Tips to Remedy and Prevent an Over-Quota Home Directory

Run the following command just to make sure your quota issue is not from some space other than the home directory:

quota_display

Note, the above command shows quotas for: home space ($HOME), scratch space (/share/$GROUP), and usrapps space quota (/usr/local/usrapps/$GROUP). If home space shows you are at or near quota in your home space, then try the following commands:

cd $HOME
du -h -d 1

The above commands will tell you which directories are large. It is likely that the ".cache" directory is large if you have been using conda and/or pip. The .cache directory is where pip and conda (and other applications) store temporary cached files to help with installation, and as such, can be deleted (double check you have not manually added some of your own files to that .cache directory before deleting). You may also find other large directories with data that you do not need, and you can delete.

cd <large directory> # fill in <large directory> with a large directory found from the above "du -h -d 1" command above

du -h -d 1

You can keep repeating the above two commands to drill down into the large directory and find exactly what is taking up so much space.

After deleting some files and/or directories, try quota_display, and see if your home space is well within quota now. After your home directory is well below quota, continue where you left off when your home directory was too full.

Future-proofing: Preventing Home Directory from Filling Up Again

1. If you use "conda" and "pip" package managers, you must configure both to properly avoid using the home directory:
   1. conda: Follow directions under "Loading and Initializing Conda".
   2. pip: Follow directions under "Prevent pip and Python from filling up your home directory".
2. Do not run LSF jobs from your home directory, rather, use scratch space (/share/$GROUP).
3. Do not install software in your home directory, rather, use usrapps.