Frequently Asked Questions about Files, Directories And Disk Quotas

I Deleted A File. How Do I Get It Back?

On UNIX systems:

You can recover files that existed the previous midnight using the recover (1) command. If it's been more than a day, use the Restore Request Form on the authenticated website to request a restore from our backup tapes. Files that were deleted the same day they were created can not be restored.

On Windows systems:

Use the Restore Request Form on the authenticated website to request the restoration of your files. Files that were deleted the same day they were created can not be restored.

See Also:

• BackupFAQs

How Much Disk Space Am I Using?

On UNIX systems:

• fs listquota ~: This will report the AFS quota and current disk space usage for your account (home directory), in 1K blocks.
• To see how much disk space a particular directory is using, use the du command. See the man page for details.

On Windows systems:

• type <CTRL-ALT-DELETE> to bring up the CSL Windows Information Panel. The AFS quota and current disk space usage information for your account will be in the top half of the panel.

My Disk Quota Is Full, What Can I Do?

If your disk quota is full, the best thing for you to do is to examine the files in your directory and try to reduce the amount of data you have there. This may involve deleting files that are not needed or compressing files that are old.

How do I find out what files are taking up lots of space?

See the Documentation on LFF for finding large files and directories

Removing files:

On UNIX systems:

Use rm to delete a file.

Some files you can safely delete to free disk space are:

• ~/.mozilla.common/cache: mozilla browser cache
• ~/.netscape/.cache: netscape browser cache
• core: files from programs that crashed

On Windows systems:

Use the mouse to select files in Windows Explorer, and then press Delete to delete files.

Some files you can safely delete to free disk space are:

• U:.mozilla.common/cache: mozilla browser cache
• U:.netscape/.cache: netscape browser cache

Note:It is much safer to clean browser caches from within the browser itself:

1. Start browser
2. Select Edit | Preferences
3. Open the Advanced drop-down
4. Select Cache
5. Select Clear Disk Cache button
6. Reset disk cache size as appropriate for your disk quota to keep this from happening again.

Compressing files:

On UNIX systems:

Use gzip or zip.

On Windows systems:

Use Wiz

Some files that you may want to compress are:

• Project files from previous classes
• Project files from previous projects in your current class

How Are Disk Quotas Determined?

Students are allocated disk space according to the courses they are enrolled in. In addition, declared CS majors receive an addition amount. Since these values change frequently (sometimes several times a semester) they are not included here.

How Can I Get More Disk Space?

If you are an instructional user the disk space for your class has been set by the CSL in consultation with the faculty, based on past use and anticipated needs of students in each course. If the quota given proves to be too low for most of the class it's disk quota could be enlarged. However, individual exceptions aren't made. If you're a research user you can request a disk space increase from your advisor or purchase additional disks.

What Are The .__afsXXXX Files In My Home Directory?

They are temporary reference files used by the AFS Cache Manager.

In UNIX filesystems, when you a remove a file that is kept open by a process, the file stays around physically while it is no longer referenced in any directory (which you will see as a mismatch between disk space usage according to df and du).

Some applications rely on that feature, e.g. they create a temporary file and remove it immediately while keeping the file descriptor open. The file then disappears from the filesystem automagically when the process terminates or the file descriptor gets closed otherwise. Such applications could get into trouble with older versions of AFS, where the file could really disappear while it was held open.

Newer versions of AFS rename such files to .__afsXXXX, thus making sure that the data stays around as expected by the application. As soon as the file gets closed, the associated .__afsXXXX should disappear.

If these files are weeks or months old, feel free to remove them.

See Also:

• AfsHowTo