How can I clear the caches. Using Linux Mint Cinnamon 21.3. I’ve tried a bunch of things with no success.
You might consider using BleachBit. It’s available via the Software Manager.
Go carefully at first. Then, after your initial setup, it’s a breeze to use.
I would like to ask what you’re trying to do / what’s your goal? Are you short on disk space? Ewanting to ensure that data which you’ve deleted is truly gone?
Hi Narcosis and nwarren. Thank you for your replies!
I installed Linux Cinnamon on am old MacBook Pro. I am trying to free up disk space. I don’t have many files on the computer (maybe 40 small files)…very few pictures (less than a dozen). I haven’t lost any files as I have anything on this machine backed up. I have a few games (solitaire) on here.
I have Telegram installed as well as Brave and Foxfire, and cleared the caches in each. this took me from 8 GB to 11.7.
I’m not sure why my disk is so full and figured clearing and other cache is a possible help.
I’ll try Bleachbit
Operating System, Linux Mint 21.3 Cinnamon
Cinnamon Version, 6.0.4
Linux Kernel, 5.15.0-126-generic
Processor, Intel Core i7-4770HQ CP
Memory, 15.5 GiB
Hard Drives, 121.3 GB
Graphics Card, Intel Corporation Crystal Well Integrated Graphics Controller
Using BleachBit only got me to 12.4 GB. Any other thoughts?
A 128 gig disk should have a bunch of space available if you’ve not filled it up with pics & downloads & etc.
Run this in a terminal (in your home directory) and then show what ends up in the file named DU.
du -sk * | sort -rn > DU
The largest files and directories will be at the top of the list.
You could install “qdirstat” via the Software Manager and get a somewhat graphical representation of what’s eating your disk space.
Check to see how many Timeshift backup images you have saved on your system
Timeshift! I never thought of that. It was taking up a bunch of space. Thank you!
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Thank you! Since I didn’t have success with du -sk * | sort -rn > DU, I did with Qdirstat. This helped me see a few issues and remove them, so between this and clearing Timeshift, I now have 49.9 GB, which is much better than 8 GB.
I am very new with all of this. I keyed du -sk * (etc) into the terminal and had nothing come up. I’m sure I’m doing something wrong. How do I do this in my home directory?
The command created a file named DU, in the terminal type ‘cat DU’ to print the file to your screen.
When you open a terminal session, you are in your home directory by default.
Glad you got it figured out! 
As a side note…If you ever do want to clear all your system caches here is the command.
sync && echo 3 | sudo tee /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches
I very much doubt you will ever need this on your machine with those specs.
Thank you so much for your help!
Thank you! I really appreciate your help!