Analyzing and reducing disk space usage in MySQL
Jul 08, 2025 am 01:45 AMTo reduce MySQL disk usage, first find the table that takes up the most space by querying information_schema; secondly, clean up unnecessary historical data and delete or archive it in batches; then optimize the table structure and indexes, such as deleting redundant indexes, adjusting field types, splitting large field tables, and performing OPTIMIZE TABLE to reclaim free space; finally, consider enabling InnoDB table compression or using partitioned tables to further save storage space.
MySQL often swells quietly, especially when data volumes grow rapidly or without regular maintenance. If left uncontrolled, it may result in disk full load, performance degradation and even service interruption. To reduce MySQL disk usage, deleting data is not enough, and you also need to start from multiple aspects.

See which tables take up the most space
The first step is to figure out who is "eating" the disk. You can find out the tables that take up the largest space by querying information_schema
:

SELECT table_schema AS `Database`, table_name AS `Table`, round((data_length index_length) / 1024 / 1024, 2) AS `Size (MB)` FROM information_schema.tables ORDER BY (data_length index_length) DESC LIMIT 10;
This statement can help you quickly locate the big table. Usually, data tables of log and history are most likely to become "big investors". After finding it, you can focus on analyzing whether these tables really need to retain so much data.
Clean up unnecessary data
For those historical data that are not really needed, the most direct way is to delete (DELETE) or archive (Archive). But there are a few points to note:

Don't delete too much at once : For example, if you plan to delete the log from a year ago, if you directly execute
DELETE FROM logs WHERE created_at < '2023-01-01'
, the table locking time may be too long, affecting the business.It is recommended to delete in batches : you can use a script to loop the delete, delete several thousand pieces each time, and add a sleep in the middle, for example:
DELETE FROM logs WHERE created_at < '2023-01-01' LIMIT 10000; -- Wait for a few seconds
Consider archives instead of deleting them directly : If you are not sure whether they will be used in the future, you can export and save the data first, and then delete it from the main library.
In addition, some tables may have a large amount of "soft delete" marking data (such as status=deleted), and you can also consider cleaning this part.
Optimize table structure and index
Sometimes, space waste is not because of the large amount of data, but because of the unreasonable structural design. for example:
- Used too large field types, such as
TEXT
orVARCHAR(1000)
and only use a few dozen characters; - Store duplicate data without standardization;
- Too many indexes have been built, especially for fields with frequent updates, which not only occupy space but also affects the writing speed.
The following points can be considered:
- Drop unnecessary indexes;
- Change certain fields to more appropriate data types;
- For large fields that are frequently queried but rarely modified, they can be split into separate tables and join on demand.
Another operation that is often ignored is: OPTIMIZE TABLE . When you delete a large amount of data, the space of the InnoDB table will not be automatically released to the system. You need to manually run this command to rebuild the table and recycle the empty space.
Enable compression or use partition tables (advanced)
If your data itself is difficult to reduce, consider enabling InnoDB table compression, which is a good choice for storage-intensive tables. The setup method is relatively simple, you only need to add:
ROW_FORMAT=COMPRESSED KEY_BLOCK_SIZE=8
However, be careful that compression will increase the CPU burden and decompress it when reading.
Another way is to use partition tables to separate historical data from current data. For example, partitioning by time, old data is placed in a separate partition, which is easy to manage and facilitates later archiving or migration.
Basically that's it. Reasonably clean up data, optimize structure, and appropriate compression can effectively alleviate MySQL's disk pressure. What is not complicated but easy to ignore is: regular inspection and maintenance.
The above is the detailed content of Analyzing and reducing disk space usage in MySQL. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!

Hot AI Tools

Undress AI Tool
Undress images for free

Undresser.AI Undress
AI-powered app for creating realistic nude photos

AI Clothes Remover
Online AI tool for removing clothes from photos.

Clothoff.io
AI clothes remover

Video Face Swap
Swap faces in any video effortlessly with our completely free AI face swap tool!

