How to check for free disk space on Linux
Struggling to find out how much free space you have left on your Linux PC? Don’t know how to check it? We can help! Follow along with this guide as we show you how to check for free disk space on Linux!
Method 1 – DF
If you’re trying to find how much disk space you have available on your Linux PC and you don’t mind using the Linux terminal, the DF command is the best tool for the job. Why? It doesn’t require any installation, and it isn’t all that complicated. Just run it, and you’ll know exactly how much space you have.
For example, to check how much disk space is left on the hard drive your Linux PC is running from, you can run the df command with the “/” path next to it.
df /
While running the df command is easy, reading it isn’t so much. By default, DF outputs free space information in non-human readable terms. If you do not know how to read bytes, you will need to use the -h switch, as it will print out free space information in an easy-to-understand format.
df -h /
If you would like to save your free space information output from DF to a text file to read later, you can direct the output like so:
df -h / > free-space.txt
Need to analyze disk space usage from the Terminal? Follow this guide.
Method 2 – Gnome Disks
Another way you can check free disk space on Linux is with the Gnome Disks tool. It’s an easy-to-use GUI app that gives users a ton of information on all disks attached to their Linux PC. Best of all, anyone can use it as it has a very straightforward user interface.
To start the process of finding free disk space in Gnome Disks, we must go over how to install the app. We need to demonstrate how to install this app because it doesn’t come pre-installed on every mainstream Linux distribution.
To start the installation process for Gnome Disks on your Linux PC, open up a terminal window. Once the terminal window is open, follow along with the instructions outlined below.
Ubuntu
sudo apt install gnome-disk-utility
Debian
sudo apt-get install gnome-disk-utility
Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S gnome-disk-utility
Fedora
sudo dnf install gnome-disk-utility
OpenSUSE
sudo zypper install gnome-disk-utility
Once the Gnome Disks app is installed on your computer, launch it by searching for “Gnome Disks” or “Disks” in the app menu. If you cannot find the program in the app menu, press Alt + F2 on the keyboard to bring up the quick launcher, enter gnome-disk-utility in the command box, and press Enter.
With Gnome Disks open, follow the instructions below to understand how much free disk space you have on your Linux PC.
Step 1: Inside of Gnome Disks, find the “Disks” section on the left-hand sidebar. This sidebar displays every storage device connected to your Linux PC. Look through this list and select the drive you wish to know information about.
Step 2: After selecting the hard drive you wish to find out free space information about, you will be presented with a partition breakdown of the device.
In the “Volumes” section, look through and find the partition you want to find information about, and select it with the mouse.
Step 3: Upon selecting the desired partition in the “Volumes” section with the mouse, look for the “Size” section. In the “Size” section, Gnome Disks will tell you exactly how much free space you have, as well as what percentage of the disk is full.
Method 3 – Disk Usage Analyzer
The third most straightforward way to view free disk space on Linux is with the Disk Usage Analyzer. It’s an excellent little tool that can scan your files and folders and determine how much space everything is taking up.
However, before we can go over how to use Disk Usage Analyzer to view free space on your Linux PC, we must go over how to install it. Now, there are many different ways to get Disk Usage Analyzer installed on Linux. That said, we recommend going the Flatpak route.
To install Disk Usage Analyzer via Flatpak, start by enabling the Flatpak runtime. After that, enter the two commands below to install the app.
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo flatpak install flathub org.gnome.baobab
With Disk Usage Analyzer installed, launch the app by searching for it in your app menu. Once the app is open, you’ll instantly see an overview page with the name “Devices & Locations.”
In the “Devices & Locations” area, Disk Usage Analyzer will list all the attached storage devices and how much free space each of the devices has available.
