We find ourselves getting low on server space.  We are down to about 3.5 gig of free space.

This means we will have to migrate to a larger server.  This will be a lot more robust server with SSD drives.

This will also double our cost.  That's OK.  Growth costs.  Thanks to our loyal Picogroup members who provide the resources to make this possible.  This is how we pay it forward and support those that support us.   ;)

Once we schedule this transition (very soon), these forums will have to be locked down for maybe 12 hours so that we can put everything on pause and the migration does not disrupt any data.  Can't have files changing on here during that process.  There is no good time for this as we have global users and someone is always awake somewhere.   ::)

The main reason we are gobbling up space is the attachments on these forums.  We encourage you all to post data files up to our set limit of 20 MB.  That's what these forums are for!

However, try as we might, we can't seem to get users to resize their photos.  [smiley=deadhorse.gif]

Again, please resize your photos. Many photos attached here are multi-megabyte files.  Photos are easily resized down to a couple hundred kilobytes with no noticeable loss in quality. 

Attaching full resolution photos here without resizing is simply a waste of this expensive server space.

This upgrade will triple our server space.  Please use it wisely.   ;)

I will announce the forums maintenance mode time here as soon as we get this scheduled.  Might be as early as next week.

Uh oh. I apologize, I know I have posted camera phone shots that are larger than necessary.

Can I ask, how much server space this awesome place takes up?
Any thoughts on letting an Amazon or Google ad program help cover server cost?

JNelson wrote on Mar 19^th, 2015 at 3:50pm:

Can I ask, how much server space this awesome place takes up?

We are pushing 40 gigs at the moment.

Our Picogroup members, like yourself, provide the means for us to do this.  Where things get sour is when one of them decides to upgrade their scope equipment with another vendor deluded that they are saving a few bucks.  We recently had one that had been enjoying the Picogroup resources for seven years and then was upset when we found out and pulled the plug on him. 

Some people just don't get it.  Gotta a pay to play.   ;)

We don't ask much.  Just get your PicoScope stuff from us and send us fresh blood.   [smiley=devious.gif]

The Forums will be locked down in maintenance mode tonight at 8PM Pacific time.

They may be locked down for several hours to allow a window of time for the migration to the new server to take place.  If all goes well, we should have them up again by morning here.

Thank you for your patience.

The migration to the larger server is completed.  This was scary.   [smiley=eek.gif]

But all seems to have come off without a hitch.  Kudos to the InMotion hosting team.  These guys know what they are doing.  When we started with them, we had all kinds of problems but they have really taken their service to a new level.  I am glad we hung in there through the rough times.

The reason we came to InMotion in the first place was what Earthlink did to us when they migrated us.  Our web site and forums were completely destroyed.  We were out of business for a couple of weeks while we scrambled to dump them for a new hosting company.