My daily.out log is 155Gb and is taking all my disk space!

[ponyandpanda]

Hello,
I have a Mac Pro G5 10.5.7
All of a sudden I received a message saying that my disk space is almost full.
And my computer is almost unusable ever since.

I have done all the necessary maintenance.
All that is left is this log file I found:
daily.out - which is 155Gb!!!
It's clogging all my space!

I can't seem to minimize/delete this file.
Can anyone tell me how?

THANK YOU!

 

[zmttoxics]

You should open your console and check for errors (which would fill your logs).

 

[Zerozal]

Open Console and find the log in the list on the left. There should be an option to clear it.

BTW, I hate to be pedantic, but you do not have a Mac Pro. You have a PowerMac. I've seen too many people accidentially or purposely mislabeling PowerMacs as Mac Pros, especially on eBay and Craigslist to get some extra $ out of an unsuspecting buyer. /rant.

 

[bankshot]

So, the Finder won't let you move the file to the trash? When I try it on my system, it asks me for an administrator password, and then it works. And just to be sure we're all on the same page, you need to explicitly tell Finder to go to that folder because it's normally hidden. To do so, you just hit Cmd-Shift-G and then type in /var/log

If that still doesn't work, try this in Terminal (/Applications/Utilities):

sudo rm -f /var/log/daily.out

If that works, check the file tomorrow after the next daily run and see if it's still really big. If it is, you'll probably want to open the file and see what's inside, to get a clue as to what's really causing it. Something's certainly amiss - my daily.out file is a mere 1 MB, and it goes back to Sept 2008.

 

[ponyandpanda]

Hi,
thanks all for your quick responses!
I am so relieved to be getting some help.

zmttoxics -
I have opened the console, and you are right there are LOADS of error messages.
What do i do with them? Can't seem to be able to delete them!

Zerozal -
I am looking at my log list in the console and I can see the daily.out file, but "Move to trash" option is faded/blocked.
What do i do?

Don't worry, you are not being pedantic at all!
You are right about my Mac being a Power Mac! You are so spot on, I did indeed buy my computer on Ebay.... and it was probably mislabled which is why i got all confused. Sigh... Thanks for correcting me.


bankshot -
I am trying to execute your first suggestion... And then i will try the rest if it doesn't work.
Looking forward to some free space!

THANKS SO MUCH EVERYONE!!!

 

[belvdr]

So, the Finder won't let you move the file to the trash? When I try it on my system, it asks me for an administrator password, and then it works. And just to be sure we're all on the same page, you need to explicitly tell Finder to go to that folder because it's normally hidden. To do so, you just hit Cmd-Shift-G and then type in /var/log

If that still doesn't work, try this in Terminal (/Applications/Utilities):

sudo rm -f /var/log/daily.out

If that works, check the file tomorrow after the next daily run and see if it's still really big. If it is, you'll probably want to open the file and see what's inside, to get a clue as to what's really causing it. Something's certainly amiss - my daily.out file is a mere 1 MB, and it goes back to Sept 2008.

A safer choice would be to zero it out, in case the process doesn't recreate it:

sudo echo > /var/log/daily.out

 

[zmttoxics]

Paste some of the errors here. You may have a serious issue. Most likely you need to repair permissions.

 

[ponyandpanda]

belvdr -
I tried what you suggested:
sudo echo > /var/log/daily.out

Doesn't work.
I get "Permission denied"

zmttoxics -

I have managed to put the file in the bin, and then delete it - as belvdr first suggested.

I don't see it in the console anymore... so I can't paste the error messages for you to see them.

Nevertheless, deleting it still hasn't freed any space from my disk!
I will run a "Secure Delete Free space" to see what happens...

I have already repaired permissions. Maybe I should do it again?

 

[zmttoxics]

Deleting an error log because its large with out investigating is somewhat ignorant.

Anyways, you will most likely need to "empty" the trash, and reboot the system for an immediate journal update.

 

[ponyandpanda]

zmttoxics -
"Deleting an error log because its large with out investigating is somewhat ignorant. "

GREAT.
Now what did i get myself into....???

BTW, I did empty my trash. And I will reboot once Secure Delete Free Space is done.

Hope i haven't killed my computer.

Thanks for your help zmttoxics and belvdr

 

[zmttoxics]

zmttoxics -
"Deleting an error log because its large with out investigating is somewhat ignorant. "

GREAT.
Now what did i get myself into....???

BTW, I did empty my trash. And I will reboot once Secure Delete Free Space is done.

Hope i haven't killed my computer.

Thanks for your help zmttoxics and belvdr

Well you should have investigated the error messages in the log to find the core problem. You will have to wait for the daily script to run again to see what errors it is producing (or force execute it).

 

[ponyandpanda]

zmttoxics-
to force execute the daily script it should type:
sudo periodic daily

correct?

 

[ponyandpanda]

zmttoxics -
I forced exetuted the daily cleanup.
Massive logfile appeared with loads of errors such as lines of:
Thu Jul 23 23:55:11 56aG5 kernel [0] <Error>:

What parts of the log should i post on the forum?
Don't wanna overwhelm you!

 

[belvdr]

Nevertheless, deleting it still hasn't freed any space from my disk!

Either a reboot or kill HUPing the process will fix that.

 

[zmttoxics]

zmttoxics -
I forced exetuted the daily cleanup.
Massive logfile appeared with loads of errors such as lines of:
Thu Jul 23 23:55:11 56aG5 kernel [0] <Error>:

What parts of the log should i post on the forum?
Don't wanna overwhelm you!

Paste a good chunk that is not repetitive (20-30 lines). Put it in the <code> tags. Kernel level error isnt going to be something fun though - just a heads up.