Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

Like many other IT organisations, we place a restriction on the amount of data that users can store on disk.

Disk quota space

This restriction is known as a 'disk quota', and is unfortunately necessary for cost and performance reasons. Without such a limit, our disk space and backup media would soon be totally consumed.

Staff using local accounts on laptop computers are not directly affected, except when saving or when copying documents to our Faculty servers.

Staff and student disk quotas reserve ample space for you on the server, dedicated to any files and folders that belong to you. If other users fill up their own space, it will have no effect on your work. Disk quotas offer protection against the disk becoming full.

Getting more space

We have assigned generous quotas to all staff and student users, but we may have underestimated your data storage requirements.

If you find that you do not have enough space for your work, you can request an increased quota and let us know why the limit needs to be increased. Other users may be in the same position, and we can adjust quotas accordingly across the board.

Your disk quota can be set to any agreed size your role in the Faculty requires. Students will need an academic reason for any individual increase.

Full disk quota is full

If your quota has been reached, you will probably see various error messages.

You should:

1. Switch to the Finder by clicking on the Desktop.
2. Open a new Finder window, and pick one of the items in the sidebar, such as the house icon for your home directory.
3. If a disk quota applies, small print appears in the margin at the bottom of the window. It tells you how much space is still available on the disk.
4. The message might read 'zero available'. In that case you have somehow exceeded your quota, and as a first step it would be useful to track down where the space has gone.
5. If you are not able to identify any large and unnecessary files, do not delete one file after another in desperation. Instead read the instructions for reviewing your files and folders.

If the problem still persists, contact Faculty Computing for assistance.