Web Hosting Geeks' Blog » storage space http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog Web Hosting Industry News, Latest Trends, and Analyses. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:48:19 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Shared Hosting – How Much Can You Afford to Share?http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2010/08/16/shared-hosting-%e2%80%93-how-much-can-you-afford-to-share/ http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2010/08/16/shared-hosting-%e2%80%93-how-much-can-you-afford-to-share/#comments Mon, 16 Aug 2010 19:50:37 +0000 Art http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/?p=1050 Your website is the focal point of your online business, as it represents your online identity and reputation on a continual basis. The performance, appearance and presence of your site directly affect the way your visitors perceive the professionalism of your online business. Every site operates on a web server, and this server ultimately dictates the full functionality and performance limitations of every web page on the site. Every time a page is loaded a small burden is placed on the web server, and if the load is too heavy the site performance begins to suffer, in the form of slow page loads, and even site down time. The likelihood of this decreased site performance occurring depends entirely upon the kind of web server being used, as some are more powerful than others. Shared web servers are perhaps  the least beneficial, simply because all of the server resources are shared amongst various sites simultaneously.

How Much Is Shared?

Fortunately, sensitive site information  (such as financial data) is not shared between unrelated sites in a shared hosting plan. However all of the server resources, such as bandwidth, data transfer, and even storage space are shared with other users that are renting a hosting plan with your web host. Your site’s IP address is also shared with these users as well, which means that their actions may reflect on both the legal credibility and search engine ranking of your site.  Since you are sharing all of these attributes with sites that are not under your control, it is possible that unforeseen circumstances could arise, such as being de-indexed from search engines, or even having your site taken offline temporarily.

How Much Can You Save?

The main reason why anyone would purchase a shared hosting plan would be to save money. However, when you factor in the issues that could result from sharing all of your server resources with dozens of other sites, it becomes clear that you may not be saving anything at all. In fact, the percentage of people that will eventually upgrade from a shared hosting plan is rather high. Therefore if you’re inevitably going to upgrade in the future, then there may be little sense in paying for a plan which will soon be obsolete. The truth is you can save a lot of time and money by starting with a plan that is right for you.

When Would Shared Hosting Be Optimal?

If you are operating a personal blog, or a .info domain that is not of high importance to you, then a shared hosting plan could accommodate your needs. Shared hosting is only recommended for individuals, and is not an ideal solution for the online business owner. If you are currently using a shared hosting account for your online business, you may want to consider switching to a VPS or Dedicated hosting account instead. Dedicated and VPS hosting plans offer flexibility, privacy and capabilities that cannot be found in any shared hosting service.

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]]> http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2010/08/16/shared-hosting-%e2%80%93-how-much-can-you-afford-to-share/feed/ 0 Web Hosting Plans: Disk Space and Bandwidth – Are They Really Unlimited ?http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2010/03/01/web-hosting-plans-disk-space-and-bandwidth-are-they-really-unlimited/ http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2010/03/01/web-hosting-plans-disk-space-and-bandwidth-are-they-really-unlimited/#comments Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:40:20 +0000 Art http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/?p=775 Web hosting plans include many features, and often times the feature lists can be difficult to compare since there are so many aspects to consider. Perhaps the two most important attributes of a web hosting plan are the bandwidth and disk space. The bandwidth capacity determines how much information a website can send to their visitors during their viewing of the site. The disk space determines how many files you can store for your website. The bandwidth is usually limited by a network line that has a measurable transfer rate capacity due to it’s size. Likewise, the hard disk space is also limited by storage space and other technological limitations.

The problem with most web hosting plans is that they claim to offer unlimited bandwidth and disk space, however they simply cannot truly offer this as they are not equipped to do so. Even Internet Service Providers don’t make such claims, as they know it is not possible to give this type of service to every customer. So then why do so many web hosting companies promise unlimited features that they cannot accommodate for?

All You Can Eat?

Think of it this way – when you go to a buffet, you are promised all you can eat. This means you are entitled to an unlimited amount of food, as long as you can swallow it. However, this does not mean that you are going to eat all of the food! In fact, most of the people at the buffet are not going to eat more than two plates! The buffet advertises unlimited food, even though both the restaurant manager and the diners know that this is not truly possible. How does this relate to web hosting? Because it is the same concept- web hosts offer unlimited bandwidth and disk space to attract customers. At the same time, they know these customers cannot possibly use all of their bandwidth.

Competition and Marketing

Due to the competitive nature of the web hosting industry, web hosting companies will do whatever they can to outbid the competition for your business. Web hosts know that most users are not going to uses even half of their allocated bandwidth, so they can offer unlimited bandwidth plans since there are so many server resources left over all the time. The sad part is, if the customer does happen to go over this hidden bandwidth limit, the hosting company may shut down their website without warning. While this kind of unlimited plan may be suitable for some webmasters, a rapidly expanding business should know their bandwidth limits to prevent from receiving warning letters and abrupt termination of service  from their web hosting service.

Conclusion

The saying “nothing is free” may be just as relevant as “nothing is unlimited.” When a web hosting company says they offer unlimited features, it may be best to speak with these web hosting company’s support staff to assure yourself that the features are actually unlimited.

