How much is *really* enough e-mail storage...?

caulfield87 · 4 Aug 2018, 05:08 AM

So we keep reading how this provider offers you 10 gigs, that one 50, third one 100 gigs. Most of that space is, in my personal experience, never used for normal personal email frequency. I mean, at my work where I receive about a 100 promo mails a day and a whoooole bunch of attachments, we still haven't reached 15 gigs of storage (though we're getting close).
So, for normal home use, how much storage would you deem enough, realistically? 2 gigs? 5 gigs? 10 gigs?

Thanks.

TenFour · 4 Aug 2018, 05:44 AM

This is highly variable based on your personal needs and usage. For example, my main Gmail address that has been in use since about 2006 currently has about 5 GB of emails stored in it. But, I try to weed out lots of stuff at least once a year, and I mostly only keep direct, personal correspondence between me and other people. I get rid of most bills, newsletters, notices, etc. I'm currently debating deleting everything more than about 1 year old after downloading it (via Takeout) and archiving it somewhere. I still have plenty of room in my account, but it seems like a security mistake to keep everything online no matter how infrequently needed. Who knows what personal information lurks there that could be of use to some hacker if they ever succeeded to get into my Gmail?

I guess I would find it hard to consider an account that didn't offer at least 5 GB of storage, but the more the merrier!

Bamb0 · 4 Aug 2018, 05:54 AM

Quote:

This is highly variable based on your personal needs and usage

Exactly...... People that do not delete anything might need more.... It all depends..

TenFour · 4 Aug 2018, 06:02 AM

Another point is that storage often covers things like files, photos, phone backups, music, etc. when you are using a service like iCloud or Gmail with Google Docs. I don't know of anyone with an iPhone that is happy only getting 5GB of storage with their iPhones, and most people are full up and having to delete stuff. Google has some interesting ways of extending the usefulness of their free 15 GB of storage you get with a Gmail account. Documents uploaded and stored in Google's formats don't count against the storage limit and photos stored at "High Quality" don't count either. This vastly reduces the amount of storage consumed by items that aren't strictly email. In fact, I keep all of my current documents, photos, and miscellaneous other stuff within 5 GB of my free 15 GB, and I feel comfortable knowing I have plenty of space. Eventually, I do download and archive really old documents and I also keep photos locally on hard drives, but it is vastly useful having everything I need day-to-day instantly available in Google's cloud.

jeffpan · 4 Aug 2018, 11:49 AM

If you use email as office purpose, such as we are using o365 as work mail, the storage increase quickly. even 50GB is not enough.

chrisretusn · 4 Aug 2018, 02:00 PM

Server size isn't all that important to me. I am old school for the most part, use POP3 for all accounts, download to client, delete from server. I remember when downloading, deleting from the server was pretty much expected, even required because of mail box size limits. This was also back in the dial up days were you connected, logged in, downloaded, uploaded, logged out, disconnected read your messages. All of that was automated. Not of lot of surfing back in those days. On and off to save connect charges.

Before I retired some 15 years ago I kept all emails, including deleted ones. Archived them after a time. My message store was huge. Had to delete it all before I left, couldn't take it with me. I my previous line of work CYA was very important.

Now I weed things out , my current store is:

3.2 GiB (3,402,266,301)
24815 files, 203 sub-folders

Probably needs some weeding. Old habits. I do have the delete folder set to empty on exit, so progress is being made. <grin>

TenFour · 4 Aug 2018, 09:45 PM

I too was emailing back before most people knew what email was, so today's storage limits seem incredibly large. I remember when I got my invite to Gmail they had the incredible storage space of 1 GB and we all wondered how they would ever be able to keep giving that away for free. Many predicted Gmail was a flash in the pan and would soon go the way of other tech startups that were disintegrating every day. However, depending on what you do and how you do it today's incredible storage limits can disappear quickly. I find that if I periodically sweep my email for things like advertising, newsletters, old bills, etc. I can quickly get rid of a GB or two of junk I will never need.

Tsunami · 6 Aug 2018, 06:47 AM

I'd expect at least half a GB or 1 GB, as I sometimes email photos to friends (no more than a handful per email, for larger photo collections I'll use other ways than email) I would even be somewhat worried to run out of storage a bit sooner than expected. So let's say 1 GB is the minimum ; the more the better of course.
For a free service, I'd not be as demanding as for a paid service. For a paid service I'd expect either unlimited storage or at least several tens of GBs storage.

ludian · 20 Aug 2018, 05:12 AM

Personally, I prefer something like inbox 'zero'. Meaning I delete everything which is not super-super important. I guess, 1 gig will last forever for me.

