# Why such an odd amount of storage on Gmail?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-such-an-odd-amount-of-storage-on-gmail/303074
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 9, 2005, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-such-an-odd-amount-of-storage-on-gmail/303074 "2005-05-09T16:19:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2005, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-such-an-odd-amount-of-storage-on-gmail/303074/1 "2005-05-09T16:19:54Z")
Apparently, I have 2177 MB of storage on my Gmail account. Why? Why not 2000 or 2500, or even 2100? Does the amount differ for different people?
Weird.
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### Author:  [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2005, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-such-an-odd-amount-of-storage-on-gmail/303074/2 "2005-05-09T16:21:27Z")
They’re continually increasing it. It started at 2 gb a few weeks ago, and has gone steadily up since. If you go to the gmail main page, it will show you the counter as it rises.
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### Author:  [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2005, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-such-an-odd-amount-of-storage-on-gmail/303074/3 "2005-05-09T16:32:32Z")
And no matter **how** many invitations I give away, I still have 50 left!
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### Author:  [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2005, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-such-an-odd-amount-of-storage-on-gmail/303074/4 "2005-05-09T16:36:07Z")
I know what you mean about the invitations. They’ve sort of saturated the market.
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### Author:  [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2005, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-such-an-odd-amount-of-storage-on-gmail/303074/5 "2005-05-09T17:56:25Z")
> [@Speaker for the Dead](#):
>
> I know what you mean about the invitations. They’ve sort of saturated the market.
I’ve got 150 between my accounts. When are they going pay? At this point, the things are worth zero, but it’s still got to be an annoyance for folks without any.
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### Author:  [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2005, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-such-an-odd-amount-of-storage-on-gmail/303074/6 "2005-05-09T18:06:16Z")
As far as I know, they’re never going pay - they will always be free. When they’ll go out of beta however, is another question.
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### Author:  [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2005, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-such-an-odd-amount-of-storage-on-gmail/303074/7 "2005-05-09T20:23:11Z")
> [@TellMeI'mNotCrazy](#):
>
> As far as I know, they’re never going pay - they will always be free. When they’ll go out of beta however, is another question.
I meant “public”, not “pay”. I’m not stupid, just an incompetent typist.
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### Author:  [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2005, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-such-an-odd-amount-of-storage-on-gmail/303074/8 "2005-05-09T20:55:41Z")
[slight Hijack] What I want to know is: why do you need so much storage? [/hijack]
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### Author:  [@Stark\_Raven\_Mad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stark_Raven_Mad)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2005, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-such-an-odd-amount-of-storage-on-gmail/303074/9 "2005-05-09T21:07:31Z")
> [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](#):
>
> [slight Hijack] What I want to know is: why do you need so much storage? [/hijack]
There’s a [thingamajig](http://www.viksoe.dk/code/gmail.htm) that allows you to use the space as an online drive. Only downside is that your files can’t be larger than 10 megs, but you can always split them up in WinRAR.
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### Author:  [@Dr.Kenneth\_Noisewater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Kenneth_Noisewater)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2005, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-such-an-odd-amount-of-storage-on-gmail/303074/10 "2005-05-09T21:20:13Z")
> [@WhyNot](#):
>
> Apparently, I have 2177 MB of storage on my Gmail account. Why? Why not 2000 or 2500, or even 2100? Does the amount differ for different people?
>
> Weird.
This is a WAG, but I would bet it has to do with translating binary into decimal or base ten numbers. Check the properties of your hard disk and see what wacky number it can actually contain as opposed to the nice clean one it had on the box.
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### Author:  [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2005, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-such-an-odd-amount-of-storage-on-gmail/303074/11 "2005-05-09T21:22:14Z")
> [@Dr. Kenneth Noisewater](#):
>
> This is a WAG, but I would bet it has to do with translating binary into decimal or base ten numbers. Check the properties of your hard disk and see what wacky number it can actually contain as opposed to the nice clean one it had on the box.
Except it has nothing to do with that - it really is just continually growing. I’d link to a cite but I can’t access my gmail account from work.
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### Author:  [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2005, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-such-an-odd-amount-of-storage-on-gmail/303074/12 "2005-05-09T21:24:22Z")
> [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](#):
>
> [slight Hijack] What I want to know is: why do you need so much storage? [/hijack]
I managed to fill a friend’s account (10 MB at a time, remember) in about a week.
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### Author:  [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2005, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-such-an-odd-amount-of-storage-on-gmail/303074/13 "2005-05-09T21:28:43Z")
One answer to the OP is “well, why not?” If you check the website [Google Watch](http://www.google-watch.org) you will find another answer that points to Big Brother.
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### Author:  [@alterego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alterego)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2005, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-such-an-odd-amount-of-storage-on-gmail/303074/14 "2005-05-09T21:39:51Z")
> [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](#):
>
> [slight Hijack] What I want to know is: why do you need so much storage? [/hijack]
> [@](#):
>
> You are currently using 935 MB (43%) of your 2177 MB.
I use it for _everything_. They have a new rich text formatting feature, and it allows you to go to a web page, copy the entire thing to your clipboard, and then paste the entire web page into Gmail and it shows up as is. Every single time I purchase something I do this to make sure I have a receipt that I can access anywhere.
