Hi,

As I've experienced some issues with my current reseller account host, I made arrangments for a new account with another host.

I have 17 domains under my reseller account; they're in all sizes from about 3MB up to 400MB or so.

My new host was happy to migrate my sites from my current host to their servers.

But, after the migration I noticed something very strange.

Some of the accounts are now taking significantly more space than they did on the old server.

For example, a 23MB site now takes 30MB of space, and one that used 410MB before now is taking up 457! That's a pretty big disparity.

At least one site is using significantly less space, however. It was at 410MB before the move but is only 365MB on the new server.

Before I change my DNS over to the new server, I want to make sure everything's as it should be. Some of these sites are my livelihood.

My new host hasn't been able to tell me why these big disparities have ocurred.

I've been a webdesigner for 8 years, and have had various reseller accounts over that time. But the disk space used has always stayed the same before and after previous moves. This is something new.

Anyone have any ideas? This is making me very nervous about the move - not even sure if I should go through with it - and I'd be grateful for your thoughts.

all best,
Denise

Nobody has any idea about this? My new host said they'd get back to me, but it's been all day now and I've heard nothing.

They assured me before I signed up that support was very fast. And, indeed they were very quick to respond to presales questions, and to migrate my accounts.

But when I asked about this problem they suddenly got much less responsive, just the one ticket reply that said they'd check into it & get back to me. That was first thing this morning. But since then...nothing.

best,
Denise

Greetings,
This is not something to worry about, because cPanel backups exclude certain things such as past cpanel backups which can make the sizes appear off a bit.

Thanks Keith.

That explains the site that got smaller! I'm still curious as to why the other accounts grew as much as 50MB, though.

Thanks again - much appreciated!

best,
Denise

50 MB is not alot, I would not worry about that.

This could be explained by the different block size of the two file systems used (most likely).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_system

If you've switched to Windows, there may also be some disparities as a result of ASCII transfer of text files:

http://www.unix.com/302129990-post2.html
http://courses.wccnet.edu/computer/mod/na36c.htm

50 MB is not alot, I would not worry about that.

I think he's mostly worried about the sites not working properly, not by the increased space usage, in which case he can try to "fake" the propagation using the hosts file:

http://support.verio.com/documents/view_article.cfm?doc_id=7412

Hi Dan & Keith,

Thanks for reassuring me! I'm not as worried now.

I haven't switched to Windows. It's just a swap from one WHM/CPanel reseller account to another.

I am indeed mosty worried about the sites not working correctly. But the one site that's much smaller on the new server is of special concern.

At this point I'm also really concerned that I haven't heard back from my new host about this. They really talk up their "24/7" support & fast response times. But I asked this morning, the sun's going down now & there's just been radio silence. Makes me a little nervous about the switch.

I appreciate that verio link; I'll try that!

cheers & gracias ~
Denise

p.s. I'm a woman! :-)
I think he's mostly worried about the sites not working properly

I believe logs (cPanel, etc) aren't transferred along with the account, this could account for the smaller disk usage for one of the accounts which you mentioned.

Hi Ingrid,

Ah, I see. That could certainly explain it.

Strange though, that most sites got bigger, some stayed the same, and just one got smaller!

Thanks!
cheers~
Denise

Hello Denise,

You are most welcome. :)

Perhaps you can do this:

1) Let your clients know that you have moved their accounts to an upgraded server and request of them to check if there are any files missing from their account within a certain number of days.

2) If there is, provide them with access to the old server to retrieve them. I am assuming you haven't terminated contract with your previous host; usually most hosts would provide you 48-72 hours of grace period before terminating your account completely, so that you can retrieve any files.

3) Otherwise, after that duration set by you, everything should be good to go. You might also want to explain to them the benefits of the new server (increased network speed, etc), this would make them feel happier as customers.


Regards,
Ingrid

p.s. I'm a woman! :-)

It's mostly guys around these forums, so I tend to place my gender bets accordingly. :P

On a more serious note, sorry about that. I probably skipped over your name, being too focused on the other stuff in the posts.

Hi Ingrid,

All good suggestions. Actually, though, I'm the owner of all 17 sites on this account.

As a webdesigner, I have yet another reseller account where I host my clients' sites. That way, if there's a problem with the server they're on, they can still easily access my site.

The sites I'm most concerned about are the largest (one is 900 pages, the others about 300 & 100 & they're the ones that generate all my income), so it is going to be really time consuming for me to to through and look at every page to see if everything's loading correctly. But I will.

Thanks again.
Denise
best,
Denise

It's mostly guys around these forums, so I tend to place my gender bets accordingly. :P

On a more serious note, sorry about that. I probably skipped over your name, being too focused on the other stuff in the posts.

Ah, it's okay. It happens every once in a while - folks see "Dennis" or "Denis" rather than "Denise." :-)

cheers ~
Denise

check if there is a backup file from old hosting. locate at your root folder of your hosting.

Make sure you have downloaded backups from the old host. Also check the integrity of the backups (compare the md5 sum to what the backup email says). If you've done that and everything checks out, you should be golden. :)

I don't think there's much need to worry about the difference in size, although it would be something that would interest me. You can look under "Disk Space Usage" in each cPanel to figure out where the changes in size have occurred.