Storage Capacity Planner
Enter your current data size, growth rate, and planning horizon to calculate future usable and raw storage capacity requirements. Calculated in your browser, no account required.
Storage Capacity Planner
Everything below is calculated instantly in your browser as you adjust the inputs — nothing is submitted or stored.
IT KORR
Storage Capacity Planner
Calculated entirely in your browser — no data submitted.
Actual usable capacity depends on disk count and RAID/erasure-coding layout — this is a generic efficiency percentage, not a disk-count-aware RAID calculation. For a specific array layout, validate against your storage vendor's sizing tool.
Current Data
5 TB
Projected at Year 3
8.64 TB
Growth Requirement
3.64 TB
Headroom Requirement
1.73 TB
Usable Capacity Required
10.37 TB
Raw Capacity Required
20.74 TB
at 50% usable efficiency
Future Capacity = Current × (1 + 20%)^3 years, then headroom is applied, then Raw = Usable ÷ efficiency. This models steady compound growth — actual growth is rarely perfectly linear, so revisit this plan annually against real utilization trends.
What The Inputs Mean
What Shapes Your Calculated Capacity
Current Size, Growth Rate & Horizon
Your current usable data size compounds at the annual growth rate you specify, over the planning horizon in years — real compound-growth math, not a linear estimate.
Headroom & Redundancy/Efficiency
Your desired free-space headroom percentage is applied to the projected total, then a redundancy/efficiency assumption converts usable capacity into an estimated raw capacity requirement.
Understanding Your Results
Real Compound-Growth Math, Generic Efficiency Model
Every figure shown — projected data, growth requirement, headroom requirement, usable capacity, and raw capacity — is computed from your actual inputs using compound-growth math. The redundancy/efficiency percentage is a generic model, not a disk-count-aware RAID or erasure-coding calculation — for an exact array configuration, validate the raw-capacity figure against your storage vendor's own sizing tool.
FAQ
Common Questions
How does this tool calculate future storage capacity?
It applies real compound-growth math: Future Capacity = Current Capacity × (1 + annual growth rate)^planning horizon in years. Your desired headroom percentage is then applied on top of that projection, and — if you select a redundancy/efficiency assumption — a raw capacity figure is calculated as Usable Required ÷ Efficiency.
How much storage headroom should I maintain?
A common standing target is keeping primary storage under 70-80% utilization (equivalent to roughly 25-40% headroom above your projected usable requirement), with expansion planning triggered automatically once a volume crosses that threshold. Performance and reliability commonly degrade as volumes approach full capacity, so waiting until near-exhaustion to plan an expansion risks an emergency, unplanned procurement.
Does this tool calculate exact storage capacity in terabytes for me?
Yes, for a generic efficiency-percentage model. It computes your projected usable capacity and, if you select a redundancy/efficiency assumption, an estimated raw capacity figure. It does not model disk-count-aware RAID or erasure-coding layouts — for an exact array configuration, validate the raw-capacity figure against your storage vendor's own sizing tool.
When should I use block storage versus file storage versus object storage?
Block storage (SAN) suits databases and VM datastores that need high-performance, low-latency I/O. File storage (NAS) suits shared, collaborative file access across users and departments. Object storage suits large volumes of unstructured data, backups, and archives where capacity and durability matter more than latency. This is general background — this tool calculates capacity requirements, not which architecture type fits your workload.
Related Guidance
The full guide behind this tool.
Evaluate the broader cloud governance your storage architecture may depend on.
Evaluate the broader network infrastructure your storage depends on.
Estimate the monthly hosting cost for the storage capacity calculated here.
Get hands-on help designing and implementing your storage architecture.
Operational Support
Need help scaling your storage architecture?
IT KORR can help you design a storage architecture with the headroom and performance your workloads require.
No commitment required — we respond within one business day.