{"id":21067,"date":"2023-03-13T11:27:24","date_gmt":"2023-03-13T03:27:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cldy.com\/sg\/?p=21067"},"modified":"2023-02-28T20:42:01","modified_gmt":"2023-02-28T12:42:01","slug":"11-ways-to-optimise-hosting-disk-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cldy.com\/sg\/blog\/web-hosting\/11-ways-to-optimise-hosting-disk-space\/","title":{"rendered":"11 Ways to Optimise and Free up Your Hosting Disk Space"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">There are different factors to look into when <\/span><a style=\"color: #f4662d\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cldy.com\/sg\/blog\/web-hosting\/choosing-web-hosting-plan\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">choosing a web host.<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> You have to check if they are reliable and ensure good website performance. Next, you\u2019ll have to look into the <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">hosting disk space<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> they offer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">How much disk space you need depends on the type of website you\u2019re running. The larger your website, the more disk space you need.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">It\u2019s easy to overlook your<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> website storage space<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> when you\u2019re just starting out. But as your website grows, so will the need to manage your disk space usage.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">To help you optimise your web hosting disk space, we\u2019ve prepared this helpful guide.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><b>But First,<\/b><b> What is Hosting Space<\/b><b>?<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Storage is a universally-known word. But in the context of web hosting, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">hosting disk space<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> refers to the amount of storage allotted for you on a server.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">It is generally made of the following files:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Text files<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Images, videos, and other media<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Databases<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Emails<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Other files related to your site including CSS, HTML, etc.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">It\u2019s especially helpful to plan your website before purchasing a hosting package. This way, you get to decide beforehand on the storage space you need. For example, larger sites that collect copious amounts of data each day (eCommerce sites, community websites), will naturally need larger disk space.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">You will find that most web hosting companies bundle their services and offer them at tiered plans. You might be able to find packages that offer 20GB of disk space, add-on domains, and additional <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">unlimited disk space <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">for your emails.\u00a0 Companies usually offer these plans in monthly or yearly packages.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Of course, the last thing you want is to run out of storage. Maximising your storage can crash your website and server \u2014 ultimately impacting your site\u2019s user experience.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Continuously scaling your disk space is perhaps the most obvious solution to avoid this. But there are also ways to manage disk storage. Let\u2019s explore them in the next section.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><b>11 Ways to Optimise Web Hosting Disk Space<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><b>1. Delete unused, junk files<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Over time, your website will gather unused files, including spam comments and emails, unused drafts, and files that were uploaded but serve no purpose.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">It\u2019s good to run a regular website inventory to determine the files you can remove. Start by checking how much <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">free web hosting disk space<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> is left on your plan.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">To do this, go to cPanel and click on <\/span><b>Files &gt; Disk Usage<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. You\u2019ll be directed to the Disk Usage page, where you\u2019ll find a list of website files and the storage it consumes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Note that you\u2019ll need to be extra careful when vetting these files. Before deleting any of them, make sure that they won\u2019t disrupt any of your website\u2019s functionalities.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>2. Remove unused website backups<\/b><b><\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Website owners know the importance of creating website backups all too well. You might even have a plugin that saves your backup files in your hosting disk space.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">While backing up your site is important, make it a practice to delete all unused backup files.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">For backups you need, download them on your computer hard drive or anywhere convenient.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">If your website is built on WordPress or you\u2019re running your site on cPanel, you\u2019ll find that there are apps that automate the process by syncing your backup files to a separate location.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>3. Remove plugins you don\u2019t use<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Like files, plugins can take up a lot of disk space too. They store files and folders that tend to bloat when improperly maintained.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Do an inventory of your plugins so you can discover which ones you\u2019re no longer using. It helps to list which ones are serving the same purpose. For example, you might have two plugins that power your website\u2019s search bar. For cases like this, decide which plugin you want to keep and which one should go to the trash folder.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>4. Delete or archive log files<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Log files are basically text files stored on your web server. Each time a browser requests website resources \u2014 a web page, an image, etc. \u2014 from your server, it adds a new line in the log. Webmasters use log files to analyse how search bots crawl your site, track down broken links, and check for inconsistent server responses.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">As useful as they are, database log files can increase quickly and end up consuming a large amount of disk space. You\u2019ll want to periodically remove log files to conserve <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">website storage space.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>5. Store media files in the cloud<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Instead of physical servers or devices, distribute your data to the cloud.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Cloud storage involves saving data in an online storage system maintained by a third party. This way, you get to back up and access your files through devices connected to the internet<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">It\u2019s safe to say that the rise of the eponymous cloud has made it easy for anyone to store, manage, and share files. Whether you use it to store backups, important log files, or website media \u2014 cloud storage removes the need to rely on your<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> hosting disk space.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>6. Minify CSS<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">CSS might be the cornerstone of the World Wide Web, but use too much and you\u2019ll be looking at slow load times. Not to mention, large CSS files take up much of your hosting disk space.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Minify CSS to remove unneeded code from your source files. The primary goal of CSS minification is to reduce file size without impacting how it runs on the browser. It\u2019s as simple as removing spaces, idents, comments, and line breaks on your code. Browsers typically don\u2019t need this information to run the CSS code, so it\u2019s normally safe to remove them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Of course, not everyone has the time to analyse hundreds of lines of code. You can use a plugin or <\/span><a style=\"color: #f4662d\" href=\"https:\/\/wp-rocket.me\/blog\/best-free-css-and-javascript-minification-tools\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">online minification tools<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>7. Terminate unused accounts<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">To be clear, user accounts don\u2019t take up too much space. But when running a website, some users make the mistake of registering multiple email accounts that end up being useless.