Hi, i just need quick clarification on how a mailbox size is calculated. As far as i see, there are the following folders/factors: 1) Regular mailbox folders (thats visible to the user). This is controlled by storage limits are set on either the database or mailbox level. 2) Recoverable Items Folder, aka dumpster (Deleted, Versions, Purges, Audit) The dumpster is then broken down into: 2a) Deleted items (soft/hard delete). This is available to the user. The default retention is 14 days. The data is saved in the dumsters Recoverable Items\Deletions folder. Does the Recoverable Items\Deletions folder count towards the database storage limit? Say I increase the "keep deleted items" for 30 days and within the 30 days the user hard/soft deleted 150Mb, does this mean that the users mailbox is now 150Mb larger? Does it also apply the FIFO rule in the event the storage exceeds the limit 2b) Single Item Recovery (Set-Mailbox -SingleItemRecoveryEnabled $true) With this settings, the data is preserved even the user purges the Recoverable Items\Deletions folder, the data is moved to the Recoverable Items\Purges folder of the dumpster. If i understand this correctly, the preservation is using the same "keep deleted items" setting (default is 14 days)? is this correct? can it be changed or is there only one settings for both the deleted items and the Single Item Recovery items? Also, the Recoverable Items\Purges folder is NOT counted towards the mailbox space used and thus doesnt grow the total mailbox size, but is instead using its own Recoverable Items Quota (RecoverableItemsQuota) defaulting to 20/30Gb, is this correct? Is this the default settings or do i need to specifically enable RecoverableItemsQuota for all users? When the quota exceeds, its deleted on a FIFO basis? 3b) Litigation Hold This setting doesn't apply any quota limits nor does it grow the mailbox size, correct? or does this also use the RecoverableItemsQuota quota? While its true that Single Item Recovery and Litigation Hold wont grow the mailbox size, my guess is that it obviously WILL grow the physical database size as a large number of emails are preserved

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I'd like to rephrase my questions to two direct questions. 1. Please example the difference between the following two technet articles http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee364755.aspx#RIQuotas When an item is moved to the Recoverable Items folder, its size is deducted from the mailbox quota and added to the size of the Recoverable Items folder. (which has its own quota) I assume the above means that anything in the dumpster is not counted towards the mailbox quote, yet the link below seems to suggest that (anything short of litigation hold) is indeed counted towards the mailbox quota. http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2011/08/16/retention-hold-and-litigation-hold-in-exchange-2010.aspx Mailbox quotas for mailboxes on hold Both types of hold will result in more data being stored in a mailbox. Understandably, both may require some adjustments to storage quotas. Mailboxes on retention hold may require higher mailbox quotas because the MFA doesnt delete items or move them to the users archive mailbox. 2. Also, the first link says "In Exchange 2010, mailbox databases have a configurable Recoverable Items warning quota (soft limit) of 20 gigabytes (GB) and a Recoverable Items quota (hard limit) of 30 GB". I assume this is a default setting, yet somehow running Get-Mailbox | table SamAccountName, RecoverableItemsWarningQuota, RecoverableItemsQuota returns Unlimited for all my user. Is it because the settings are at the database level and the default "UseDatabaseQuotaDefaults" setting for all users is set to True?

I assume the above means that anything in the dumpster is not counted towards the mailbox quote Hi Joe, Yes, it is true. Also the blog said late: "Recoverable Items does not count towards the mailbox storage quota because it has its own quota." About the Mailbox quotas for mailboxes on hold topic, it said: "Mailboxes on retention hold" It means: If a mailbox assigned a Retention Policy is on Retention Hold, MFA won't delete/move mail items based on the Retention Policy(tag), thus the mailbox's size will be grown larger. So you need to raise the quota for the mailbox(not the Recoverable Items quota). 2, In my test lab, RecoverableItemsQuota & RecoverableItemsWarningQuota on mailbox/database are set to 30GB/20GB. Please run the following cmdlet to check it: Get-MailboxDatabase databasename | fl *quota* Get-Mailbox mailboxname | fl *quota* Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help. If you have feedback for TechNet Subscriber Support, contact tnmff@microsoft.com.Frank Wang TechNet Community Support

I assume the above means that anything in the dumpster is not counted towards the mailbox quote Hi Joe, Yes, it is true. Also the blog said late: "Recoverable Items does not count towards the mailbox storage quota because it has its own quota." About the Mailbox quotas for mailboxes on hold topic, it said: "Mailboxes on retention hold" It means: If a mailbox assigned a Retention Policy is on Retention Hold, MFA won't delete/move mail items based on the Retention Policy(tag), thus the mailbox's size will be grown larger. So you need to raise the quota for the mailbox(not the Recoverable Items quota). 2, In my test lab, RecoverableItemsQuota & RecoverableItemsWarningQuota on mailbox/database are set to 30GB/20GB. Please run the following cmdlet to check it: Get-MailboxDatabase databasename | fl *quota* Get-Mailbox mailboxname | fl *quota* Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help. If you have feedback for TechNet Subscriber Support, contact tnmff@microsoft.com.Frank Wang TechNet Community Support

Hi Joe, Any updates?Frank Wang TechNet Community Support

Hi Joe, Any updates?Frank Wang TechNet Community Support

Frank, thanks for your response and sorry for the delay. Thanks for the clarification! I was too involved with the dumpster that I completely missed that the article is also talking about retention tags/policies on archived-enabled mailbox. It makes perfect sense now. Btw, i think the term "Retention Policies" may not be the best term to describe a mailbox manager policy. When people hear retention, they think "preserve"

Frank, thanks for your response and sorry for the delay. Thanks for the clarification! I was too involved with the dumpster that I completely missed that the article is also talking about retention tags/policies on archived-enabled mailbox. It makes perfect sense now. Btw, i think the term "Retention Policies" may not be the best term to describe a mailbox manager policy. When people hear retention, they think "preserve"