# Chapter 15. Optimizing Disk Space

#### Contents:

Disk Space Is Cheap
Instead of Removing a File, Empty It
Save Space with "Bit Bucket" Log Files and Mailboxes
Save Space with a Link
Limiting File Sizes
Compressing Files to Save Space
Save Space: tar and compress a Directory Tree
How Much Disk Space?
Compressing a Directory Tree: Fine-Tuning
Save Space in Executable Files with strip
Disk Quotas

## 15.1. Disk Space Is Cheap

Many of the techniques in this chapter aren't nearly as applicable as they once were. At the time of this writing, EIDE disks are about a dollar a gigabyte; even fast-wide SCSI isn't that expensive. Often the solution to running low on disk space is just to buy more.

That said, many of these techniques illustrate useful things to know about Unix. It's common these days to run Unix on an old, spare machine where it's not worth the trouble of upgrading the disks. You may also be dealing with a Unix box at work or school that uses expensive, highly reliable disks with expensive backup procedures in place, where more disk space just isn't an option. It never hurts to know how to eke the last few bytes out of a partition.

This chapter also has a lot of information about compressing and decompressing files, which is fairly common. (These days, you may well compress files to save network bandwidth rather than disk space, but the same principles apply.) So enjoy exploring!

-- DH

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