Restricted Storage Quota
Why your account may have received a 1 GB initial storage limit instead of the standard 10 GB, and how to request a review.
What happened?
When you registered, our automated abuse-prevention system detected one or more signals that are commonly associated with disposable accounts or scripted sign-ups. As a precaution, your account was assigned a reduced initial storage quota of 1 GB rather than the standard 10 GB free tier.
Your account is fully functional — you can store, encrypt, and retrieve files up to your quota. Your encryption keys and privacy are completely unaffected. This restriction is not a penalty or an accusation; it is a conservative default applied automatically when certain signals are present.
What signals does the system check?
At registration, four categories of signals are evaluated. Your account is flagged if any one of them triggers. The checks are performed entirely server-side and the results are never used to identify you or share your data with third parties.
Disposable email domain
Your email domain is listed in a well-known public blocklist of temporary or disposable email providers. These domains are used to create throwaway accounts at scale. Legitimate providers such as Gmail, Outlook, ProtonMail, and most corporate/university domains are not on the list.
VPN, datacenter, or Tor exit node
The IP address used to register is associated with a commercial VPN service, cloud/hosting datacenter, or a Tor exit node. These are common vectors for creating bulk accounts anonymously. Using a VPN for privacy is entirely understandable — the flag is triggered by the network block being classified as commercial infrastructure rather than residential ISP traffic.
Flagged network (ASN)
Your internet connection routes through an Autonomous System Number (ASN) that is publicly listed as associated with hosting providers, proxy networks, or known abuse-enabling infrastructure.
Multiple accounts from the same IP address
Two or more accounts have already been created from your IP address. This limit exists to prevent bulk account creation from a single origin. If you share a network with others (e.g. a household, office, university, or shared Wi-Fi) or are behind a carrier-grade NAT, you may be affected even if you have never registered before.
I’m a legitimate user — why was I flagged?
False positives happen. Common scenarios include:
- You use a privacy-focused VPN (e.g. Mullvad, ProtonVPN) that routes through datacenter IP ranges.
- Your university or company network shares an IP block with hosting infrastructure.
- Your email provider is hosted on a shared platform whose domain resembles a disposable service.
- You use Tor Browser for privacy reasons.
- You share a network (household, office, university Wi-Fi, or carrier-grade NAT) where others have already registered two accounts from the same public IP address.
These situations are entirely legitimate and we are sorry for the friction. The check exists because the alternative — no limits — results in mass account creation that consumes shared infrastructure and impacts all users.
Are paid accounts affected?
No. The 1 GB restriction applies only to the initial free-tier allocation and has no effect on paid plans. If you upgrade to a paid storage plan at any time, your quota immediately reflects your purchased plan — the restriction is automatically lifted. You are never locked in to the reduced quota; upgrading is always available from your account settings.
If you would rather not upgrade but believe the flag was applied in error, you can also request a free manual review (see below).
How do I get my full 10 GB?
Email us at contact@terastash.io with the subject line Quota review request. Include the email address you registered with and a brief description of why you were flagged (e.g. “I use a VPN”). We will manually review your account and upgrade your quota as soon as possible if no other abuse signals are present. No documentation or verification is required.
Does this affect my privacy?
No. The abuse-prevention checks happen once at registration. We do not store your IP address or ASN permanently — the hashed IP counter is keyed with a secret and counts only successful registrations, not failed attempts. The flag result itself (a single bit: flagged / not flagged) is discarded after the account quota is set. Your encryption keys, file contents, and vault passwords are never involved in or affected by these checks. TeraStash’s zero-knowledge architecture is unchanged.
Where is this in the Terms of Service?
Section 5.6 of the Terms of Service covers the restricted account quota policy.