yummy-future.com · production server · measured 2026-10-09

The disk is mostly full of backup copies.

The live site is 174 MB. The 20 GB server disk has 13 GB used because of 20 full release backups, uncapped system logs and the deck builder. The cheapest fix costs $0 and frees about 4 GB. Growing the disk to 30 GB adds about 40 cents a month. None of it changes how fast the site loads.

Where the 13 GB goes

Measured on the server today. Teal is what this plan shrinks or moves.

shrinks or movesstays

How much of the backups is duplicate: two back-to-back backups differ by 1 file out of 485. Across all 20 backups there are only 58 distinct large files (180 MB) plus 302 MB of small files. Stored as shared links instead of copies, 3.7 GB becomes about 0.5 GB, and every backup still restores exactly as it does today.

Why moving files won't slow the site

Visitors don't read from this disk. Google's CDN sits in front of the server and keeps copies at its edge. Confirmed today: images and videos come back with via: 1.1 google and a one-hour cache.

Visitor→ Google CDN edge · 4 to 11 ms when cached→ only on a miss → Server in Iowa (this disk)

Edge timings are from the 8-city test on 2026-09-17. Where a file sits behind the CDN only matters on a cache miss. What does slow a page is putting assets on a different web address, because the browser has to open a new connection to it. That rules out a few of the options below.

Options compared

List prices, us-central1, per month.

Option	Cost	Effect on site speed	Verdict
Backups as shared links identical files stored once	$0	None. Backups are never served.	Do first
Cap system logs at 200 MB today they grow with no limit	$0	None	Do
Grow the disk 20 → 30 GB standard disk, $0.04 per GB	+$0.40	None. Resizes while running, no restart. Can't shrink back later.	Do, for headroom
Google Cloud Storage, cold tier for files nobody opens: old photo backup, deck source media	~$0.004 per GB 1.5 GB ≈ half a cent	None. These files aren't on the site.	Do, step 3
Cloud Storage behind the same CDN site videos and images served from a bucket, same web address	$0.02 per GB	Same or slightly better on a cache miss	Later, when site media passes ~1 GB
Cloudflare R2	$0.015 per GB, free traffic	Slower first load: a new web address means a new connection. The .us domain is also at its 100-subdomain limit.	No
Tencent EdgeOne (.org)	~free	A second CDN and a new web address. Built for China, not for US visitors.	Not for site files fine for the 3D viewer
Bigger server	+$12 or more	n/a. Disk space is the problem, not CPU.	No

The plan

1 · Stop storing copies

frees ~4.2 GB

Cost $0Time ~1 hour + testsVisitor impact none

Release backups: each new backup links to the files the previous one already holds and copies only what changed. 3.7 GB → ~0.5 GB. Rollback and the restore check stay as they are; the deploy tests get one new case.
System logs: cap at 200 MB (now 0.99 GB). Frees ~0.8 GB.
Clear the leftover Docker build cache. Frees ~0.2 GB.

After: ~9 GB used, ~10 GB free

2 · Grow the disk to 30 GB

+10 GB

Cost +$0.40/monthTime 15 minVisitor impact none, no restart

After: about 20 GB free, which is roughly two years of releases at today's pace.

3 · Move cold files into a storage bucket

frees ~2.3 GB

Cost under 1¢/monthTime ~1 hourVisitor impact none

Palo Alto photo backup from 09-27: 586 MB, never read.
Deck builder's source media (875 MB). The builder runs every 5 minutes, so first I check whether it reads these files on every run.
Deck builder's git history (1.0 GB) → download only the latest version instead of the full history: ~0.1 GB.

4 · Only if site media grows

trigger: >1 GB

Cost $0.02/GBVisitor impact none, same address, same CDN

Serve /assets/ videos and images from a bucket behind the same Google CDN. Today they're 136 MB, so it isn't worth the setup yet.

Found while looking: about $45 a month on idle machines

Bigger than every storage cost on this page combined

A 500 GB disk named test-disk-2 has sat unattached since 2025-07-23. At list price that's about $20 a month, roughly $290 so far.

A server named test (e2-medium, 30 GB disk) has been running since July 2025, about $26 a month. I don't know if anyone uses it, so I haven't touched either one.

What I need from you

Go on steps 1 and 2? The backup change goes through tests and ships with the next release. The log cap, cache cleanup and disk resize are done on the server directly.
Are the test server and the 500 GB disk anyone's? If not, deleting both saves about $45 a month. Deleting can't be undone.
Step 3 needs bucket access. The account my tools use can't create storage buckets, and your gcloud login on this Mac has expired. Running gcloud auth login once fixes both.

Sources: df / du on website-vm, Compute Engine disk list, live response headers, all read-only on 2026-10-09. Prices are Google Cloud and Cloudflare list prices.