A "disk quota exceeded" error means some part of your hosting account has filled up its allotted storage space. It usually shows up in one of two ways: your website stops letting you upload files or save changes, or a specific email account stops receiving new mail and bounces messages back to the sender. The fix depends on which one has actually run out of room, so the first step is finding that out.
What This Error Actually Means
Your hosting plan has a total disk space allowance, and inside that allowance, each individual email mailbox you create also has its own separate quota. Running out of either one triggers this kind of error, but they're fixed differently.
- Account-wide quota: your entire hosting account, including website files, databases, backups, and all mailboxes combined, has hit its limit. You'll usually notice this when uploads fail or new files can't be saved.
- A single mailbox quota: one specific email address has filled its own storage allowance. Other mailboxes and your website keep working fine, but that one address stops receiving mail and the sender gets a bounce-back.
How to Check How Much Space You're Using
In cPanel
- Log in to cPanel and look at the Disk Usage widget on the main dashboard, or open the Disk Usage tool directly. This shows your total account usage against your plan's limit.
- To check a specific mailbox, go to Email Accounts. Each address listed shows its current usage and quota in the same row.
In DirectAdmin
- Log in to DirectAdmin and check the Account Information or Disk Usage section on your main dashboard for your overall quota.
- To check a specific mailbox, go to Email Accounts (or E-mail Manager). Usage and quota for each address are shown next to it.
If one mailbox is full but your account overall still has plenty of free space, don't look for the problem on the website side. Deal with the mailbox directly instead.
How to Free Up Space
Once you know which quota is full, here's where space is usually hiding:
- Empty old full backups sitting in your file manager. Full account backups can be large and are often forgotten after being created.
- Delete files you no longer need, especially large media files, old website versions, or leftover installer files from setting up your site.
- For a full mailbox, delete large old emails and attachments, and empty the Trash and Sent folders in webmail. Deleted emails often still count against your quota until the trash is emptied.
- Check for duplicate database exports or log files that have built up over time.
Only delete files you're sure you don't need. If you're not certain what a file is for, download a copy first before removing it.
If You Still Need More Space
If you've cleared out what you can and you're still running close to the limit, your plan's storage allowance itself may no longer fit how you're using it. In that case, the practical fix is upgrading to a plan with more disk space rather than repeatedly deleting things to stay under the line.
For more on how your overall storage and bandwidth limits work, see Understanding Your Hosting Account: Disk Space and Bandwidth Limits. If it's specifically a mailbox running out of room, How to Check and Increase Your Email Account's Storage Quota covers that in more detail.