap frequently to check size of root. Usually the size runs about 200 MiB - 220 MiB with Firefox0esr running.
I have switched .Mozilla and .Moonchild Productions to sda1. That did reduce size in root some, every little bit helps.
PPMupdatedatabase is in this distro's startup. I'll delete as I usually update PPM libraries whenever I need to use PPM.
Could putting restart X in startup help? or @amethyst 's eco -3 in startup?

start up contents1.png (32.58 KiB) Viewed 1147 times

Sky

[williams2]

Could putting restart X in startup help?

Probably not, it just started X, which should do everything that restarting X would do.

You can delete the files in /root/.cache/mozilla/ any time.
Even if Firefox is running, it seems to not cause any problems.
It might not be safe to delete cache files while Firefox is downloading.

eco -3 in startup?

Not sure what that refers to (I haven't read every post).
The system cache can be cleared echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches
but I don't think that would be useful. The system cache is managed automatically.

Booting with the pfix=nocopy boot option can save 300 or 500 MB of ram.

[Sky Aisling]

@williams2 Thanks for the pfix=no copy tip.
I've got the root size down now to 163.3 MiB with Firefox0esr running.
That's a decent size, IMO.
The rest of the system seems to be running smoothly so, other than putting a swap partition on the stick (I didn't put a swap on the original making of the puppy stick) I think I'll go along with what I have so far. I'll be looking for another desktop to replace the one I accidentally trashed. At least now I have a reasonable albeit a vintage machine to use until I locate a newer box.

Thank you every one who has pitched in on this thread.
Sky

[amethyst]

It looks like your puppy install is on harddrive which makes it rather strange that you are running in Pupmode 13, the default would normally be pupmode 12 (when having a savefile/folder and harddrive installation). In pupmode 12, savings are done almost in realtime unlike pupmode 13 where you can set the time intervals for saving. So you may want to change the entry in the boot file to pfix=atahd,nocopy to boot with pupmode 12 for realtime savings (and not copying the puppy files to RAM as suggested by the other user).

[amethyst]

AFAIK, the Firefox cache is /root/.cache/mozilla/ unless it was configured differently.

Yes, that's correct. Move both /root/.cache (for the cache) and /root/.mozilla (which contains configurations but also grows with time in terms of session data etc.) as mentioned and symlink it back to /root.

[Sky Aisling]

@amethyst

The distro is on a 16 GB SanDisk flash drive. There is no internal HDD in this machine.

Here is what I moved from root to sda1. I made an 'absolute' symbolic link back to .cache. .cache was not moved to sda1.

[amethyst]

@amethyst

The distro is on a 16 GB SanDisk flash drive. There is no internal HDD in this machine.

Here is what I moved from root to sda1. I made an 'absolute' symbolic link back to .cache. .cache was not moved to sda1.

It's strange because a flashdrive will normally be sdb1 and not sda1. Anyways. No, move the /root/.cache folder as is as well as /root/.moonchild productions and /root/.mozilla to your partition and symlink it back to /root. This way you move the cache as well as the browser config stuff out of /root.

[Sky Aisling]

@amethyst
But, .cache is full of so much stuff? like ZOOM folder, mesa_shader_cache, deadbeef, dconf... Will all these work ok when moved to sda1?

sda1 - sda2.png (40.16 KiB) Viewed 1299 times

[amethyst]

But, .cache is full of so much stuff? like ZOOM folder, mesa_shader_cache, deadbeef, dconf... Will all these work ok when moved to sda1?

sda1 - sda2.png

It should, it's still a symlink to /root.

[Sky Aisling]

@amethyst

OK, So I will delete the links in .cache then move .mozilla and .moonchild productions back to .cache in root then move the entire .cache file to sda1 and make a absolute link to .cache where? EDIT: never mind I know where.

Time to sleep. Will re-visit in the morning. Thank you!

Sky

[amethyst]

@amethyst

OK, So I will delete the links in .cache then move .mozilla and .moonchild productions back to .cache in root then move the entire .cache file to sda1 and make a absolute link to .cache where? EDIT: never mind I know where.

The mozilla and palemoon productions folders in /root/.cache and /root/.mozilla and /root/.moonchild productions are not the same folders. Don't mix it up.

[Sky Aisling]

@amethyst
Good Morning,

Yesterday I moved the mozilla and moonchild productions that were inside .cache directory in ~(All, Thumbs) to sda1. I made absolute links in ~(All, Thumbs) .cache back to sda1 directories mozilla and moonchild.
Today I moved mozilla and moonchild back to .cache ~(All, Thumbs) after I deleted the links.
Now everything is back to before any moves to sda1 were made.

So, you are suggesting I move the entire .cache directory that is in ~(All, Thumbs) that contains mozilla and moonchild Productions to sda1 and NOT .mozilla and .moonchild productions that are NOT inside the .cache directory?
I am to leave .mozilla and .moonchild directories alone?
Sky

[mikewalsh]

@Sky Aisling :-

The way I would do it is like this:-

• Create a directory in sda1. Call it - for argument's sake - "Browser Stuff" (or a name that will remind you quite clearly what it is).

• Inside that directory, create two more; call one "Cache" and the other "Profiles".

• Now; move /root/.mozilla & /root/.moonchild productions from /root into the new "Profiles" sub-directory. Having moved them, make sure there's no trace of them in /root, then sym-link the two of them back inside /root, using 'Link(relative)'.

• Secondly, move /root/.cache/mozilla & /root/.cache/moonchild productions into the new "Cache" sub-directory. And again, making sure there's no trace of them left before doing so, sym-link them back into /root/.cache, using 'Link(relative)'.

That's all there is to it. Now, the browser components that take up the most space are outside the 'save', and won't take up space inside it any longer. Clear enough?

Mike.

[Sky Aisling]

@mikewalsh
Yes, I think I'm clear. Thank you.
I was confused on why the .mozilla and .moonchild would be separated from the .cache entries.
I will do the moves this afternoon.
Sky

[snoring_cat]

Hi again Sky,

When you do not have any problems, can you please run the following command, and paste it here for a baseline

Code: Select all

echo ---- tmpfs ---- ; du -shc /initrd/mnt/tmpfs/* | sort -h ; echo ---- tmp ---- ; du -shc /initrd/mnt/tmpfs/tmp/* | sort -h | tail -15 ; echo ---- pup_rw ---- ; du -shc /initrd/mnt/tmpfs/pup_rw/* | sort -h | tail -15 ; echo ---- root ---- ; du -ah /initrd/mnt/tmpfs/pup_rw/root/ | sort -h | tail -15; free -h ; echo ---- CPU ---- ; ps aux | sort -nrk 3,3 | head -n 5 ; echo ---- disk space --- ; df -h ; echo ---- mounts ---- ; mount ; grep DISTRO_NAME /etc/DISTRO_SPEC

If the problem does occur, run the command again and paste it here, so we can do a comparison

[Sky Aisling]

@snoring_cat
Sure! give me a few days to catch up here.
Sky

[Sky Aisling]

@mikewalsh

What part of sda1 to use.png (44.55 KiB) Viewed 1235 times