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Creating a 1GB file doesn't change free space on hard drive

Fresh5 days ago
Mar 15, 2026570 views
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Problem

I am trying to create an empty file based on the remaining hard disk space. The problem is that when I create a file that is 1 GB large, the df command shows the remaining space to be only 12 kb smaller than it was before the file was created. Does anyone know why the df command doesn't account for…

Error Output

someone@here:/tmp/delete# df
Filesystem           1K-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda1             36827144   5031592  29924788  1…

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1 Fix

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Fix for: Creating a 1GB file doesn't change free space on hard drive

Low Risk

You created it on a filesystem that supports sparse files so it actually only takes up 1000 bytes, just as the output from says. Omit and use a proper .

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