December 29, 2025
Chart Wars: Disk Drama
Flame Graphs vs. Tree Maps vs. Sunburst (2017)
Chart wars over disk space: the internet crowns “flamey bars” while sunburst gets roasted
TLDR: A popular comparison of disk-usage visuals crowned flame graphs as the clearest, while sunbursts got slammed for being misleading. Commenters plugged Windows tools like WizTree and SpaceSniffer, and one hot take declared “bars or bust,” arguing simple bar charts beat all the fancy shapes for quick cleanup.
A 2017 deep dive compared ways to see which folders are hogging your hard drive—flame graphs (stacked colorful bars), treemaps (mosaic boxes), sunbursts (donut-shaped charts), plus command‑line classics like du and ncdu. The author shows how a giant Linux code folder reveals “drivers” eating about half the space, and explains why circles can trick your eyes. But the real fun? The comments blew up.
The crowd went all‑in on flame graphs as the most readable. One fan cheered they’re “more interpretable,” and another said they ditched treemaps and sunbursts after running into the same sizing confusion. Meanwhile, the skeptics rolled in: “All of these suck,” snapped one commenter, pushing old‑school nested bar charts (like TreeSize) as the truly no‑nonsense option—sunbursts were dunked as “pretty garbage” that can mislead by making smaller slices look bigger.
Then came the tool plug derby: Windows users parachuted in with WizTree and SpaceSniffer, turning the thread into a mini app store and sparking playful OS banter. Jokes flew about sunbursts being “optical illusions for your hard drive,” while fans shared how flame graphs make slide‑deck snapshots actually useful.
Bottom line: the article says “use all three,” default to flame graphs. The community says: give us bars and clarity, keep the circles for art.
Key Points
- •The article compares flame graphs, treemaps, sunburst charts, ncdu, and du for visualizing disk usage of the Linux 4.9-rc5 source tree.
- •Flame graphs quickly convey high-level proportions with labeled rectangles and length-based comparison (e.g., drivers >50%, drivers/net ~15%).
- •Treemaps require interaction to reveal details; area-based comparisons are harder than length-based ones, though large files stand out.
- •Sunburst charts can mislead due to angle-based perception, exaggerating deeper slices and confusing size comparisons.
- •Text tools ncdu (one level at a time) and du (quick listing) provide numeric baselines; the author recommends offering multiple views, defaulting to flame graphs.