How Much Space Is Unlimited Disk Space? (Part 1)

I remember before I set up Scopegater, I was busy looking for the best web host in the market. One of the main features that I looked for was that of unlimited disk space and bandwidth. I wanted to have virtually unlimited space to upload and share whatever my hearts desires were, and allow my visitors browse through the site as fast as possible without any data limits. I set about looking for the web host who would give me the above two features (by now you must have concluded I was green to the hosting industry).

I had a notebook (still have it) where I compared a couple of web hosting companies in relation to the above two factors and their prices. Just when I thought I was making progress, I came across a site that talked about how web hosting companies con their clients with the unlimited disk space and bandwidth features. This raised a red flag and once more I was back to the drawing board but t

So what did I learn?his time seeking clarification. I learnt what I needed to and settled on Hostgator to host Scopegater.

1. There’s no such thing as unlimited disk space and bandwidth
2. There’s no such thing as unlimited disk space and bandwidth
3. There’s no such thing as unlimited disk space and bandwidth * n (where n>0)

In short it’s just a marketing strategy to woo more customers.

I realized that especially with the shared hosting plan, the terms “unlimited disk space and bandwidth” were just that, terms.

Let’s look at web hosting as a cake. If this cake (which is 100%) is to be shared among between 2 people then each will take half of it (50%). If a third person comes into the picture, each will get 33.3% and if a fourth person comes along, then each gets 25%.  The cake goes on and on being divided equally among the total number of people who are present. The more the people the lesser the amount each gets and the fewer the people the greater the amount each gets. So what if number 4 instead came along and said to number 1, 2 and 3 that he wanted half the cake (50%), what happens? Well, they could agree to get bullied and take 16.6% each or kick him out and take 33.3% each.

Hard disk space is like that piece of cake. The one who gave out the cakes happens to be the web host who in this case says there is more than enough (unlimited) for everyone. Mr. Web host comes along and offers the clients a piece of cake (hard disk space) and tells them to share it among themselves. Even if Mr. Web host gave the cake (100%) to one person, it still has a value that is 100% hence has a limit of 100%, you cannot eat 110% since the extra 10% doesn’t exist. When more and more people come into the picture, they have to share the cake which in this case is the hard disk space. This translates to the amount of space allocated to each person being dependant on how many people there are in total and when one of them wants to eat more cake/use more disk space than they are meant to, they are kicked out.