Disk Usage Preferences
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[edit] General Preferences Disk Space Limits
Use no more than (MB) is the maximum total amount of disk space that can be used by BOINC Client Software and all the Projects it's running. It won't apply if your disk is smaller than the value you've set.
Leave at least is the absolute amount of free space that the BOINC Client Software must leave on the disk.
Use no more than (% of total space) is the one that's causes most confusion. Some mistakenly thinks this is based on how much free space is left, but it is like the text implies, Total Space on disk. Example, if size of disk is 60 GB, and this preference is 50%, it means BOINC according to this preference can max use 30 GB. It doesn't matter that example only 10 GB is free, the limit is still 30 GB.
If the BOINC Client Software detects that any of these thresholds has been exceeded it has to start releasing some of the space it's using. It doesn't necessarily have to be BOINC Client Software that causes a free space threshold to be breached.
Notes:
Before v5.1.8, it was possible for the BOINC Client Software to exceed Use no more than (% of total space).
The Resource Share also affects the maximum amount of disk space an "Attached" Project can use.
If you are running Climateprediction.net (CPDN) and need to free up some space, you may want to look at "Saving Or Deleting CPDN Result Data Files".
[edit] An Example Calculation of Disk Space Available
Examples needed.
[edit] Disk "Available Space" Calculations
Perhaps a review of how the "available space" is calculated would help. Following that we have a reference table listing the "best-guess" estimates we have of project requirements.
The BOINC Client Software sends your preferences and disk usage numbers to the Scheduler when it requests work. Thats what actually gets used when calculations are made, you can see them in the sched_request_einstein.phys.uwm.edu.xml file (or a Scheduler Request Message for any other project).
The Scheduler does some calculations with the numbers and then uses the smallest value that results.
For "new" clients (version 4.4x and later) that report the space that the BOINC Client Software uses, it calculates:
"use no more than __GB" minus "disk space used by BOINC"
("use no more than __%" times "total disk space") minus "disk space used by BOINC"
"disk free space" minus "leave at least __GB free"
and keeps the smallest (it turns your GB preference into bytes, and your % into a fraction, I just left those out to make it easier to read).
Also note that "leave at least __GB free" can't be smaller than .001 (1,000,000 bytes), if you set something smaller the Scheduler uses .001 instead of your Preference Setting. That leaves some slack for administrative files (client_state, Scheduler Request Messages/replies, std*.txt, stuff like that)
Older versions of the BOINC Client Software don't send the space that the BOINC Client Software uses, so it only makes one calculation:
"host free disk space" minus "leave at least __GB free"
That's it for determining how much it can use.
Once the "available space" is calculated, it makes sure theres enough space for the Work Unit. While it is building a list of Work Units to send, the local scheduler keeps track of the disk space needed by the Work Unit. The amount of free space necessary for download and execution of a WU depends on the requirements set by the specific Project. This value of minimum free space available for BOINC (see above) is defined for each project's WU and stored in the file client_state.xml, more specifically in the value rsc_disk_bound (in bytes). See the following example from SIMAP:
<workunit> <name>60801009.017341</name> <app_name>simap</app_name> <version_num>510</version_num> <rsc_fpops_est>10000000000000.000000</rsc_fpops_est> <rsc_fpops_bound>1000000000000000.000000</rsc_fpops_bound> <rsc_memory_bound>30000000.000000</rsc_memory_bound> <rsc_disk_bound>100000000.000000</rsc_disk_bound> <file_ref> <file_name>60801009.017341</file_name> <open_name>simap_wu.sah</open_name> </file_ref> </workunit>
So the minimum space needed to start downloading a Work Unit in this example is: 95.37 MB (= 100,000,000 bytes) + x MB (from setting "leave at least __GB free"). Additionally, the space needed for any files sent by the project(s) has to be considered.
If you check the Scheduler Request Messages from the Scheduler, it'll tell you which preference generated the smallest "available disk space" value, and whether you even have that much available.
