ABSTRACT

Even though disk space seems to be a nearly endless subject in that the amount of disk space and the sizes of disks seem to be getting bigger and bigger, the fact is that disk “quotaing” is more important than ever. It is very much a case of build it and they will come — or, rather, put the space there and they will fill it, and quickly. The explosion in disk space has been closely paralleled by the growth of file sizes in recent years. Pay no attention to disk quotas, and in a short time any enterprise will be chock full of MP3s and other miscellany, and users will be screaming for more space. In addition to disk quotas, control of free space must be maintained. You do not want disks to fill up, and you want to be able to inform users ahead of time when they need to start thinking about deletions. Performance, in fact, suffers when disks fill up. So, here are the basics of the subject and some tools to help you stay on top of the disk space situation.