4 Methods to check and Monitor Disk Usage in WordPress

Posted on September 11th, 2023

A website is like a puzzle made up of various essential parts. These include server space, JavaScript, jQuery files, and media files. In one of our articles, we talk about crucial WordPress maintenance tasks. In this article, we’ll dig deep into one of them: checking our server disk usage and how to keep it from getting too heavy.

Why is this important? Well, think of it as managing limited resources. We don’t have unlimited disk space and bandwidth, so it’s crucial to keep an eye on how we use them to ensure our website runs smoothly. Regular checks can solve problems before they become major issues.

Now, let’s talk about the benefits. There are many, but here are the key ones:

1. Efficiency: Checking our server space helps us make sure our website can store all the necessary data and files.
2. Security: It helps us identify and remove errors and harmful files, keeping our database and space clean.
3. Speed: A well-managed server loads faster and reduces the risk of data loss.
4. Organization: It makes our website more organized and efficient.
5. Accessibility: Proper management allows our website to be accessed from anywhere in the world.
6. SEO: It contributes to better search engine optimization and increased visibility.

These benefits are vital for any website or blog. Now, let’s explore how to check our disk usage and analyze our server disk. But before we dive into that, let’s get familiar with the basics of disks and folders in WordPress.

Disk Usage in WordPress

Each WordPress website is divided into two main parts Files and Database. A combination of these data will be stored in your server space. Here you can see the folders and data allocation.

• All the media files like images, videos, audio and documents accessed from media are typically stored in the wp-content/uploads folder.
• All the Theme Files like PHP, CSS, and JS will typically store in the /wp-content/themes folder.
• All the Plugin Files are typically stored in the /wp-content/plugins/ folder.
• WordPress core or main files are typically stored in the root folder or /wp-admin folder.

As we all know, WordPress.org is an open-source CMS, and it can be used for personal and commercial projects. You can download and use it from the WordPress.org official website. So, let’s dive in and learn more about WordPress and its disk usage. 

Method 1: Check Disk and Database Usage using Site Health Tool

WordPress is working on its latest version, called WordPress 6.1. WordPress 5.2 comes with a pre-built tool called Site Health. This feature lets us see all the valuable data and numbers from one place. The data and numbers mean we can check the complete directories, disk size usage, and all the existing databases. The Site Health tool comes with WordPress’s core features, meaning we can directly use this feature without any extra installation and plugins. This section describes all the important files and folders of the WordPress website.

Step 1: Goto your WordPress website Admin Area Dashboard using Your Username and Password.

Step 2: Then, Hover the cursor on the Tools section available on the right side of the screen. Then, click on the Site Health option as shown in the image below,

Site Health Status Tab

The first section is here as Status, which shows all the important suggestions and problems about the website. This section always recommends all the improvements as well as problems with solutions. It also shows the problem type and how it affects website performance and security. All these tasks will be helpful for your website. To resolve the issue, we need to click on the specific topic and solve it as per the instructions, as you can see in the image below. 

Site Health Info Tab

The second section is the ‘Health Info’ section, which contains detailed information about WordPress and its configurations. Within this section, you’ll find various drop-down sections, each providing specific details under their respective headings. For example, the first section, ‘WordPress,’ offers insights into WordPress’s core files and configurations.

To check disk usage and directories, navigate to the second drop-down section named ‘Directories and Sizes.’ Here, you’ll find a comprehensive list of directories, file locations, and their sizes, including the database and the total installation size of the website.

After going through the directories and file drop-down section, more sections like Database, Servers, Themes, and Plugins are available. All these sections are here to provide the information. Click on them to catch more details about your website.

The Site Health Tool is one of the most valuable features of Core WordPress. Before version 5.1, we had to install a third-party plugin and check the site’s health and disk space. But, now WordPress has upgraded and provides better management than any paid plugin. It’s one of the easiest ways to check site and disk health and the database.

Method 2: Check Disk Allocation Visually Using Disk Usage Sunburst Plugin

We discussed that we have dozens of WordPress plugins to complete one task. Each plugin must have similar as well as different features. As per this article, we’re learning how to analyse disk usage of WordPress websites. Here is another plugin with similar characteristics. The Disk Usage Sunburst WordPress Plugin is a great way to visualise your disk usage. It uses a sunburst chart to show you the amount of disk space used by each file and folder. This is a great way to see where your disk space is being used and how much is available.

Disk Usage Sunburst plugin allows you to see a visual representation of your disk usage. Using this plugin, you can quickly identify which files and folders take up the most space. This allows you to quickly delete or move large files and folders. The visual representation of disk space helps you see your disk usage over time to track your usage trends. So, follow the steps from here to install and activate the Disk Usage Sunburst plugin on WordPress. 

Step 1: Goto the WordPress Website Admin Area, Login using your Username and Password.

Step 2: From the dashboard, Hover the cursor on the Plugins tab section available on the right side of the screen. Then, click on the Add New option, as seen in the image below.