The message "Message from server: Not enough disk space (only '(number)' MB free for BOINC). Review preferences for maximum disk space used." means you have some disk space BOINC can use. However, it is not enough to send a Work Unit. This might be related to settings in the Disk Usage Preferences.
The message "Message from server: No disk space (you must free '(number)' MB before BOINC gets space). Review preferences for minimum disk free space allowed." means you don't even have any space for BOINC ("available disk space" is negative). The amount is how much you have to free up just to get to zero bytes available for BOINC (see above). After freeing up this much disk space, the message should change to "Message from server: Not enough disk space (only '(number)' MB free for BOINC). Review preferences for maximum disk space used.". After this, you have to free up the additional amount of disk space listed for the specific project in the Table shown below.
[edit] Background
Some notes on where things come from...
"Disk space" only uses the drive the BOINC Client Software runs from. That info is written to BOINC's message log when it starts up, along with the total and free disk space. So for Hosts with multiple partitions and multiple drives, it ignores all that free space on the "next partition over".
Current versions of the the BOINC Client Software (BOINC 5.2) send the total disk space, free disk space and the disk space used by the the BOINC Client Software and all projects when it contacts the Scheduler. So they're using current numbers - it gets the disk space info from the Operating System and runs thru all the files and folders in the BOINC Directory adding up whats used. Actual date for the change was October 4, so all versions of the the BOINC Client Software built after that should be sending the proper data.
Some earlier versions didn't always send the correct disk space, it read it at startup and kept sending the same numbers each time it contacted the Scheduler. The the BOINC Client Software version 4.19 was the last one that tracked disk space correctly that I know of, but it only sent the total disk space and free disk space. So the versions 4.25 thru 5.1 of the the BOINC Client Software may not be sending the correct space info.
If in doubt, look in the sched_request_einstein.phys.uwm.edu.xml file to see what actually got sent, then compare it to whats actually on your disk. If they're very different, and its stopping you from getting work, then perhaps its a good reason to update your version of the BOINC Client Software.
The tags are:
- <d_total> - total disk space
- <d_free> - free disk space
- <d_boinc_used_total> - total disk space used by BOINC
The Preferences used by the Scheduler come from your Host, the BOINC Daemon sends them in the Scheduler Request Message. So what you see in your Preference Settings on the web site might not be what the Scheduler uses. Check BOINC's message log to see what actually got sent and where they came from. Might actually be preferences from another project.
If in doubt, check the file sched_request.einstein.phys.uwm.edu.xml, they are in the <global_preferences>" section.
There are times the Scheduler uses its own defaults for preferences. Thats when the BOINC Client Software doesn't have any to send, and there aren't any set for the user on the web site. New Participants attaching with the "create new account" option in the BOINC Manager have that problem, its an oversight thats being corrected.
Which is where the earlier "no disk space" problems came from, the defaults used by the Scheduler were too small for the Einstein@Home Work Units, unless you had a very large drive.
It is easy to tell if you don't have preferences set, the "Preferences last modified" line near the top won't have a date.
