What is the average bandwidth usage and average server storage for a message board? Where do I go to find this information?

I am putting together a business plan, and can find no free information on this subject. Thanks

I asked Scream this question directly and this is what he said:
I'm not aware of an average that's currently posted anywhere. Your best bet is to post on one of our forums here and you'll probably get a variety of responses from users with the amount of posts/users they have and what type of bandwidth/storage space they use.

So if you could kindly post your data [ posts/users vs. bandwidth/storage ] I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks yall!!!
*Brian

Well, a big factor in usuage stats is whether you are allowing attachments. My board has attachements to most posts, but my bandwidth usage is relatively low. But, I don't have a very active board, and it hasn't really been used for a message board, more of a file storage management system.

But, yeah, attachments are going to raise your usuage. Of coarse, there are a few hacks around to help you control those. I would be interested to see ericgtr's stats with his attachment heavy board.

Thanks for taking time to reply. I would welcome any info, attachments or no attachments, both would be good.

I run a fairly active board with around 4700 members and the entire board revolves around attachments. At this point I am averaging between 200 and 300 GB a month and I'm on a dedicated server.

Eric, May I ask what size your database is and how fast it grows? Will you need to upgrade to more colo servers soon? Or do you expire/delete old posts when they reach a certain age? THANKS!!

I leave things pretty much as they are, the files are stored in a directory and not the DB so it's not that big of a deal. There may be a time when I decide to archive some things off but for now those settings are stock. I will have to wait until I start making some revenue before I can add more servers

Please provide the following info about your message board:

Number of posts:
Posts per day:
Number of topics:
Topics per day:
Number of users:
Users per day:
Board started:
Avatar directory size:
Database size:

thanks!

Not sure why you would need all of those stats from my site, this stuff is all relative to your needs as it is. However, feel free to click the link in my sig and check my Stats box on the right and do whatever other digging you want to do.

Eric, thanks for the invite! I'm trying to average numbers to help with my calculations for my business plan. I have found more info on this subject:
look here -- phpbb thread

I am trying to make these formulas from averages:

[ advertising revenue VS. MB size ]
[ users VS. MB size ]
[ MB size VS. bandwidth ]
[ MB size VS. server space ]
[ bandwith per dollar ]
[ server space per dollar ]

Okay then..

Number of posts: 80049
Posts per day: 300 to 500
Number of topics: 8704
Topics per day: (NA)
Number of users: 4756
Users per day: 20 to 30
Board started: ??
Avatar directory size: 1.14 MB
Database size: 47.7 MB

Thanks ERIC! Your data is good, because it's up-to-date compared to all the other info I've found. I've posted over here to and got a few responses: http://[censored]/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=218926

If you are interested in more info on this subject I just hit the motherload:
http://[censored]/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=48609&highlight=

Number of posts: 247263
Posts per day: 250 today
Number of topics: 30184
Topics per day: Not Known
Number of users: 3498 (all with more than 1 post and active within a year) current user number 8919
Users per day: active members 150 unreged 150 300 total (new 8)
Board started: 2002
Avatar directory size: less than 1 mb
Database size: 140

Bandwidth used per month: ~800 GB
Visits per day: 66,000 (36,037,103 total visits)
PM Purge: 30 Days
Post Purge: 120 to 360 Days (depending on forum group)
Inactive Member Purge: 360 Days

Number of posts: 521,215 ^^^
Posts per day: 4,317
Number of topics: 33,990
Topics per day: N/A
Number of users: 15,418
New Users per day: 42
Average Online at any time: 260 / 20 minutes
Board started: 4/2002
Attachment directory size: 12.6 GB
Avatar directory size: 48 MB
Database size: 288 MB

How often MySQL crashes: Sometimes once a week, Sometimes Several times a day

TrekBBS:

Bandwidth used per month: ~90-120 GB (yay for gzip!)
Pageviews per day: ~140,000
PM Purge: Never (only automated messages are pruned)
Post Purge: 14 to 180 days (depending on forum group)
Inactive Member Purge: Varies based on activity, post count, posts currently in DB - 60 to 360 days. (Custom member prune utility.)

Number of posts: ~380,000 (pruned daily to keep this number due to being on an undersized server)
Posts per day: ~4,000-6,000 (off season vs on season)
Number of topics: ~18,000
Topics per day: ~145
Number of users: ~5,200, 4,000 of which have been active in the past month
Users per day: ~30
Board started: Spring, 1999
Avatar directory size: N/A, local avatars / uploaded avatars disabled
Database size: ~450 megs

MySQL crashes: Never, though it is bounced three times a day for quick backups. It's easier and MUCH faster to pull down Apache and MySQL, then just copy the table files out and bring it all back up rather than trying to do an export from the live DB.

THANKS!!! to everyone for such a good response to my first post after joining. You guys are great and know what you are talking about! This is important info to me that is unavailable elsewhere to my knowledge(with out having to pay and arm & leg for it)

*B

>>I find trance music to be very good background music when working on the computer, check out this online radio station that I listen to regularly: http://www.trancesphere.com/

PLEASE KEEP POSTING MORE INFO... PLEeZ

I have also found this info:

Data transfer 1.3Gb per day