contentious.com

googlesystem.blogspot.com

When will you run out of Gmail space?

Yesterday I wrote about how I’ve finally managed to completely clear my e-mail inbox. (One day later, it’s still clear — one day at a time, as with everything.) Of course, the vast majority of my messages aren’t gone, they’re just archived on Gmail.

One reason I like Gmail is that it gives me a whole lot of free storage space — 2.8 GB currently. On several occasions, having such a large searchable index of personal communication has really saved my butt. You really never know what you’re going to need, when.

2.8 gig is a lot — but it’s not infinite. Eventually I will run out of space. I was reminded about this when Contentious reader Meredith commented today, “Last night I finally managed to run out of space on Gmail.”

Yesterday Google announced it’s going to start offering extra storage space for Gmail and its Picasa photo-sharing service:

“When you reach the limit of free storage (i.e., 1GB for Picasa Web Albums, 2.8GB for Gmail), consider this your overflow solution. Plans start at $20/year for 6GB …with larger plans ranging up to 250GB.”

OK, that’s an option — and a reasonably priced one, I think. Still, I don’t like forking out cash before I have to…
So how long have I got? An unofficial blog about Google estimates I’ll run out of Gmail space in mid 2009. You can check your estimated “mailbox full” date there, too. I’m not vouching for its accuracy, though.

Why pay for extra e-mail storage? I agree with my friend and fellow Boulderite Clark Hodge that you should never throw anything away online. Like I said, having access to archived e-mail has indeed saved my butt. Clark blogs about data storage on StorageSwitched. OK, he’s more extreme than I am — he thinks you should even save spam. But he’s a smart guy. If storage matters to you, definitely subscribe to his blog.

…Of course, since e-mail is a core tool in my career and life, I don’t just trust everything to Gmail. I download all my Gmail via POP access, compress it, and back it up on an external hard drive as well as a separate online backup service. That’s not as easily searchable as the Gmail interface, but it is a kind of insurance for my work. If people want to know how I do it, comment below and I’ll write a separate post explaining that process.