Solaris Archives - MasterKenneth

Using lsof to Recover Deleted Files

If an open file is deleted accidentally, it is possible to use lsof to recreate a copy of the file; provided this is done before the file is closed by the application holding it open.

If you have inadvertently removed a file from the filesystem it is still recoverable if the application using the file it still running. This is because the inode is still open and therefore the data blocks are still on the disk until the application closes the file or exits.

The Linux Filesystem Explained

Have you ever wondered what all the folders on the root (/) directory of the Linux filesystem are for? Which file goes into which directories and why are they saved in those directories? On this post, we’ll check out each folder and what purpose or function they serve for the operating system itself. Continue reading “The Linux Filesystem Explained”

Recover disk usage after deleting large file in Linux

Disks getting full on Linux is a common scenario any administrator have probably experienced. There are usually some large files in /var/log directory that can be compressed or deleted to save disk space. Have you ever experienced deleting a large log file and noticed that the disk usage remained the same ? It’s as if the file size usage is not released even though you’ve deleted it?

This scenario can happen if you deleted/renamed/moved an existing file that is currently in use by a running program. This usually happens on log files that are not rotated regularly and then when the file size becomes large, you deleted (or compressed) the file without even checking if it is in-use. Don’t worry, you can still recover your disk space as shown from the example below.

Continue reading “Recover disk usage after deleting large file in Linux”