cannot boot, disk full

[bkelly13]

After some deletions, the command "show dev d" refealed about 300,000 blocks. An unused application directory was found with about 300,000 blocks then deleted. "show dev d" did not change. A backup of that same application had another 300,000 blocks, and when deleted, "show dev d" did not show any change. What command will tell VMS to reclaim these unused blocks.

I looked around for VMS log files and temporary files but found none. Can someone give me a good location to search.

File [SYS0.SYSERR]ERRLOG.SYS;1 has 224882/224883 blocks and is dated 23-Mar-1996. I just now realized I should have checked last update. Just the same, is this something that can be deleted?

[Robert Gezelter]

Bryan,

OpenVMS does NOT use a recycle bin. If you deleted files, the SHOW DEVICE will show the results essentially immediately.

If you are deleting files and not seeing an increase in available space, there is something else going on. I suggest extreme caution.

- Bob Gezelter, http://www.rlgsc.com

[Hoff]

Would I delete these files? No. I'd likely zip them (zip "-V" to preserve attributes) and move the files off the system disk or to offline or nearline storage off the server.

Even on boat-anchor grade VAX boxes, disk storage is cheap.

Would your site delete these files? That's up to you and your management.

Without intending any disrespect, you're already intentionally and explicitly not maintaining and not repairing these VAXft servers, so I see no reason not to fully commit to that organizational goal. (Would I want to get the "we're not maintaining these boxes" statement from a responsible manager before nuking these files? Yes; with certainty.)

And in general, this OpenVMS VAX version is far enough back that there are various ways the displayed free space value can end up skewed. Usually an ANALYZE /DISK /REPAIR pass can resolve any low-level errors, and the display counts will be off until the next mount/dismount (for data disks) or the next system reboot (for all disks).

[marsh_1]

bryan,

how did you bring the system up ? did you follow the sequence given in the link from hoff's site for system disk full ( second sequence) ?

[Hoff]

ps and nb: If anybody snags these VAXft boxes off the galactic trash heap, the boxes are probably going to have wiped system disks, and which means you'll need the correct OpenVMS VAX version and the associated VAXft System Services Software (FTSS) software installation kit for the VAXft box.

Two of the more common OpenVMS versions that were around here were OpenVMS VAX V5.5-2HF and OpenVMS VAX V6.2-0HF. And you'll need a matching FTSS kit.

[bkelly13]

I am working with two computers, and FT110 and FT810.

On the 810, the single disk filled, the application crashed, but VMS kept running. We deleted some stuff and wound up with 300,000 free blocks. I found another 300,000 to delete and â show dev dâ did not register the deletions. I deleted another couple hundred thousand blocks and they do not show up with â show dev dâ

The FT110 would not boot. After reading some posts here, and looking at the manual that contains much information, but doesnâ t tell me much, I managed to get a conversational boot and set the _P1 to MIN. It booted and a â purge /keep=3â on the entire disk yielded about 4,000 free blocks.

I found a scratch directory in an application that had a huge number of files. The command â del *.*;*â did not return and I interrupted it after a half hour. I entered â dir a*;*â and gave up on that after five minutes, and returned to the delete function. After another half hour, I had to leave for other purposes. I will return tomorrow and see what happened.

BTW: I cannot get internet access while in this area so I must work there, then come home to check posts here.

[Andy Bustamante]

>>> huge number of files.

With your vintage version of VMS operations in a directory with large amounts of files can take an extremely long time.

Look for DFU on the system. It can be downloaded from:
http://h71000.www7.hp.com/openvms/freeware/index.html if you take the utility into the system.

You may not be able to carry in new software. See this thread http://forums11.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=976275 covers the background and provides some options to speed deletes in large directories.

Generally, it's not a good idea to have application writing temp files, logs or live data to a system disk.

Andy