Server Administration > Squid. The definitive guide > Chapter 7. Disk Cache Basics > 7.2 Disk Space Watermarks

The cache_swap_low and cache_swap_high directives control the replacement of objects stored on disk. Their values are a percentage of the maximum cache size, which comes from the sum of all cache_dir sizes. For example:

cache_swap_low 90

cache_swap_high 95

As long as the total disk usage is below cache_swap_low, Squid doesn't remove cached objects. As the cache size increases, Squid becomes more aggressive about removing objects. Under steady-state conditions, you should find that disk usage stays relatively close to the cache_swap_low value. You can see the current disk usage by requesting the storedir page from the cache manager (see Section 14.2.1.39).

Note that changing cache_swap_high probably won't have a big impact on Squid's disk usage. In earlier versions of Squid, this parameter played a more important role; now, however, it doesn't.