xfs_estimate(8)

📦 version 7.2.1, in alpine 3.22, alpine 3.23, alpine 3.24, arch rolling, centos-stream 10, centos-stream 9, debian bookworm, debian trixie, fedora 43, fedora 44, nixos 26.05, nixpkgs unstable, opensuse-leap 16.0, ubuntu jammy, ubuntu noble, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

🎀 xfs_estimate(8) 🎀

okay bestie, this is the System Manager's Manual page for xfs_estimate, and it's about to be your new favorite tool 💅✨

🧚 NAME 🧚

xfs_estimate - estimate the space that an XFS filesystem will take 💾

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

xfs_estimate [ -h ] [ -b blocksize ] [ -i logsize ]
             [ -e logsize ] [ -v ] directory ...
xfs_estimate -V

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

okay so for every directory you hand it, xfs_estimate figures out how much space that directory would eat if you copied it onto an XFS filesystem 📂🫶 it does not cross mount points, so it stays in its lane 🙅‍♀️ the sizes it uses are:

KB = *1024
MB = *1024*1024
GB = *1024*1024*1024

here's the full options lineup 💖

  • -b blocksize — swaps out the default block size of 4096 bytes for whatever you pick ✨ you can add a k after the number to multiply by 1024. for example:
xfs_estimate -b 64k /
that one asks for the space / would need on an XFS filesystem with a 64K (65536) byte block size 🔥
  • -v — shows you more info, but make it pretty and formatted 🎀
  • -h — pulls up the usage message when you need a reminder 🙈
  • -i, -e logsize — changes the default log size of 1000 blocks 💜 -i is for an internal log and -e is for an external log 🪄 you can put a k or m after the number to multiply by 1024 or 1048576 respectively. for example:
xfs_estimate -i 1m /

that one asks for the space / needs on XFS with an internal log of 1 megabyte, and yes it's giving main character energy 👑

  • -V — prints the version number and then exits 🌈

💅 EXAMPLES 💅

ok here are the examples, read them like a story 📖

% xfs_estimate -e 10m /var/tmp
/var/tmp will take about 4.2 megabytes
        with the external log using 2560 blocks or about 10.0 megabytes
% xfs_estimate -v -e 10m /var/tmp
directory                     bsize   blocks    megabytes    logsize
/var/tmp                       4096      792        4.0MB   10485760
% xfs_estimate -v /var/tmp
directory                     bsize   blocks    megabytes    logsize
/var/tmp                       4096     3352       14.0MB   10485760
% xfs_estimate /var/tmp
/var/tmp will take about 14.0 megabytes

bestie that's the whole page 🫶 it's literally the cutest way to figure out your XFS space before you commit 💖 ttyl, and remember, it's xfs_estimate(8) forever ✨🧚

📦 where this page comes from