Delete or Keep That Finished Log? A Third Option — “Archive It at 1/9 the Size, and Still Open It Directly”

What do you do with a massive log once the investigation is over?

There are usually two options. Delete it (frees up disk space, but you can’t respond to “I want to check that log again” later), or keep it (reassuring, but 48GB-class files keep piling up one after another). There’s also the compromise of compressing it with gzip, but then, when you actually want to look at it again, you need space and time to decompress it. Having to free up an equal amount of disk space and wait several minutes just to “take a quick look” at a few dozen gigabytes of log is a real burden.

UwView Pro offers a third option here (on sale now, Windows/macOS/Linux).

“Archive it at about 1/9 the size, and open and search it directly without decompressing.” In actual measurements, a 48GB log became 5.3GB, and even after deleting the original file, it could still be viewed and searched as-is (with a checksum for corruption detection; for the exact measurement conditions, see the benchmark article).

From the binary choice of “delete or keep” to “shelve it as an archive you can still read.” Old server logs, per-project investigation records, data you only check a few times a year but can’t bring yourself to delete — it’s designed as a home for exactly that kind of “log you can’t throw away.”

And if a huge log is eating your disk and you want it compressed for storage while staying searchable at speed, give UwView Pro a look — persistent index, compressed-cache search, and ~1/9 storage make both reopening and searching a step faster (all OS, $129 one-time / $9 per month). Also check out the free version, UwView (890 million lines tested, opens instantly).

Related articles

• UwView Pro — We Compared It to klogg, the Industry Standard: Is the Design Still the Same as 30 Years Ago?
• We Opened a Real 51GB, 890-Million-Line Dataset (OSM Japan) with UwView

From the developer: a list of my apps, Kindle books and open-source projects is on GitHub: amru195704.

A note on accuracy
The information in this article is provided for reference purposes only, and its accuracy or completeness is not guaranteed. Features and figures reflect the state at the time of each check and may change with future updates. If you notice any errors or inaccuracies, please let us know in the comments, and we will review and correct them.