Disk & Filesystem Management (Du/Df/Lsblk/Fstrim)

Recovering Space from Deleted Open Files

🧩 The Challenge

Disk space often remains occupied by large log files or deleted data even after the files have been removed from the directory structure. This happens because a running process still holds an open file descriptor to the deleted file.

💡 The Fix

Use the lsof utility to identify processes that have deleted files open, then signal those processes to release the file handles or restart the associated service.

sudo lsof +L1

⚙️ Why It Works

The +L1 flag instructs lsof to list all open files that have a link count of less than 1, effectively surfacing “invisible” space hogs that are no longer accessible via standard directory listings.

🚀 Pro-Tip: Pipe the output to awk ‘{print $2}’ | xargs kill -HUP to automatically reload processes holding deleted files without a full service restart.

Linux Tips & Tricks | © ngelinux.com | 7/9/2026