Cannot mkdir: Disk quota exceeded, but iNodes and space are far from exceeding

Question

I am unpacking a tar file when I have error messages like this:

[xxxxx@lo-login-02 ~]$ tar -xvf ontonotes-release-5.0_LDC2013T19.tgz 
...... (omitted lines)
tar: ontonotes-release-5.0/tools/ontonotes-db-tool-v0.999b/src/on/__init__.py: Cannot open: No such file or directory
ontonotes-release-5.0/tools/ontonotes-db-tool-v0.999b/LICENSE
tar: ontonotes-release-5.0/tools: Cannot mkdir: Disk quota exceeded
tar: ontonotes-release-5.0/tools/ontonotes-db-tool-v0.999b/LICENSE: Cannot open: No such file or directory
ontonotes-release-5.0/tools/ontonotes-db-tool-v0.999b/INSTALL
tar: ontonotes-release-5.0/tools: Cannot mkdir: Disk quota exceeded
tar: ontonotes-release-5.0/tools/ontonotes-db-tool-v0.999b/INSTALL: Cannot open: No such file or directory
ontonotes-release-5.0/tools/ontonotes-db-tool-v0.999b/setup.py
tar: ontonotes-release-5.0/tools: Cannot mkdir: Disk quota exceeded
tar: ontonotes-release-5.0/tools/ontonotes-db-tool-v0.999b/setup.py: Cannot open: No such file or directory
ontonotes-release-5.0/index.html
tar: ontonotes-release-5.0/index.html: Cannot open: Disk quota exceeded
tar: Exiting with failure status due to previous errors

I have checked my file system quota, Inodes and disk space, but they all seem to be fine:

[xxxxx@lo-login-02 ~]$ quota
Disk quotas for user xxxxx (uid 198587): 
     Filesystem  blocks   quota   limit   grace   files   quota   limit   grace
lo-ne-home3:/home3
        9005516  16777216 20971520                100000*  80000  100000        

[xxxxx@lo-login-02 ~]$ df -i
Filesystem                            Inodes    IUsed     IFree IUse% Mounted on
lo-ne-home3:/home3/xxxxx            21251126   122640  21128486    1% /cluster/home/xxxxx

[xxxxx@lo-login-02 ~]$ df -h
Filesystem                              Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
lo-ne-home3:/home3/xxxxx               1.0T  8.5G 1016G   1% /cluster/home/xxxxx

Solution

You have reached the maximum number of files not on the filesystem, but for your usage quota. Delete some files (of any size) and new files will be able to be created.

Comments

[Jeff Schaller]

Am I seeing that right, that you have used 100,000 files of your 100,000 file limit?

[Zhao]

@jeffSchaller What is the difference between quota and limit? I see that quota is smaller than limit.

[Pankaj Goyal]

quota is the maximum you should be using. Exceeding this is possible but may show up in quota audit reports. limit is the absolute maximum it will permit you to use.

[Zhao]

Is it possible to extend the user quota?

[Pankaj Goyal]

It is possible for the system administrator do to so, yes.