• Space low on VMS System Disk
• no space on VMS System Disk
• Space low in VMS User Disk
• Space low on FELIX system disk

(A1) What to do if disk space is low on the system disk for VMS

    This applies to all VMS system disks (Felix, MVG etc.)

     (a) log-in as system
         Determine name of system disk as follows:
         $ show log sys$sysdevice

     (b) Purge the error log files:

         $ set def dua0:[sys0.syserr]           (if dua0: is system disk)
         $ purge errlog.sys

         if that doesn't free up enough space then,

         $ delete errlog.sys;*

     (c) Also, do:

         $ purge sys$manager:*.*
         $ purge sys$system:*.*

         to free additional space.

     (d) Also purge the accounting file as follows:

         $ set account/new_file
         $ purge sys$manager:accountng.dat/log

   If the system won't boot because of zero free blocks on the system disk, 
then the first step is to perform a "conversational boot", which gets you 
to the SYSBOOT prompt and lets you run DCL commands to free up some space.

   The way to start a conversational boot varies with the specific type
or Vaxstation or MicroVAX. For an Alphastation 200 or 400 (ME2, MVL), halt the machine 
and type the following:

   >>> BOOT -FLAGS 0,1 dka0

   This should take you a the SYSBOOT> prompt, from where you can try
to free up space as follows:

   SYSBOOT> SET/STARTUP OPA0:
   SYSBOOT> CONTINUE

   This brings up the DCL prompt, type commands to free up space, e.g.:

   $ set def sys$sysroot:[sysexe]
   $ purge *.*/log
   $ set def sys$sysroot:[sysmgr]
   $ purge *.*/log
   $ purge dka0:[000000...]*.*/log
   etc.

   This should free up enough space to allow a normal boot.
   Proceed as follows:

   $ RUN SYS$SYSTEM:SYSGEN
   $ SET/STARTUP SYS$SYSTEM:STARTUP.COM
   $ WRITE CURRENT
   $ EXIT

   $ SYS$SYSTEM:STARTUP
  
   This should restart the system normally.

   Examples of user disks that may run low on space are MVGD: MVFD: MVCD:
and MEID: (To know the actual disk name, use "$ show log MVGD" etc.)
 
   (1) Log-in as system and check free space with "show dev dk" and
       "show dev du"
 
   (2) If space is low, first ask anyone who has big files on that disk
       whether they can be deleted or moved elsewhere (disk/tape etc.)
 
   (3) Delete all temp. plot files as follows:
       (assuming MVGD: is our nearly full disk)
       (Caution: a typo in the following command could be disastrous!)

       $ delete mvgd:[000000...]pl*.tmp;*/log

   (4) As a last resort, do a disk-wide purge:

       $ purge mvgd:[000000...]*.*/log

     (a) log-in as system
     (b) $ set def dua0:[sys0.syserr]
         $ purge errlog.sys

         if that doesn't free up enough space then,

         $ delete errlog.sys;*

     (c) Also, do:

         $ purge sys$manager:*.*
         $ purge sys$system:*.*

         to free additional space.