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Google has made a shift away from providing unlimited storage to schools and universities. While PSU has plenty of Google storage capacity overall at this time, we do need to plan for sustainable future use. To that end, the following default storage limits were implemented for Google accounts, which will apply to Gmail, Google, Drive, and Google Photos as of October 24, 2024:

  • User accounts (students, employees, and affiliates): 200 GB

  • Shared drives: 10 GB self-service creation (with up to 500 GB available upon request at no additional cost if needed for university operations)

OIT’s goal is to provide a storage management solution that gives faculty, staff, and students the flexibility and storage they need to accomplish their goals while sustainability managing PSU’s shared storage resources.

Table of Contents

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

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titleWhy is this change happening?

  • In 2021, Google announced that they were shifting away from providing schools and universities with unlimited storage and towards a pooled storage model based on active users and purchased licenses based on student FTE. This was a significant change to the Google Workspace model and required OIT to purchase licenses for the University in order to maintain and continue to grow our usage of Google Drive and other Google Workspace services. Google will be migrating PSU to the pooled storage model on 11/1/24.

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titleHow can I request more storage?

  • Users that were approaching either the individual or shared drive storage limit as of September 2024 had at least 20% additional storage added to their account, so no one should need to immediately request storage to avoid documents being locked when storage limits are implemented.

  • If additional storage becomes necessary, you can Request a Google Drive Quota Change. If PSU exceeds its collective storage quota, storage over the default limits may be subject to a fee (excluding students).

  • Only faculty and staff are able to request additional storage.

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titleWhat is the cost for additional storage over the quota?

  • Departments will only be charged for additional storage used by their faculty and staff if PSU exceeds its collective storage quota. We do not expect to exceed this limit before the end of 2025.

  • Currently, the plan is to charge for additional storage at a passthrough rate determined by the Internet2 NET+ contract with Google ($0.144/GB/year as of October 2024). This rate is subject to change in the future.

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titleWhat happens if I run out of storage space?

  • Google Drive: You will be unable to create, edit, or upload files (including Google file types) and synchronization between the Google Drive local application and web application will stop. Additionally, other collaborators will be unable to edit files that you (or the shared drive) own, but you will still be able to edit documents owned by others.

  • Gmail: There will be no impact on sending or receiving emails once your storage limit is reached (this is an exception from Google for educational institutions).

  • Google Photos: You will be unable to automatically back up any photos or videos or add additional photos or videos.

  • At all storage levels, you’ll see a bar on the left side of Google Drive showing how full your storage is, and banner messages will start appearing in Google Drive at 80% (yellow) and 90% (red) of capacity.

For more information, reference Google’s Manage Your Storage in Drive, Gmail, and Photos support web page.

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titleWhat are some storage recommendations if I’m approaching my storage limit?

  • To view or manage your storage in Google Drive, navigate to Google Drive Storage (drive.google.com/drive/quota). Google also provides recommendations for ways to free up storage space in Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Photos in the Google Workspace Learning Center.

  • If some of your files are shared and used by your team/department/unit, consider moving those files to a Shared Drive.

  • Your PSU Google Drive is intended for storage of work, teaching, and research-related materials. If you have personal materials in your Drive, we urge you to move those items to the personal storage provider of your choice.

  • Request that your department purchase a quota increase for your Drive (limited to faculty and staff; free until PSU needs to buy additional pooled storage).

Viewing and Managing Storage

You can view or manage your storage in the Google Drive Storage (drive.google.com/drive/quota). Google also provides recommendations for ways to free up storage space in the Google Workspace Learning Center. You will start seeing notifications that you’re approaching the storage limit in Google Drive once you’ve reached 80% of your current storage limit.

Requesting Additional Storage

For faculty and staff, there will be two methods available for increasing storage quotas:

  • As of October 24, 2024, users and shared drives over the quota limit automatically had 20% additional storage added to their quota. There will be no fees associated with this additional storage allocation as long as PSU does not exceed its overall shared storage allocation from Google.

  • Faculty and staff can also Request a Google Drive Quota Change at no additional cost if they are approaching their 200 GB quota, but may be subject to a fee in the future if PSU exceeds its overall shared storage allocation from Google.

Students are not eligible to purchase additional storage over their quota. However, current students who were over the storage quota at the time it was implemented received a one time, automated increase to their quota. They will maintain this legacy, increased quota while at PSU to minimize disruption. All other students will be limited to the standard 200 GB storage allotment.

Google Drive Storage Costs

If PSU ends up exceeding its shared storage allocation, faculty and staff exceeding 200 GB storage and owners of shared drives over 500 GB may be required to provide an index code to cover the cost of the additional storage over the quota limit. Students will not be eligible for storage increases and will therefore not be expected to pay for additional storage even if they received an initial one-time automated storage increase.

In the event that PSU exceeds its collective storage allocation, OIT will communicate next steps with impacted faculty and staff and provide at least 90 days of notice to provide an index code. If an index code is not provided, accounts over the storage limit will be returned to the default free storage limit (200 GB for employees and 500 GB for shared drives).

The cost of additional Google Drive storage is set by Google (with an education discount applied). As of October 2024, the current cost of storage is $0.144/GB/year. Customers that need additional storage will need to purchase storage in increments of 100 GB up to 1 TB and increments of 250 GB beyond 1 TB.