# directory node too big [solved]

## bitozoid

Just look at the size of the Desktop node in the listing (rot13 encoded). What is going on?

```
$ ls -la ~/Desktop

total 2864

drwxr-xr-x  7 bitozoid bitozoid 1032192 dic 30 13:20 .

drwxr-xr-x 84 bitozoid bitozoid    4096 dic 30 14:07 ..

-rw-------  1 bitozoid bitozoid   62719 may 18  2009 20080529CebchrfgnCeblrpgbZrqvpvanPbzchgnpvbany.bqg

lrwxrwxrwx  1 bitozoid bitozoid      55 nov 10 11:55 20091000 gvovn -> /ubzr/ovgbmbvq/cynl/crbcyr/ureanaqbNsbafb/20091000 gvovn

-rw-r--r--  1 bitozoid bitozoid       0 abr 28  2008 NEERTYNE CEBPRFNQB QR NBRV.gfx

-rw-r--r--  1 bitozoid bitozoid       0 abr 28  2008 nfbpvne znlniv n igx.gfx

drwx------  3 bitozoid bitozoid    4096 dic  4 11:58 obeenzr

-rw-r--r--  1 bitozoid bitozoid    8403 nov 11 16:40 obk.fgrc

-rw-------  1 bitozoid bitozoid       0 abr 23  2008 pbagnpgb zóivy pnezryb ab phnqen - ire cqn.gfx

-rw-r--r--  1 bitozoid bitozoid       0 abr 28  2008 rfgengrtvn qr fryrppvba qr npgvibf.gfx

-rw-------  1 bitozoid bitozoid       0 abr 23  2008 unpre bpp - fgehpgher flagu.gfx

-rw-r--r--  1 bitozoid bitozoid    1769 dic 23 16:01 vzntrivrjre - uryc.gkg

lrwxrwxrwx  1 bitozoid bitozoid      36 dic 22 11:17 vgp2jva -> /ubzr/ovgbmbvq/gnyx/zbir/fuvc/vgp2jva

-rw-r--r--  1 bitozoid bitozoid     202 dic 29 16:21 +yynzne n fretvb.gfx

-rw-r--r--  1 bitozoid bitozoid       0 abr 28  2008 znegr 38 ovgbmbvq.gfx

-rw-r--r--  1 bitozoid bitozoid       0 abr 28  2008 argtra ab znyyn.gfx

-rw-------  1 bitozoid bitozoid       0 abr 23  2008 erpbzcvyne fnybzr.gfx

-rw-r--r--  1 bitozoid bitozoid    1650 nov 11 17:13 Erfbheprf

-rw-r--r--  1 bitozoid bitozoid       0 abr 28  2008 erivfne rpbabzvpn 8000 fnybzr.gfx

drwx------  3 bitozoid bitozoid    4096 nov 12 11:50 fnybzr - bpp

drwx------  2 bitozoid bitozoid    4096 nov 16 10:03 fflagu

-rw-------  1 bitozoid bitozoid 1367083 nov 11 14:04 grgenurqeb.fgrc

-rw-r--r--  1 bitozoid bitozoid       0 abr 28  2008 inpvne pbegvpny.gfx

-rw-r--r--  1 bitozoid bitozoid       0 abr 28  2008 jvxv unpre yvfgn qr yn pbzcen.gfx

-rw-------  1 bitozoid bitozoid  397339 dic 28 15:33 J_FC_AhqtvatCevinpl.cqs
```

Last edited by bitozoid on Mon Jan 04, 2010 12:50 pm; edited 1 time in total

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## Hu

Do you tend to put a large number of files in that directory?  Some filesystems never shrink a directory, so if you had hundreds or thousands of files there once, it will stay bulky.  This improves performance for directories that frequently cycle between nearly empty and very large, but can be undesirable if you accidentally bloat up a normally small directory.  The easiest fix is to make a new directory, move the existing files to it, then replace the old directory with the new one.

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## bitozoid

Thanks for explaining that. Is that the case for ext4?

By the way, there is large rotation of files in the Desktop dir, but there are never too many files.

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## bitozoid

Finally I did Hu's fix. It worked fine.

Anyway, I still wonder how to "chkdsk" for these directories in ext4.

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## durian

It's definitely the case for ext3, I have seen it in my usenet directories:

```
drwxr-xr-x 2 pberck users   4247552 2010-01-04 01:10 rasf1

drwxr-xr-x 2 pberck users  10797056 2010-01-04 01:10 np

```

The figures stay the same after emptying them.

-peter

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