Storage usage in cPanel account is 30GB, dev/sda2 listed as 294GB

[DC27]

Good day!

I am confused about an issue I am having.

My cPanel account is listed as 30GB, yet my dev/sda2 folder is at 294GB. I only have 20% of storage left on my 400GB SSD and would like to know what the causes could be.

I am thinking that perhaps it has to do with the backups stored on the server? I am keeping 5 daily backups, 3 weekly and 3 monthly. This is probably an issue?

Please note I am still new to the whole cPanel and WHM, so apologies if this is a "noob" question. Appreciate any advice on what could be causing the dev/sda2 folder to fill up so quickly.

 

[dalem]

Your cpanel user account is separate from your server


your OS/cpanel install is on your /dev/sda2

if you want to know what folder is using what on your server run this from cli


du -sh /*

 

[DC27]

Your cpanel user account is separate from your server


your OS/cpanel install is on your /dev/sda2

if you want to know what folder is using what on your server run this from cli


du -sh /*

Thank you so much for your reply, appreciate it! I will be doing this and see, I just find it strange that the VPS fills up so quickly.

 

[SamuelM]

Hello @DC27

It is certainly possible for your backups to be responsible for the majority of disk usage. I often find this to be the case. The default backup directory is /backup. If you have root access and are able to login to the server via SSH, you can find the size of the /backup directory and its subdirectories with the following command:

du -sch /backup/*

For a 400 GB disk, 20% of available space seems sufficient for most normal use cases. However, if you would like to automatically transfer your backups to a remote destination to save space on the local disk, you can configure that in the Additional Destinations section of the Backup Configuration page in WHM:

https://docs.cpanel.net/whm/backup/backup-configuration/#the-additional-destinations-tab

Please let us know if you have any questions. Best regards

 

[ZenHostingTravis]

You should transfer your backups to a remote destination.

If you make incremental backups using cPanel or software such as JetBackup, you could potentially save using a lot of disk space.

Something to think about.

 

[DC27]

Hello @DC27

It is certainly possible for your backups to be responsible for the majority of disk usage. I often find this to be the case. The default backup directory is /backup. If you have root access and are able to login to the server via SSH, you can find the size of the /backup directory and its subdirectories with the following command:

du -sch /backup/*

https://docs.cpanel.net/whm/backup/backup-configuration/#the-additional-destinations-tab

Please let us know if you have any questions. Best regards

Hi cPSamuel! Just want to say thank you for your reply. It was my backups which were taking too much space. I had two monthly backups and they were quite big and when I deleted them using SSH, I was able to retrieve some lost space.

Thanks for your support, it is appreciated.

 

[DC27]

You should transfer your backups to a remote destination.

If you make incremental backups using cPanel or software such as JetBackup, you could potentially save using a lot of disk space.

Something to think about.

Hi ZenHostingTravis! Thanks for your feedback and suggestions! I have set up a remote FTP server where backups will be saved to using the additional destinations feature in WHM. Feeling a lot better now that my available storage space is back to 70%!

 

[ZenHostingTravis]

Hi ZenHostingTravis! Thanks for your feedback and suggestions! I have set up a remote FTP server where backups will be saved to using the additional destinations feature in WHM. Feeling a lot better now that my available storage space is back to 70%!

Glad to hear it.

Thanks for updating us!