To see how much disk space is taken up by the contents of a directory, use
the du command. If given alone, without specifying a directory, the
default is to list the disk usage (in kilobytes) for the current directory,
followed by the separately-labeled disk usage of all subdirectories. The
final number given is the total of all the subdirectories added together.
If you include a target directory, the same listing will occur, except that
the listing will start with the target directory. The du command
is often useful when you get warnings from the system telling you to reduce
your disk usage by a certain amount.
A more general way to get disk information when you've received a warning
from the system is to use the quota command:
quota -v
Will produce output similar to the following:
Filesystem usage quota limit timeleft /sulu 9091 9000 50000 1.42 weeks
Usage is your current disk usage in kilobytes, quota is the
soft quota for your account. Limit is your hard quota. Timeleft
will appear only if your account is over its disk quota; it refers to the
amount of time you have to get your disk usage down below your allowed quota.
If you fail to reduce your disk usage within the timeleft period, you
will be denied access to your account.
A user may exceed his soft quota for short periods of time. When you
reach this limit, the system will give you a warning every time you try
to create or write a file. You can not exceed your hard limit, ever.
Once the hard limit is reached, the system will not allow you to create
any files, or save any edit sessions.
Please remember that disk space is a finite and limited resource which all
users share. We do not have nearly enough disk space for all users to be
at their soft quotas, and we certainly don't have enough for many to be at
their hard limits. Requests for increased disk quotas will only be accepted
if you can demonstrate genuine need and can show that your current usage
is justified.