Stand by, I'll be send you the forum files, the gallery files, the library files, the blog files and the store files. How many MySQL databases do I get with this offer? :winkn:
All joking aside, be careful with trying to take on a lot of external material with that particular host. Or you will soon learn the meaning of Humpty Dumpty language. Remember when Humpty told Alice that when he used a word, the word meant what he chose it to mean - nothing more and nothing less?
I co-admin a forum site that is not as large as this one. 1,430 members and 50,485 posts, as of this moment. Last April, we moved that site from the very same host, because it was growing too large.
In order to give you unlimited storage, the host will have to have an unlimited budget, in order to purchase an unlimited number of hard drives to install on the server your site is hosted on. They offer shared hosting only, which means the server your site is running on will be shared with several other users. Maybe as few as 150, maybe 3 times that many. If they are going to spend their unlimited budget to provide you with unlimited hard drives, then they are going to have to spend their unlimited budget offering unlimited hard drives to all those other users, as well.
As for unlimited transfer, they might well have that server on a pretty big pipe, but there are physical restrictions on how much traffic a connection can sustain. If you and a couple hundred other users are all running massive sites and burning up huge amounts of bandwidth, there will come a time when your site comes to a standstill, because you can't all have unlimited slices of a single pie.
This site used to be hosted on a shared hosting package that cost me either $5.95 or $6.95/month. I was never able to discover who it was, but there was very obviously a large commercial site on the same server, because at about 3:30 PM EST on Fridays, we would slow to a crawl. And it would stay that way through the rest of the weekend. I did learn there were 400 other accounts on that same server. How many of those accounts had multiple Web sites set up on subdomains?
Read your host's terms and you will see they can talk Humpty Dumpty with the best of them.
There are no set limits on the disk space or data transfer (bandwidth) that we provide in plans marked "unlimited". We want you to have the resources you need to build a great online presence. Still, we do need to be sure that we're providing all of our customers with optimum service. As such, we do require all customers to be fully compliant with our Terms of Service and utilize disk space and bandwidth related to the normal operation of a personal or small business website.
While it is rare, we may need to put constraints on accounts that are adversely affecting other customers or otherwise utilizing or abusing resources beyond what would be expected of a personal or small business website.
[Emphasis mine - ME]
See how unlimited disk space bandwidth really comes down to disk space bandwidth without set limits? If your disk use and transfer is truly unlimited, why do they feel the need to monitor either one? Because you really don't have unlimited anything, they're just insulting your intelligence by not being honest about what their limits actually are.
Start crowding out the other users on your server and you'll be hunting a new host by the end of the day, because they reserve the right to put constraints on your account. If you don't believe me, set up a streaming video site on your account and see how long it lasts.
Why would anyone ever consider spending as much as $800/month on a dedicated server, if one of those $4 accounts would do the same job? I am a member of a few sites so large, they run the forum files on one server and the database on separate servers, yet all they need to spend is just $4/month? Why would I be spending all the money I spend on hosting each month, if one of those $4 accounts will do the same job?
I wish I had your woodworking skills, I'm rapidly outgrowing my current computer desk. I've two systems crammed onto it already and that number is about to climb by one more. <sigh>
