Disk Space Check — Before Installing AI Tools
If you run out of disk space, your AI tools will fail in unpredictable ways: - models won’t download - ComfyUI will crash - Docker containers won’t start - outputs will be corrupted
This is the first thing you must check.
1. Check Disk Space
Run:
df -h
Example output:
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda1 100G 92G 5G 95% /
2. What You Need
For AI work, you need:
- Minimum: 30–50 GB free
- Recommended: 100+ GB free
- Video pipelines: 200+ GB
Why: - Models are large (5–20 GB each) - Outputs (images/videos) grow fast - Temporary files consume space
3. Red Flags
If you see:
Use% 90%+
Avail less than 10G
Your system will break soon.
4. Find What Uses Space
Run:
du -h --max-depth=1 / | sort -hr
For home directory:
du -h --max-depth=1 ~ | sort -hr
5. Common Space Killers
Docker:
docker system df
Clean unused data:
docker system prune -af
Old AI Models:
du -h ~/models
Delete unused models.
Logs:
du -h /var/log
Clean:
sudo journalctl --vacuum-time=3d
Downloads:
du -h ~/Downloads
6. Check Disk Inodes (Hidden Issue)
Sometimes disk is empty but still "full":
df -i
If IUse% is 100%, you have too many small files.
7. Quick Fix Checklist
Run these:
docker system prune -af
sudo journalctl --vacuum-time=3d
rm -rf ~/Downloads/*
Then check again:
df -h
8. Best Practice
Before installing anything:
- Check disk space
- Make sure you have 50–100GB free
- Plan where models will be stored
Example:
/opt/models
/mnt/storage/models
9. Pro Tip (Separate Storage)
For serious AI work:
- OS on one disk
- Models on another disk
Example:
/mnt/ai-models
/mnt/ai-output
10. Why This Matters
Most beginners think:
"Something is wrong with ComfyUI"
But in reality:
"The disk is full."
Next Step
Now check your GPU: