Where Did My Disk Space Go? Reclaiming Space From Local Backups, Cache and Dumps

It’s a common surprise: you delete a few sites, but the server’s disk usage barely moves — or your total site sizes add up to far less than what the disk shows as used. The difference usually isn’t a bug; it’s disk usage that lives outside the site folders xCloud counts as “site size.”

Why usage is higher than your sites add up to

Site usage in xCloud counts the site’s own folders — its files and its database. It does not count everything else living on the server disk: local backup archives, page and object cache, and log files all take up real space but aren’t part of any one site’s reported size.

Find the big folders first

Before guessing, check where the space actually is: go to Server → Monitoring → Largest Files & Folders. This is a server-level scan, and it typically surfaces the same handful of culprits — /root/.backup, log files, wp-content/cache, and upload directories.

Local backups on active sites

If a site still exists, its local backup archives live under Site → Backups. From there you can:

• Delete old archives you no longer need directly from the backup list.
• Turn on retention so xCloud automatically removes older backups once you have enough recent ones, instead of keeping every archive indefinitely.
• Switch to remote backups (S3-compatible storage, DigitalOcean Spaces, or another supported remote) so backup files don’t sit on the server’s own disk at all.

Turning off automatic local backups on an active site stops new archives from being created, but it does not delete the ones already there — remove those separately.

Backups of sites you’ve already deleted

This is the biggest single source of “missing” disk space (see the FAQ below). Deleting a site does not delete its local backups unless you switch on Delete Local Backups in the delete dialog — and that option is off by default. The same behavior applies through the Public API’s site-delete endpoint, via the delete_local_backups parameter.

Once the site is gone, there’s no dashboard page left to manage those backups from, but the files are still on the server at:

/root/.backup/<site_name>
/root/.backup/<site_id>

Connect over SSH as root and remove the folder for the deleted site once you’re sure you no longer need those backups.

Cache

Cached pages and objects also use disk space, separately from any site’s own footprint.

• OpenLiteSpeed servers: clear the cache from Site → Caching → Purge Cache. There’s no duration or unit setting to tune here — LiteSpeed Cache is managed through Purge Cache, not a retention schedule.
• NGINX servers: the FastCGI page cache does have a configurable duration and unit, alongside the same Purge Cache action.

If a site is under heavy traffic or has a lot of unique URLs, its cache directory can grow large between purges.

Logs

Large debug or error logs can also quietly fill disk space over time. Review and clear oversized logs from Site → Logs — see How to View Logs and Events for Your Server and Site for where each log lives and what it’s for.

Next time you delete a site

If you’re deleting a site you no longer need, and you don’t need to keep its backups either, turn on Delete Local Backups in the delete dialog at the same time. That’s the single setting that prevents this whole problem from recurring.

If the disk filled up and your database stopped

A full primary disk stops MariaDB outright. If sites are showing “Error establishing a database connection” as well as low disk space, free up space here first, then see Database Keeps Stopping? to restart the service and check for the other common cause, memory pressure.

When to upgrade instead of cleaning up

If you’ve cleared old backups, purged cache, and trimmed logs and the server is still consistently near capacity, that’s a sign the server itself needs more storage for the sites it’s actually running — not more cleanup. See server upgrades in xCloud to resize.

Still stuck? Contact our support team for any of your queries.

Frequently asked questions

Does deleting a site free up its disk space?

It removes the site’s files and database, but not its local backups unless you turn on Delete Local Backups in the delete dialog. That option is off by default, so backups of a site you already deleted can still be sitting on the server.

Where do retained local backups live on the server?

At /root/.backup/<site_name> and /root/.backup/<site_id>. They don’t show up under a deleted site’s page anymore, since the site itself is gone, but the files are still on disk.

If I turn off automatic local backups, does that delete the old ones?

No. Turning off automatic backups on an active site stops new ones from being created; it doesn’t remove the archives already on disk. Delete those separately from Site → Backups.