Is there a way in Unix to see the biggest directories on disk ?
I need to know why I'm almost done with the space on the server, and I dunno where most of the space is used..
thanks
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2possible duplicate of [Find largest directories/files recursively](http://serverfault.com/questions/25043/find-largest-directories-files-recursively) – Dennis Williamson Nov 11 '10 at 23:35
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Here is a good one: https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/4681/how-do-you-sort-du-output-by-size - it says to use `du | sort -h` then use `tail` - or, you can use `sort -rh` so the largest are at the beginning and you can use `more` to see it. This is working great on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS in August 2017. – SDsolar Aug 17 '17 at 08:34
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6Nice. It works pretty much the way I'd do it by hand (with `du | sort`), but with WAY less typing. – Steven Monday Nov 12 '10 at 04:19
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1This is much better. just install ncdu and type ncdu command on the directory you want to analyze, it works very fast. – Jamol Oct 07 '18 at 13:20
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Try: du --max-depth=7 /* | sort -n - it won't just tell you directories, and there will be duplicates, but it will list everything 7 levels deep and sort them by size order.
James L
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147 levels all at once might be overwhelming. I would start with `--max-depth=0` (or rather, use `--summarize`/`-s`), and then drill into the largest directories by hand. – Steven Monday Nov 11 '10 at 23:31
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Good point, just chose that number as that's how far I typically end up going before I find something useful. – James L Nov 13 '10 at 01:36
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3what about `du -cs * | sort -n` for an overview of which directory is bigger? – lorenzog Jan 07 '13 at 15:03
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I suggest you to use baobab, which will give you a graphical overview of your disk usage. It can also be used for remote folder (through ssh, ftp,...) to scan the disk usage on a remote server for instance.
Edit: If you would like to investigate the disk usage directly on the server with your shell access and not remotely, and you would like a tool more convenient than du, you can also have a try with durep which will generate a report of the disk usage with bar graphs.
uloBasEI
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I usually use something like this:
du -ch / | sort
You can apply a depth restriction using --max-depth= if you don't want to see past a certain level from your target, like so:
du -ch --max-depth=4 /
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Try df & du -sh /. And recursively du -sh. Not the best solution though.
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Something like
sudo du / | sort -n
Will give you a quick answer (last entries are largest files/directories)
N J
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2Define quick? In my experience this usually takes at least 5-10 minutes. – James L Nov 11 '10 at 22:25
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I always use syntax like
du -sm --max-depth=4 /path/i/want/to/drill | sort -nr | head -n 20.
max-depth and head parameters can vary, of course, but the above would list 20 biggest directories.
Janne Pikkarainen
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I'm regularly running du -dak > du-dak.out at the top of each file system. Then, I can get a graphical display with xdu < du-dak.out. This can be done remotely after transferring the du-dak.out file over the network should you only have text access.
jlliagre
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