Storage Calculator
 

Use the table below to caclulate physical storage space of paper documents and electronic storage space of scanned documents.

Pages
Boxes
File Cabinets
Linear Inches
Cubic Feet
Disk Space (MB)
CDs
DVDs
Trees
1
0
0
0
0
0.05
0.01
0.01
0
100
0
0
1
0
5.00
0.02
0.02
0
2,500
1
0.25
15
1
125
0.18
0.03
0.25
10,000
4
1
60
5
500
0.71
0.11
1
20,000
8
2
120
10
1,000
1
0.21
2
50,000
20
5
299
25
2,500
4
0.53
5
100,000
40
10
599
50
5,000
7
1
10
250,000
100
25
1,497
125
12,500
18
3
25
500,000
200
50
2,994
250
25,000
36
5
50
750,000
300
75
4,491
375
37,500
54
8
75
1,000,000
400
100
5,988
500
50,000
71
11
100
2,500,000
1,000
250
14,970
1,250
125,000
179
27
250
5,000,000
2,000
500
29,940
2,500
250,000
357
53
500
7,500,000
3,000
750
44,910
3,750
375,000
536
80
750
10,000,000
4,000
1,000
59,880
5,000
500,000
714
106
1,000
25,000,000
10,000
2,500
149,701
12,500
1,250,000
1,786
266
2,500
50,000,000
20,000
5,000
299,401
25,000
2,500,000
3,571
532
5,000
100,000,000
40,000
10,000
598,802
50,000
5,000,000
7,143
1,064
10,000

 
Pages are letter size 8 1/2 by 11 inches, A4
Boxes are 15 1/2 long x 12 wide x 10 deep, 400 x 300 x 250 mm
File Cabinets are 4 drawer
Linear Inches is calculated as paper stacked on it side as in a file cabinet or box.
Cubic Feet is calculated as paper store in a filing cabinet with room from drawer access.
Linear Inches and Cubic Feet are assumed to be paper stored loose enough for active filing. Paper stored for archive would take 25% less space.
Trees are 1 pulp tree (loblolly pine) .
Disk Space is the average storage space required based on 200 DPI Scan.
CDs are based on 700 MB per CD.
DVDs are based on 4.7 GB per DVD.
 
These size estimates are based on actual system metrics taken over a long period of time. Storage is a small part of total system cost, so even moderate errors in size estimates do not affect overall system cost very much. After even one percent of a project's documents have been scanned, a very accurate estimate of the per document and per file cabinet (etc.) can be made. If the actual size of the digital images of the average scanned document  is 10 percent larger than the above estimate, then the overall storage system estimate can be increased by 10 percent (with very little effect on overall system cost).
 
These metrics are also chosen in rounded form so that system estimates come out to exact rounded numbers which make the systems easier to describe and discuss. These metrics are of greatest benefit in bringing design meetings to closure on the topic of system sizing by eliminating the need to discuss (ad infinitum) whether the average size of an image is 50 or 51 KiloBytes.
 
Here are some comparisons:
 
1 scanned letter size page (8 1/2 by 11 inches, A4) = 50 Kilobytes (KB) (on average, black & white, CCITT G4 compressed)
 
1 file cabinet (4 drawer) (10,000 pages on average) = 500 Megabytes (MB) = 1CD (Compact Disc) (ROM or WORM)
 
2 file cabinets = 10 cubic feet = 1,000 MB = 1 GB
 
8 file cabinets = 1 DVD-R (WORM)
 
2,000 file cabinets = 1,000 GB = 1 TB = 250 DVDs
 
1 box (in inches: 15 1/2 long x 12 wide x 10 deep) (400 x 300 x 250 mm) (2,500 pages) = 1 file drawer = 125 MB
 
1 box (packed) = 2 linear feet (500 mm) of files (loose enough for active filing) = 25 (rounded) linear inches = 125 MB
 
1 linear inch (~20 mm) = 100 pages = 5 MB
 
1 thousand linear inches = 100 thousand pages = 5 GB
 
1 cubic foot (~.025 cubic meter) = 2000 pages = 100 MB
 
10 cubic feet (~.25 cubic meters) = 20 thousand pages = 1 GB
 
8 boxes = 16 linear feet = 2 file cabinets = 1 GB
 
8,000 boxes = 16,000 linear feet = 1,000 GB = 1 TB
 
1 pulp tree (loblolly pine) = 1/10th cord of wood = 10,000 pages = 1 file cabinet = 4 boxes = 1/2 GB = 1 CD
 
 
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