IT begins UTH-Share Google storage spring cleanup campaign
Google recently announced the end of unlimited storage for its education customers, and in response, UTHealth Houston Information Technology has begun preparing for new storage limitations.
University students, faculty, and staff are asked to assist with the effort by reviewing their current data usage and deleting any unnecessary files in UTH-Share Google Drive and Google Photos. It will require a team effort to get the university under the new 230 terabyte shared storage limit.
“After nearly 10 years of having free, unlimited storage, Google is implementing a paid subscription plan for Google Workspace for Education, and this new model will significantly limit our storage,” said Amy Lanier, principal application systems specialist, administrative and academic technology. “We currently have nearly three times the amount of data stored than we will be allowed, and this number grows daily. As a result, we are launching a campaign to help reduce our data footprint.”
The two major changes that are coming soon will impact shared drive limitations and individual user storage quotas.
UTH-Share Google Drive limitations
UTH-Share Google Shared Drives are shared spaces where collaborators can easily store, search, and access files anywhere, from any device.
Even if members of a Shared Drive leave UTHealth Houston or are removed from a Shared Drive, any files they added to that Shared Drive stay exactly where they were, so that a team can continue to access and update them.
Files in Shared Drives may not impact an individual’s storage quota, but they do impact UTHealth Houston’s overall storage. For this reason, the IT department is asking users to examine both their Shared Drive and their My Drive, and to manage and remove large files that are no longer being used. If a Shared Drive is significantly outdated, users are asked to remove it and delete the content altogether.
Quick Tips
Requesting new UTH-Share Google Drives
The UTH-Share team will provide the community with information about how Google Workspace users who need a new Shared Drive can submit a request form. Google Workspace administrators will evaluate the request and upon approval, create the Shared Drive.
Individual storage quotas
Storage quotas are being implemented to keep the total usage under the institutional capacity of 230 TB. The university community must work together to curate content and clarify group collaboration and archiving processes, while doing its best to meet data retention requirements.
New individual storage quotas will take effect before the end of 2023: five gigabytes per student and 10 gigabytes per faculty and staff member.
Users with a significant amount of data will be offered a process to request an exception to their quota, and are invited to consult with the Cloud Solutions Team to request extra storage. These requests will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
What will happen if my storage goes over my quota?
If your data usage exceeds your storage quota, you will immediately lose the ability to create or edit content in UTH-Share Google Drive. This is not a change imposed by UTHealth Houston administration, but by Google.
You will still be able to login into your Google Workspace account and view existing files, but you may immediately lose some Drive functionality.
You may be:
- Unable to create new files in collaborative content creation apps like Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, and Forms
- Unable to edit or copy existing files or submit forms
- Unable to upload new files or images to UTH-Share Google Drive
- Unable to back up any photos/videos/images to UTH-Share Google Photos
Quick tip
Visit https://drive.google.com/settings/storage and log in to see the current storage of an individual account. Reach out to the UTH-Share Support Team for recommendations on reducing storage footprints.
First course of action
Step one is to delete any unnecessary and outdated files in UTH-Share Google My Drive and UTH-Share Google Shared Drive to avoid future service disruption and to maintain our campus storage under 230 TB. Step two is to look to the UTH-Share Admin Team and the Cloud Service Team to help migrate files.
Initial steps to get started
- UTH-Share Google My Drive – Review your storage and delete large or files from your Drive. Visit Google Drive Quota to see your large files sorted by file size. Additional guidance can be found via the Manage files in your Google Drive
- UTH-Share Google Shared Drives – Consider deleting unneeded content stored in Your Shared Drives.
- Storage alternatives – Reach out to [email protected] for help migrating your data to another storage location. Available options are OneDrive or Microsoft Teams.
- Research data – Researchers with a large amount of data to migrate are encouraged to schedule a consultation with the Cloud Solutions Team. The team can help identify the type of storage needed, and provide migration assistance based on data type.
Review the Acceptable Use Policy to better understand how to store data in accordance with university policies. People who need a customized storage plan should contact [email protected] for assistance.
The UTH-Share Support Team will publish additional communications and provide training over the next several months. In the meantime, please contact [email protected] with questions or concerns.