Frequently Asked Questions
Curious about Google's sustainability initiatives in data storage? This FAQ provides answers to common questions about Texas A&M's Google Storage Sustainability Project.
About The Project
Instructions for viewing storage quotas will be sent to campus members before the end of April.
Yes, all plans were made to minimize disruption in teaching, learning or research and to minimize the need for campus members to move any data from Google. Over 90% of our university community can continue using Google My Drive and Shared Drives, with no need to move files or purchase additional storage. Campus members using more than 1 TB of Google storage will receive an email with more details for managing their storage.
Google announced significant changes to its Google Workspace for Education service and now offers a base amount of storage for a fixed fee with the option of purchasing additional storage as needed. To adapt to this change, we must introduce new policies and processes that optimize our storage solutions to benefit the Texas A&M community. This includes storage limits plus updated policies for managing Shared Drives.
The Google Storage Sustainability Project team has gathered real-time data related to current campus usage to create a forecast of the anticipated storage space needed for our growing institution. This, coupled with input from university leadership, campus advisory groups and other stakeholders, helped create a phased approach as we transition to a paid service model.
Quotas will be put in place for My Drive and Shared Drive Accounts based on current size with a buffer to accommodate additional growth. All plans were made to avoid any disruption in teaching, learning or research and to minimize the need for campus members to move any data from Google.
Any files stored in your Texas A&M Google Workspace account that are institutional, and not personal, should remain in a storage platform offered by the university. Storing professional content in your personal account(s) or keeping it on personal hardware, such as an external hard drive, may put university data at risk.
While these changes will only impact a small number of campus members, it is everyone's responsibility to actively reduce digital clutter and practice responsible data storage. Technology Services created how-to guides that cover the following topics:
- Quickly see your My Drive storage and quota.
- Check on storage use in Shared Drives.
- Review and clean up unneeded files.
If you have a question or need support, please contact Help Desk Central.
Understanding Storage Limits
Storage Limits
New My Drive accounts: Quotas are not expandable.
- Undergraduate students and staff receive 25 GB of storage.
- Graduate students and faculty receive 100 GB of storage.
Existing My Drive accounts:
- Undergraduate students and staff will be given a 25 GB quota. If their current use is higher, they will be given a quota based on their current use plus a buffer to accommodate additional growth.
- Graduate students and faculty will be given a 100 GB quota. If their current use is higher, they will be given a quota based on their current use plus a buffer to accommodate additional growth.
New Shared Drive quotas will be 25 GB and can be expanded for a fee. (Cost is approximately $1,500 / year for 10 TB).
Existing Shared Drives will be given a 25 GB quota plus a buffer based on current usage. Departments and employees can purchase additional Shared Drive Storage in 10 TB increments. (Cost is approximately $1,500 / year for 10 TB).
Storage limits will go into effect in May of 2024. Details about the exact date will be communicated soon.
Item cap
Google Shared Drives can contain a maximum of 400,000 items, including files, folders, and shortcuts. Note: This limit is based on item count, not storage use. We recommend that you keep shared drives well below the strict limit. Shared drives with too many files might be difficult to organize and search, or members ignore much of the content.
File sharing limits
A file in a shared drive can be directly shared with a maximum of 100 groups.
Folder nesting and moving
A folder in a shared drive can have up to 20 levels of nested folders. We recommend that you avoid creating many folders in one shared drive. Members might have difficulty organizing and finding content. Instead, organize content into multiple shared drives.
If an account exceeds its quota, no data will be deleted. However, you will be unable to add or edit files until data is removed to bring the storage utilization below the quota. The ability to send and receive email from Texas A&M Gmail accounts will not be impacted even if storage quotas are exceeded.
Over 90% of our university community can continue using Google storage as they do today, with no need to move files or purchase additional storage. Check your Google Storage usage.
Additional Storage is not available for My Drive.
If you need to store a large amount of data in a Shared Drive, employees or units will be able to purchase more storage at a rate of approximately $1,500 / year for 10 TB. We are in the process of finalizing the purchasing process and will share details once it's complete.
Check Your Storage Use
To check your current My Drive storage use, go to https://drive.google.com/drive/quota. You'll see your files in descending order of file size.