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]]> http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2010/03/01/web-hosting-plans-disk-space-and-bandwidth-are-they-really-unlimited/feed/ 0 Assessing Storage Needs for Your E-commerce Domainhttp://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2010/02/03/assessing-storage-needs-for-your-e-commerce-domain/ http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2010/02/03/assessing-storage-needs-for-your-e-commerce-domain/#comments Wed, 03 Feb 2010 18:42:15 +0000 Art http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/?p=738 The practice of E-commerce involves much more than simply selling products and services online. Developing a good e-commerce website involves maintaining the security and administrative aspects of your website as well. Many people overlook the importance of storage when it comes to choosing a web hosting service provider. Many people make the mistake of relying solely on their hard drive, which eventually will become unable to hold your website’s data.  Aside from running out of space, using a personal hard drive is risky because a crash can occur at any time resulting in data loss. When it involves your business, reliability and security is the most important factor. With all of the possible selections available in today’s market, it can be difficult to choose a single solution.  There are certain things one must consider when selecting a proper web hosting service for their business.

How Much Space Do You Need

Purchasing a new storage device requires the assessment of your storage needs. If you only need to backup a few things, then a simple USB drive will suffice. Even though USB drives do not consume a lot of space, they are capable of holding vast amounts of data and are seen as a good way to backup your data.  If you need to store more then you may want to consider an external hard drive.

Outsourcing Storage Space

If you do not want to store your data on a physical device at your home or office, then you can always opt for virtual storage with a third-party provider.  With a good data hosting service, you will receive the benefit of an online interface that will allow you to easily transfer your files,  and you’ll also receive plenty of bandwidth. Before selecting a third-party data hosting service, make sure they are reputable and take plenty of security measures to help protect your website’s data. The data must be secure during the entire time it is stored on their server to prevent data loss.

Speed Necessity

If you need to transfer a lot of data at one point in time, then speed should most definitely be a determining factor. It is important to consider all of the aspects of the storage provider, including speed, memory and disk space. Normally the best speeds are provided by interfaces such as  IDE, Firewire, SCSI, parallel, and USB. These storage devices are of the plug and play variety and are very easy to use and maintain.

Making the Right Decision

There are plenty of options available concerning storage for your e-commerce website. It is not hard to find  a service that will accommodate your needs, however it is best to make sure you make the right decision initially.

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]]> http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2010/02/03/assessing-storage-needs-for-your-e-commerce-domain/feed/ 0 Is Free Web Hosting Really Free?http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2008/12/02/is-free-web-hosting-really-free/ http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2008/12/02/is-free-web-hosting-really-free/#comments Tue, 02 Dec 2008 17:30:12 +0000 Art http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/?p=97 If you wish to operate a website, it is important to know all the hosting options that are available.  Web hosting comes in a many different flavors but the first thing that needs to determined is if you want to pay for service or sign up with a free host.  Yes, you can have your very own website without paying a dime for the service.  Free hosts are abundant but is the service really free?  Depending on you view it, free hosting could actually be very costly.

The Cost You Pay

With free hosting, you are generally required to give up something in exchange.  Most free hosting providers will automatically place advertisements at the top or bottom of your web pages in exchange for their service.  Even worse, some use annoying pop-ups rather banners, scaring away visitors and making your site look very unprofessional.  Aside from advertisements that have nothing to do with your personal vision, you typically have to sacrifice customer support and the accessibility of your website.  Besides, you’re not paying for service so the host does not owe you anything – not even reliable customer service or the promise that your site will be available on the web.

The truth is that free web hosting is not all its cracked up to be, this is the main reason why so many people have no problem paying for a more reliable service.  The best way to sum up free hosting is the word limited.  There are limited features and control with decent support being pretty much out of the question.  Because the servers are not of the highest of quality, your site could run slow and experience an unreasonable amount of downtime.  If your intentions are to create a personal website, you may or may not be able to deal with such instances.  If you intend to run an online business, there is no way it can survive in this environment.

Reliable Free Hosting

Overall, free web hosting is far less dependable than its paid counterpart.  However, there are actually a few hosts that offer decent service.  This isn’t to be confused with the reliability you tend to get with a paid hosting plan but compared to free hosting standards, it’s acceptable.  If you look hard enough, you can actually find a free web host that doesn’t force you to place advertisements on your web pages .  These companies usually set you up nicely with a small amount of storage space on the server, minimal bandwidth, and if you’re lucky, a simple control panel that allows you to play webmaster.  What they hope is that you will enjoy the free service and eventually upgrade to one of their paid hosting plans.  Several hosts have actually started out this way, offering a free service for a while and then earning enough revenue to move up full fledge paid hosting.  So if you are not ready to pay for a website, this would be much better situation as at least gives you a little more flexibility.

Conclusion

If you really think about, free hosting really isn’t free.  Every provider has to pay for their servers, bandwidth and other associated resources.  What you are required to give up in exchange ultimately determines the price.  The good thing as that even though you’re not coming out of your pocket, you don’t necessarily have to be stuck with a crappy service.

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