# Index with heavy updates/deletes, deleted docs on the rise

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-with-heavy-updates-deletes-deleted-docs-on-the-rise/97985>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [August 22, 2017, 10:30pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-with-heavy-updates-deletes-deleted-docs-on-the-rise/97985 "2017-08-22T22:30:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![hello](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/7993a0/32.png) [@hello](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/hello)\
**Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 10:30pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-with-heavy-updates-deletes-deleted-docs-on-the-rise/97985/1 "2017-08-22T22:30:42Z")

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ES 5.5.2

I'm running a single index that has lots of constant changes. I have noticed that my disk usage space keeps increasing and rarely drops. After doing some investigation, I found out that my docs.deleted count is 5 times larger than the active doc count.

What are some ways that I can deal with this problem? I have tried using [https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/indices-forcemerge.html](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/indices-forcemerge.html) with only\_expunge\_deletes - but that just seems to run indefinitely and not remove anything.

docs.count 27,471,426  
docs.deleted 152,377,223

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

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**Author:** ![thiago](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/thiago/32/32096_2.png) [@thiago](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/thiago)\
**Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 7:06am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-with-heavy-updates-deletes-deleted-docs-on-the-rise/97985/2 "2017-09-07T07:06:48Z")

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Can you please post the output of `GET _cat/segments/<index_name>?v` ?

(Note: If it's too big output, then try posting it in [https://gist.github.com/](https://gist.github.com/) and link it here)

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 7:07am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-with-heavy-updates-deletes-deleted-docs-on-the-rise/97985/3 "2017-10-05T07:07:29Z")

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