Google Drive vs. non-PSU cloud storage
All students, faculty, and staff have access to Google Drive at PSU, a service designed to store your documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and many other types of files in the cloud. We recommend that you use Google Drive at PSU over similar services such as Dropbox, due to the increased security, storage space, and integration with other PSU services that Google Drive offers.
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Security
The content you store in Google Drive at PSU is protected to a greater degree than files saved in consumer Google Drive or other non-PSU services. Your data is protected under the Oregon University System's (OUS) contract with Google, which ensures that it won't be scanned for advertising or other purposes. For more information on data security in Google Workspace at PSU, see the Google Workspace for Education agreement.
When you use other cloud storage providers, you agree to their End User License Agreement (EULA), which may not offer data protection similar to OUS's agreement with Google. For this reason, you should keep University-related material stored in Google Drive at PSU. For more information on when to use your PSU Google account, see Google accounts at PSU.
Space
Google Drive at PSU offers 250G storage space , so you have plenty of room to store your documents, images, and other files. For more information about Google shared drive limitations, refer to Google’s Shared drive limits support article.
Integration
Google Drive at PSU ties directly into other Google Workspace apps, such as Gmail, Google Docs, and Google Calendar. The documents, spreadsheets, and presentations you store in Google Drive can be quickly linked to emails or calendar events, and shared with other PSU students, faculty, or staff. Additionally, you can work collaboratively as a team or department on Google Docs stored in Google Drive. For more information on how to use Google Drive, including file ownership, access, and visibility settings, see Google Drive overview.