Hot Article

Hot Tools

Notepad++7.3.1
Easy-to-use and free code editor

SublimeText3 Chinese version
Chinese version, very easy to use

Zend Studio 13.0.1
Powerful PHP integrated development environment

Dreamweaver CS6
Visual web development tools

SublimeText3 Mac version
God-level code editing software (SublimeText3)

Hot Topics

To add MySQL's bin directory to the system PATH, it needs to be configured according to the different operating systems. 1. Windows system: Find the bin folder in the MySQL installation directory (the default path is usually C:\ProgramFiles\MySQL\MySQLServerX.X\bin), right-click "This Computer" → "Properties" → "Advanced System Settings" → "Environment Variables", select Path in "System Variables" and edit it, add the MySQLbin path, save it and restart the command prompt and enter mysql--version verification; 2.macOS and Linux systems: Bash users edit ~/.bashrc or ~/.bash_

The key steps for installing MySQL on Windows 11 are as follows: 1. Download the correct version, select the Windows MSI installation package and ensure that the system is 64-bit; 2. Select the "Custom" mode during installation, add MySQLServer and set the appropriate installation path; 3. Run the configuration wizard, select the "ServerComputer" configuration type, set the root password, and select the automatic startup method; 4. After the test installation is successful, if the prompt command is unavailable, add the MySQL bin directory to the system PATH environment variable. Follow these steps to complete the installation and configuration smoothly.

To reset the root password of MySQL, please follow the following steps: 1. Stop the MySQL server, use sudosystemctlstopmysql or sudosystemctlstopmysqld; 2. Start MySQL in --skip-grant-tables mode, execute sudomysqld-skip-grant-tables&; 3. Log in to MySQL and execute the corresponding SQL command to modify the password according to the version, such as FLUSHPRIVILEGES;ALTERUSER'root'@'localhost'IDENTIFIEDBY'your_new

When handling NULL values ??in MySQL, please note: 1. When designing the table, the key fields are set to NOTNULL, and optional fields are allowed NULL; 2. ISNULL or ISNOTNULL must be used with = or !=; 3. IFNULL or COALESCE functions can be used to replace the display default values; 4. Be cautious when using NULL values ??directly when inserting or updating, and pay attention to the data source and ORM framework processing methods. NULL represents an unknown value and does not equal any value, including itself. Therefore, be careful when querying, counting, and connecting tables to avoid missing data or logical errors. Rational use of functions and constraints can effectively reduce interference caused by NULL.

Common problems with installing MySQL on Windows include the service cannot be started, the port is occupied or the configuration failed. The solutions are as follows: 1. When encountering "MySQL80 service cannot be started", you should stop and delete the old service, clean up residual data, or use the "Remove" function that comes with the installer; 2. If an error is reported as "Error:1053" when starting the service, you need to check the log to confirm the port conflict and modify the port number in my.ini; 3. When the configuration wizard prompts "Service not responding", check and end the unresponsive mysqld.exe process, or manually run mysqld--console to view the output; 4. If the connection to the database is denied, you can use the password-free login method to reset the root user password.

Turn on MySQL slow query logs and analyze locationable performance issues. 1. Edit the configuration file or dynamically set slow_query_log and long_query_time; 2. The log contains key fields such as Query_time, Lock_time, Rows_examined to assist in judging efficiency bottlenecks; 3. Use mysqldumpslow or pt-query-digest tools to efficiently analyze logs; 4. Optimization suggestions include adding indexes, avoiding SELECT*, splitting complex queries, etc. For example, adding an index to user_id can significantly reduce the number of scanned rows and improve query efficiency.

mysqldump is a common tool for performing logical backups of MySQL databases. It generates SQL files containing CREATE and INSERT statements to rebuild the database. 1. It does not back up the original file, but converts the database structure and content into portable SQL commands; 2. It is suitable for small databases or selective recovery, and is not suitable for fast recovery of TB-level data; 3. Common options include --single-transaction, --databases, --all-databases, --routines, etc.; 4. Use mysql command to import during recovery, and can turn off foreign key checks to improve speed; 5. It is recommended to test backup regularly, use compression, and automatic adjustment.

TosecurelyconnecttoaremoteMySQLserver,useSSHtunneling,configureMySQLforremoteaccess,setfirewallrules,andconsiderSSLencryption.First,establishanSSHtunnelwithssh-L3307:localhost:3306user@remote-server-Nandconnectviamysql-h127.0.0.1-P3307.Second,editMyS
