Actions
Forum Thread Details
  • Replies 18 replies
  • Subscribers 405 subscribers
  • Views 937 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Related

How large is your "hidden" Arduino folder

BigG

I've been doing a different sort of spring cleaning this weekend.

As my disk drive is almost full, I ran the Linux disk usage analyser tool on my Home folder and revealed, unsurprisingly, that the .arduino15 folder was the main culprit (being the "brains" behind it all). This was due to the staging folder, which was well over 15GB!

It turns out that the contents of this literal "staging" folder is really just a type of cache should you want to reinstall stuff again. It appears there is no automated means of cleaning.

So, if you haven't touched yours what size has yours grown too - it's indicative of how extensive you use it (bragging rights, I suppose :-D).

What other tricks do you use to automate disk usage spring cleaning.

  • Hi   

    Well actually my Arduino15 folder uses about 4,5 GB space. The subfolders under staging are libraries (138MB) and packages (807MB), which have the most contents.

    Under Arduino15 the IDE stores all downloaded installation files as well the IDE using remote sketchbooks, cloud build projects (connected to Arduino project website), etc....

    Then you have the Arduino ide update folder, which contains the IDE installation files.

    Under the user-document folders you have your own Arduino project folders, which also explode by project to project.

    And in the user temp folder you have the opened projects which will not closed and not deleted automatically after closing the IDE.

    ---....---- and so on...

  • I'm wondering if there is something similar on Windows - I don't see anything...

  • Since I started using the Uno Q and AppLab, I recently stumbled upon the same issue.  It's a pain to always have to manually delete the staging files.  I'm going to see if I can relocate Arduino15 to another drive.  I am using Windows, so it's currently in AppData/Local.  It would be nice if Arduino would let you set the Arduino15 file location.

  • in reply to ralphjy

    Sounds like a job for a directory junction. 

  • in reply to geralds

    That's a great analysis. Thanks. I think the irony of it all is that the more frequent you keep boards and libraries updated the worse it gets.

    I found in my case that the big staging library folder hoggers were Adafruit and lvgl libs as they have quite frequent updates, and then with packages it seemed to be esp32 and the Arduino giga board files.

  • in reply to ralphjy

    Hi  

    Apparently you can move the Arduino15 location based on this Arduino forum post: forum.arduino.cc/.../5

  • BG to my dismay, the Arduino folder I use is a collection of the same folder over four different machines.

    I suffer from a lack of foundation knowledge to manage the Arduino content. Starting out knowing nothing I did things one way. As I learned I changed my approach. This wash-rinse repeat approach tends to create a content mess.

    My greatest fear is having to do something more than once and having to relearn how it is done. Therefore keep everything and hope hunting through the bread crumbs of the past will trigger memories.

    I constantly look at the content of four folders, Arduino, KiCAD, Inkscape and scribus thinking man wouldn't it be nice to Spring Clean them. I shudder and think maybe someday if I am bed bound:)

  • in reply to balajivan1995

    My .arduino15 folder must be on 3 dinners a day Grimacing

    And this is after my "spring clean"... Smile

    image

  • in reply to BigG

    Thanks, never used the arduino-cli.yaml before to configure things.  A little concerned that some software hardwires the AppData path and doesn’t look at this file.

    I just moved the Arduino15 directory to a larger drive and symlinked to it.  That appears to work fine for both the IDE and AppLab.

    I was running out of space on my C drive and it turns out the Uno Q requires 10 GB of space to update the firmware.  Having lots of issues with the Uno Q.  The whole container thing is a blessing and a curse.