Check your home directory quota on the IU research supercomputers

• Overview
• Check your quota
• Find large directories
  • Use the du command
  • Use the ncdu command
• Get help

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Overview

Check your quota

Find large directories

Use the du command

If you are close to exceeding your home directory disk quota and want to see which directories are consuming the most space, you can use the du command (a default utility available on each of the IU research supercomputers) with the -d option to list subdirectories and their sizes down to any level of depth within each subdirectory tree.

For example, to view the sizes of the directories contained in your home directory space, and the sizes of the subdirectories within those directories:

1. Log into one of the research supercomputers via SSH, or open a Terminal window in Research Desktop (RED).
2. Navigate to your home directory's parent directory; on the command line, enter:

   cd ..

3. View the directories contained in your home directory's parent directory (all of which are included in your home directory quota); on the command line, enter:

   ls -al

4. View the disk usage for those directories and the subdirectories they contain; on the command line, enter:

   du -h -d 2

   In the above du command:

   • The -h option makes the output display in kilobytes, megabytes, and gigabytes.
   • The -d 2 flag makes du summarize disk usage down to two levels below the current location (in this example, your home directory's parent directory). Use a larger number to view disk usage farther down in your home directory's tree of subdirectories.

   Additionally, the total disk space consumed by your entire home directory tree is shown on the last line of output.

To get details about disk usage within a directory that's consuming a lot of space, navigate to that directory, and then use the du command.

Use the ncdu command

On the IU research supercomputers and Research Desktop (RED), you can load the ncdu module, and then use it to scan your home directory space to determine which subdirectories are using the most disk space:

1. Log into one of the IU research supercomputers via SSH, or open a Terminal window in RED.
2. Load the ncdu module; on the command line, enter:

   module load ncdu

3. Navigate to your home directory's parent directory; on the command line, enter:

   cd ..

4. On the command line, enter:

   ncdu

   Wait while the application scans your home directory tree; scanning progress will be displayed in the terminal window. If you are consuming a lot of your home directory space, the scan may take a while to complete.

5. When the scan is complete, the application will list your home directory subdirectories and their sizes. You can use your keyboard to move through the subdirectories:

   Keys	Actions
   Up, Down, j, k	Cycle through items
   Right, l, Enter/Return	Open selected directory
   Left, <, h	Go to the parent directory
   n	Order by filename
   s	Order by file size
   i	Show information about the current selected item
   q	Quit and return to the command prompt

For complete documentation about the ncdu command, see its manual page; on the command line, enter man ncdu.

Get help

For more about navigating and managing your home directory space, see About home directory space on IU research supercomputers.