Troubleshooting cPanel Disk Space Issues

If your cPanel account is running out of disk space, your website or email may stop working properly. This guide shows you how to check what’s using space and how to free some up.

What uses disk space?

Disk usage includes:

• Emails – inboxes, attachments, trash, and spam folders.

• Files – website files, backups, or old sites you’ve left on the account.

• Logs – error logs that grow large if issues aren’t fixed.

• Databases – especially large on busy or e-commerce websites.

How to check usage

1. 1Log in to cPanel.

2. 2Under Files, click Disk Usage.

   

You’ll see two main sections:

1. Disk usage summary (top section)

Shows a breakdown per folder so you can quickly see what’s using the most space.

Common folders to check:

• mail – email accounts.

• public_html – your website files.

• backups – manual or plugin backups.

• error_log – PHP/website error logs (can be deleted after review).

If you see “Other Usage” taking a lot of space, it’s often email trash or leftover data. Submit an eTicket if you’re unsure.

2. Tree view (bottom section)

Shows an expandable folder list.

• Sort by Name or Disk Usage.

• Expand folders to drill down.

• Click a folder name to open it directly in File Manager.

This helps you spot large folders like public_html/wp-content/uploads (common for WordPress media files).

How to free up space

• Emails: Use the Email Disk Usage tool to delete old messages, or clear trash/spam. Heavy email users should consider Business Email Hosting (free migrations available).

• Backups: Check for old or plugin-created backups in public_html/wp-content or folders named backups. Delete or download them to external storage (Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.).

• Logs: Large error_log files can be deleted. A new one will be created if errors continue. If errors keep reappearing, have your developer check them.

• Databases: Use phpMyAdmin to optimise or remove old data. If unsure, ask your developer, changes here can cause data loss.

• Old files/sites: Remove unused plugins, themes, or old site versions stored in subfolders.

Still need more space?

If you’ve cleaned up as much as you can, and are still running out of room, it’s time to upgrade your hosting plan.

• Upgrade your hosting plan (changes take effect in 5–10 minutes).