What has recently changed?
- Beginning on November 5, 2025, WashU Box will transition from unlimited storage to 1TB quota per user.
- Users currently using less than 1TB will have the 1TB quota applied.
- Users currently using more than 1TB will receive a quota of their current usage plus 10% to ensure there is no disruption to your work and that all your data can continue to be stored as usual.
- Starting November 5, 2025, new Box users will be allocated 1TB of storage.
Why is it changing?
This change is to ensure compliance with vendor contract terms and to minimize our overall digital footprint and the risk of additional costs associated with data overages.
Support
- Starting in 2026, the WashU IT project team will be reaching out to work with users exceeding the quota to find a permanent storage solution.
- Contact the WashU IT Support Desk for assistance or questions.
Resources
- Learn about alternative storage options.
- Research Infrastructure Services (RIS) Data Storage Platform.
- Need active storage? Every researcher gets 5TB of storage free.
- Need inactive storage? RIS has Archive storage options.
- WashU supported File Shares & Storage options.
- Research Infrastructure Services (RIS) Data Storage Platform.
- Learn how to see your current storage usage in Box or OneDrive in this FAQ KBA (may require WashU Key Login).
- Learn about what counts against your quota in this FAQ KBA (may require WashU Key Login).
- Best Practice tips on minimizing your data storage footprint.
- Refer to the Appropriate Use Guidelines to see suitable types of data for storage in Box.
- If the temporary storage quota increase does not meet your current needs, you may request an additional storage quota increase by completing the Box request form or the OneDrive request form. Please note that alternative storage options or quota increases may incur a financial cost per user or department, which will be discussed in the one-on-one meetings.
Active storage refers to frequently accessed working files.
Inactive storage refers to a storage solution for infrequently accessed data that is important for long-term retention, compliance, or archival purposes.
FAQs Related to the Quota Implementation:
Find answers to the following questions, and more in this FAQ KBA (may require WashU Key Login).
- How do I know how much storage I have used in Box?
- How can I calculate the available space in my account?
- Can I request additional storage?
- How is my storage quota determined, and what items, including shared ones, count against it?
- How does the quota apply toward department or project level folders?
- How much storage will I have in my WashU Box account?
- I am over the standard 1TB quota – am I going to be charged?
- I didn’t upload anything new, but I somehow reached my quota. What happened?
- What do I need to do right now? (Quota Enforcement Change)
- What happens if I exceed my quota?
- What does 1TB look like?
- What types of additional storage options are there and how much do they cost?
- Will any data be deleted? (Quota Enforcement Change)