6.90RC6 - Very large size for data folders

[g51]

I have just installed NB 6.90RC6 in a VM i have. I started downloading headers from some rather large newsgroups. Initially, i had an 120GB HDD, in which i placed all newsbin database data. since the HDD was reported as full at some point, i added another 50GB, assuming that it would be enough for some time. After a few minutes though, the disk was reported as full again!

I went to folder "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Newsbin" to check what's going on. In there, i found that there were two folders with approx. 85GB each! Import and Spool_v6. The Spool_v6 folder i understand, all DBs are in there. In the Import though, i found a bunch of txt files which all sum up to 85GBs!!!

My question is: Is that normal behavior and if yes, why should there be so many uncompressed txt files in there (> 1000). Each txt exceeds 50MB! Is it because this is an RC (non-final version) and they exist for debug purposes? If yes, can i safely downgrade to the latest (6.82) - assuming the same thing does not happen in that version?

[g51]

An additional question. If the queue is empty and NB is closed, is there a folder with temporary files perhaps, that are not necessary and can be deleted?

For instance, i have an empty queue. Some files exist in the wishlist only. There is nothing partly-downloaded. I've noticed that the Chunks folder is about 4GB. Can i delete it? Can i delete Nzbs too? What about Import?

[Quade]

have just installed NB 6.90RC6 in a VM i have. I started downloading headers from some rather large newsgroups.

This is the key point. Most people don't realize how much space 10 years worth of headers take up. My "spool_v6" is currently 355 gigs. I don't have too many really large groups too.

1 - Headers download to the import folder
2 - Headers are then imported into the DB and the txt files deleted.
3 - The DB's are a more compact representation of the data but, it's a massive amount of data.

I don't even try to maintain headers for really large groups with 6+ billions headers in them.

6 billion * 400 bytes = 2.4 TB of header download. That's just for one large group too.

One thing you can do is periodically delete the header download from the download list and wait till the "(XXX)" down on the status bar near "cache" goes to zero.
Then download headers again. It'll pick up where it left off.

You can always copy the "Spool_v6" or groups in the "Spool_V6" from an existing install into the VM so you don't have to re-download headers.

[g51]

Thanks for the info Quade. I understand and accept the size of spool_v6. My problem is that the size of the import folder is nearly as much as the spool_v6 one, even with NB closed!

I suspect there are header files in there that should have been deleted but haven't. If that's the case, then apart from the fact that there is probably a bug somewhere, i would like to know if i can safely delete the contents of Import (when NB is closed) and then resume header download without loosing any headers.

Also, the same question stands for Chunks folder (assuming the download list contains no files and NB is closed).

EDIT: After downloading quite a few headers from various groups, somehow (i'm not sure how and why, but i have suspicions), almost all the contents of the Import folder were deleted (by NB of course). It was approx 85GB and now it's less than 1! In any case, i would appreciate it if my questions can be answered, it will be helpful for future reference.