The following count toward file storage:
Google Drive
- Most files in Google Drive, including PDFs, images, and videos
- Files created or edited after May 2, 2022, in collaborative content apps such as Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Forms, and Jamboard
- Content in shared drives
- Items in your “trash” that haven't been permanently deleted
Gmail
- Messages and attachments, including items in Spam and Trash folders
Google Photos
- Original photos and videos backed up to Google Photos
- High quality and Express quality photos backed up to Google photos after June 1, 2021
The following do not count toward file storage:
- Files in "Shared with me." Shared files are counted only for the file owner's storage, not for the users the file is shared with
- Google sites
- Drive shortcuts
- Content created with My Maps
- Version history for files created in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides, unless the you explicitly decide to keep older versions
When managing your storage, consider prioritizing items that consume the most space, such as
- large files including videos, music, software installers
- high-resolution or raw photos
- documents with embedded images
For guidance on reviewing and decluttering your Google Drive, refer to our resource on cleaning up Google Drive. Please exercise caution when deleting files or folders, especially those shared with collaborators, as it may result in data loss for others accessing the content. Items ‘Moved to Trash’ are stored in the Trash Folder for up to 30 days. After this time they become permanently deleted.
When you first delete content, it is moved to the "trash" and will be automatically and permanently deleted after 30 days. Before the 30-day window closes, you may restore your files.
To permanently delete your files in Google Drive and make space available, you must move them to “trash” and empty your bin. Items in trash count against your storage use, until permanently deleted.
Please note: items that are permanently deleted from trash are irrecoverable.
There are no plans to migrate or delete files for active members that are currently stored in your Google My Drive. It is important to note that as part of the student account lifecycle, former student accounts will be locked and prepared for deletion after the student has been absent for two years. Any University data should be stored in a Shared Drive to ensure ongoing access.
What About Shared Drives?
No, Shared Drives are not going away. However, part of the strategy needed to adapt to Google's service changes must include policies and practices for the creation and lifecycle management of Shared Drives.
- New Shared Drive accounts will be given a 25 GB quota.
- Existing Shared Drive accounts will be given a quota based on current use.
- Employees or units can purchase additional Shared Drive Storage in 10 TB increments. (Cost is approximately $1,500 / year for 10 TB)
- Shared Drives must have two “drive managers” and a data classification on record.
- Shared Drives will go through an annual verification process to remediate old or unnecessary document storage.
We are in the process of finalizing the plan for Shared Drive management and will share details once it's complete.
Please refer to Viewing Storage in Shared Drives.
Yes, though it is important to understand the differences between My Drive and Shared Drives. Employee accounts are locked and deleted 30 days after the employee leaves the university. As part of the student account lifecycle, former student accounts will be locked and prepared for deletion after the student has been absent for two years. Any university data should be stored in a Shared Drive to ensure ongoing access.
Yes, Google Workspace is meant to enable teams by sharing and collaborating on documents. We are working to protect this privilege by encouraging teams to manage Shared Drives in a thoughtful and sustainable manner.
The key difference between Google Shared Drives and Google Shared Folders is ownership.
- Google Shared Drives: Ownership of the files and folders inside the drive is held by the drive itself, and all members of the drive have access to and control over the files and folders as set by the drive permissions.
- Google Shared Folders: The owner of the folder retains ownership and owner(s) of the files within the Shared Folder retain ownership.
Examples:
- Google Shared Drive: If someone leaves the university, the content created by that person in a Google Shared Drive is not affected.
- Google Shared Folder: If someone leaves the university, the content they created and shared using a Shared Folder are removed and no longer accessible by those the content was shared out to.
Storage Limits For Texas A&M Gmail Accounts
Users of Texas A&M Gmail should be aware of their usage, as content stored in Gmail contributes to their My Drive storage limit. Check the total storage across Google Drive, Photos, and Gmail.
These tips can help you save space on Gmail:
- Empty your trash. Files in your trash are automatically deleted after 30 days. But while they are in trash, they count against your storage.
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Delete messages with heavy attachments.
Attachments count towards your storage. To find emails with large attachments:
- In the search box, type “:attachment larger:10mb”.
- Click "Search."
- Check the boxes of the emails you want to delete and click the trash icon.
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Delete very old messages.
To find older emails:
- In the search box, type “older_than:3y” (again, you can enter any number of years).
- Click "Search."
- Check the boxes of the emails you want to delete and click the trash icon.
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Delete Spam:
- Go to your Spam folder
- Select all the messages, and delete them.