In 3.0 there were tools to delete orphaned uploads such as profile photos, file uploads and attachments but I see nothing similar in 4.0. Is this built in or was it overlooked? My uploads folder is nearing 20gb and I would like to see if I cannot get in there and scrub old content out.

My manual workaround was to temporary change the storage from a directory to another and wait until all still used files are moved and then remove the old directory with the obvious orphaned files left inside.

@LinkMania I'll give it a shot.

@LinkMania worked perfectly!

I had 9GB of orphaned content which is insane on any scale. Before anyone else attempts this I highly recommend making a backup of your uploads folder. What I did was I made a new file system and named it storage then proceeded to change everything to that file type. Once everything was moved I purged the uploads folder and then switched it back. 

Important
3rd party applications will not move automatically so be sure to move it manually or just ignore it when removing the orphaned content.

This is a setting I would like to see brought back as well. I'm sure there's a TON of orphan content built up over time and I'd like to see that cleaned up. @Charles any comment?

Regarding to the orphaned file removal function, it was mentioned by me quite a while now. @Lindy has already added this into the IPS roadmap since last April and I really hope it would be back in IPS 4.2.x.

 

@Foolboy one can only hope this becomes a task.