Carnegie Mellon University
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Google Storage Management

CMU offers a variety of cloud-based file storage options, including Google Drive, Box, and OneDrive.

While these services have always been free to the campus community, Google and Microsoft recently announced that they no longer offer free unlimited storage.

What does this mean for CMU?

We’ve carefully reviewed how different groups across campus use cloud storage and determined limits that will satisfy these new storage models while reducing the impact on you.

What does this mean for you?

86 percent of CMU community members are well below the new storage limits, so you probably won’t notice an impact on your work.

For those who are over, we’ll work with your departments directly over the next several months to discuss your needs and determine the best solution.

 

Resources

Questions?

Schedule a support session with our Google team.

Project Timeline

Target Inactive Accounts

November 2023 — October 2024

In the past, we’ve retained Google data for individuals even after they leave the university. By deleting data from these inactive accounts, we free up storage space.

During this phase, we will also implement a new strategy to deprovision Google accounts as individuals leave the university to ensure we use our cloud resources more efficiently and securely in the future.

Campus Outreach

February — November 2024

To help decrease the storage we consume, we will use a phased approach to establish storage limits for all Andrew accounts across campus. We plan to:

  • Partner with individual departments to understand how they use cloud storage.
  • Work with departmental IT staff to provide 1:1 support for high-storage users.
  • Contact users below their limit to notify them about the project.
  • Educate campus on best practices to organize and maintain their data.

Launch Storage Purchase Options

June — November 2024

If you find that you need more storage than your new limit offers, you will be able to purchase additional storage for a minimal annual fee through the OntheHub software portal.

We plan to launch the storage purchase process in the near future and will update this page with purchase instructions.

Monitor Use

November 2024+

After implementing storage limits across campus and supporting high-storage users, we will:

  • Monitor storage use to determine if the limits are working well for the campus community.
  • Continue to evaluate the university's storage needs and adapt as necessary.

Frequently Asked Questions

Regularly organizing and decluttering your files is always a good idea. However, you don’t need to proactively clean up files to prepare for your new storage limit.

If you’re above your storage limit, your departmental IT staff will work with you directly to discuss your needs and determine the best solution.

A storage limit is the maximum amount of space allocated to an individual account, Shared Drive, or Shared Mailbox. We measure storage space in gigabytes (GB).

We'll implement the following limits over the next several months:

  • Students - 25 GB
  • Staff - 50 GB
  • Faculty - 100 GB
  • Sponsored Accounts - 5 GB
  • Shared Drives - 25 GB
  • Shared Mailboxes - 5 GB

For context, one gigabyte can hold approximately 10,000 documents, 500-1,000 high-resolution photos, or nearly 2 hours of video.

To help understand how best to support our campus, we:

  • Analyzed how CMU community members use cloud storage across campus.
  • Conducted benchmarking research with peer institutions.

Using what we learned, we established storage limits to meet CMU's unique needs.

Yes, Google Shared Drives will now receive 25 GB of storage. Check your current storage usage.

If you manage a Shared Drive that is approaching or has surpassed this new limit, your departmental IT representative will work with you in the coming months to assess your needs and find the best possible solution for your data.

  1. Log in to Google Drive.
  2. From the left navigation panel, click Storage.

Google displays your usage for My Drive, Google Mail, and Photos, as well as a list of your Drive files.

  1. Open your Shared Drive.
  2. Click the information icon to View details. 
  3. Review your storage usage under Drive Details.
  1. Open your Shared Google mailbox.
  2. Scroll to the bottom of your inbox to see your current usage. 

Before we implement limits for your account

If you’re over your storage limit, your departmental IT staff will work with you directly over the next several months to assess your needs and determine the best possible solution.

After we implement limits for your account

Google will display a banner notifying you if you are ever close to reaching your limit.

If you go over your storage limit, you can send and receive emails and access your Google Drive files, but you cannot upload new files or modify existing files.

  1. Right-click the file or folder you want to transfer ownership and click Share then select Share. 
  2. Click the drop-down next to the person you want to transfer file ownership to and select Transfer Ownership.
    Note: If the individual is not listed, share the file with them first, then complete these steps.
  3. Click Yes.  
  4. Click Done.

Students can use Google Takeout to move files to a non-CMU account. Learn more on our Move Your Student Services page.

Faculty and staff will need to manually export their data.

Any CMU community member may also transfer ownership of a file to a non-CMU account.

Note: Exporting data will not delete the data from your Google account. To free up storage space, you must delete the data from your Google account after exporting it.

Storage Best Practices

Though most CMU community members are well below the new storage limits, we encourage you to keep your files organized and maximize your storage space. Use these tips to help!

  • Use Shared Drives instead of My Drive for research, university business, or other work that individuals other than yourself may need to access if you leave the university.

  • Delete old emails with large attachments.
    1. Open your CMU Google Mail account.
    2. In the search field, type the following to find large attachments:  has:attachment larger: 3MB 
    3. Select the emails you’d like to remove and click Delete.

      Note:       You can also use our custom link to search for large attachments.

  • Set calendar reminders or recurring Google Tasks to remind you to delete old files and emails.

  • Avoid storing personal data, like photos or music, in your CMU Google Workspace account.