Windows 7 / Getting Started

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NTFS Quotas

Since Windows 2000, disk quotas have been available through the NTFS file system. This simplistic quota capability allowed only an amount of logical disk space for individual users for an entire disk. The NTFS quota facility has no capability for a shared quota for groups of users nor does it base the quota on a subfolder of the disk. In most instances, the file server resource management's quota component should be used, which is explored later in the "File Server Resource Manager" section. Let's now look at the basic quota component of NTFS.

To enable quotas on a disk, right-click the disk and select its Quota tab. By default, quotas are disabled. Click the Enable Quota Management option and the Apply button to gain access to the other quota configurable options.

A default quota amount and a warning level can be specified for all users of the disk. If the Deny Disk Space to Users Exceeding Quota Limit is selected, the user cannot write any more data after the quota is reached. Options are available to log events when users reach the quota limit or warning levels. These default values apply to all users of the disk. However, if you select the Quota Entries button, specific quotas for individual users can be set.

Any user that owns files on the disk is displayed, along with the amount of disk space he is using and how much of his total quota the used space equates to. If you right-click on a user and select Properties, the individual quota settings can be configured. You can also create quota entries for people who are not yet using space on the drive by selecting New Quota Entry from the Quota menu, selecting their AD account, and setting quota limits for them.

You might have invested a lot of time setting up specific quotas for each user. To move quotas from one disk to another, export them and then import them. To export quotas from a volume, perform the following:

1. Start Explorer.
2. Right-click on the volume that has the quotas you want to copy and select Properties.
3. Select the Quota tab.
4. Click the Quota Entries button.
5. From the Quota menu, select the Export option.
6. Enter a filename for the export file and click Save.
7. Close the Quota dialog.

To import the freshly exported quota information, perform the same tasks, substituting export with import:

1. Start Explorer.
2. Right-click on the volume that will import the quotas and select Properties.
3. Select the Quota tab.
4. Click the Quota Entries button.
5. From the Quota menu, select the Import option.
6. Select the exported file and click Open.
7. For any quotas that already exist, you are asked if you want to replace them and if this action should be performed on all clashes. Click OK.
8. Close the Quota dialog.

Again, while this type of quota system does exist, the File Server Resource Manager (FSRM) version is far superior and allows granular quotas with a wide range of actions to be performed if a quota is reached.