Estimating Disk Space
Determine Current Usage. Examine existing disk drive sources for documents to be stored in the DocuShare repository (e.g., from My Computer, click each network drive to obtain the amount of used space). Use the total number as a starting point (SP).
For an imaging solution, scan ten typical customer documents to a directory in the format you will be using (e.g., tif, pdf). Display the Properties window on the folder and the collection for the disk space information. Then estimate the total number of documents to be scanned to DocuShare.
1. Account for Indexing Overhead. Multiply SP by 1.3 to account for the indexing overhead. Indexing increases storage requirements anywhere from 15%-35% per document. The wide range depends on whether metadata only is indexed (when uploading image files, DocuShare indexes properties only), how much metadata per document (just document title, or title, summary, description, keywords and additional metadata), or metadata and content (when uploading text documents, DocuShare indexes properties and content). If DocuShare is to be used to store image files only, multiply the SP by 1.15. If DocuShare is to be used to store documents, multiply the SP by 1.35. This number is the SPIO.
2. Determine Document Versions. Multiply SPIO by the estimated number of document versions to keep. By default, DocuShare keeps four versions of a document (when a fifth version is "checked in," the first is overwritten). Many documents, particularly image files, will only have one version. These documents are stored to a collection to share, and not for collaboration. Some documents, however, may have many versions. If a good estimate cannot be determined, use 1.4. Multiply SPIO by 1.4 to determine the initial estimated disk space requirements.
3. Plan for Growth. How many documents will be added or updated each month? What’s the life span of a document? Will documents be removed or archived after one year? 7 years?