I get this one from time to time. It's a roundabout way of saying "you have too much stuff and your pictures are getting too much traffic". I'm guessing you're probably posting a lot of pictures lately? Move some of your pictures back to your hard drive or onto another site like picturetrail.com or pbase.com. If you divide them by subject matter it's easier to remember which is where (for instance, I used to have my house pictures on picturetrail, personal and critter pictures on another site).

They won't delete your photos, they'll simply freeze access to them and you will not be able to post pictures to a site until the next month's cycle begins and the bandwidth meter resets; existing pictures already posted will temporarily get the little box saying "Photobucket Bandwidth Exceeded" instead of showing the picture as the note says.

They're not going to delete your photos. They are warning you you are getting close to your FREE limit. Your files will be *temporarily disabled*.

You only get so much free space.

tina

Something I learned about Photobucket is that you need to uncheck the "Images link back to album" box in the Album Settings under Account Options if you don't want people to be able to access you entire album when you post a picture or link here or on other forums.

Never got this e-mail have free PB for years and loads of pics./slide shows etc. in there?? have deleted some now and then, not needed anyway...

Thank you for all the help and suggestions, everyone.

"you have too much stuff and your pictures are getting too much traffic". I'm guessing you're probably posting a lot of pictures lately?

johnmari - Like susieq07, I have never received that email before.

I have had PhotoBucket for almost 3 years. Just last week, I went through and cleaned my albums up a bit and deleted several images. Furthermore, I have not been on this board, or the other board I frequent, very often lately. So, I have posted very few photos in the last month. Makes me wonder if I my photos are getting a lot of traffic for some reason.

terriks - I do have my settings on Private, but cannot remember if that box is checked. I'll go take a look. I also want to change a few other settings.

johnmari - How do I put the photos back on my hard drive, or is there someway to transfer them to a CD? I really don't want to join another file sharing site.

The bandwidth issue is explained here.

I should hope you didn't delete the original pictures from your hard drive when you uploaded them to photobucket - if you were smart and didn't, just delete the excess photos from the photobucket site. If you boo-booed and deleted them from your hard drive, bring the picture up on photobucket (full size), put the cursor onto the picture, click "download" and then "save picture".

How you transfer them to CD depends on what photo software you're using on your computer, methods for burning photos onto a CD vary. However, it's a lot more sensible to spend a few bucks on a USB flash drive (Staples has an 8GB flash drive on sale for $20 right now) because you can fit a lot more on it and it's just like an extra hard drive in that you can add and remove data as often as you like. It's also just plain easier than burning CDs.

Yes, I deleted most from my hardrive because I have no need for them. In fact, I have recently started uploading my photos directly from my camera to Photobucket, so that I don't take up space on my computer. The photos on PB are just for showing pictures of my house, etc.. I would save them if PB were talking about deleting them. Have no interest in taking more for showing.

Yes, I have FLASH DRIVE, but would prefer to have the photos on a CD. Save my FD for more important documents and photos that I do care about.

I checked all of my settings and everything is private. Don't know why the traffic has picked up for my site. Maybe it's a mistake.

Thank you for the information re: photobucket--I changed my settings since I read this forum concerning my options. I wouldn't have known otherwise. Another reason to read gardenweb!

newhomebuilder, Read the link johnmari posted about bandwidth. It explains that it's not about how many pictures you have there but that every time someone views one the data is sent from their site. The size of the picture you have is relevant. It would use less bandwidth if you size your pictures on photobucket if you don't already do so. I use their preset sizes and choose either large or medium. But both are smaller than the original picture I load to the site from my camera. Then when I link to the picture it would use less bandwidth. But the worst that will happen is when you try to post a picture on the forum it won't show up for people until your monthly cycle is up and your bandwidth allowance is reset.

Thanks terriks, I didn't know that.

Mimi 2006 - I did read it, and knew it was not because of my numerous photos. I knew it had to do with the "traffic" or the number of people looking at my photos, but couldn't figure out why the pick-up. I think the following statement from you must explain it.

The size of the picture you have is relevant. It would use less bandwidth if you size your pictures on photobucket if you don't already do so. I use their preset sizes and choose either large or medium. But both are smaller than the original picture I load to the site from my camera.

It's the direct upload from my camera! When uploading to my computer, my photos are re-sized and then go to Photobucket. When I switched to a direct upload, the photos are going into PB much larger than they use to. Thanks for helping me figure it out. I'll go back and make the last several photos smaller.