Cron job back ups - Mystery Source

Hello,

Hope this is a good place to ask this question.

One of our web sites started reported that we were running out disk space. At first, we just added storage capacity to the account, but the messages kept coming.

Upon examination, we found a folder inside a root level folder named Compressed. Just under a GB of back up files are deposited in this folder on a daily basis. We have checked for cron jobs and wayward scripts. The bulk of our scripts are for menus and slideshows. We cannot find anything that appears to be generating cron jobs or back up files.

Our hosting service has checked several times in the past few days and just reported back that they don’t know where the files are coming from either. They told me to find the wayward script and update or delete it.

File names are all in this format:

Z-7XY35399MM078234E.zip

Any one have any experience with a source that might generate these files?

Thank you.

I’ve moved your post here, I hope someone will be able to help you.

It does look like a backup of some sort but I would assume that any access and/or activity should be logged somewhere. Who has access to those logs?

My host provides various “one click installs” that created massive backup files that I didn’t realize it was doing until I happened to notice them while FTPing one day and did some reseaching.

Have you checked the owner of the files to see if that gives you any clue? The time created might give you a clue too. If the files are being created at the same time each day, maybe ssh into the server and run top just before this time so you can see the running processes and look out for the one doing this job starting.

A very hacky idea to stop the backups, which might not work, would be to delete the compressed folder, then recreate it as a symlink to /dev/null. Better to find the culprit if you can though.