Data Storage Quota Policy

In view of the Statement on Computing Ethics, IT Services will abide by the following Storage Quota Policy in order to distribute our limited storage resources fairly and in accordance with the University's mission:

Exchange Storage (including E-Mail, Calendar, and Contacts):

Storage on the Exchange Server will be allocated to each user based on his or her primary role at Oglethorpe University:

If your Exchange storage use exceeds 90% of your allocation, the system will begin sending you warning messages. At 100% usage, the system will begin to return any messages sent to you to the sender, and you will not be able to send any further messages. Messages that you have sent count toward your storage usage unless you delete them from the Sent Items folder. Deleted items count toward your storage unless you empty the Deleted Items folder.

Attachments are the primary cause of a full mailbox. You are encouraged to save attached files to your personal file storage or portable storage (such as a USB thumb drive) and delete the e-mail message to keep your mail quota clear. Groups of people who collaborate on documents are encouraged to save those documents to shared storage instead of e-mailing attachments back and forth.

Faculty and staff who are working on a temporary project that requires more mail storage are invited to request a temporary increase in storage quota. IT Services retains the right of discretion over temporary increases but will make reasonable efforts to accommodate your need.

Personal File Storage (H: drive):

Personal file storage will be allocated to each user based on his or her primary role at Oglethorpe University:

If your personal file storage use exceeds 90% of your allocation, the system will begin sending you warning messages. At 100% usage, the system will no longer allow you to write to your personal file storage. Access will be restored once you delete items from this storage. Again, you can save space easily by saving files you will not be using regularly to devices such as a USB thumb drive.

Personal file storage is held in accordance with our Privacy Policy, which states in part that we will take reasonable efforts to ensure that your storage remains private. We do not routinely monitor the contents of personal file storage, but we cannot guarantee absolute privacy.

Shared Storage (O: drive):

Shared storage areas ("Shares") are allocated space according to a balance of need and centrality to the University's mission. By default, each department or administrative unit is allocated 1 GB of space. Student organizations will have shares created upon the written request of that organization's advisor. Shares are accessible to either a group of people or the entire University, depending on how each share is configured. Thus, you have no reasonable expectation of personal privacy for anything you save on a share.

Audio and video media files (MP3, MPG, AVI, MOV, etc.) take up lots of space and should not be stored on shares unless they form an integral part of the official activity for which the share was created. Under no circumstance should you use shares to circumvent the quota set on your personal file storage. Large amounts of media files saved on a share will invite scrutiny to determine if they are stored there legitimately.

Each department, administrative unit or student organization must have one person designated to ensure quotas for theses shares is enforced. By default, this will be the Chair, Director, organization advisor, or appropriate Vice President.

Procedure for raising your quota:

IT Services will do everything in its power to allocate resources in accordance with the University's mission. To request an increase to your personal, departmental, student organization or administrative unit share, please send a written request to the Director of IT Services with the amount of additional space requested and the reason why this space is required.

Procedure for creating a new share:

As the University grows or elects to take on new missions, new shares will, from time to time, need to be created. To request a new share, please send a written request to the Director of IT Services with the name of the share, the amount of space requested if outside the default limits and the reason why this new share is required.

For all other requests (such as assistance in cleaning up a share or renaming a share) please contact the University's Systems Manager.