How do I check my disk space usage?

Checking Your Disk Space Usage

Monitoring your disk space usage is an important part of managing your dotCanada.com hosting account. This guide explains how to check how much disk space you're using, identify what's taking up space, and manage your storage effectively.

Why Monitor Disk Space?

• Prevent service interruptions: Running out of disk space can cause your website to stop functioning properly
• Optimize performance: A nearly full disk can slow down your website and database operations
• Plan for growth: Track usage trends to determine if you need to upgrade your hosting plan
• Identify issues: Unexpected increases in disk usage may indicate problems like log file bloat or malware

Checking Overall Disk Space Usage

Method 1: Using cPanel Dashboard

1. Log in to your cPanel account at https://{hostname}.mysecureservers.com:2087
2. On the main cPanel dashboard, you'll find a section displaying your disk space usage
3. This is typically shown as:
   • A graphical bar showing used vs. available space
   • Text displaying "X MB / Y MB" (used amount / total amount)
   • A percentage of usage

Method 2: Using Disk Space Usage Tool

1. Log in to cPanel
2. In the search box at the top, type "Disk Usage" or navigate to the FILES section
3. Click on Disk Usage
4. This page provides a detailed breakdown of your disk space usage by directory
5. You can click on directory names to drill down further

Checking Detailed Disk Space Breakdown

Understanding What's Taking Up Space

Common Space-Consuming Items

• Media files: Images, videos, PDFs, and other downloadable content
• Databases: Can grow large with content, logs, and redundant data
• Email: Mailboxes with many messages and large attachments
• Log files: Web server, error, and access logs
• Backups: Automated or manual backups of your website or databases
• Old themes and plugins: Inactive or multiple versions
• Caches: Various caching data that may accumulate over time

Tips for Managing Disk Space

Clearing Unnecessary Files

1. Remove old backups:
   • Delete outdated backups, keeping only the most recent ones
   • Consider moving backups off-server to external storage
2. Clean up logs:
   • Navigate to the "logs" directory in File Manager
   • Delete or archive old log files
   • Configure log rotation if available
3. Remove temporary files:
   • Check for "tmp" directories in your account
   • Clear browser cache folders in your CMS
   • Remove installation files for themes/plugins after use
4. Clean up email accounts:
   • Delete or archive old emails, especially those with attachments
   • Empty trash folders in each email account
   • Delete unwanted email accounts

Optimizing Media Files

1. Compress images:
   • Use tools like TinyPNG, ImageOptim, or WordPress plugins like Smush
   • Convert images to appropriate formats (JPEG for photos, PNG for graphics with transparency)
   • Use appropriate resolution (don't upload 4000px images for 400px displays)
2. Host videos externally:
   • Use YouTube, Vimeo, or other video hosting services
   • Embed videos on your site rather than hosting the files
3. Use CDNs:
   • Consider using a Content Delivery Network to offload media
   • Services like Cloudflare can cache and serve your images and other static content

Database Optimization

1. Clean up post revisions:
   • WordPress and other CMSs store multiple revisions of each post
   • Use plugins like WP-Sweep or WP-Optimize to clean these up
2. Remove spam comments:
   • Delete spam and trashed comments permanently
3. Optimize database tables:
   • Use phpMyAdmin to optimize tables
   • Select all tables, then choose "Optimize Table" from the dropdown
4. Clean up transients:
   • Remove expired transient options from WordPress
   • Use plugins or manual database cleanup

Setting Up Disk Space Alerts

To proactively monitor your disk space:

1. Log in to cPanel
2. Click on Resource Usage or Metrics
3. Look for options to set up email notifications for disk space thresholds
4. Set alerts to trigger when your usage reaches 80-85% of your quota
5. Alternatively, consider third-party monitoring services

Upgrading Your Disk Space

If you consistently need more space despite optimization efforts:

1. Log in to your dotCanada.com client area at https://clients.dotCanada.com/login
2. Navigate to your hosting package
3. Look for upgrade options to increase your disk space allocation
4. Alternatively, contact our support team to discuss custom upgrade options

Troubleshooting Unexpected Disk Space Issues

Sudden Increase in Usage

If you notice a sudden spike in disk usage:

• Check for malware: Malicious scripts can generate large files
• Look for runaway logs: Check error logs for rapid growth
• Inspect recent uploads: See if any large files were recently added
• Check for failed backups: Incomplete backups may consume space
• Look for core dumps: Failed processes may create large dump files

Hidden Files

Some space-consuming files may be hidden:

1. In File Manager, click on Settings in the top-right corner
2. Check the option to "Show Hidden Files (dotfiles)"
3. Click Save
4. Look for files and directories that start with a dot (.)
5. Large hidden files like .htaccess.bak or .user.ini can consume space

If you need assistance with managing your disk space or have questions about upgrading your storage allocation, please contact our support team.