How to export a disk usage list to CSV

After a scan in the Disk view of FTP by Zaweba, use Export the list as shown. It saves the list as it is shown on screen as a CSV file that opens in any spreadsheet. Set up the list first, then export.

A CSV of what is on a server is useful far beyond curiosity. It is a record before a clean up, evidence for a client who asks why their hosting is full, a checklist for a move to new hosting, or simply a way to sort and total things in a spreadsheet.

Getting the list you want

Open Disk from the toolbar or the Site menu and let the scan finish. The list can show this branch, everything (show all), or the lens results, which pick out space hogs and security problems such as backup archives, database dumps in public folders, logs, cache folders and world-writable files.

Columns include name, size, modified and type, and the list sorts by any of them. Because the export saves the list as shown, set it up before you export. For a report on what is using the space, show all and sort by size. For a security record, switch to lens results. For one folder, select it in the tree and use this branch.

Exporting

With the list set up, choose Export the list as shown and pick where to save the CSV. Open it in your spreadsheet and you have the same rows and columns you saw in Disk.

If what you care about is a particular set of files rather than a view, tag them first. Disk can also export tagged files, and download tagged files or whole folders, so you can keep both a record and a copy of the things you are about to change.

Ways people use the CSV

Before a tidy up, export the full list. If a client later asks where an old file went, the CSV shows it was there, how big it was and when it last changed.

When hosting space is the issue, sort by size in a spreadsheet and add up by folder or type to see where the bulk lies. The treemap in Disk shows this visually; the CSV gives you numbers to put in an email.

When moving hosts, the list is a checklist. After copying the site to the new server, scan it there and compare totals.

For a security review, export the lens results. It gives you a dated list of what was flagged and why, which you can work through and tick off.

Pairing the export with the other Disk tools

The export records; other tools act. Tag by gathers files by filespec, type, size or age. Bulk rename changes many names with a preview. Permissions sets safer modes. Trash moves files out of the way with a batch confirmation that can download a backup first. The operations log lists what Disk did, batch by batch, and can undo renames, moves, trashing and permission changes.

Exporting before and after a session gives you a simple before and after record that sits outside FTP by Zaweba altogether.

A note on large sites

On a big site the scan is the slow part, not the export. Scan connections is a per-site setting (3 is safe on shared hosting). On SFTP with shell access a single find command can list the whole tree, and an optional PHP scan lists it in one request over HTTPS. Once the scan is done, exporting is quick.