Our SharePoint sites are now warning that they may become read-only because they exceed their storage limits. One site is about 6 TB over quota, although changing many libraries to automatic versioning limits reduced the overage to roughly 4.8 TB. Most of the data is Adobe and other design files, concentrated in just two sites. Paying for additional storage would cost around £180 per TB per month, so we are comparing that with archiving or moving older files to Azure Blob Storage through a service such as Layer2 SHARC. Has anyone used that approach, and are there better ways to reduce the overage without disrupting active work?
2 Answers
The versioning change may not have removed as much data as it could. Limiting versions generally affects new versions; existing versions may remain until a deletion or trimming job is run. First generate a version-expiration report so you can see which libraries and files are responsible for the overage. Then run the appropriate SharePoint version-deletion job and monitor its progress, since it can take days. Also check both stages of the recycle bin: deleted content can continue counting against storage for up to 93 days. Adobe and design libraries often consume a lot of space because each saved version may be a complete copy rather than a small delta. Be aware that retention policies or preservation holds can prevent some versions from being removed. The report should tell management whether trimming will solve the problem or whether additional storage is unavoidable.
Before paying for extra capacity or using a third-party storage layer, check Microsoft 365 Archive. Archived storage is much cheaper than standard overage, but archived sites become read-only and restoring them can involve additional charges. It makes the most sense for completed projects, inactive client work, or sites belonging to former employees. I have not used SHARC, but products that move content outside SharePoint and leave file stubs can create long-term problems with search, co-authoring, Graph or Copilot indexing, and future restores. If the data is still actively used, trimming versions, deleting unnecessary content, or paying for storage are safer choices.
The frustrating part is that nearly all of the excess data is concentrated in only two sites, so archiving entire sites may not be practical.