Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Web Hosting : Host w/ space w/o bandwidth - anybody offer it?

[Frankfurter]

I need a host that can give me a lot of space 5-10GB to store tons of pictures, video, etc. but it is only for a personal webpage and I don't need bandwidth, e-commerce, or all the other stuff that is package with the e-commerce pkgs.

Every host seems to couple the space with bandwidth and then if you exceed 1 GB they assume you are a reseller or business or whatever and you need mega-features and mega-options.

Is there anybody that simply offers lots of space for personal sites?

(and of course are responsibly priced, honest, reachable, etc.)

Frankfurter

[Coach]

If you're going to actually be using 10 GB of space, then you'll need at least 10 GB of transfer initially just to upload your files. If you'll be downloading them back, then make sure you have additional transfer.

Just because you pruchase a reseller plan or other package doesn't mean you have to resell the space and transfer. Simply keep it for yourself.

[Frankfurter]

Yeah, a one-time upload of 10 GB may need a bandwidth of 10GB, but that's it - just one time. Otherwise I only need less than 100 MB per day.

The reseller plans are my issue actually. They packaged reseller plans are combinations of little disk space and extremely high bandwidth (for my needs that is). And bc it is packaged as a reseller plan, the host is expecting you (e.g. me) to resell plans and offset the cost of the package. I am not able to pay $30-$70/mo for reseller package when I just need space for a personal website.

Is there any hosts that allow you to select your disk space (high for me) and select your bandwidth (very low for me) and then price the service based on need rather than pre-established packages?

[ktvktv]

10GB is really too much for less than 30 bucks per month

[net-trend]

What you can do is approach the hosts you are interested in and ask them if they'd be willing to create a custom plan for you.

[Frankfurter]

What is the expensive part of hosting? The space or bandwidth? Seems to me that space is a one-time, predictable fixed charge while bandwidth is variable and unpredicatble. Wouldn't it be in the interest of hosters to provide more space and less bandwidth - or do I have the hosting economics wrong?

[dbbrock1]

What you are looking for is online storage -
http://www.xdrive.com/

[net-trend]

Disk space for us is definately more expensive than data transfer. But the guys with them unlimited disk space will probably tell you otherwise.

[darkpunk99]

Originally posted by Frankfurter
What is the expensive part of hosting? The space or bandwidth? Seems to me that space is a one-time, predictable fixed charge while bandwidth is variable and unpredicatble. Wouldn't it be in the interest of hosters to provide more space and less bandwidth - or do I have the hosting economics wrong?

The space is a huge cost.

Think about the average web server. Probably one 80GB hard drive, maybe another for scheduled backups or setup RAID. After the hard drive is partitioned, the /home directory where all your files are stored is probably only going to be 50-60GB. You'd be using 1/5th or 1/6th of their space. Bandwidth can get added to the server cheaply (they can give their datacenter a call and get some extra for small charge.), but adding another hard drive for extra space isn't cheap.

A company's ideal profit for a server with an 80gb hard drive is probably $500 minimum each month. If you're using up 1/5th of that space, the only way to maintain that profit margin would be to charge you $100+ each month, as you are using a huge chunk of their space. You're probably not going to find a typical web host that will be able to give that to you for under $30.

You need to look for the people with servers dedicated to storage -- 5+ 120gb drives in each server. At this sort of a host, you'd only be using 1/50th of their space and they can give you a signifigantly cheaper price.

[Frankfurter]

I see.

I thought since home PCs come with 80GB for $1000 (or less) that HD space would be more plentiful/economical on the hosting side.

Sounds like servers have less HD capacity that I imagined (which means they are serving too much bandwidth and not making enough storage space available - which is my problem

Thanks for the insight!

[IceCell]

yeah, what your looking for sounds like "online file storage" and less web hosting.. whereas the latter assumes serving web pages as the primary function, and the former just storing files (generally for access by a single individual for backup purposes)

what you want is generally MORE expensive then web page serving, as it relies heavily on Storage space, which has a higher initial cost... so if you were to say purchase an additional hard drive that the host would add to thier server, you could probably get a decent price..

problem is there are MANY MANY factors that play into final pricing when it comes to web hosting.. which most people don't realize and don't factor into the equation.

just to name a few:

server location
network diversity
size of server
specs of server
storage capacity
physical drive capacity
company website
advertising
business operating expenses
company employees
competition (big factor)
market conditions (big factor)

so as you can see, it's not just as simple as.. well it's "only" 10GB, and i "only" want to use it for file storage... so why is it not "cheaper"

[4Hosted]

I guess you could find a host to make that one time 10GB transfer and then only pay for the bandwidth you actually use.

Im unsure on the "usual" costs but usually pay-for-use bandwidth is more expensive than just buying a pre-set plans.

High Bandwidth - Low disk space plans are limited though as your actually expected to use a lot of bandwidth with your large amount of disk space.

Something for hosts to look into though

[xAngelx]

If you email any host with your requirements I'm sure they'll be more than happy to work out a custom plan for you.

[ethan]

Try www.streamload.com.

They offer 3000MB of storage for $4.95/month or 15000MB for $9.95/month. You get 1000M/month of download with the subscription.