How to clean up disk space for your domain

In this guide, we show you how you can clean up disk space for your domain with one.com by deleting old and unused files, folders, emails and backups from different locations.

It is strongly advised to keep your web space clean to avoid the disadvantages of having many files and folders, including:

It makes it harder to locate a specific one.
It makes it difficult to ensure everything is up to date.
Decreases performance, leading to slower website loading time.
A larger number of files also means a larger surface for potential security threats.

Where can I see the disk usage?
In our specified guide, linked below, you find an explanation of where to monitor your disk usage. It also explains how to upgrade if you need more space despite cleaning up.
- Where can I see the disk usage for my web space?
Delete folders and files
We highly recommend checking your web space regularly for old, unused, or even duplicate folders and files. This may include images you no longer use, cache files from plugins or old website files.

In particular, deleting large files, such as images and videos, can help to free up disk space quickly. This can be done using our File Manager. Check the guide linked below for more information.
- Deleting folders and files using our File Manager
Delete stored backups - My backups
Deleting old and unused stored backups can significantly affect the disk space used. Therefore, we recommend looking closer at your "My backups" and keeping only those you still need.

Where can you find My backups

In our Backup & Restore feature, you can choose to save a backup of your web space, database or email account to "permanent storage". This backup is saved and stored on your web space and counts towards your total amount of disk usage.
Delete stored backups

Before deleting from your web space, you can save it locally by clicking Download on the far right of the backup, under the column Download.

Then follow these steps:
Website Builder sites
When you upload content like images and videos on your Website Builder site, it is stored in a folder named 'onewebmedia' on your web space by default. They are not part of the backup in Website Builder.

Follow the steps below to free up space from Website Builder content:
WordPress installations
Clean up the WordPress Media Library

The size of a WordPress Media Library will increase over time, taking up disk space and slowing down your website. Therefore, it's recommended to clean up your WordPress Media Library regularly.

The guide linked below covers more information about WordPress Media Library and how to clean it up.
- Clean up the WordPress Media Library
Delete WordPress installations

If you don't use a WordPress installation anymore, we recommend removing it. Besides taking up space, old WordPress installations are easily forgotten and not updated any longer, which makes them vulnerable to hackers.

How you delete a WordPress installation depends on how it was installed:
- A WordPress site installed with our 1-click tool can be deleted by following this specified guide: How do I delete a 1-click WordPress installation?
- A manually installed WordPress site can be deleted via File Manager.
  Locate and then delete the three folders: wp-admin, wp-content and wp-includes. And the individual files that end in .php.
  WordPress folders and files could also be placed in another folder that was given a specific name or the name of a subdomain at the time, for example, oldwebsite.example.com. If this is the case, you can delete this entire folder at once.
Note: Backup plugins are often very resource-heavy, resulting in a negative impact on your disk space. Read more about discouraged WordPress Backup plugins and save web space.
Delete a database
Old databases take up space too. Deleting a database is permanent and can't be undone. For this reason, follow our step-by-step guide to back up a database and save it locally first, before deleting the database from your web space.
- How do I make a backup of my database?
- How do I delete a database?
Clean up email accounts
Are there any old or unused email accounts on your domain? Or does your mailbox contain large files, such as images or attachments? Then, you can free up space by deleting them.

Delete email accounts
- How to delete an email account on your domain
- How to delete an Exchange account on your domain
Delete emails from Webmail

To quickly reduce email storage, we recommend checking first on emails with (large) image- or attachment files. If you want to keep them, you can download the files and save them locally. You can use the following link to our specified guide if you need help deleting emails from Webmail.
- How to delete emails from Webmail
Backup emails

Another option is to make a backup of your emails. They are then no longer saved on your web space but on your computer. Note that these emails are no longer backed up on the server.

It's not possible to perform a backup via Webmail. You'll need an email client, like Outlook or Apple Mail, to do so.
- How to backup my emails in an email client
Note: If you were curious, this article explains how much storage can be obtained for a mailbox. If an email account exceeds the storage limit, even after cleaning it up, you can read more about what extra email storage is here.
Prevent running out of disk space
Here are some general tips to help you prevent running out of disk space:
- Clean up website files and folders regularly.
- As soon as you know you will no longer use them, delete folders, files, databases and mail accounts.
- Move large folders and files that aren't crucial for your online presence to external storage.
- Check "My backups" in our Backup & Restore tool frequently. It is often unnecessary to save the backups on the web space (any longer).
Note: In case you run out of space, despite cleaning up, you can upgrade to a larger hostingplan to increase the storage limit.