# Can I delete some indices manually from elasticsearch to free up some space? **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [May 20, 2021, 7:29am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/can-i-delete-some-indices-manually-from-elasticsearch-to-free-up-some-space/273480 "2021-05-20T07:29:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![prat](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/prat/32/79978_2.png) [@prat](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/prat)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2021, 7:29am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/can-i-delete-some-indices-manually-from-elasticsearch-to-free-up-some-space/273480/1 "2021-05-20T07:29:42Z")
Hi All, I have indices from 1st Feb in elasticsearch. Everyday there on average 4 indices. It has consumed 79 GB space out of 100GB. Can I delete few of them to release space without impacting to anything? Thanks, ---
**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2021, 7:44am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/can-i-delete-some-indices-manually-from-elasticsearch-to-free-up-some-space/273480/2 "2021-05-20T07:44:43Z")
Yes you can delete the indices you don't need anymore. The index lifecycle management feature could also help you to automatically remove old indices. ---
**Author:** ![prat](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/prat/32/79978_2.png) [@prat](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/prat)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2021, 7:58am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/can-i-delete-some-indices-manually-from-elasticsearch-to-free-up-some-space/273480/3 "2021-05-20T07:58:56Z")
Thank you for your reply. Is there any impact of deleting few older indices manually? Last time when I deleted some indices for other cluster, es service was not getting started. (may be there could be some other issue as well) but is there any known impact of deleting only few indices manually? Also one more thing, is lifecycle management feature enabled by default? if yes, how can I check the current settings for it? ---
**Author:** ![Christian\_Dahlqvist](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/christian_dahlqvist/32/4617_2.png) [@Christian\_Dahlqvist](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Christian_Dahlqvist)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2021, 8:09am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/can-i-delete-some-indices-manually-from-elasticsearch-to-free-up-some-space/273480/4 "2021-05-20T08:09:13Z")
You can manually delete indices, but make sure you use the APIs. ---
**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2021, 8:10am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/can-i-delete-some-indices-manually-from-elasticsearch-to-free-up-some-space/273480/5 "2021-05-20T08:10:23Z")
> [@prat](#): > > Also one more thing, is lifecycle management feature enabled by default? if yes, how can I check the current settings for it? No it's not. ---
**Author:** ![prat](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/prat/32/79978_2.png) [@prat](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/prat)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2021, 8:18am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/can-i-delete-some-indices-manually-from-elasticsearch-to-free-up-some-space/273480/6 "2021-05-20T08:18:10Z")
Thanks. May be yes.. last time I did rm -rf on some indices not used API. May be that could be the issue. ---
**Author:** ![prat](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/prat/32/79978_2.png) [@prat](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/prat)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2021, 8:18am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/can-i-delete-some-indices-manually-from-elasticsearch-to-free-up-some-space/273480/7 "2021-05-20T08:18:23Z")
Ok Thanks ---
**Author:** ![prat](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/prat/32/79978_2.png) [@prat](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/prat)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2021, 9:32am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/can-i-delete-some-indices-manually-from-elasticsearch-to-free-up-some-space/273480/8 "2021-05-20T09:32:25Z")
Or I can use `curator` also to delete old indices automatically after some time? ---
**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2021, 11:51am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/can-i-delete-some-indices-manually-from-elasticsearch-to-free-up-some-space/273480/9 "2021-05-20T11:51:23Z")
You can but ILM is the new way to manage that. ---
**Author:** ![warkolm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/warkolm/32/39224_2.png) [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2021, 12:19am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/can-i-delete-some-indices-manually-from-elasticsearch-to-free-up-some-space/273480/10 "2021-05-25T00:19:16Z")
> [@prat](#): > > May be yes.. last time I did rm -rf on some indices not used API. May be that could be the issue. Never, EVER manually remove Elasticsearch files directly on the filesystem. ALWAYS use the API. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2021, 12:20am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/can-i-delete-some-indices-manually-from-elasticsearch-to-free-up-some-space/273480/11 "2021-06-22T00:20:12Z")
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