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What kind of files are in there?

When you are taking a backup there's always the following files being stored in the output folder:

• The current database dump file, by default up to 250Kb. This is small, we don't need to talk about it.
• The log file. Set the backup profile's Log Level to Errors Only to keep it small. Otherwise it can grow to several Mb big.
• The backup archive parts. On a multipart archive the first part is always present and uploaded last (since its header stating the total number of files backed up and total size of the backup needs to be updated at the very end of the backup process). Using a smaller part size and enabling both the “Process each part immediately” and “Delete archive after processing” options in the Post-processing engine configuration options means that you will only have up to two part files stored in your output directory, therefore you will need at most two times the part size for split archives.

Making those changes will reduce the total disk space you need to take a backup, allowing you to take a successful backup in an environment where the disk space is constrained.

Do note that if the upload to Amazon S3 fails but the backup has completed successfully the backup archives are NOT deleted automatically. You need to do that manually. This is by design. You can always retry uploading through the Manage Backup page in case the problem was a temporary network issue. Losing your backup over a temporary network issue is bound to create FAR MORE problems than using up disk space (you cannot restore your site to a backup that has been deleted!).