# How can I find the biggest folders on my VPS?
Source: https://vpsdime.com/knowledgebase/technical-questions/biggest-folders
Last reviewed: 2026-07-02
Summary: The three ways to map disk usage, du sorted for the quick answer, ncdu for interactive exploration (the best tool), and the drill-down method that finds any space hog in under a minute, plus the deleted-but-held and inode cases that fool du entirely.

## What this is

Mapping where the disk went. This is the tool half; if the disk is actually **full** and things are breaking, [the disk-full guide](https://vpsdime.com/knowledgebase/troubleshooting/disk-full) is the emergency version with the cleanup advice, this page is the measurement skill on its own.

## du, the built-in answer

```
du -xhd1 / | sort -h
```

Sizes of every top-level directory, sorted, biggest last. The flags earn their keep: `-x` stays on one filesystem, `-h` human units, `-d1` one level deep. Then **drill down**, re-run against the biggest entry (`du -xhd1 /var | sort -h`), and again, three or four hops finds any hog. Impatient variant: `du -xh / 2>/dev/null | sort -h | tail -30` dumps the 30 biggest directories at *any* depth in one go.

## ncdu, the tool worth installing

```
apt install ncdu
ncdu -x /
```

The same data as an **interactive browser**: arrow into directories, sizes always sorted, `d` deletes (carefully), `q` quits. One scan, then you explore instantly instead of re-running du per level. For a Windows VPS the equivalent is [WinDirStat](https://vpsdime.com/knowledgebase/windows-vps/disk-full-windows).

## When the numbers don't add up

Two classic cases where `df` says full but du can't find it:

- **Deleted-but-open files**: a deleted log a running service still holds open keeps consuming space invisibly, `lsof +L1` lists them; restarting the holder releases the space ([the disk-full guide covers it](https://vpsdime.com/knowledgebase/troubleshooting/disk-full)).
- **Out of inodes, not bytes**: millions of tiny files, du's *size* view won't show it, [`du --inodes` and its own guide](https://vpsdime.com/knowledgebase/troubleshooting/out-of-inodes).

## Still need help?

You can [open a support ticket](https://vpsdime.com/open-ticket/). So we can help on the first reply, it's worth mentioning:

- the VPS hostname or IP,
- the `du` or ncdu output for the directory in question.

## Related questions

- "How do I see which folders use the most disk space?"
- "How do I find the largest files on my VPS?"
- "What's the ncdu command and why is it better than du?"
- "df says the disk is full but du can't find the space, why?"