4 Aug 2018, 05:08 AM	#1
caulfield87 Member Join Date: Sep 2014 Posts: 41	How much is really enough e-mail storage...? So we keep reading how this provider offers you 10 gigs, that one 50, third one 100 gigs. Most of that space is, in my personal experience, never used for normal personal email frequency. I mean, at my work where I receive about a 100 promo mails a day and a whoooole bunch of attachments, we still haven't reached 15 gigs of storage (though we're getting close). So, for normal home use, how much storage would you deem enough, realistically? 2 gigs? 5 gigs? 10 gigs? Thanks.

4 Aug 2018, 05:44 AM	#2
TenFour Master of the @ Join Date: Feb 2017 Location: USA Posts: 1,719	This is highly variable based on your personal needs and usage. For example, my main Gmail address that has been in use since about 2006 currently has about 5 GB of emails stored in it. But, I try to weed out lots of stuff at least once a year, and I mostly only keep direct, personal correspondence between me and other people. I get rid of most bills, newsletters, notices, etc. I'm currently debating deleting everything more than about 1 year old after downloading it (via Takeout) and archiving it somewhere. I still have plenty of room in my account, but it seems like a security mistake to keep everything online no matter how infrequently needed. Who knows what personal information lurks there that could be of use to some hacker if they ever succeeded to get into my Gmail? I guess I would find it hard to consider an account that didn't offer at least 5 GB of storage, but the more the merrier!

4 Aug 2018, 06:02 AM	#4
TenFour Master of the @ Join Date: Feb 2017 Location: USA Posts: 1,719	Another point is that storage often covers things like files, photos, phone backups, music, etc. when you are using a service like iCloud or Gmail with Google Docs. I don't know of anyone with an iPhone that is happy only getting 5GB of storage with their iPhones, and most people are full up and having to delete stuff. Google has some interesting ways of extending the usefulness of their free 15 GB of storage you get with a Gmail account. Documents uploaded and stored in Google's formats don't count against the storage limit and photos stored at "High Quality" don't count either. This vastly reduces the amount of storage consumed by items that aren't strictly email. In fact, I keep all of my current documents, photos, and miscellaneous other stuff within 5 GB of my free 15 GB, and I feel comfortable knowing I have plenty of space. Eventually, I do download and archive really old documents and I also keep photos locally on hard drives, but it is vastly useful having everything I need day-to-day instantly available in Google's cloud.

4 Aug 2018, 11:49 AM	#5
jeffpan The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Macao Posts: 2,130 Representative of: tls-mail.com	If you use email as office purpose, such as we are using o365 as work mail, the storage increase quickly. even 50GB is not enough.

4 Aug 2018, 02:00 PM	#6
chrisretusn Cornerstone of the Community Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Philippines Posts: 843	Server size isn't all that important to me. I am old school for the most part, use POP3 for all accounts, download to client, delete from server. I remember when downloading, deleting from the server was pretty much expected, even required because of mail box size limits. This was also back in the dial up days were you connected, logged in, downloaded, uploaded, logged out, disconnected read your messages. All of that was automated. Not of lot of surfing back in those days. On and off to save connect charges. Before I retired some 15 years ago I kept all emails, including deleted ones. Archived them after a time. My message store was huge. Had to delete it all before I left, couldn't take it with me. I my previous line of work CYA was very important. Now I weed things out , my current store is: 3.2 GiB (3,402,266,301) 24815 files, 203 sub-folders Probably needs some weeding. Old habits. I do have the delete folder set to empty on exit, so progress is being made. <grin>

4 Aug 2018, 09:45 PM	#7
TenFour Master of the @ Join Date: Feb 2017 Location: USA Posts: 1,719	I too was emailing back before most people knew what email was, so today's storage limits seem incredibly large. I remember when I got my invite to Gmail they had the incredible storage space of 1 GB and we all wondered how they would ever be able to keep giving that away for free. Many predicted Gmail was a flash in the pan and would soon go the way of other tech startups that were disintegrating every day. However, depending on what you do and how you do it today's incredible storage limits can disappear quickly. I find that if I periodically sweep my email for things like advertising, newsletters, old bills, etc. I can quickly get rid of a GB or two of junk I will never need.

6 Aug 2018, 06:47 AM	#8
Tsunami The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: in between the bright lights and the far unlit unknown Posts: 2,336	I'd expect at least half a GB or 1 GB, as I sometimes email photos to friends (no more than a handful per email, for larger photo collections I'll use other ways than email) I would even be somewhat worried to run out of storage a bit sooner than expected. So let's say 1 GB is the minimum ; the more the better of course. For a free service, I'd not be as demanding as for a paid service. For a paid service I'd expect either unlimited storage or at least several tens of GBs storage.

20 Aug 2018, 05:12 AM	#9
ludian Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2018 Posts: 2	Personally, I prefer something like inbox 'zero'. Meaning I delete everything which is not super-super important. I guess, 1 gig will last forever for me.