{"id":2031,"date":"2023-11-27T22:46:15","date_gmt":"2023-11-27T17:16:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.veeble.org\/kb\/?p=2031"},"modified":"2025-04-15T12:49:35","modified_gmt":"2025-04-15T07:19:35","slug":"linux-disk-usage-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.veeble.com\/kb\/linux-disk-usage-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"Find High Disk Usage in Linux: A Simple Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Is your Linux system running slowly, or are you getting alarming notifications about high disk usage? This guide will provide you with simple commands to help you identify what’s taking up all the space.<\/p>\n\n\n

Checking Overall Disk Usage<\/h4>\n\n\n

To start our journey, let’s get a bird’s-eye view of your disk space:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

df -h\n<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
This command provides a human-readable summary of disk usage across various partitions<\/a>. Look for the “Use%” column to spot any partitions nearing full capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Refer to the below blog for a detailed explanation of<\/sub><\/em> the<\/em> <\/sub>DU command and its usage:<\/sub><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nhttps:\/\/www.veeble.org\/kb\/disk-usage-du-command\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Locating Large Directories<\/h4>\n\n\n
Now that you know your overall disk status, let’s zoom in on specific directories guzzling space:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
du -h --max-depth=1 \/<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
This command lists the sizes of top-level directories. Navigate to the largest ones using cd<\/code> and repeat the process until you identify the space hogs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Digging Deeper with Find<\/h4>\n\n\n
Once you’ve isolated a suspicious directory, use the find<\/a><\/code> command to locate large files within it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
find \/path\/to\/directory -type f -size +100M<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Replace \/path\/to\/directory<\/code> with the actual path and adjust the size threshold as needed. This command finds files larger than 100 megabytes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Sorting and Summarizing<\/h4>\n\n\n
To sort directories by size, aiding in the identification of the biggest culprits:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
du -h --max-depth=1 \/ | sort -hr\n<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
This command lists directories in descending order, helping you focus on the largest ones first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Clean-Up Commands<\/h4>\n\n\n
Once you’ve identified space-consuming files or directories, consider these commands for efficient cleanup:<\/p>\n\n\n\n