How to manage your web hosting disk space usage

Disk usage is an important part of managing your web hosting account. Some hosting companies, for example, have an account lock out policy. Meaning, once your account reaches its maximum allotted disk space, the account is locked so that no new data can be uploaded, received or saved (for example, incoming email will bounce).

Fortunately, WWW.COM.PH hosting accounts do not have account lock out. You will simply be informed by the system about your excess disk space usage and be given a grace period to reduce said disk usage. Should the grace period expire without the usage being reduced, your account will be upgraded to the next higher plan. Still, in order to avoid having your account inadvertently upgraded, it would be a good idea to follow a few steps to manage disk space usage.

Disk usage spikes are most commonly caused by accumulated email in the servers. Therefore, most of your attention needs to be focused on your users' email usage.

1. Spam email can contribute to sudden spikes in disk usage. Make sure to delete spam mail as soon as they are downloaded. You may also make use of the anti-spam features of IMail in order to filter out spam mail based on key words that commonly occur in the spam mail. This will not eradicate spam mail 100% but it will make the incoming volume more manageable.

2. Encourage users to use a POP3 email client like Outlook Express. Once these email clients download mail from the server, they automatically delete email from the server, preventing email (especially those with attachments) from building up your disk usage.

In cases where several users need to access the same email address, you can set your Outlook Express to save a copy of messages in the server. This way, there is no need to check email exclusively via webmail except in emergencies.

3. For webmail users, they should regularly delete old mail. For really important mail, they should either copy and paste the body of the letter to their computer or download the attachment. Also check the "Sent" folder and any other folders within the webmail account, because email in these folders will still take up disk space.

Overall, prevention is the best way to avoid the surprise of being notified of a big disk usage. Users should check their email at least once a day in order to make it easier to manage the email that is coming in.