LINUX KERNEL & FILESYSTEM DIAGNOSTICS

Linux df vs. du Disk Space Discrepancy Decoder

Work out where disk space is going when df -h reports a full filesystem but du -sh cannot find the files. Enter what you see, get read-only checks first, then clearly labelled fix commands.

$ Covers deleted-but-open files, data hidden under mount points, ext4 reserved blocks, and inode exhaustion.

1. Enter What df and du Report

df Used (e.g. 480G or 480 GB):

du -xsh total for the same mount point (e.g. 120G):

df Size (optional, e.g. 500G):

df Avail (optional, e.g. 0 or 10G):

Size and Avail let the tool check for ext4 reserved blocks. Sizes without a unit are treated as GB.

Primary Symptom or Recent Action:

Mount point of the full filesystem (from df):

Runs in your browser. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere.

Estimates and generated commands are a starting point. Review and test before running in production. Run the commands as root (or with sudo) so du and lsof can see every directory and process.

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Linux df vs. du Disk Space Discrepancy Decoder

1. Enter What df and du Report

1. Read-only checks

2. Fix (changes the system)

3. Prevention & Engineering Standard