The hard disk is one of the most essential hardware elements in any operating system since it installs both the system itself and the applications and programs that we have to use. In addition to this, it serves as accommodation for all our data and for making backup copies, so it is more than necessary to have precise control and management over it so that you always have the best performance and integrity features..
Low space problems
One of the most critical points to consider is related to the free space on the disk since if a storage medium reaches its capacity caps we will have problems such as:
- No access to the system or programs
- Failed to write or read data to disk
TechnoWikis will talk about a practical utility which is special for managing hard disk space and this tool is Filelight.
What is Filelight?
Filelight is a KDE utility that has been developed to help us fully understand how hard disk space is being used . This is represented graphically, taking the data from the file system, as a set of concentric segmented rings.
Once we have these graphics, it will be possible to use it in order to detect access points associated with disk usage and then work on them with a file manager. Filelight is a free and open source software that is available for Linux and similar operating systems under the GNU General Public License (GPL), Version 2.
1. Install Filelight on Linux
Step 1
To install Filelight we can use any of the following commands based on the distribution used:
sudo apt install filelight (Debian / Ubuntu) sudo yum install filelight (CentOS / RHEL) sudo dnf install filelight (Fedora)
Step 2
The following message will be displayed where we will enter the letter S to confirm the download and installation of Filelight, in this case in Ubuntu 18:
2. Access Filelight on Linux
Step 1
When the Filelight installation process is complete, we can access it from the system menu and thus be able to open it:
Step 2
When accessing this utility for the first time we will see the following where all the mounted file systems stand out (this based on the configured amount):
Step 3
Now, if the objective is to observe a file system in detail, just click on it and then move the mouse over the graphic design to see the existing files and subdirectories, clicking on it will start the scanning process:
Step 4
Once this is finished we will see the following:
Step 5
There we can detail how space is distributed for parameters such as swap memory, home directory, etc. Filelight allows us to scan an individual folder or directory in order to identify specific points of use such as files and subdirectories that take up more space, to achieve this, we will go to the “Browse / Browse folder†menu:
Step 6
It will be possible to select, if we wish, the option "Explore root folder" to explore the root folder or select the option "Explore the personal folder" to explore in detail the user folder. When selecting the "Browse folder" option, we must select the folder we want to analyze as Downloads, Documents, etc., and then click "Open":
Step 7
When you do this you will proceed with the analysis of this folder:
Step 8
It will be possible to click on each of the rings in each section to access much more detailed information on the space used:
Step 9
From the “Preferences†menu it will be possible to access certain configurations of both the shortcuts, toolbars and the utility configuration itself:
Step 10
Within the Filelight configuration options we have two sections that are:
Exploration
From this section we are able to exclude folders from Filelight analysis, as well as add more, by default certain folders are excluded. Another option is to activate the “Explore beyond file system limits†box so that the analysis is much deeper, that is, folders that are part of other file systems are scanned.
Note
A scan of remote file systems such as NFS or Samba mounts usually creates high network traffic, if we want to avoid scanning them, we must check the Exclude remote file systems box.
Appearance
There it will be possible to configure the color scheme that Filelight will use, as well as the level of transparency or font size:
Thus, this utility is essential and complete to determine how hard disk space is being used at the file system level in Linux..