The only thing i can think of is that you make this BIG file as root. And
you run out of diskspace while doing it and then you start using the
"reserved" diskspace. You see ext2 reserves (usually 5%) of diskspace for
root. It does this for two reasons as far as I know:
a) Performance (fragmentation etc..)
b) As root will still be able to write to the disk for a while you have
some more recover time before your logs die etc...
Check out the util tune2fs but i don't suggest lowering the rseserved
space.
Andi
On Mon, 17 Feb 1997, . Tethys SYSTEM ADMIN X wrote:
>
> I use mkisofs to create ISO9660 images in preparation for burning onto
> a CD-ROM. The ISO image is a single file, usually over 620MB. When this
> image has been burnt onto the CD, I delete it to free space for the next
> image. The images are stored on an ext2 filesystem.
>
> However, on a 750MB partition, deleting a 620MB file frequently leaves
> only 275MB free. This is an intermittent problem. Sometimes it works
> fine, and frees the full 620MB, other times it doesn't. I've tried
> scrapping the whole thing and remaking the filesystem from scratch,
> but that doesn't make any difference. After a reboot, things are fine,
> and the full amount of space is free. I guess this is related to the
> fact that e2fsck reports a problem with a dtime (I think) of zero, and
> fixes it. Next time it happens, I'll try to get the exact message from
> e2fsck.
>
> Any ideas (kernel 2.0.28)?
>
> Tet
>
> --
> ``Anyone who cannot cope with mathematics is not fully human. He is at
> best a tolerable subhuman who has learned to wear shoes, bathe and
> not make messes in the house.'' -- from the notebooks of Lazarus Long
> --------------------+--------------+----------------------------------------
> tethys@ml.com | Micro$oft: | Linux, the choice of a GNU generation.
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>