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Doug6392's avatar
Doug6392
Guide
May 25, 2021
Solved

Error: System volume root's usage is 81%.

I received this error this morning, and found some worthwhile previous discussion, especially from StephenB. I initiated an SSH connection and found the only very oversized file in root was "syslog". Will clearing the log correct this? I probably haven't cleared the log, maybe since the unit was new. (There are apparently 873 pages of entries.)

I'm very new to Linux, and simply followed the instructions posted to a similar query back in 2018. I don't want to break anything, and according to Netgear's site, any paid support I was once entitled to has ended.

I have attached the SSH session, which hopefully will assist.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.
  • StephenB's avatar
    StephenB
    May 26, 2021
    Doug6392 wrote:
    Thanks for the quick reply. Sorry to be a pain, but how do I truncate the file? 

    This should work:

    echo -n > /var/log/syslog

    Make sure you log in as root (using the NAS admin password).  I am thinking your earlier attempt might have failed because you logged in as admin.

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  • StephenB's avatar
    StephenB
    Guru
    May 25, 2021
    Doug6392 wrote:
    I initiated an SSH connection and found the only very oversized file in root was "syslog". Will clearing the log correct this? I probably haven't cleared the log, maybe since the unit was new. 

    You must have installed an app that includes rsyslog.  syslog isn't part of the readynas application at all.  So as far as the NAS is concerned, you certainly can truncate it.

     

    FWIW, /var/log on my main NAS looks like this:

    4.0K alternatives.log
    2.7M apache2
    108K apt
    0 audit
    28K btmp
    0 clamav
    4.0K dbbroker.log
    144K dpkg.log
    0 faillog
    2.7M frontview
    0 fsck
    48M journal
    20K lastlog
    0 news
    236K proftpd.log
    860K proftpd.log.old
    3.1M readynasd
    1.1M samba
    8.0K tallylog
    804K wtmp
    60M total

     

     

     

     

     

    • Doug6392's avatar
      Doug6392
      Guide
      May 26, 2021
      Thanks for the quick reply. Sorry to be a pain, but how do I truncate the file? I tried removing it via basic Linux commands I found online but was not successful.
      • StephenB's avatar
        StephenB
        Guru
        May 26, 2021
        Doug6392 wrote:
        Thanks for the quick reply. Sorry to be a pain, but how do I truncate the file? 

        This should work:

        echo -n > /var/log/syslog

        Make sure you log in as root (using the NAS admin password).  I am thinking your earlier attempt might have failed because you logged in as admin.

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