[edit] Project Requirement's Table
| Project | Science Application | Operating System | Installed Memory-requirement (MB) | Disk Space Required (MB) | Process time (CPU dependant) | Download Size (MB) | Upload Size (MB) | Deadline (days) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC@Home | abc-finder | Windows, Linux, MacOS Intel | 104.91 | 48 | 0.5 h | 0.01 | 0.01 | 7 |
| BBC Climate Change Experiment | hadcm3l | Windows, Linux | 96.00 | 600 | 5 months | 0.02 | 5-6 (16x) | 347 |
| ClimatePrediction.net | hadam3 | Windows, Linux | 1464.85 | 1024 | 4 weeks | 13 | 30 | 180 |
| hadcm3l | Windows, Linux, MacOS Intel | 96.00 | 600 | 5 months | 0.02 | 5-6 (x16) | 347 | |
| hadsm3 | Windows, Linux, MacOS Intel | 61.1 | 573 | 3 weeks | 0.02 | 5-10 (x3) | 345 | |
| Seasonal Attribution Project | hadam3 | Windows, Linux | 256 (uses 430, recommended 1024) | 1024 | 4 weeks | 13 | 30 | 180 |
| Einstein@Home | einstein-S5R3 | Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Other(*3) | 57.22 | 96 | 24 h | 4-30 | 0.16 | 14-21 |
| Leiden Classical | Classical | Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, FreeBSD | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | 7 |
| trajtou-cu111 | Windows, Linux | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
| trajtou-pd110paw | Windows, Linux | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
| trajtou-pt111 | Windows, Linux | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
| LHC@Home | garfield | Windows, Linux | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| sixtrack | Windows, Linux | 57.22 | 29 | 1-10 h | 0.024 | 0.034 | 4-8 | |
| MalariaControl.net | malariacontrol | Windows, Linux, MacOS Intel | 85.84 | 191 | 2h | 0.07 | ? | 3.5 |
| Prediction of Malaria Prevalence | Windows | ? | ? | 0,5 h | ? | ? | ? | |
| malariacontrol test version | Windows, Linux, MacOS Intel | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
| Estimation of parameters of infection dynamics | Windows | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
| Rosetta@Home | rosetta | Windows, Linux, Mac OS X | 1024 | 800 | 3 h (by default, but configurable) | 2.8-4 | 0.02 | 10 |
| SETI@Home | astropulse | Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Other(*4) | 256 | 128 | 5? days | 8 | ? | 14 |
| setiathome-enhanced | Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Solaris, Other(*1) | 31.00 | 32 | 1.5-36 h | 0.36 | 0.02 | 4.3-55.1 | |
| SIMAP@Home | Hmmer | Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Other (*2) | 28.62 (peak 60+) | 48 | 3 h | 5.5 | 0.1 | 8 |
| simap | Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Other(*2) | 95.37 | 96 | 1.5 h | 2 | 0.7-1.8 | 8 | |
| SZTAKI Desktop Grid | search | Windows, Linux, Mac OS X | 9.54 | 0.95 | 0.9 h | 0.01 | 0.01 | 10 |
| The Lattice Project | HMMPfam | Windows, Linux, MacOS | negligible | ? | 1-2 h | 2.5 | 0.06 | 3 |
| GARLI | Windows, Linux, MacOS | 300-1200 | ? | 1-200 h | ? | ? | ? | |
| MARXAN | Windows | negligible | ? | 1-10 h | ? | ? | ? | |
| World Community Grid
(uses 'on the fly' up & download compression in BOINC v5.8.xx) | African-Climate@ Home | Windows, Linux | 512 ? | 1024 | 9 h | 77 | ? | 5 d |
| dddt (Discovering Dengue Drugs – Together) | Windows, Linux, Mac OS X | 250 | 600 total, 50 available | 4-13 h | ? | ? | 14 | |
| faah (aids) | Windows, Linux, Mac OS X | 119.21 (recommended 250) | 72 | 5-12 h | 0.1-0.2 | 0.3 | 9 | |
| hcc (cancer) | Windows, Linux, Mac OS X | 95.37 (recommended 250) | 48 | 5-12 h | 0.1-0.2 | 0.3 | 9 | |
| HPF2 (Rosetta) | Windows, Linux, Mac OS X | 190.74 (recommended 250) | 96 | 2-24 h | 1.4 | 1.9 | 11 | |
| Project | Science Application | Operating System | Installed Memory-requirement (MB) | Disk Space Required (MB) | Process time (CPU dependant) | Download Size (MB) | Upload Size (MB) | Deadline (days) |
[edit] Other Related Messages
- Message from server: No disk space (you must free '(number)' MB before BOINC gets space). Review preferences for maximum disk percentage used.
- Message from server: No disk space (you must free '(number)' MB before BOINC gets space). Review preferences for maximum disk space used.
- Message from server: No disk space (you must free '(number)' MB before BOINC gets space). Review preferences for minimum disk free space allowed.
- Message from server: Not enough disk space (only '(number)' MB free for BOINC). Review preferences for maximum disk space used.
- Message from server: No work available (there was work but you don't have enough disk space allocated)
- Message from server: No work sent
- Message from server: Removing file '(file)' to free up disk space
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