To quickly find the most space-consuming files and directories in the system, it can be achieved through command line and graphical tools. 1. Use the find command to find large files, such as: find /path/to/search -type f -size 1G; 2. Use the du command to analyze directory occupancy, such as: du -h /path/to/check | sort -hr | head -n 20; 3. Linux users can use Disk Usage Analyzer (baobab) for graphical analysis; 4. macOS users can use OmniDiskSweeper or DaisyDisk; 5. Windows users can view detailed directory occupancy through "Storage" settings or third-party tools WinDirStat and TreeSize Free.

Want to quickly find the most space-consuming files and directories in your system? In fact, the method is much simpler than you think. The point is to use command line tools, which are not only efficient, but are also brought in most systems without additional installation.

View the largest file: Use the find command to filter

If you just want to find a few particularly large files, such as files larger than 1GB, you can use the find command:

 find /path/to/search -type f -size 1G

• /path/to/search can be replaced with the location you want to find, such as /home or /var .
• -type f means to find only files.
• -size 1G is the size condition, you can also write it as 500M to find files above 500MB.

This command is suitable for use when a directory is suspected to have large files. For example, download directories, log directories or user home directories are common "hiding places".

Analyze the directory occupancy: du is a good helper

Want to know which directories take up the most space? Try the du (disk usage) command:

 du -h /path/to/check | sort -hr | head -n 20

• -h makes the output easier to read, for example, displaying as GB/MB.
• sort -hr sorted by size, -h supports human-readable format.
• head -n 20 only displays the first 20 results to avoid information overload.

After executing this command, you will see the size ranking of each subdirectories in the current path. For example, you may find that /var/log or /home/user/Downloads takes up a lot of space.

Tips: If you only want to see the statistics in the current directory, you can add a -d 1 parameter to limit the depth:

 du -h -d 1 /path/to/check | sort -hr

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Graphical interface can also be done: use Disk Usage Analyzer (Linux)

If you don't like the command line very much, Linux systems usually come with a tool called Disk Usage Analyzer , which is also called baobab . The opening method is usually:

• Search for "Disk Usage Analyzer" in GNOME desktop environment
• Or run the command baobab directly (need to be installed)

It will use graphical methods to display the space usage of each directory. Click in to see which files are "eating" the hard disk.

macOS users also have similar tools called OmniDiskSweeper or DaisyDisk . Although it is not installed by default, it is very intuitive to use.

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How to check on Windows?

Windows users can do this:

• Open "Settings" → "System" → "Storage", and the system will automatically analyze and list the occupancy of various files.
• Third-party tools such as WinDirStat and TreeSize Free provide more detailed directory analysis functions, with a clear interface and easy operation.

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Basically these are the methods. Although there are a lot of steps, the two or three commands are commonly used. After proficiency, you can locate the problem in a few minutes.

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