ERROR: Insufficient space in file WORK

[lakshmiG]

Hi All,

Could someone guide me on how to resolve the below error in SAS University Edition.While running a merge Data step, since the file is big, I am getting the below error. Even I tried to delete some unwanted datasets in Work LIbrary, still getting the same issue.

ERROR: Insufficient space in file WORK.PRICE_A.DATA.

ERROR: File WORK.PRICE_A.DATA is damaged. I/O processing did not complete.

NOTE: The SAS System stopped processing this step because of errors.

NOTE: There were 491547 observations read from the data set WORK.US_STOCK_PRICE.

NOTE: There were 704 observations read from the data set WORK.SEC_IND.

WARNING: The data set WORK.PRICE_A may be incomplete. When this step was stopped there were 491797 observations and 12 variables.

WARNING: Data set WORK.PRICE_A was not replaced because this step was stopped.

Many Thanks!!!

[Shmuel]

If yor code is one step only you can use libname USER assigned by yourself to a local big space, like:

libname user '...disk area under myfolders ...';

no need to change your code. sas will use libname USER automatically instead WORK.

If there are many steps you can add in between steps of deleting non used datasets, for eample:

data c;
    set a b;  
run;
/* no more use of datasets a b */

proc datasets lib=work nolist;
  delete a b;
run; quit;

[lakshmiG]

Shmuel, Thanks much for your reply!

I will try using Libname statement, I will come back if I again face the issue.

[Reeza]

Sometimes, hopefully not in this case, you may need to reinstall SAS to remove the error. It seems to not clean up something from bad crashes and then your work get's permanently full.

[Shmuel]

@Reeza, assuming this is the case, should next code - being first code to run -  help?

proc datasets lib=work kill; run; quit;

[Kurt_Bremser]

---

@Shmuel wrote:

@Reeza, assuming this is the case, should next code - being first code to run -  help?

proc datasets lib=work kill; run; quit;

---

No, that only cleans the current WORK directory. Orphaned WORK directories from previously crashed sessions must be cleaned with the cleanutil utility, but that can't be used on SAS UE (no XCMD or console access). That's why I posted my Ballot Idea that UE cleans its temporary spaces on its own when it is (re)started.

[Kurt_Bremser]

You can add your vote on https://communities.sas.com/t5/SASware-Ballot-Ideas/Do-a-thorough-clean-in-SAS-University-Edition/id..., which deals with this kind of problems.

[LinusH]

SAS UE is a learning edition so you should be able limit your data sets drastically and still learn.

[Kurt_Bremser]

---

@LinusH wrote:
SAS UE is a learning edition so you should be able limit your data sets drastically and still learn.

---

Yeah, but 491547 observations (as stated in the OP) should be far removed from the 10 GB space limit of SAS UE.

If the OP kept lots of intermediate datasets in WORK up to this point, inspecting and cleaning the WORK may help. But if it's the problem with the leftover WORKS, a reinstallation of SAS UE might be in order.

[Ksharp]

You can make that shared fold to your WORK library.

options  user='/folders/myfolders/';

[LinusH]

@Kurt_Bremser given 32k variables though...but yeah, I get your point 😉