How to Find Files That Take Up a Lot of Space on Linux

What this is

This guide helps you identify large files and directories that are filling your VPS disk.

What it is for

• Fix “disk full” problems
• Locate big logs, backups, uploads, cache

Prerequisites

• SSH access
• Sudo privileges may be needed to scan all directories

Step-by-step

Step 1) Confirm disk usage

df -h

Step 2) Find the largest directories under / (quick overview)

sudo du -xh / --max-depth=2 2>/dev/null | sort -h | tail -n 20

Expected output: Top 20 largest directories (depth 2).

Step 3) Drill down into a large directory

Example for /var:

sudo du -xh /var --max-depth=2 2>/dev/null | sort -h | tail -n 20

Step 4) Find large files (example: bigger than 1GB)

sudo find / -type f -size +1G -print 2>/dev/null | head -n 50

What it does: Lists files larger than 1GB.

Step 5) Show file sizes for a directory (human readable)

sudo find /var -type f -printf "%s %p\n" 2>/dev/null | sort -n | tail -n 20

Warnings & safe cleanup notes

• Do not delete database files or system files unless you are sure.
• Large log files can often be rotated instead of deleted.
• Backups may be safe to move to external storage.

Final verification

df -h

Conclusion

With du and find, you can quickly locate disk usage hotspots and plan safe cleanup.