One of my classes this semester had around 20 powerpoints and 15 or so other documents including videos. Although you can only _send_ ten megabytes worth of attachments, you can write a draft with up to the limit of your inbox attached to it. So for each one of my courses I copy the course web page and attach all the documents to it. That one class alone was over 100mb.
More and more I find myself not storing text files on my computer. I have a filter that puts a “notes to self” label on all email I send to myself. Instead of opening microsoft word or notepad, I’ve been composing even term papers in Gmail and just saving them as drafts that I can access anywhere. I’ve come to find this imperative as, when school is in, I am typically on at least five computers on any given day.
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### Author:  [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2005, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-such-an-odd-amount-of-storage-on-gmail/303074/15 "2005-05-09T21:47:46Z")
> [@Kozmik](#):
>
> One answer to the OP is “well, why not?” If you check the website [Google Watch](http://www.google-watch.org) you will find another answer that points to Big Brother.
And if we link to Google Watch, we should also cite [Google Watch Watch](http://www.google-watch-watch.org/):
> [@Google's Summary](#):
>
> A criticism of the Google Watch site; argues that it was founded after its author failed to obtain a good PageRank for one of his websites.
So you have to ask yourself how biased everyone is.
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### Author:  [@alterego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alterego)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2005, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-such-an-odd-amount-of-storage-on-gmail/303074/16 "2005-05-09T22:06:25Z")
> [@Kozmik](#):
>
> One answer to the OP is “well, why not?” If you check the website [Google Watch](http://www.google-watch.org) you will find another answer that points to Big Brother.
To be honest I don’t see how that has anything to do with the OP.
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### Author:  [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2005, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-such-an-odd-amount-of-storage-on-gmail/303074/17 "2005-05-09T22:14:17Z")
Hmm, I’ll have to check [Googlism](http://www.googlism.com) before I form an opinion.
Anyways, whether you trust Gmail or not is up to you. But think about this. Ok, so are all smart enough to watch what you write in an email at work. You know they might have software to monitor email. So what do you think Google uses to monitor their employees email if, in fact, they actually do?
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### Author:  [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2005, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-such-an-odd-amount-of-storage-on-gmail/303074/18 "2005-05-10T08:06:13Z")
Nah, it’s not because of binary/decimal conversions or anything like that.
One day, a few weeks ago, Google suddenly decided to proclaim 'UNLIMITED STORAGE FOR ALL GMAIL ACCOUNTS!" or something to that effect. If you logged on during the following days, you saw a little chart explaining how the storage space will always be increasing, thus granting you virtually unlimited storage.
Over the next few days, the GB meter rapidly went up. Within a week, it went from 1GB to 2GB. And then it slowed down dramatically, becoming the slow trickle we now have.
Essentially, it was just marketing bullshit meant to make a 1GB increase seem more like infinity. Technically, it IS still going up… just too slowly to make a real difference. And, if you ask me, Google’s space increase remarkably coincided with Yahoo’s decision to increase their account size to 1GB.
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### Author:  [@SpaceDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpaceDog)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2005, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-such-an-odd-amount-of-storage-on-gmail/303074/19 "2005-05-10T10:30:04Z")
> [@Reply](#):
>
> One day, a few weeks ago, Google suddenly decided to proclaim 'UNLIMITED STORAGE FOR ALL GMAIL ACCOUNTS!" or something to that effect. If you logged on during the following days, you saw a little chart explaining how the storage space will always be increasing, thus granting you virtually unlimited storage.
>
> … snip …
>
> Essentially, it was just marketing bullshit meant to make a 1GB increase seem more like infinity. Technically, it IS still going up… just too slowly to make a real difference. And, if you ask me, Google’s space increase remarkably coincided with Yahoo’s decision to increase their account size to 1GB.
That ‘one day’ was April 1st. The ‘infinite storage’ thing was a gag, there was a little postscript that said “No, but seriously, it’s going up to 2Gb and then we’ll raise it as we see fit”. The speed of the counter meant the storage was 2Gb at the end of the day on April 1st.
Still a marketing stunt but not quite as bad as you’ve made out, and also one of the funnier jokes I saw that day. As to the timing, yeah maybe, but it _was_ also their 1st birthday …
To the other question, why so much storage ? Because they can ! I’m not complaining though having all my e-mail in one place (even if I have to forward useful stuff from other accounts) and searchable in seconds is just stupidly useful.
Another thing is that some people have multiple GMail accounts, essentially there’s nothing to stop you having as many as you want. Therefore people will use as much storage as they can, so you may as well allow people to centralise all the storage in one place.
Does it open users to a huge security risk ? Yes, of course, so you have decide how much you trust google and how much you care.
And really, e-mail isn’t secure anyway. As an old computing teacher told me “Don’t send anything over e-mail that you wouldn’t want posted on a public notice board”. That’s pretty good advice for a ton of reasons.
SD
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### Author:  [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2005, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-such-an-odd-amount-of-storage-on-gmail/303074/20 "2005-05-10T11:43:19Z")
**SpaceDog** : Ah, thank you. That explains it. I completely missed the April 1st thing 🙂
And here’s [what the page looked like](http://matrix.netsoc.tcd.ie/~horkana/2005/04/April-1st/gmail/) back then.