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How Much Disk Space Do You Really Need?

Everybody is making a big deal about disk space these days, and rightfully so. If you don’t have enough, you will not be able to store your text, photos and other files you plan to host on your site. Realizing its importance, many hosts try to persuade you to purchase the plan with large amounts of space, which often costs a little more every month. All that extra storage could surely come in handy, but do you really need it? It is good to know approximately how much disk space you require before entering a hosting arrangement, but first you must know how to come up with that ballpark figure. The best way to do this is to calculate the size of the files for your website.

Understanding File Size

Before you perform any calculations, it is important to understand how file size is measured. The smallest measurement in computing terms is a bit and 8 collective bits forms a single byte. A single byte of data gives you just about enough to put a character such as the letter “C” on your screen. When putting 1024 bytes together, you form another unit of data known as a kilobyte. 1024 kilobytes form to create a megabyte, which is what the majority of your graphics and web pages are measured in. So before purchasing a hosting plan, you can gather up all the files you plan to upload to the server, jot down their file sizes, add them up and this will give you an approximate number of how much disk space you need.

Calculating the File Size of Your Site

To come up with the total file size of your website, simply right-click on the root folder where you site is stored. Not only will this provide you with the total size, but also the number of files and folders your site contains. If you are using a tool such as FrontPage, you can go to the reports view and click on the site summary to get a reading of the total file size of your site. This information will let you know how much disk space you are using against how much has been allocated by your web hosting provider. Unless you have a huge website, you should find that you are in good shape and nowhere near exceeding the limit. Once you have determined the total file size, you may find that you are only using 5 MB when you are actually paying for 300 GB per month. Such a huge difference could play a significant role in your monthly bill so if you are paying too much, it may be time to consider switching hosts.

Get a Comfortable Allotment

As your website grows, you may have a need to add extra files, images, databases or scripts. However, even with additional features, 1 GB of storage is usually more than enough to start out with. This will provide you with an ample supply of disk space to start your site, and comfortably grow it as well. If you have signed on for a flexible and scalable hosting solution, you should be able to easily upgrade as your storage requirements increase.