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Like other points on this list, do an inventory of accounts that are no longer in use. For example, you could still have the email addresses of terminated employees on your server.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Also, consider using email forwarding. The setup allows you to direct all messages to one inbox to save storage space <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">and <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">cut down on email costs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>8. Control user uploads<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Speaking of users, it\u2019s important to restrict uploads without your approval. This is especially useful if you\u2019re managing a site that allows user-generated content. Not only does this practice save you disk space, but it protects your business from potential threats hiding in the files uploaded.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Restrict large amounts of files by setting an upload limit. You can also set parameters on the type of files you accept on your site. For example, you could restrict images to just JPEG, PNG, or WebP formats.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>9. Optimise your visual content<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Adding a good number of visual content (infographics, videos, recordings) can be appealing to clients and search engines. The downside? It tends to eat up a lot of disk space. On top of that, excessive use of media can end up slowing down your site.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">There\u2019s only one good solution for all this and that\u2019s to <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">optimise, optimise, optimise.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Optimising media files allows you to speed up websites and save disk space without losing quality. There are different ways to go about it, including:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><b>Use file compression tools.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> There are different data compression tools out there. For images, you can count on photo compression tools like Adobe Photoshop or Gimp. There are also web tools like TinyPNG that allow one-click image compression.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">For videos, you\u2019ll find HandBrake and Blazemp useful for reducing video file size. The best part is that these tools don\u2019t degrade file quality.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><b>Be mindful of your file format.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Your file type plays an important role in image optimisation.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">When uploading images, for example, you would want to use JPEGS for photos bursting with colour. GIF, on the other hand, works best for animated images.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><b>Convert your videos to HTML5-supported formats.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Thanks to HTML5, you can now publish video content without the need for bulky plugins. Simply use an online video converter to HTLML5-supported formats like MP4 or WebM.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Another good tip for video content is to transfer them to video platforms like YouTube or Vimeo. This allows you to embed links to your videos so it doesn\u2019t gobble up your website storage.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>10. Say <\/b><b><i>adieu <\/i><\/b><b>to Flash<\/b><b><\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">While new sites might have left Flash in 2021, there are still older websites that make use of it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The reasons for this vary. It could be because these applications made heavy use of flash during the development of the website and would take a long time to replace.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you find yourself in a similar situation, we have a single piece of advice for you: It\u2019s time to leave flash behind.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Website users will be able to play your Flash content anyway. So if you have a slideshow or video content on your homepage, there\u2019s a huge chance it isn\u2019t loading on a visitor\u2019s browser. This results in high bounce rates and as a result, hurts your site rankings.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The technology to replace Flash content, including HTML5, is readily available. Moving to modern multimedia content can do wonders for your site. You\u2019ll see an improvement in your website\u2019s indexability and overall user experience.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">And of course, all this unused flash content takes up unnecessary space on your website. So removing them makes your website more lightweight and efficient.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>11. See if you\u2019ve outgrown your hosting package<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Growing a website means installing additional software or adding new pages, apps, or plugins. You may also want to add downloadable content to foster lead generation. While these are all necessary, these data take up a large amount of your storage, impacting your site\u2019s speed and overall performance.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">After following the tips above <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">and <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">you end up noticing you still lack storage, then consider upgrading your hosting package.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">You do not need to make the jump from shared or business hosting to a dedicated server right away. There are flexible and scalable hosting options for you. For example, a standard VPS setup lets you access larger resources on a shared virtual machine.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">There\u2019s also cloud hosting, where you get to tap into a network of virtual machines, providing even more resources at your disposal. Another benefit of cloud hosting is that you get to increase or decrease your server needs whenever you\u2019d like.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you\u2019re running an eCommerce store, for instance, you might need extra storage during the holiday season. It\u2019s easier to scale quickly with cloud hosting compared to other hosting setups.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><b>Make the Most of Your <\/b><b>Website Storage Space<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Optimising your <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">web hosting service disk space<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> lets you reap multiple benefits, including a faster website and an improved user experience. This creates a ripple effect on your website\u2019s SEO and conversion.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">So, be proactive when reducing space, removing unnecessary files, and upgrade when needed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Whether you\u2019re starting a website or have been running one for a while, you\u2019ll find that CLDY offers <\/span><a style=\"color: #f4662d\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cldy.com\/sg\/web-hosting\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">web <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">hosting packages<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> with large disk space. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">What\u2019s more, our hosting options make use of SSD storage types for larger storage capacity and faster performance.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There are different factors to look into when choosing a web host. You have to check if they are reliable and ensure good website performance. Next, you\u2019ll have to look into the hosting disk space they offer. How much disk space you need depends on the type of website you\u2019re running. The larger your website, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":21068,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-web-hosting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cldy.com\/sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cldy.com\/sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cldy.com\/sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cldy.com\/sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cldy.com\/sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21067"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.cldy.com\/sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21067\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21072,"href":"https:\/\/www.cldy.com\/sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21067\/revisions\/21072"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cldy.com\/sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cldy.com\/sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cldy.com\/sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cldy.com\/sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}