Diskonaut – A Terminal Disk Space Navigator for Linux

diskonaut is a simple terminal disk space navigator built using Rust and supports Linux and macOS. To use it, specify an absolute path in your file system, for example, /home/tecmint or run it in the directory of interest, it will scan the directory and maps it to memory enabling you to explore its contents. It allows you to inspect space usage even during the scanning process.

When the scanning is complete, you can navigate through subdirectories, getting a visual treemap representation of what’s consuming your disk space. diskonaut allows you to delete files and directories and as a result, tracks the amount of space you have freed up in the process. It also supports keyboard shortcuts to ease navigation.

Read Also: How to Find Out Top Directories and Files (Disk Space) in Linux

In this article, you will learn how to install and use diskonaut in Linux systems.

Installing diskonaut in Linux

To install and use diskonaut, you should have Rust programming language installed on your system, if not, install it using the following command.

# curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

Once your system has Rust installed, you should be having the cargo (the Rust package manager) installed as well. Use cargo to install diskonaut on the system as shown.

# cargo install diskonaut
Install diskonaut in Linux
Install diskonaut in Linux

If you’re using Fedora, CentOS, and Arch Linux, you can install diskonaut latest prebuilt binary from the default repository as shown.

$ sudo dnf install diskonaut
$ yay diskonaut

Once diskonaut is installed, you can either start diskonaut in the directory you want to scan, or specify the absolute path of the directory to scan as an argument.

$ cd /home/aaronk
$ diskonaut
OR
$ diskonaut /home/aaronk

At the bottom end, you can see the available keyboard shortcuts to use with diskonaut.

Scan Disk Space in Current Directory
Scan Disk Space in Current Directory

Once the scan is complete, you can select a subdirectory, for example, VirtualBox VMs, then click Enter to explore it.

Inspect Disk Space of Directories
Inspect Disk Space of Directories

diskonaut Github repository: https://github.com/imsnif/diskonaut

That’s all! diskonaut is a simple terminal disk space navigator used to quickly explore disk space usage on your storage facility. Give it a try and share your thoughts with us via the feedback form below.

Hey TecMint readers,

Exciting news! Every month, our top blog commenters will have the chance to win fantastic rewards, like free Linux eBooks such as RHCE, RHCSA, LFCS, Learn Linux, and Awk, each worth $20!

Learn more about the contest and stand a chance to win by sharing your thoughts below!

Aaron Kili
Aaron Kili is a Linux and F.O.S.S enthusiast, an upcoming Linux SysAdmin, web developer, and currently a content creator for TecMint who loves working with computers and strongly believes in sharing knowledge.

Each tutorial at TecMint is created by a team of experienced Linux system administrators so that it meets our high-quality standards.

Join the TecMint Weekly Newsletter (More Than 156,129 Linux Enthusiasts Have Subscribed)
Was this article helpful? Please add a comment or buy me a coffee to show your appreciation.

4 Comments

Leave a Reply
  1. Other than the more “graphic” display of disk usage, is it any better than ncdu?

    I’d prefer ncdu because it is in the Repos of all distros I’ve used so far (Debian based).

    Reply

Got Something to Say? Join the Discussion...

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with us. We appreciate your decision to leave a comment and value your contribution to the discussion. It's important to note that we moderate all comments in accordance with our comment policy to ensure a respectful and constructive conversation.

Rest assured that your email address will remain private and will not be published or shared with anyone. We prioritize the privacy and security of our users.