Step 3: On the Add New plugin page, click on the search field on the screen’s left side. Here, search for “Usage Sunburst”.

Step 4: Now, find the right plugin from the result list. It has a blue and white square icon. After finding the right plugin, click on the Install Now button available within the plugin box, as seen in the image below. 

Step 5: After a couple of minutes, the plugin will be installed, and the Install Now button will be replaced by Activate. Click on the Activate button to start using it on your WordPress website.

Step 6: Once you successfully install and activate the plugin, Hover the cursor on the Tools section on the right side. Then, click on the Disk Usage option, as seen in the image below.

Step 7: On this page, you will see a server disk space allocation graph, as seen in the image below. Each aligner sector is a folder. Just hover the cursor on the chart to identify the folder. It will show you that specific file or folder name and size as you move the cursor.

Step 8: Now, click on the specific part o the graph to expand it. Once you click, it will auto-arrange and show you all the files and sizes of that particular folder. Then, you can again click on the file to see how much space it requires or allocate on the server disk.

Step 9: Here, we see the uploads folder in the image below. You can see the uploads folder size on the cursor. 

Step 10: After understanding the file and folder allocation, go back to the default state and click the middle of the circle. Once you click, it will go one step backward per its hierarchy.

Congratulations, you just learned how to analyse server disk space visually. You can install an open-source WordPress plugin on the WordPress website and track their disk space visually.

Method 3: Check Database Usage using Advanced Database Cleaner Plugin

When it comes to WordPress Disk and Usage management, you can find dozens of free and paid plugins. These plugins come with unique and advanced features which are more valuable. It allows us to collect all the information about the Disk and Database. We also can use these plugins to remove unnecessary files and clean the important space. So, in this tutorial, we will learn how to use one of the useful plugins, Advanced Database Cleaner, to check database and disk usage. But before that, let’s understand the plugin and its features.

Step 1: Log in to your WordPress Admin Area using your Username and Password. 

Step 2: Then, Hover the cursor on the Plugins tab section and click on the Add New option, as shown in the image below.

Step 3: On, Add a new plugin page, a search field is available on Left-Side of the screen. Click on Search Field and search for “Advanced Database Cleaner”.

Step 4: Find the right plugin, as shown in the image below. Click on the Install now button available within the selected plugin box, as seen in the image below. 

Step 5: Now, Click on the Activate button to start using the plugin on the WordPress website.

Step 6: After activating the plugin, Click on the “WP DB Cleaner” option available on the left side of the screen. Then, you will see a Tab Section on the top of the Advanced DB Cleaner configuration page. Then, click on the second tab called “Tables”, as shown in the image below.

Step 7: This plugin will display all the Databases or Tables in the Tables tab section. Scroll down, and you will have a list of all the tables in your database with size in KB. 

In addition to checking the size of the tables in your WordPress database, You can also quickly optimise it with just a few clicks. You can optimise the tables to free up some space on your hosting account.

Method 4: Check Disk Usage using Disk Space Usage Plugin

The Disk Space Usage WordPress plugin is a simple yet powerful tool available as a freemium feature. It helps you keep track of your website’s disk space, RAM, and CPU usage. Using this Plugin, you can quickly see how much disk space your website uses and track your other peripherals like CPU and RAM. But we need a premium version of this Plugin to see RAM and CPU usage. These features will allow you to catch any misbehaviours and other malicious files. The Plugin also allows you to set up email alerts to be notified when your website’s disk space usage reaches a certain threshold. This Plugin is one of the best examples of simple and powerful plugins. Let’s learn how to use the Disk Usage Plugin on WordPress websites. 

Step 1: Goto the WordPress Admin Area and log in using your Username and Password.

Step 2: From the Dashboard, Hover the cursor on Plugin’s tab section. Then click on the Add New option on the left side of the screen, as shown in the image below.

Step 3: On the Add New plugin page, you can see a search field on the right. Click on the search field and search for “Disk Space Usage”.

Step 4: Find the right Plugin with a green icon. After you find the Plugin, click on the Install Now button that is available within the plugin box, as seen in the image below.

Step 5: After the successful installation, the Install Now button will be replaced with Activate button. Click on the Activate button to start using this Plugin on your WordPress Website.

Step 6: Come to the WordPress Dashboard to see the Website Space Usage.

Step 7: Here, a Widget appears on the Dashboard that shows the used and remaining disk space, as seen in the image below.

Congratulations, you just learned how we can check the WordPress website’s Disk, Memory and CPU usage using the Disk Space Usage plugin. Now you can install and use this powerful Plugin on different websites. As well as it will help you with data analysis and alerts.

Conclusion

This article teaches several ways to check our WordPress website disk space and database. These methods are straightforward, and any technical skills are not needed. As discussed, we have dozens of plugins to complete such essential tasks. We used some of the free plugins in this article. These plugins are available on the WordPress Plugins repository for free. So, try these methods on different WordPress websites and make them more optimised and speedy.