How Big Is Unlimited Hosting?

“Awesome! I get unlimited disk space from my host provider! I can store whatever in my hosting and will never need to fear of the loss of my favorite series.”

You know what? You are screwed!

“What?! Why? I’m just utilizing my unlimited storage!”

We see web host offering unlimited storage here and there. We get excited and thought we will not worry anymore for the resources. But often times how many people do really think how big is unlimited and how much resources we are getting?

Unlimited Storage = Overselling

Unlimited disk space is never possible! You heard me right. It is impossible! Just try to imagine your HDD (Hard Disk Drive) within your laptop or desktop, is it possible for the storage drive to store unlimited stuff? No way that can be done, not without new drives keep being added.

Unlimited resource is in fact a marketing gimmick that is meant to draw your attention! After all, size does matter in the hosting industry. The bigger the available storage, the better the value it seems. And because of this, the gimmick blinds us.

Remember, whenever a host promises you unlimited, they oversell by promising you things that are impossible!

Consequences of Having Unlimited Hosting

So what are the actual drawbacks of this unlimited gimmick? In fact, none!

None?!

Yes none. Whenever a host promises you unlimited, the webhost will really try to satisfy your hosting needs. As far as I know, all oversell providers put effort in providing near to unlimited resources. As long as you use their hosting service normally according to their Term of Service (ToS) (no, storing your television series is not a hosting’s normal use), unlimited is in fact a plus point rather than a drawback to your websites.

So What Is The Real Limit?

If you insist on the real size, the limit varies from host to host. The answer lies inside the ToS document of each host provider.

For example, Hostgator, they set the limit by counting Inodes. Inodes is a data structure of a file, and each inodes represents a file. Hostgator subscribers can store up to 250,000 files regardless of size before possible suspensions.

Another example, WebHostingPad, they have not stated clearly on what is the limit. 10GB of storage will be assigned to your account at first and along the time extra storage 20GB, 40GB will be assigned upon request.

What Should You Do After Learning The Truth?

Nothing.

I said so because unlimited storage is though limited. The available size is really more than enough to build anything decent online, unless you are building another YouTube or Amazon. Just an illustration, my Hostgator account is hosting 4 middle sized websites and yet it is just consuming 5,300 Inodes. I am just using 2.12% of the Inodes.

Long words short, unlimited storage and bandwidth is an advantage to web host subscribers like us. We pay less but get more. Some people oppose overselling strongly, but I think it is fine. I thought it is more important to look at the host’s support quality and uptime performance. Nevertheless one should aware of this overselling issue, so that he or she can better manage the resources.