I’m using Render to self-host N8N. I have a download file from Google Drive node. I’m concern with the persistent disk space that I have. I want to know if N8N store files in render? If so, is it a temporary file? if not, how do I delete it?
BTW, I don’t know how to code. Thanks.
Unless you save it with a Write Files node or save it some other way (code node?), the only way data like that should be retained is as part of the execution data, stored in the n8n application database. You have control over how much of that is retained, and how long it is retained in the environment settings.
Thanks for answering. So to be clear, the google drive download file node doesnt save the file in render?
Sorry. I’m not a highly techy person and i need a dumb down answer… Thank you
Without knowing how you have set up n8n in Render, I couldn’t speculate any more about how your storage resources are used. Did you follow instructions somewhere to get things running? It might be possible to review that and make some better guesses.
n8n downloads the file during workflow execution, and where it stores it (in memory or on disk) depends on the N8N_DEFAULT_BINARY_DATA_MODE setting. After the workflow finishes, n8n cleans up, and the memory or disk space gets released automatically.
If you want to dig into the settings or change how it handles files, check out these links:
Thank you. I’ll take a look at these.
Hey, thanks for being patient with me.
I just follow a youtube instruction. I install it using a docker image, and then put these in the environment variables:
N8N_EDITOR_BASE_URL https://n8n-btyf.onrender.com
N8N_HOST n8n-btyf.onrender.com
N8N_PERSISTED_BINARY_DATA_TTL 1440
N8N_PORT 443
N8N_PROTOCOL https
N8N_USER_FOLDER /opt/render/.n8n
Here is my workflow
N8N_PERSISTED_BINARY_DATA_TTL was removed some time ago, so you could remove that from your environment. It has no effect.
Since you do not have N8N_DEFAULT_BINARY_DATA_MODE explicitly set to something else, and you have not provided a value for N8N_BINARY_DATA_STORAGE_PATH, n8n would be using the default settings, which keep binary data in memory.
That is where I am confused. Memory is temporary right? Like RAM?
Correct. Memory means the same as RAM. (That’s what the M in RAM stands for, btw… Random-Access-Memory). Memory usage does not persist after a workflow execution has completed, so it would not be an incremental resource consumption/cost, and it would not be anything you need to clean up yourself.
Got it. Now everything is clear to me. Thank you for your patience and assistance! I really appreciate you.
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