I'm having trouble starting my Linux PC, as it only shows a black screen with a blinking cursor. After checking the recovery mode, I found out that my C drive is about 450GB with nearly 420GB used up, which seems to be the problem. I tried using a Live CD and USB to access my old hard drive, but I can't delete any files or folders that I want to clear out. I'm wondering if there's a way to use the terminal to delete or copy unwanted large files from the old hard drive using the Live USB. Any guidance on how to do this would be appreciated! Thanks in advance!
3 Answers
It sounds like your issue might be related to how the Nvidia drivers are set up. You could try booting with the `nomodeset` option in grub to bypass any graphics issues. That might help you get into your system and free up some space.
If you're having trouble with root access, you might need to check the permissions on your mounted drive. The command `sudo` may help, but you need the root password from your Live USB. Often, Live USBs don’t have set passwords, so just try using `sudo` directly. If you can't delete files through the GUI, using `rm` in the terminal could be the way to go—just be super careful with that command!
First, identify your partitions by running `lsblk`. You can create a mount point by using `mkdir backup`, then mount the drive with `mount /dev/sdaX backup` (replace `sdaX` with the correct partition). This way, you should be able to access your files more easily.
I ran the `lsblk` command and found two hard drives: sda2 and sda4, both sized the same. Should I assume sda2 is the right one?
Yes, sda2 looks like your primary partition. You can try mounting it and see if you can access the files there.
I get that. I was trying the GUI first, but all the delete options were gray. I'll give `rm` a shot in the terminal, but only on files I’m sure about.