Last Updated on May 28, 2022
Summary
Whatever the size of the hard disk, our disks always fill up over time; it seems data expands to fill any void. This is partly because we experiment with lots of distributions and software. But hard disks do seem to fill up by themselves.
If you spend a lot of time on the Linux command line, you’ll have used the du command, as it returns information about disk usage with the minimum of fuss and bother. It’s a very useful tool combined with other command-line utilities such as grep and sort. But if you want a more visual experience from the command-line, we recommend dust.
There are quite a few other command-line utilities that offer a replacement for du. On balance, we consider dust to be the best of them.
If you prefer a GUI tool, we recommend QDirStat. Read our detailed review of QDirStat.
Website: github.com/bootandy/dust
Support:
Developer: Andy Boot and contributors
License: Apache License 2.0
dust is written in Rust. Learn Rust with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Pages in this article:
Page 1 – Introduction / Installation
Page 2 – In Operation
Page 3 – Summary
All the essential tools in this series:
| Essential System Tools | |
|---|---|
| Alacritty | Innovative, hardware-accelerated terminal emulator |
| BleachBit | System cleaning software. Quick and easy way to service your computer |
| bottom | Graphical process/system monitor for the terminal |
| btop++ | Monitor usage and stats for CPU, memory, disks, network and processes |
| catfish | Versatile file searching software |
| Clonezilla | Partition and disk cloning software |
| CPU-X | System profiler with both a GUI and text-based |
| Czkawka | Find duplicate files, big files, empty files, similar images, and much more |
| ddrescue | Data recovery tool, retrieving data from failing drives as safely as possible |
| dust | More intuitive version of du written in Rust |
| f3 | Detect and fix counterfeit flash storage |
| Fail2ban | Ban hosts that cause multiple authentication errors |
| fdupes | Find or delete duplicate files |
| Firejail | Restrict the running environment of untrusted applications |
| Glances | Cross-platform system monitoring tool written in Python |
| GParted | Resize, copy, and move partitions without data |
| GreenWithEnvy | NVIDIA graphics card utility |
| gtop | System monitoring dashboard |
| gWakeOnLAN | Turn machines on through Wake On LAN |
| hyperfine | Command-line benchmarking tool |
| HyFetch | System information tool written in Python |
| inxi | Command-line system information tool that's a time-saver for everyone |
| journalctl | Query and display messages from the journal |
| kmon | Manage Linux kernel modules with this text-based tool |
| Krusader | Advanced, twin-panel (commander-style) file manager |
| Nmap | Network security tool that builds a "map" of the network |
| nmon | Systems administrator, tuner, and benchmark tool |
| nnn | Portable terminal file manager that's amazingly frugal |
| pet | Simple command-line snippet manager |
| Pingnoo | Graphical representation for traceroute and ping output |
| ps_mem | Accurate reporting of software's memory consumption |
| SMC | Multi-featured system monitor written in Python |
| Timeshift | Reliable system restore tool |
| QDirStat | Qt-based directory statistics |
| QJournalctl | Graphical User Interface for systemd’s journalctl |
| TLP | Must-have tool for anyone running Linux on a notebook |
| Unison | Console and graphical file synchronization software |
| VeraCrypt | Strong disk encryption software |
| Ventoy | Create bootable USB drive for ISO, WIM, IMG, VHD(x), EFI files |
| WTF | Personal information dashboard for your terminal |
dust needs a man page.
Definitely, too many open source projects lack even basic documentation. I’ve helped out on a few projects but there’s often no volunteer to write docs. Not sexy as writing code so gets put last on occasions.
You forgot to mention there’s a snap available.
Hi!
Change this part:
to:
This way isn’t necessary to user intervention to mistake writing his user. 🙂