Sites that slightly exceed our inode limits are unlikely to be suspended; however, accounts that constantly create and delete large numbers of files on a regular basis, have hundreds of thousands of files, or cause file system damage may be flagged for review and/or suspension. The primary cause of excessive inodes seems to be due to users leaving their catchall address enabled, but never checking their primary account mailbox. Over time, tens of thousands of messages (or more) build up, eventually pushing the account past our inode limit. To disable your default mailbox, login to cPanel and choose “Mail”, then “Default Address”, “Set Default Address”, and then type in: :fail: No such user here.

Thanks

- Remove all files and folders you don’t need;
- Delete unused cache files (some web apps will create loads of duplicated caches);
- E-mails – don’t keep the messages in your web inbox (use a mail agent instead!)

I hope these help. But seriously, inodes shouldn’t be your major concern you won’t be reaching the limit for most web hosts.

Good luck with your venture in the exciting webmaster world.

I’m the Customer Service Manager at HostGator and wanted to reach out here and provide some additional clarification.

Here is a quote from our Terms of Service:

“The use of more than 250,000 inodes on any shared account may potentially result in a warning first, and if no action is taken future suspension. Accounts found to be exceeding the 50,000 inode limit will automatically be removed from our backup system to avoid over-usage.”

I think that makes it clear, but what Bob told you (as a result of talking to Benjamin) is correct. 250,000 is the maximum we allow. 50,000 is the maximum we will backup. The 250,000 limit is more of a soft limit than it is a hard limit (we don’t do much if problems aren’t being caused).

That FAQ article is a little misleading and I’ll get that clarified so we can avoid confusion in the future.

Hopefully this clears up some of the questions / concerns. If you have any other questions or comments, feel free to let us know.

Best,

Douglas
HostGator.com LLC

Anyway, the inodes limitation shouldn’t be a major issue for you to decide on a web host. Personally, I think Hostgator is a great web host and highly recommend their service.

(12:13:27 AM) Benjamin Da: We do not provide backups after 50,000 inodes.

(12:13:47 AM) Benjamin Da: After 250,000 we will require you to lower your inode usage, as this causes a resource issue on the server that you are being hosted on.

(12:14:56 AM) Bob: Thank you. I would suggest that the pre-seller ‘FAQ’ entry should be updated to clarify this point.

(12:16:10 AM) Benjamin Da: I understand, Bob, If you would like, you can email feedback@hostgator.com and request that this be updated, as we are happy to implement positive changes recommended by our clients.

Going to hostgator’s terms of service (http://www.hostgator.com/tos.shtml) reveals something completely different from what your chat said:

7b.) INODES
The use of more than 250,000 inodes on any shared account may potentially result in a warning first, and if no action is taken future suspension. Accounts found to be exceeding the 50,000 inode limit will automatically be removed from our backup system to avoid over-usage. Every file (a webpage, image file, email, etc) on your account uses up 1 inode.

Sites that slightly exceed our inode limits are unlikely to be suspended; however, accounts that constantly create and delete large numbers of files on a regular basis, have hundreds of thousands of files, or cause file system damage may be flagged for review and/or suspension. The primary cause of excessive inodes seems to be due to users leaving their catchall address enabled, but never checking their primary account mailbox. Over time, tens of thousands of messages (or more) build up, eventually pushing the account past our inode limit. To disable your default mailbox, login to cPanel and choose “Mail”, then “Default Address”, “Set Default Address”, and then type in: :fail: No such user here.

They should update their faq.