Analyzing and visualizing trends in the use and consumption of data in a shared storage system

A computer-readable non-transitory storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computing system having a memory and a processor, cause the computing system to perform a method, the method comprising:

• employing a file system to periodically perform actions, including:
• determining one or more paths in a plurality of directories at a first instance of time, wherein each determined path is associated with one or more items in a directory;
• determining each first value of each item at the first instance of time in each directory;
• employing a first value of each item that exceeds a first threshold to identify one or more items that are significant and a path in each directory that is associated with the one or more significant items;
• employing a second instance of e to determine a second value for the one or more significant items;
• and
• employing each difference that exceeds a second threshold between each first value and each second value for the one or more significant times to identify each change to each path that is significant and associated with the one or more significant items, wherein each significant path is displayed to a user.

A computer, comprising:

• a memory to store instructions;
• and
• one or more processors that execute the instructions to perform one or more actions, including:
• employing a file system to periodically perform actions, including:
• determining one or more paths in a plurality of directories at a first instance of time, wherein each determined path is associated with one or more items in a directory;
• determining each first value of each item at the first instance of time in each directory;
• employing a first value of each item that exceeds a first threshold to identify one or more items that are significant and a path in each directory that is associated with the one or more significant items;
• employing a second instance of time to determine a second value for the one or more significant items;
• and
• employing each difference that exceeds a second threshold between each first value and each second value for the one or more significant times to identify each change to each path that is significant and associated with the one or more significant items, wherein each significant path is displayed to a user.