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

Doug6392 · ‎2021-05-25

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 · ‎2021-05-26

@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.

View solution in original post

StephenB · ‎2021-05-25

@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 · ‎2021-05-26

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 · ‎2021-05-26

@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.

Doug6392 · ‎2021-05-26

@StephenB wrote:
@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.

That did the trick - many thanks!