How to Find Reason for Recent Storage Increase

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LThibx59
Starting out
Posts: 15
Joined: Sat May 02, 2015 4:59 am

How to Find Reason for Recent Storage Increase

Post by LThibx59 »

NAS: TS-569 Pro running QTS 4.3.4.2242

So I have this NAS upon which I did some disk clean up last week, freeing up some space. At that time I had approx 2TB+ free space.
This NAS is used as a backup target for 2 other NASes. Normally disk space usage could be predictable, but in the last week disk usage went from about 75% to 100%.
My post here is determine best way to determine what files / folders caused the increase. I know I could use File Station and possibly sort / filter by date and use that to research.
But I thought there might be a better way so I decided to employ ChatGPT with the following query:

On QNAP NAS Explain how to find what files caused recent disk usage increase

ChatGPT returned:
To find which files caused recent disk usage increase on a QNAP NAS, you can follow these steps:
Log in to your QNAP NAS using an administrator account.
Open the QTS desktop interface and click on "Storage & Snapshots" in the left-hand menu.
Click on "Storage" in the sub-menu to view the current disk usage of your NAS.
To see the recent changes in disk usage, click on the "History" button located in the upper-right corner of the page.
In the "History" section, select the time range during which you noticed the disk usage increase.
Click on the "Filter" button located on the right side of the page.
In the "Filter" section, select "Used Capacity" and choose "Greater than" from the dropdown list. Enter the percentage or size of the increase that you want to investigate.
After selecting the appropriate filter, click on "Apply" to update the page.
You can now see the folders or files that caused the recent disk usage increase, sorted by their size or percentage increase.
To investigate further, you can click on the folder or file name to see its properties, such as its location and last modified date.
By following these steps, you can easily identify the files that caused the recent disk usage increase on your QNAP NAS and take appropriate action to manage your storage space more effectively, such as deleting unnecessary files or moving them to a different location.

I have been using QNAPs for years. Not aware of a 'History' button, nor can I find one.
Maybe I am missing something?
BTW. The primary reason for my post here is for feedback on a best way to find what files / folders caused the recent increase, not about ChatGPT (I had hoped that it would provide a valid solution, but apparently not).

Thanks
Lonnie
FSC830
Experience counts
Posts: 2043
Joined: Thu Mar 03, 2016 1:11 am

Re: How to Find Reason for Recent Storage Increase

Post by FSC830 »

LThibx59 wrote: Tue Mar 28, 2023 7:50 pm NAS: TS-569 Pro running QTS 4.3.4.2242

So I have this NAS upon which I did some disk clean up last week, freeing up some space. At that time I had approx 2TB+ free space.
...
Did you check the network bin if there is any data inside?
And how did you do your cleanup exactly, deleting shares?
When deleting shares, the data is not deleted by default, except you clicked on the appropriate checkbox.
A TS-x69 is not capable of snapshots, so ChatGPT was wrong, there is no such menu. Its simply the storage manager the NAS knows in this QTS.

Regards
LThibx59
Starting out
Posts: 15
Joined: Sat May 02, 2015 4:59 am

Re: How to Find Reason for Recent Storage Increase

Post by LThibx59 »

I did not remove any shares, just some of the files and folders within. Also checked and cleared all recycle bins.
As stated, this NAS is used as a backup target for other NASes, and also workstation backups. Usually can predict usage increase. Not normally likely to go from 6.67 TB to 8.12TB in a week's time.
I will be replacing the current disks with larger capacity disks, so in near future, it won't be a problem. Was just curious if there was a better way to determine usage increase.
Appreciate the feedback.

P.S. As I was writing this i was clearing the recycle bins again, and I can see that is where the accumulation occurred as clearing them reduced usage from 100% to about 78%.
So that does provide an answer to my question. I currently have the retention to 10 days, I will reduce it to 5 days in attempt to keep things going until I get new disks in.

And yes, I do know that I have a bad drive, that just showed up yesterday evening while attempting to deal with this issue...guess the strain was just too much for it...it is only 9+ years old. :ubergeek:



Lonnie
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