The University of New Mexico

Manage Your NetID Disk Space

UNM's shared system is a cooperative environment that depends on the responsible use of resources to function efficiently. IT depends on everyone at UNM to help conserve and manage computer resources. Please be considerate of others when managing your NetID disk space.

Your NetID account includes:

  • 1GB of space for your email INBOX and folders
  • 50MB of general file storage space

Account Allocation and Data Recovery

Keeping Track of Your Disk Allocation

Webmail, UNM's Web-based email program, continuously displays how much disk space you have used (default view) and automatically alerts you when you approach the limit of your email disk space.

To find out how much general disk space you have used, see FastInfo #1149.

Recovering Lost Data

IT backs up files stored in your NetID account, including email saved in folders, nightly.
Note: Email in your INBOX is not backed up. Important email messages should be saved to folders where they can be restored if data is lost.

IT keeps nightly backups for 13 months. Data from the last 14 days is backed up on disk, and can be recovered it using the UNIX commands snapshot (text version) and xsnapshot (xwindows version).

Data lost more than 14 days ago from today may be recoverable from taped backups.
Note: It could take five to 10 working days to restore data from tapes. Some data may not be recoverable. Requests for data recovery from taped backup are limited to a single date.

Contact IT Customer Support Services at 277.5757 for further assistance with recovering lost data.

Your Email Disk Space

Techniques to efficiently manage your email disk space

Your NetID email allocation (including INBOX and folders) is 1GB. Webmail, UNM's Web-based email application, continually displays how much disk space you have used (default view) and automatically alerts you when you approach the limit of your email disk space.

  • Promptly delete unwanted messages, especially those with large attachments, such as images and PDF files.
  • If you use an alternative email program (e.g. Netscape, Outlook) make sure that your preferences or settings are configured to remove messages from the server after they are downloaded. See Modifying Your Email Program to Work with Your NetID Account for more information.
  • Unsubscribe from unwanted electronic mailing lists. Send a message to the Listserv (listserv@domain) and type the following in the body of the message: unsubscribe listname
  • Stop your mail from electronic mailing lists while you are away and unable to access your email. Send a message to the Listserv (listserv@domain) and type the following in the body of the message: set listname nomail
    When you return, resume mail by sending the following in the body of the message: set listname mail

Your General Disk Space

Conserving general disk space

Your UNIX disk space allocation is 50MB.

To conserve your general disk space, promptly delete unwanted files. If you reach your disk space allocation limit, any files you modify or attempt to save, will be reduced to an empty file, and your data will be lost.

Download files from your general disk space to your computer's desktop

You can download files to your computer's desktop using SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol) programs, such as Secure File Transfer Client (for Windows) and Fugu (for Macintosh). Both programs are available on computers in IT computer pods and can be downloaded at the IT Download page. For detailed instructions on using these programs, see:

Compress files for later use

Use the compress command to reduce the size of large files you're not currently using but may need later.

Compress a File
At the Linux prompt ($), type, compress filename and press Enter
The file will be replaced by a compressed file with a .z extension, e.g., filename.z
Use the wildcard symbol (*) to compress a set of files, e.g., compress *.exe

Uncompress a File
When you are ready to use the file again, restore it to its original form using the uncompress command,
at the prompt ($), type, uncompress filename and press Enter
Use the wildcard symbol (*) to uncompress a group of files, e.g., uncompress *.exe

Archive and compress a directory

First, use the tar command to create an archive of the directory you want to compress, ex., at the ($) prompt type, tar cf myarchive.tar mydirectory

Then, compress the archived directory. Remember to include the .tar extension
at the prompt, type compress myarchive.tar
The archived directory will be compressed and renamed with the .z extension, e.g., myarchive.tar.z

Finally, remove the original directory and files, at the ($) prompt type, rm -r mydirectory

Restore an Archived and Compressed Directory
At the Linux prompt ($), type the following commands in order (press Enter after each command):
uncompress myarchive.tar
tar xvf myarchive.tar
rm myarchive.tar

Request general disk space increase

If you have a legitimate academic need, you may request that your general disk space be increased. Contact Customer Support Services, 277.5757 to request a disk space quota increase. You must be able to demonstrate a serious and compelling need to receive more disk space.