Ubuntu Disk Usage Analyzer

Disk space usage is one of the hardest things to manage on an Ubuntu system. With applications getting larger and digital multimedia becoming more popular, there never seems to be enough disk space available to do everything you want.

The problem with running out of disk space is that often you don’t have a clue as to what caused the problem. With just the Nautilus file-browsing tool, you can’t easily tell where all of the disk space is being used. Fortunately, Ubuntu provides a graphical tool to help you determine where all your disk space is going.

The Disk Usage Analyzer tool provides a quick and easy way to examine the layout of your Ubuntu filesystem and identify areas where disk usage is great. To start the Disk Usage Analyzer tool, click Applications -> Accessories -> Disk Usage Analyzer. The main window.

The main window displays the current state of the Ubuntu filesystem. The window displays the filesystem summary information at the top (the total amount of disk space in the complete filesystem, the amount used, and the amount available). If the filesystem contains multiple partitions, this window summarizes the totals of all of the partitions used in the filesystem.

The left side of the main window displays a graphical bar indicating the percentage of the filesystem disk space used, along with the numeric total. The right side of the main window displays a treemap of the results. A treemap graphically displays the hierarchy of each folder in the system. The default treemap shows the filesystem as a whole.

To perform a detailed analysis of your system, select one of the four scanning buttons in
the toolbar:
• Scan Home: to analyze the folders contained in your home folder
• Scan Filesystem: to analyze the entire filesystem
• Scan Folder: to single out a folder to analyze
• Scan Remote Folder: to scan a remote filesystem

Be careful when selecting to scan the entire filesystem or a remote filesystem. Analyzing the disk space requires reading the entire disk area. This process can take some time, depending on the size of the disk and, in the case of a remote scan, network connectivity speeds.

The treemap view can seem confusing at first, but once you get the hang of it you’ll see that you can glean quite a bit of information from the treemap.

The treemap works from the core of the diagram outward. The core represents the top level of the tree. In my example, because I performed a home scan, the core is my home folder, /home/rich. If you hover the mouse pointer over the core, it shows the name of the folder and the amount of disk space used by that folder.

The next layer of rings depicts the next level of folders. In my home folder I have three subfolders. Each subfolder is a section of the first-layer ring, and its size is relative to the amount of used disk space in that subfolder.

The second layer of rings relate to the first layer. If there are subfolders beneath a subfolder, they appear in the second layer of rings, above their parent folder. Again, each folder in the second layer has a size relative to the amount of disk space it uses.

This process continues for however many subfolders are contained in the filesystem being analyzed. You can quickly spot areas that use the most disk space by looking at the relative size of the ring sections (you can compare ring section sizes only on the same layer). This tool provides a great way to see at a glance where all of your disk space is going!

Source of Information : Wiley Ubuntu Linux Secrets