Trying to get the size of some directories.

[elija]

This is on RHEL 4 in case it makes a difference.

The directories I am trying to size have a huge number of sub-directories and files and I am finding the using

du -sh /path/to/dir

is taking a hellishly long time. I am in my early forties and need these figures before I retire. (Not sure if I'm joking)

Is there a faster way to get the size of a directory?

Thanks

[rokytnji]

Just wondering if ya made a type oh with

du -hs

and instead you are actually typing in

du -sh

which is the only command I know elija for getting directory and sub files size in advance by the way.

[rokytnji]

I wonder if Redhat has a Disk Usage Analyser tool Like they have in Ubuntu? It pulls up Directory Sizes up pretty quick.

[elija]

Thanks. Edited original post.

[chinmayrhcss]

Hi,
Redhat has a disk usage analyzer tool. U can get that tool by using a command called baobab or Application->System tools-> Disk usage Analyzer

[elija]

Is that a graphical tool?

This has to be done via ssh terminal only and there will tens of thousands of sub directories to process so I imagine it is always going to take a little while.

I gave up and Ctrl + C'd after 1/2 hour yesterday do you think I was being impatient?

[Lakshmipathi]

Is that a graphical tool?

yes,elija it's GUI. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baobab_(software)
File:Baobab screenshot.png - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Scanning using command line (du -ksh ) sure to take time....Even above GUI will take some time ....

What's your disk size ?

[Roxoff]

Is that a graphical tool?

This has to be done via ssh terminal only and there will tens of thousands of sub directories to process so I imagine it is always going to take a little while.

I gave up and Ctrl + C'd after 1/2 hour yesterday do you think I was being impatient?

I think half an hour is a little bit impatient. If you have a huge number of subdirectories then it's going to take time to count the used space.

Can you get an estimate using 'df'? You might be able to speed it up with the 'nice' command, but it's still going to be limited by the physical i/o speed of the disk.

[Lakshmipathi]

Roxoff is correct,using nice is the best option to speed up the operation.
If you think RAM is small - create a swap or increase swap size ..might be useful for you.

[elija]

I'm just trying to get an idea of how backup space we need to buy so I might have to leave it running